Chapter 17 #2
He had a point. Teenagers weren’t stupid, but being overwhelmed by hormones at the same time they were figuring out themselves and the world around them—I mean, it kind of made them stupid. I remembered those years.
“I never gave you any reason to think you couldn’t come out to me, did I?” I asked. “Because if I did, I’m sorry.”
My son’s smile was an indescribable redemption. “Nah. I probably overthought things.”
I snorted. “That definitely runs in the family.”
“You don’t say.” He rolled his shoulders and gestured upstairs. “Should I get Jasmine and we can all go find some lunch?”
“Sure. That sounds great.” I paused. “Unless you wanted to ask me about anything? Or tell me anything?”
He pursed his lips as he seemed to think about it. Then he shook his head and met my gaze. “Not that I can think of.” Inclining his head, he asked, “What about you?”
“Not at the moment, no.” God, I wished.
He raised an eyebrow, a hint of playfulness entering his expression. “But you’ll tell me if you’ve got a boyfriend? Or a girlfriend?”
“I’ll…” I hesitated. “I mean, if I think they’ll stick around for a bit, sure.”
Chris laughed. “Fair enough.” Pushing himself to his feet, he added, “I’ll go get Jazz.”
As he headed upstairs, I closed my eyes and exhaled. I wished I could tell him I was dating Liam St. Clair. I wished that were a thing that was true.
A man could dream, I guess.
Today, I was just glad to have knocked down one more barrier between my son and me.
Normally, Jasmine drove Chris to the arena, then came back later to watch the game and drive them both home.
Today, though, a couple of days after I’d come out to Chris, he had a team obligation that didn’t leave him time to come home before heading to the arena. The solution—Jasmine dropped him off this morning and rode in with me for tonight’s game, and I’d drive them home afterward.
As she eased herself into the passenger seat, she said, “I really appreciate this, Mr. Kane.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I smiled. “And like I said before, you can just call me Garrett.”
She glanced at me as she pulled on her seat belt. “Are you sure?”
“Of course. You’re an adult. Formality is…” I waved a hand.
She laughed softly. “Okay. I don’t know why it’s still such a habit.”
“Eh, old habits die hard.” I shifted back into drive and headed out of the townhouse’s parking lot. “I won’t be offended if you call me Mr. Kane, but Garrett is fine.”
“Okay. I’ll try to remember this time.” We chatted as I drove, and she filled me in on some of the plans she and Chris had for their baby’s arrival. “My mom’s coming out in February to stay with us. So she’ll be here when the baby comes, and she’ll stay for a few weeks after he’s born.”
“Oh, good,” I said. “I’m happy to help out as much as either of you need. I still have to work, but if you need anything, especially when Chris is on the road, don’t hesitate to give me a call, okay?”
Jasmine smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind. It’ll be really great to have someone locally, you know? So… thanks.”
“Of course. Anything I can do to help—just say the word.”
“Thank you,” she said again. “And, um, by the way—helping with the baby aside, it’s been really good for Chris, having you in town.”
I glanced at her. “Yeah?”
She nodded. “He was so excited when he told me you were moving to Pittsburgh—I know he was worried you might not be happy about the baby, but he was still thrilled.”
I winced. “It isn’t like you two are sixteen.”
“No, but we’re not married, and we’re young, and…” She trailed off.
“I’d be a bit of a hypocrite if I gave him grief for that. His mother and I weren’t married either, and we were way too young.” I shrugged. “You and he have good heads on your shoulders, and you can support yourselves.”
“The League paycheck helps,” she said with a shy laugh.
“Man, I would’ve killed for a paycheck like that when I was about to be a dad.” I paused. “To be serious, I would never have been angry with him or with you even if you were sixteen. Worried, sure. But not angry.”
“Really?”
I nodded. “Because I’ve been there myself.
I wasn’t that young, but I was still too young, and I was terrified.
” Pushing out a breath, I adjusted my grip on the wheel.
“What I needed in that moment was support. Taylor and I were going to figure it out, but more than ever, we needed our parents to love us and have our backs.”
“They didn’t do that?”
“Not really, no. Taylor’s parents were especially furious. They hated me and were ready to disown her.”
“Jesus, seriously?” Jasmine shifted in the passenger seat. “That’s awful.”
“It was. And mine—well, they weren’t much better.
They treated every little thing like a punishment.
Taylor was sick? Well, should’ve thought of that.
Baby keeping us up at night? Yep, this is what it’s like to be a parent.
Like, in the moments when we needed it the least, they’d smack us with how we’d gotten ourselves into this situation. ”
“That sounds exhausting. I mean, my parents were a bit surprised, and they were kind of worried at first, but now they’re so excited it’s almost annoying.”
I laughed. “First-time grandparents?”
She nodded. “Yep. But it’s really cute, you know? Sometimes it’s a bit over the top, but I’ll take it.”
“I’m glad they’re excited. And Taylor and I—we weren’t in a good place by the time our kids were becoming teenagers.
But we did still have our heads together enough to actually sit down and talk through how we’d handle it if there was a teenage pregnancy in the house.
Like we knew we’d never throw them out or force them to do anything.
But how would we react, you know?” I glanced at her.
“Because we didn’t want to put them through what we went through. ”
“That makes sense. How did you think you would react?”
I considered it. “I mean, we knew there’s no predicting emotions.
You can tell yourself all day long how you’ll feel and how you’ll react in a stressful situation, but there’s really no telling until the rubber meets the road.
But we figured if we at least walked through it and thought about it, we’d be a little better prepared.
We knew what we wished we’d heard from our parents, and we promised ourselves to, at the very least, do better than they did.
” I chuckled. “In the end, we kind of stressed ourselves out about something that never happened, but I’m glad we talked it through anyway. ”
“I mean…” Jasmine gestured at her belly before resting her hand on top of it. “It did kind of happen.”
“Nah. You’re young, yes, but you’ve got your feet under you and you’ve got a support network.” I glanced at her again. “It definitely caught me by surprise, not gonna lie, but it was never even in the same ballpark as realizing one of my kids was becoming a teen parent.”
“Oh.” She relaxed minutely. “Chris was so worried about it.”
“I know he was. I hope I’ve put his mind at ease, though.” I paused to change lanes. “I’m thrilled about it, honestly.”
“Yeah?” There was a delighted smile in her voice, and a glance confirmed it.
“Yeah.” I smiled myself as I faced the road. “I hadn’t really given much thought to being a grandfather, but now I’m looking forward to it.”
“So we’ll be able to rope you into endless babysitting?” Her tone was playful and teasing.
“Depends.” I glanced at her. “How many curse words do you think I can teach him?”
She tsked and rolled her eyes. “His dad’s a hockey player. My money is already on Asher’s first word being ‘fuck.’” She slapped a hand over her mouth. “Oh. Sorry. I—”
“It’s okay,” I laughed. “And you’re probably not wrong. But that’s where Grandpa comes in—I can teach him all the correct ways to conjugate ‘fuck.’”
Jasmine giggled. “You would, too.”
“Mmhmm. Probably.”
A few minutes later, we arrived at the arena. On the way inside, she asked, “Do you want to come sit in the spouses’ box tonight?” She gestured toward the hallway. “It’s mostly wives and girlfriends, but a lot of family members come sit with us, too.”
“Oh. Uh.”
“You don’t have to,” she said quickly. “But I know the owner’s box can be a bit empty.”
“Eh, why not?” I smiled. “If you don’t mind your boyfriend’s dad tagging along.”
“Pfft.” She waved a hand. “I don’t mind at all.”
Well, if she didn’t, then neither did I, and we joined some of the other partners and spouses inside.
I was looking forward to watching the game and to spending time with my future daughter-in-law tonight.
I was, however, a little nervous about seeing Liam in the locker room later on.
In fact, I decided I might hang out in the hallway when that time came, under the pretense of not adding to the crowd in the room.
I wanted to take him at his word that he’d suggested pausing this because of the team dynamics. That if he and Chris hadn’t been teammates, we’d absolutely still be seeing where this went.
But I wasn’t stupid. Liam was a great guy.
He absolutely was. But he was also not someone who needed to settle for an older guy who still had to worry about things like health insurance premiums and retirement contributions.
Liam wasn’t just a pro athlete—he was a superstar pro athlete who could have his pick of men who were younger, hotter, healthier, and wealthier than me.
So could I really blame him for not wanting to carry on with me?
I could believe he’d enjoyed himself when we’d kissed in his kitchen, but he and I both knew I was hardly the pinnacle of what he could get.
If anything, I was just grateful he’d been polite about cutting me loose.
Having my son on his hockey team was a convenient alibi, and I didn’t begrudge him for using it.