Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
Jason
How are you enjoying having the house all to yourself?
Hailey
Not as much as I expected
Miss me already, huh?
I didn’t realize how boring your place was before now
Excuse me, I think you mean *our* place
I said what I said
What would make it feel like yours too?
I’m going to have to get back to you on that one
You can change things, you know. Well, within reason
See? Always with the caveats
What? What else do I give you caveats about?
Oh, just … things
Uh-huh. Name one
I just did. You say I can make changes. But only within reason. And what does that mean, specifically? What do you consider a reasonable change?
What are you wanting to change?
Ah, I see, I see
You see? What do you see?
Within reason means run any changes by you first
Okay. Fine. Yes. But if it’s *our* home, that means I should have some say too, right?
I suppose. But you put everything here already, so it already has your input everywhere
Which once again leads me to asking what you’d want to change?
When I come up with something, I’ll let you know
Promise?
Omg. Yes. I promise
You’re not just saying you don’t know because you’re afraid I won’t like what you want to do?
No. I genuinely have no idea. No one’s ever asked me that before. I have the few mementos and artwork in my own room, which is fine. I like it where I have it and don’t want to move it into the living room or something
Okay. Well, if you go shopping and see something you like, just give me a heads’ up, okay?
I can do that. Seems unlikely, but on the off chance, I’ll snap a pic and send it to you, and if you don’t respond in a reasonable amount of time, I’ll just buy it and you’ll deal when you get back
What’s a reasonable amount of time?
Idk, like 15 mins? Maybe 10? If you’re in a game, you can’t respond, and I’m not gonna hang out at a store for 3 hours until you’re available
Okay. Fine. I guess that’s fair.
Thank you
For?
Seeing things my way
Day 2
Hailey
I had lunch with Tina today
Oh yeah? Sounds fun. Did you have a good time?
I did. She’s really nice. We’re going to have a girls’ night. Or maybe multiple? So I can go check out different music venues I might want to try getting into the rotation at. I might do an open mic or two as well, just to play in front of some audiences and get my name out there
That sounds really cool. Can I come along if I’m home?
Well, then it wouldn’t be a girls’ night
It could be a date night …
Well, when you put it that way
Is that a yes?
You should get home first. Then we can discuss it
That won’t be for several more days
Gives you something to look forward to
Day 3
We lost tonight
Hailey
Boo. I’m sorry. That sucks
Did you do anything fun?
Practiced, mostly. Watched some TV. I recorded myself playing a few new things so I can update my YouTube channel
Nice. Let me know when you do that. I’d like to see the videos
Uh … okay
After her last response, I go find her YouTube channel—she has it linked on her website, so that makes it easy—and hit follow.
That way I don’t have to rely on her remembering—or bothering—to tell me she posted something.
I can tell from her response, plus all the other times I’ve mentioned wanting to hear her play, that she thinks it’s strange I care this much.
But she can go on thinking it’s strange.
And I’ll go on wanting to hear her play.
After all, why wouldn’t I? She’s amazing and talented. It’d be like thinking it was weird for her to want to come to my games.
I’m really looking forward to getting home. I finally get what Abernathy and some of the other married players are always griping about when we’re on the road. Sure, yeah, it’s normal, but the longer I’m away, the more I want to get back.
I miss her. Even more than the last time I was gone.
“Is this always what it’s like?” I ask Abernathy when we’re having dinner later. No game tonight, and we’re all on our own for dinner after getting to our hotel, but six of us are out together—Abernathy, Dozer, Bouchard, Jenkins, Bowers, and me.
Abernathy looks at me, eyebrows raised. “Yes. This is what dinner with your friends is like.”
I punch him in the arm, and he cackles. “You know that’s not what I meant.”
Nodding, he sets his menu down. “True. But since you gave me zero context, I’m not actually sure what you did mean.”
With a sigh, I shake my head. “Being away from your wife.”
“Ahh.” He nods, knowingly. “Feeling lonesome?”
“Awww, poor Chalmers,” Jenkins puts in, throwing an arm around Bouchard, who’s seated between us. “Bouchard here’ll keep you company. He’s a lonely sad sack too, and he’s not even married!”
Bouchard shoves him off, shaking his head, but he’s grinning at the light roasting.
“You’re just jealous nobody’s waiting for you to get back.
” He gestures between him, me, Abernathy, and Dozer.
“We all have ladies waiting for us. And we’re sorry for you that you haven’t managed to find anyone to put up with your bullshit yet. ”
“Oh, so that’s all Maggie is to you?” Jenkins shoots back. “Someone to put up with your bullshit?”
“Hold up. That’s not what I said. I said you haven’t found someone willing to put up with your bullshit. I don’t have any bullshit to put up with.”
Jenkins pulls out his phone. “Oh, yeah? You sure about that? Maybe we should call Maggie and get confirmation.”
Bouchard swats his phone out of his hand, and they’re both scrambling to get ahold of it, shoving chairs back and bumping the table.
“Hey!” Abernathy shouts, his voice cracking like a whip, making all the diners around us stop and turn as well.
He smiles and waves at the tables near us, then leans over to hiss at Bouchard and Jenkins.
“You two clowns quit acting like two-year-olds. Jesus, my kids know how to behave better in a restaurant than you two do. And they don’t even get tablets at the table! ”
They both mumble apologies and straighten their chairs, picking up their menus and doing their best to act like adults—though we all know it’s difficult, especially for those two, and especially when they’re together.
“Do I need to separate you two?” Abernathy hisses, and they both shake their heads, stopping the under-the-table elbowing competition they’d started already.
“Jesus, seriously. You two are worse than my kids.”
“Well,” I say, trying to sound philosophical, “at least with your kids you have help, and you can send them to their rooms when you get home if they keep acting up.”
“With my kids, we’d just leave if they didn’t stop acting up.
And they’d get cold sandwiches for dinner before being sent to their rooms.” His eyes narrow as he glares at Jenkins and Bouchard again, even though they seem to be behaving themselves now.
“Maybe that’s a good idea. We could kick them out and bring them back a loaf of bread and peanut butter and jelly or something.
” He leans over and gets their attention.
“Restaurants are only for good boys and girls who know how to behave themselves. If you can’t, then you can’t stay. ”
“Yes, sir,” they both mumble.
“And Bouchard,” Abernathy adds, “I’d have expected better from you. I know you and Maggie aren’t living together, but you’re around her kid. You should know how to be a better example than that.”
“Sorry, man,” Bouchard mumbles, then points to Jenkins. “He started it.” When all Abernathy does is raise his eyebrows, Bouchard slumps back. “Fine. Sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“See that it doesn’t.” He gives them one more glare before turning back to me.
“I take it you miss your new wife?” At my nod, he nods too.
“I can’t say it’s always like that. There’ll be times when you’re fighting and you’ll be glad for time apart.
Or you just annoy each other, and then it’s good too.
But you’re still in the honeymoon phase, so yeah.
That’s normal. Also, you should miss your spouse and be excited to get back to her.
Tina always says she looks forward to our first couple of away games, but only for the first couple of days.
After that, she’s ready for me to be back.
And it’s hard being away from the kids. You miss things, especially when they’re little.
I was lucky that Noah took his first steps when I was home.
But I missed Shelby’s. And I missed both their first words, and it was wild when they were in the language explosion phase.
I’d get back from being away for a few days, and the number of words they’d be using would’ve doubled in that time. ”
My eyes widen, and he nods. “I know, that’s not what you’re asking about, but it’s something to keep in mind if you decide you guys want kids.”
“Oh, well, uh …”
He waves me off. “You just got married. You have plenty of time. And I’m not trying to pressure you into having some. You definitely need to know you want them for sure before taking that step. If either of you is at all on the fence, do not have kids.”
“Good advice,” Bouchard chimes in.
Abernathy ignores him, leaning closer to me. “But trust me. The time away can make things even better once you get back. Couples that spend every waking moment together get sick of each other. You know you won’t have to worry about that.”
“Not unless you get injured or retire,” Dozer chimes in. “Just ask Easton.”
Abernathy shrugs. “Easton keeps himself plenty busy with his new peewee hockey league. And with the way he’s going with camps and sponsors and everything, I have a feeling he’ll be churning out pros in just a few years.”
Dozer grins. “You think you’ll still be around once they start making it to the draft?”
“Nah. I know my days are numbered. Pretty soon, I’ll hang up my skates and be able to make my wife completely sick of me.” He grins like that’s the greatest idea he’s ever heard in his life.
And while I can’t say I totally get where he’s coming from, the idea of spending unlimited amounts of time with Hailey sounds pretty good to me, too.