Chapter 50
fifty
Tristyn
November
You can’t do that again.” I cross my arms as I stand outside of Andrew’s place.
“Do what?” he asks, but the smug smirk on his face tells me he knows exactly what I mean.
“You can’t just pick up Henry from school,” I argue. “I agreed to let you have him again tonight, but when I show up at his school, I expect him to be there.”
“Pretty sure I told you I was picking him up.”
“Don’t try me right now, Andrew. You’re getting what you want. You’re seeing Henry and forcing him to spend more time with—”
“Forcing?” He cuts me off. “He’s my son. I’m not forcing him to do anything.”
“Whatever.” I roll my eyes. “Just don’t get him from school again, okay? I had a heart attack when they told me he had already been picked up.”
I don’t want to feed into this. I know he was hoping for this reaction from me. That’s why he did it.
I’ve made sure he can’t do it again, though. I might be telling him right now not to do it, but Henry can only be signed out by me, Vince, and Jeremy.
I’d kill to see Andrew’s face when he tries this again.
“He’s my son, Tristyn. If I want to pick him up from school, I will.” He takes a step toward me; the front door slamming closed behind him. “I bet you let your little boyfriend pick him up.”
“When necessary, maybe, but very rarely can I not get him myself.”
“I don’t know if I want him around my son.”
“You can’t just jump in and out of his life and think you have a say on who I can have around him.” I take a step forward, accepting his challenge.
I don’t know what’s gotten into me lately. The old me never would’ve challenged Andrew like this, but maybe Jeremy has brought out the toughness in me.
“I’m pretty sure I can do just that.”
“Henry likes having Jeremy around, okay? I won’t let you take that away from him.”
“Jeremy?” His smirk grows.
I take a step back, rolling my eyes.
“I’ll be here tomorrow morning to pick him up.”
“Sure thing.”
“I mean it, Andrew. No funny business, okay?”
“I don’t know what you mean.” He opens his front door. “Funny business is not who I am.”
“I’ll call him tonight before bed. Pick up.”
“Anything else, boss?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“See you—”
He slams the door in my face.
“Fucking asshole.”
What are your plans for Thanksgiving?” Vince carries the last grocery bag into the kitchen.
“What do you mean?” I chuckle. “We spend it together every year.”
“I just assumed it’d look a little different this year with Jeremy.”
“He invited me to his Friendsgiving.” I grab the grapes out of the bag and toss them into the fridge.
“And you’re not going to go?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“I think I’m going to tell him the truth.” Vince freezes.
“Really?”
“I’ve thought about it a lot, and the truth is, the last month has been eating me alive.” I jump onto the counter as Vince puts the milk into the fridge. “I don’t know if I can go on without him knowing. Even if that means—”
“Losing Henry?”
“I don’t know, Vince, okay. I love Jeremy. God, I love him in a way I didn’t think would be possible. I never expected someone to not only love me, but love my son as much as I do, and he does. It’s not fair to him.”
“What are you going to tell him?”
“I told you the truth.”
“Which is what?”
“Andrew showing up at my place, drunk, rambling on about shit I couldn’t make out. He threatened to take Henry regardless of whether I went with him or not.” I pick at my fingernails.
“And what do you think is going to happen, T? You think he’s going to forgive you? Do you think he’s going to just move past it?”
“Would you?”
“I don’t know.” He scratches the back of his neck. “Maybe, but I also know more about your situation with Andrew than he does. He hasn’t been there since the beginning.”
“And if I want him to be there for the rest of it all, I think the best thing to do is tell him.”
Have you given any more thought to Friendsgiving?” Jeremy’s hand runs up and down my back. “I need to give Brin a number, so she knows how many people to cook for.”
“Yeah, I think Henry and I can make it.” I stare at the wall in front of us.
Whether I go to Friendsgiving or not all depends on how our next conversation goes. It could break our entire relationship apart, and I wouldn’t even blame him.
I can hardly look at myself in the mirror since finding out the truth about that night. I don’t know how he’ll be able to look at me.
“You think?”
“Yeah. I mean, we’d really like to go.”
“Good.” He kisses my head. “Vince is welcome too, if he wants to come. I know we’re all doing Thanksgiving at your place, but if he wants to hang out with everyone, he’s more than welcome. The more the merrier.”
“Speaking of Thanksgiving, are you sure your parents aren’t going to be upset if you don’t go down and spend it with them?”
“Not at all. We’re having a family dinner on Saturday. I have more family coming into town, so it just made sense to do it then.” His hand freezes on my back. “If it’s not too overwhelming, you guys should definitely come. You could meet the rest of the Moore crew.”
“Jere—”
“They’d love to meet you.” He chuckles. “They’ve heard a lot about you. Probably too much. It’s hard not to talk about you, though. You’ve changed my life.”
“About that—”
“You know, as crazy as this sounds, if I could go back and change the outcome of that night, I wouldn’t.”
“What?”
“Hockey was so much of my life, and I miss it, God, I miss it. But I think losing you and Henry would be harder than losing hockey. A million times harder.”
My stomach sinks.
“For the first time in my life, I’ve felt as though I have a bigger purpose in life.
” I finally look up at him, a smile filling his face.
“I think I’m going to start coaching. Coach Anderson said I could be an assistant coach for Rockford.
And I think maybe after graduation I’ll continue coaching at the rec, if they’ll have me, and maybe continue to coach at Rockford. ”
Jeremy looks down at me, brushing a strand of hair out of my face.
“Me finding this new passion in life would’ve never happened if that night hadn’t.”
“What about your closure?”
“I think I might’ve already gotten it.”
“How?”
“I might never know what happened that night. I might never understand why that person did what they did and left, but what I do know is my life didn’t end that night.
It felt like it did, and I didn’t think I’d get past it, but I have.
That night is a part of my past, and all I want to do is move forward. ”
My breath catches in my throat. The truth is on the tip of my tongue, ready to spill out—
But I can’t.
I let out a long anguishing breath and then force a smile—
“Then that’s what we’ll do.”