Chapter 3 #2
Evan stood, and he towered over this guy. “I’ll give you the grace, but don’t push me.”
The knock sounded on the door, and that kept them from laying hands on each other. But the tension in the room didn’t abate the least little bit.
“Uncle Ev? You in there?” Max called. “I’m here with Hillary.”
Sam didn’t move away, didn’t stop staring, just watched him as calm and still as anything.
“Uncle Ev? They said you came up, and—”
A soft girl’s voice sounded. “Daddy, I swear to God, just leave him alone. He doesn’t understand. He’s here to help Max. Just back off him.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Obviously she knows you.”
“She ought to. I’ve had her for eighteen years. You best go open the door.”
God, Evan wanted to pop this guy right in the nose—not enough to kill him or anything, just hard enough to bloody it, and make him cry a little. He’d always been good at using the perfect amount of force on the ice.
He headed to the door, wincing because he realized as soon as he did, he’d lost the face-off. He’d moved first. Motherfucker.
Max came in with Hillary right behind him. “Hey, guys. Mr. Marrón.”
Hillary went right to her father, one hand on his shirt, the short nails buffed and clean, hand doll-like. “Hey, Daddy, you met Mr. Halloway?”
Sam nodded once. “I did. He was kind enough to offer to let me come wait up here for y’all.”
She stepped away and started chewing on her thumbnail, worrying it. “I’m sorry about all this, and—”
Sam arched one dark eyebrow, stared at her, then at Max. “You didn’t do this by yourself.”
Max crossed his arms over his chest. “She didn’t, no. I never suggested that she did. That’s why I came here. I’m not trying to run out on my responsibilities.”
Christ. Evan looked Hillary up and down. She was tiny, her fingers curled into fists, her outfit a series of layers in wild colors. It was as if a cowboy had been splashed with paint.
Then he asked the hard question because somebody was going to have to. “You’re sure it’s his?”
Her eyes filled with tears, and Sam stepped forward, the growl audible.
He held up one hand. “I have to ask.”
Her pointed chin lifted. “I’m absolutely, one hundred percent sure. There’s no question. I don’t just fall into bed with boys.”
Evan had to admit he believed her. What was worse—or better or whatever—obviously Max did too.
“Okay, look, I’m sorry I upset you, but I have to ask these questions. I’m representing Max’s dad here, and he’s going to ask me.” He glanced sideways at Sam. “I’m sure you understand.”
Marrón crossed his arms and kind of growled, but he didn’t argue, so he figured he’d won that face-off. Not that he was exactly in a power play after the stunt with the door.
They all just stood there, shifting their weight from foot to foot. Then his phone went off. “The pizza’s here. I just ordered from a place the hotel had menus for.” Thank God. He glanced at Max. “You wanna go get it, kid?”
“Sure, sure, I’ll run down. I’ll be right back.” Max put a hand on Hillary’s shoulder, in a show of support.
“Have a seat you two.” Evan wanted them to pick the chairs or the beds or whatever they wanted to sit on. He had dragged the chair in from Max’s room, so there was an extra spot.
They took the chairs already in the room, the ones on either side of the little table, which would leave a chair for Max, so Evan sat on the bed.
Hillary kept her eyes on her dad. She was obviously worried about talking to him, and so she was taking cues from Sam.
Sam was staring at him.
“This doesn’t have to be uncomfortable—” he started.
“What about this exactly is comfortable?” Sam snarled. “Is this a big mess, or what?”
“I used protection; he used protection. We weren’t all stupid.” Her voice broke as she spoke, and Sam reached over and took her hand.
“Ay, mira. No llores, mi’ja. Todo estará bien, eh? Te lo prometo. Puedes contar conmigo.”
“Sí, Papa. I know, huh? You always got me.”
“I do.” Sam raised an eyebrow at him when Evan grunted.
He’d taken French in high school since he knew he was going to be playing hockey with a bunch of Canadians, and his Spanish was not great at best.
Hillary took pity on him. “Papa just says he has my back no matter what. That’s all.”
“That’s totally cool. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing.
And I want you to know, I’m not trying to be a combative asshole, but I also know that Max needs somebody at his back, too.
” He had no intention of leaving Max to deal with this himself.
This kid would promise away every goddamn thing on earth, and then when it came time for him to have a career or whatever, he’d be in the weeds.
“I didn’t ask for money or anything—” Hillary started, but Sam shook his head.
“Yes, but this is his baby, no? You both made it together. That’s a thing. He doesn’t get to just decide he’s not the dad, and you?” He pointed a finger at her. “You don’t get to decide that he’s just not the dad either.”
That was remarkably even-keeled for Sam. Evan thought he could have just been a bitch, but Max had mentioned Sam was a single dad.
“I wasn’t going to say that, Papa. I just don’t wanna ruin his life.”
Evan had a moment of extreme guilt because hadn’t he been thinking that exact same thing, but he held up a hand because that wasn’t fair.
“Hey, no, that’s not okay. This doesn’t need to ruin your life, either.
You two can work it out together. We’re here to facilitate that, but Max has to do his share.
” Even if he did it from Massachusetts while he played hockey.
She sighed, twirled her hair around one finger. “We talked about getting married, but I don’t think either one of us is ready for that.”
Suddenly Sam appeared to be about as gray as he felt.
“I’m starting school, and I can do one whole semester before the baby comes.”
He offered her a gentle smile. “You want to be a vet tech?”
She nodded. “I’m going to go to community college for the first two years because that way I can be here home with the baby a lot more when it’s only little, and then when it gets bigger, I can go to UNM.
Papa says maybe I will want to learn something else by the time that I have a couple of years of school.
My mom lives in Albuquerque, and we’ve got a plan. ”
It sounded to him like there was a plan that didn’t involve Max having the baby much at all.
Because Max was not moving here. This was not a hockey place.
The door opened and Max came in with the pizzas.
“Is this okay?” the kid asked Hillary. “You all right with pizza, Hills?”
She offered the kid a smile. “It smells good.”
“Cool, I just wanted to make sure before I waved it under your nose or something.” Max grinned, and he could see how much Max liked this little girl. He really could.
Sam carried on the conversation as if Max hadn’t even been gone. “So, what are you planning to do, Max?”
“Huh?” Max’s eyes went wide. “What did I miss?”
Sam opened the bag Max laid on the table. It had paper plates, utensils, and napkins in it. “Well, Hillary was saying how she was going to go to school and be able to keep the baby more often if she went to junior college for a little while. What does that mean for you? What are you going to do?”
Max glanced at him, and Evan nodded because he knew Max had a plan, or at least he had had a plan. So he was curious to see what the kid was going to say.
“I haven’t talked to my dad yet, of course. But I was planning on going to college in Boston and then trying for a pro team. I’ve already been playing lower league hockey, and I think I’m pretty good at it, so I’ve got a real shot at a career.”
“And where does that leave Hillary and the baby?”
“I can work at the same time, and I’ll send money. I want to arrange something where we can spend some holidays together, maybe, and I can see the baby. I’d really love to have a FaceTime schedule or something.”
Ev fought hard not to roll his eyes. God save him, but these kids were young. He didn’t think he’d ever been this young.
“So, you don’t want to get married?” Sam asked.
Max swallowed hard. “We only knew each other for a week. I really like Hillary, sir. I really do, but I don’t know that we’re ready to get married. That’s big.”
Sam arched an eyebrow. The man was very good at that. “So is having a baby.”
Max nodded. “I know. And I’m not saying I’m not going to be a dad, but I don’t want to make two mistakes.” Max looked at Hillary as the huge brown eyes filled with tears. “I mean, not that you’re a mistake—that’s not what I mean.”
“Of course not! What he means… ” Evan shook his head. “He’s just trying to be logical, I think, and I bet you are too.”
“What about insurance for the baby?” Sam asked. “Hillary is covered under her mother’s plan until she gets out of college or she ages out. We are going to have to come up with some situation for the baby.”
Max kind of shrank a little. “I’m not going to have a lot of money, but I’ll send you what I can and… Uncle Evan?”
“Well, we may have to see about getting on some kind of assistance at first for the kids. He needs to be able to focus on his hockey career and his schooling. So it might be, at first, while the kids don’t have a whole lot, that they go on some kind of assistance with the agreement that once there’s money, then he covers the insurance.
I think on that front we’re going to have to get lawyers involved just so that everything is up-front and spelled out. I don’t want any weird surprises.”
Evan didn’t want Hillary coming back and taking half of Max’s hockey career if she didn’t have the right to it.
He wasn’t trying to suggest that Max didn’t need to support the baby, because God knew Bobby had the money to pay all the medical bills and shit, but it wasn’t Max’s responsibility to support Hillary, especially not if they weren’t going to get married.