4. Leo
Leo
“Thanks again for the jump. I owe you one.”
I put away the jumper cables in the back of my SUV. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it,” I say to Zoey.
I shut the door, then turn back to my sister. She keeps checking her phone.
“You okay?” I ask.
She flashes a smile, but it’s strained. That protective feeling inside of me sharpens.
“Is that Jeff?” I ask, unable to hide the hardness in my tone.
“Yeah. But it’s okay, Leo. I’ve got it under control.”
I scoff. “Really? You finally gonna break up with him?”
She lets out a heavy sigh. “Leo.”
“I’m serious, Zoey. He’s a jerk. He doesn’t deserve you.”
She crosses her arms and purses her lips. She doesn’t say anything.
“Don’t you get sick of this? Arguing with him all the time? Dealing with him walking out on you and then coming back only when it’s convenient for him?”
She shakes her head and glances off to the side.
“Don’t you get tired of him mooching off of you? Does he even have a job yet?”
She whips her head to me. “Stop it, Leo.” Her voice breaks when she says my name.
Guilt punches through my chest. Damn it. What am I doing? Going off on her isn’t going to help. It’s only going to hurt her feelings and make her more defensive.
I close my eyes and sigh. “I’m sorry.”
She sniffles. “Whatever.”
My chest aches. I made my sister cry. Fuck, I’m an asshole.
I pull her into a hug. “I’m sorry. Really.”
I feel her relax against me. “I know you don’t like Jeff. You don’t have to like him. But he’s my boyfriend. I care about him. Yeah, we’re going through some stuff right now, but I don’t need my little brother lecturing me about my relationship.”
“I know. You’re right. I’m sorry,” I say again.
She leans back and steps out of my embrace.
“I just care about you, Zoey. I want you to be okay.”
That pained look in her big brown eyes fades.
“I know,” she says softly. She tucks a chunk of her long, dark brown hair behind her ear.
“I know that you care about me, and I love you for that. But I can take care of myself, okay? I’m twenty-five.
I live on my own. I support myself. I can handle all this. I’m good, Leo.”
I nod, even though I know she’s not good. She’s sad and stressed almost every time I see her, and it’s because of her piece of shit boyfriend.
But I need to back off. If I keep pressuring her to leave him, she’ll just get mad and frustrated at me. I need to just be supportive.
I nod at the hood of her car. “You regret driving a Lexus yet? Told you that an Audi would be better, but you didn’t want to listen to your little brother,” I try to joke.
She cracks a smile. “I love my Lexus. I just need to remember not to leave my brights on after a long day at work.”
“The kiddos at the daycare are running you ragged, huh?”
She chuckles. “Always. It was cupcake day yesterday, so all the kids were running wild on a sugar high. It was nuts.”
“Sounds like a blast.”
She chuckles again. It’s nice joking around with her like this, seeing her smile, hearing her laugh.
I tap my hand on the hood of her car. “Gramps would love that you’re still driving his car.”
She smiles fondly at the sleek, gray sedan. “Every time I drive it, I think of him.”
“He’s definitely looking down and saying, ‘That’s my girl.’”
Our grandpa passed away a couple of years ago, leaving both of us a generous inheritance, his cars, a house, and one of the townhomes he owned.
Zoey lives in it now. She told me I could move in with her when I started college, but I ended up living in the other house he left us.
It’s on the edge of the Hollis U campus, and I share it with three of my hockey teammates.
“So, um, how was coffee with Dad?” Zoey asks.
All the happy feelings fade away. I shove my hands in my jacket pockets. “Like it always is. Fucking awful.”
Her shoulders sink. “I’m sorry.”
I shrug. “I’m used to it.” I check the time. “I should go. I need to get to class.”
She hugs me. “Thanks again, Leo.”
“Anytime.”
I pull out of her driveway and head back to campus. I go to my morning class, then check my phone.
I see new messages in the group text I have with my roommates Nick, Travis, and Blake.
Nick: I’m starving. Headed to the diner. You guys wanna come?
Travis: I’ll head down in a few
Blake: On my way
My stomach growls. I was so busy this morning with my dad and my sister, then going to class, that I didn’t have time to eat breakfast.
Me: Count me in
* * *
“We’ve got a tall stack of pancakes, two orders of French toast, corned beef hash, grilled chicken breast, a side order of bacon, six fried eggs, six scrambled eggs, two breakfast sandwiches, and cheese grits,” the server says.
She sets down a mountain of plates on our usual table at the Mile High Diner.
“You boys need anything else?” she asks.
We shake our heads.
“We’re good, Janice. Thanks,” Nick says.
“I’m guessing you boys want pie for dessert, like usual?” Janice asks when she comes back to refill our drinks.
We nod, our mouths full. She just chuckles. “Four slices of pie for these bottomless pits, coming right up.”
Nick blows her a kiss. “Love you, Janice.”
“Don’t let Poppy catch you flirting with our server. She’ll have your balls,” Blake teases.
Nick rolls his eyes, smiling. “Poppy loves Janice. She says she reminds her of her aunt.” He wipes his mouth with a napkin before shoveling more corned beef hash into his mouth.
We finish our meals, then dig into our pie.
“Hey, are we still having a Halloween party at our place?” Blake asks.
“Hell, yeah,” Nick says. “It’s our last year at Hollis. Our senior year. We gotta go out with a bang.”
“Good because Briar and I already have our costumes picked out.” Blake smiles. “We’re going as Jake and Amy from Brooklyn Nine-Nine.”
“Of course you are,” Travis mutters.
Blake elbows him. “You don’t get to give me shit. I know you and Anna are going as characters from Grey’s Anatomy.”
Travis frowns at him, but a second later, he cracks a smile. “Yeah. We are.”
Nick laughs. “Damn, dude. Really? You hardly ever dress up for Halloween. You’re such a grump.”
Travis shrugs. “Your sister convinced me.”
“Aww, our boy’s whipped,” Blake teases. Travis rolls his eyes, but the corner of his mouth twitches like he’s trying not to smile.
He’s dating Nick’s twin sister, Anna, who’s a super fan of the show Grey’s Anatomy. He started watching it with her, and now he loves it too.
“You and Poppy doing a couple’s costume too?” Blake asks Nick.
“Yeah, maybe.” He grins. “I kind of want to go as something romantic. Like Romeo and Juliet.”
I look at him. “Romeo and Juliet kill themselves.”
His smile drops. “Wait, they do?”
I roll my eyes. “God, you’re stupid.”
Nick just grins. “Hey, not many people can have beauty and brains. If you’re going to be insanely hot like me, you can’t be smart too. It wouldn’t be fair.”
I throw my napkin at him, but he catches it and laughs. “You’re so fucking cocky, dude,” I say.
“Oh, hey, I heard about that charity gala the weekend before. The one with all the retired pro athletes,” Blake says to me. He clears his throat. “You going?”
I exhale sharply. “Yeah.”
The whole table goes quiet. The guys know about my strained relationship with my dad.
As my teammates for the past four years, they’ve seen it play out.
While their families cheer them on in the stands during games, my dad sits quietly and watches me, silently scrutinizing everything I do on the ice.
And after games, when their parents are praising them for how well they played, my dad is lecturing me on everything I did wrong.
“You don’t have to go, man. You don’t owe him anything,” Blake says.
“That’s not what he thinks,” I mutter.
“You don’t owe him,” Nick repeats. “You’re the one who puts in the work every time you’re out there on the ice, just like the rest of us. You’re the one who trains hard and plays your ass off.”
“He doesn’t see it that way,” I say. “He’s the one who put a hockey stick in my hand when I could barely walk. He’s the one who paid for all those camps and trainers and coaching.”
“That’s what a parent is supposed to do,” Blake says. “They’re supposed to pay for that stuff when you’re a kid.”
“Especially if they’re the one who wants you to play hockey in the first place,” Travis says.
My teammates are right. I know they are. But my dad doesn’t care. He’ll always think he knows better than me.
“It goes deeper than that. Even if I told him all that, he’d say he’s still the reason I’m as good as I am.” I repeat what he’s said to me a million times. “‘You got your skills and your talent from me, Leo. It’s in your genes that I passed on to you.’”
“I still don’t think you should have to go to that gala and pretend that your dad is perfect when he treats you like crap,” Blake says.
“If you need us to call you with an emergency to bail you out, just say the word,” Nick says.
I crack a small smile. “Thanks, guys.”
We pay our tab and stand up from the table.
We head toward the entrance, but I stop in my tracks when I see who is standing there, talking to one of the servers.
The pretty redhead from the coffee shop this morning. The one who was getting yelled at because of me.
She looks off to the side and sees me. When she glowers at me, my stomach drops.
Shit.