Chapter 1 #2
“Hey, Uncle Ev.” Max trotted along beside him, shoulders hunched, hands in his pockets. “How mad are you?”
“Well, not bad enough that I bothered your dad yet. I want to have a united front before we talk to him.” Bobby was having a rough time right now. Not a broken neck or anything like that, but he was laid up pretty bad with a half-scrambled brain and a worried wife with three other kids at home.
“Well, that’s good, right? That you’re not that mad. I swear to God I didn’t—”
“Sit first. Then apologize. I need coffee.”
They sat and it took no minutes to get a cup of coffee and a glass of water and an amazing-looking menu.
He ordered huevos rancheros, doctored his coffee, then leaned back and sighed. “All right, go on.”
“We used protection. I tried really hard—”
One of his eyebrows went up.
“I mean… I wasn’t coming on to her. See, like, we came on to each other. Mutual. We were talking about maybe dating long-term, like long-distance relationship stuff, but I got busy with the end of the season, and we just stopped talking a lot, you know? And now this.”
God help him. “Well, this is definitely going to be a relationship that’s for sure. Are you wanting to marry this girl or something?”
“Do I have to?” Max’s eyes went wide. “We’ve known each other for a grand total of like two and a half months.
Maybe one day, but no, I don’t even know when her birthday is.
I know her favorite band, and that’s Taylor Swift, and she’s not even a band.
I don’t even know that she knows what hockey is, you know? ”
He had to hide his chuckle in his coffee cup.
“I’m sure she knows what hockey is, but since there isn’t a league team here, maybe she doesn’t really know how it works. That’s something you can teach her. Long-distance.”
Max ducked his head, then glanced up. “I guess I was thinking about—”
Evan held up a hand. “Nope, no thinking, none of that. I don’t want you thinking independently. I want you just to ponder this. You are at the point where you’re about to go to college and play hockey. Is this still a priority for you?”
“Well, yeah, it’s all I’ve ever wanted to do, and not just because you and Dad do it.
I’m good at it, and I got a full ride to school for it.
” Max shrugged, and Evan loved how the kid didn’t even hesitate with his answer.
“But I don’t have to get back to summer camp for another month and a half, right?
So I could hang out here for a little while. ”
“And do what? Is there an ice rink where you can practice?”
Someone brought them a bowl of chips and some salsa, which he hadn’t ordered, and he didn’t know if he was supposed to have it for free or if they were going to charge him like a lot of places were now.
Not that it mattered, because he was going to eat them, so if they put them on the bill, so be it.
He crunched his way through two chips — the sauce stuck to his lips like crazy, the burn was wild, and he thought it was amazing.
“Yeah, there are a couple of rinks actually, and there’s more down in Albuquerque, which, as you know, is only an hour away.” Max was trying hard not to sound like, “Well, duh,” he could tell, but it was not going well for the kid.
Evan sort of wanted to smack him.
“And how are you going to pay for rink fees and everything? You going to ask your dad to do that for you?”
“I don’t know. I guess he’s got a lot of stuff going on right now, but I don’t see why he couldn’t.”
“So you’re just planning on getting me and your dad to foot the bill.” He knew he was being a hard-ass right off the bat, but he had to start out like he could hold out. Max needed to think about this stuff because he was going to end up having to support a kid for the rest of his life.
“So, I’ll get a job.” Max shook his head. “I didn’t think you were going to be such an asshole about this. I know I screwed up, but at least I called and told you about it. I didn’t just go off the radar somewhere or make Hillary feel like I didn’t care. I might be dumb, but I’m not a dick.”
“No, you’re right. You didn’t. And if you’re going to get a job, I would rather you did work for me or something, because I don’t want you to end up missing out on the camps and such. But I do think you need to ponder all of these things instead of running off in all directions.”
“I know I do. I know. That’s why I called you, right?” Max was flushed, the kid’s eyes bloodshot, and Evan forced himself to calm down.
This was not about him. This was about Max, about this teenager who had gotten himself in trouble, and who was trying to make it right.
He took a deep breath, then let it out.
He guessed one of the best parts about being queer was he didn’t have to worry about this particular problem.
“We’ll figure it out, but you’re going to have to tell your dad pretty soon.
I mean, I know why you haven’t yet. We need to make a plan first before we hit him with it. Do you have a picture of this girl?”
“Oh, sure, sure. From spring break. She’s real pretty.” Max grabbed his phone, tapped, flipped, swiped.
Finally, he showed Evan a picture of a young woman—just a kid really. Long, dark hair, pointed chin, she had deep brown eyes. She was cute. Not wildly beautiful, but she would make pretty babies, for sure. And she had a lively sparkle to her eyes that said she was smart.
“You said you talked to her dad?” The coffee here was good, and he was grateful for it. Suddenly the early morning and the travel dragged at him.
Max’s eyes went wide at his question. “Yeah, he’s some badass cowboy kind of guy—like the guy in the rodeo helping with the bull riding, a rodeo clown thing, but with less makeup. He’s not real happy.”
Evan didn’t love that worried expression. “He didn’t hurt you or anything?”
“What? Yeah, no.” Max twisted his napkin up. The damn thing was going to be in pieces soon, if he kept worrying it. “He threatened, though. Thank God, Hillary talked to him first.”
“Huh.” He didn’t approve of that threatening thing. Not at all. “Well, if I have to, I’ll have a chat with him.”
“Oh, right. That will go over well.”
“Like a lead balloon, I bet, but someone has to look out for you in all this.” Sure, the kid had a dad, but said dad was dealing with injury and work, and Annette was already at the end of her rope.
Okay, reasonable wasn’t the right word to use for Annette, but it would have been fun as hell to watch her deal.
“I really appreciate you coming out, Uncle Ev. This whole thing is not my smartest move ever, but I swear to you, we did use a condom.”
He held up one hand and shook his head. “You said it once. That was enough. Let’s be honest, kid, I don’t want to think about you and condoms in the same sentence ever again.
You know how it works now. I assume that when you do this again—sex, not the baby part—you know how to make one work.
If you don’t ask your father to show you.
I don’t care. But let’s not ever use those sentences together again.
Fair?” He may have sounded a little hysterical, but he was tired.
Bobby was going to call him. There was no doubt in his mind at all that that man was going to call and go, “Where are you? Are you with my son? What’s wrong?”
And he was going to have to explain that there was a baby coming, and that was going to piss him right the hell off because it was Max’s job.
Maybe he would just facilitate a call between Bobby and Max today. So he didn’t have to be the one to explain, dammit.
The food came, and his mouth watered at the scent of the chile even if he could tell it was too damn hot. Goddamn, that looked good. Hallelujah for food.
“This smells amazing.” He nodded when the waitress offered him more coffee.
Max had ordered eggs and bacon and toast, no chile.
“So, are you working out on your little vacation?”
“Uncle.” Max rolled his eyes. “I haven’t done a lot of anything. I mean, she let me know that she was pregnant two weeks ago. I got the flight down, and I’ve been here for two days. Well, today’s the third. I didn’t know what to do.”
He dug into the food, the green chile immediately making him sweat. Oh, fuck him raw, that was lovely. “Where did you tell your dad you were going?”
Max shrugged, winced. “I didn’t lie. I told him I was coming to New Mexico to see a girl.”
He arched one eyebrow. “What did he say?”
That question earned him a dramatic sigh as Max slumped back into the banquette with one piece of bacon in his fingers like a conductor’s baton. “That women were trouble, stay away from them, and why couldn’t I be gay like you, then Mom threatened to break his baby toe and make him cry.”
“All right, smart ass.” He chuckled though, because that was funny, and it sounded just like Bobby and Annette both.
Max shrugged. Little turd.
“Okay. First, we’re going to eat. Then I’m going to go find my hotel room.
Then I’m going to take a nap. After that, I think we need to talk to your dad.
Together, if you want, but you’ve got to tell him the whole thing.
” Oh man, he was going to have to see if they bottled this sauce.
“I want to meet this girl and her family.”
It was a bit too intense, he thought, to meet some poor newly pregnant girl all by himself.
She needed her dad there to be…well, her dad. That seemed way more reasonable.
“Okay, I can do both of those things, even though they both scare me.” Max grinned at him a bit, his expression hangdog, but hopeful.
“Good man. Now let’s eat. This is amazing, and I don’t want to give myself indigestion by talking this up anymore right now.”
He had at least the kernel of a plan, which was making sure everybody knew what the situation was. Once he had the lay of the land, as far as back to his girl and her family, then he could come up with the rest. But only after he ate this amazing food and then slept for at least ten hours.
First though, he’d have to make a phone call back to Boston. Someone had to tell Bobby and Annette they were going to be grandparents,