“Okay, listen, I’m sorry. I’m a coward, but I thought you wouldn’t take her if I wasn’t gonna be there.”
She made a face. “Whatever. I’d take her no matter what. You don’t need to apologize to me, you need to apologize to her. She was nervous. You know how she can get.”
He made a sound of defeat and cleared his throat. “Angie, baby, I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, Jay,” she giggled. “Mommy was soooo mad!”
He chuckled. “I know. I’m a jerk. Do you forgive me?”
“Of course!”
“Lucy?”
“I am thinking of a long list of bad words that I could include with no, but Angie’s in the car.”
“Thank God,” he breathed and Lucy smiled. “But really, I’m sorry.”
“Whatever.”
“I love youuuuu,” he sang and Lucy smiled.
“I love you too, but I’m still mad.”
“I know, I’m sorry. But please tell me you didn’t hit my boy, BP?”
“BP?” Lucy asked confused.
“Benji Paxton? He showed, right?”
“Oh yeah! He was soooooooooooo awesome, Jayden! He’s coming Wednesday too,” Angie cheered and Jayden laughed.
“Cool dude, huh?”
“I don’t know. Who volunteers to coach a bunch of girls? Seems a little unusual to me.”
“He’s a really great guy. I seriously only had to call, and he didn’t even question me. Just said he’d be there,” Jayden said, which didn’t change Lucy’s mind. She didn’t like him. Or maybe, she didn’t like that she thought he was hot. Or nice.
Man, she was fucked in the head.
“Can’t he just be nice, Mom?” Angie asked and Lucy shrugged. She wouldn’t allow herself to tell her daughter that no man was like that unless they were disgusting perverts.
“Or a child molester,” she said under her breath, and Jayden sucked in a breath.
“Seriously, Luce?”
“What?” she asked innocently and Angie made a face. “It was a joke.”
“What’d she say?” Angie asked.
“Nothing,” they said at the same time.
“But a really, really cool dude. Supernice, and that’s awesome that he wants to keep helping. He’s kind of a hermit.”
“A hermit?”
“Yeah, he doesn’t get out much. He’s quiet.”
“No, he’s not. He was superfunny,” Angie complained and Jayden chuckled.
“Weirdoooo,” Lucy sang and Angie glared.
“Mom!”
“Sorry,” she said, rolling her eyes. Apparently everyone was a fan of Benji, but she was not and she needed a topic change. “So how’s Baylor?”
Sucking in a breath, Jayden let it out slowly. “Not good. They are pretty sure she’ll need another surgery, and even then, they aren’t sure if she’ll be fixed. She cried the whole way home. Coach is trying to convince her to retire from the NHL. That he can get her a job at Bellevue as a girls’ coach or even a guys’ coach.”
Lucy shook her head, her heart dropping for her sister-in-law. Baylor’s dad, who was marrying their mom, was the coach at Bellevue University. He had been saying he’d get her a job for the last year. No one wanted to see Baylor get hurt anymore. It was getting really scary. “Yeah, what are you thinking?”
He didn’t answer right away, but when he did, the emotion was thick in his throat. “I don’t know how many more times I can take watching my wife get hurt on the ice. I’m so worried about her that it’s affecting my game.”
Exactly, she thought as she cleared her throat. “You tell her that?”
“Not yet. She’s sleeping right now. I’ll talk to her in the morning.”
“Okay, tell her that, though, Jay. Promise me.”
He paused and she knew he didn’t want to. Baylor was proud and didn’t take well to not being the best, but it had gone too far. She was getting hurt more than she was playing. As awesome as it was that she was in the NHL, it just wasn’t worth it. She was in constant pain and it was taking a toll on their relationship. They both knew that. “Yeah, I promise.”
“Thanks,” Lucy said softly.
“I’ll text you if she doesn’t kill me.”
“I was gonna request that,” Lucy laughed and he chuckled. He sounded so tired and that worried her. He was a fix-it kind of guy. Always worried about everyone else and not himself. He’d run himself into the ground before he would let anyone down. He was just a really all-around great guy like that. She did well helping raise him.
Clearing his throat, he said, “So, this weekend is the recital? Eleven?”
Her worry for her brother disappeared as white-hot anger came back. Stupid Rick. “Yup. Rick just decided to tell me today. Thankfully, our sister-in-law helps run that place.”
“What are you talking about?” Angie asked.
“Your dance recital.”
Meeting her gaze, Angie made a face. “I thought that was in two weeks.”
Fucking douche.
Jayden muttered something along the same lines as Lucy shook her head. “Nope, this weekend.”
“Hm. Okay,” she said simply and Lucy rolled her eyes.
“Okay, well, we are almost home. Call me tomorrow. Get some sleep, Jay.”
“I sound tired?”
“You do.”