Chapter 55

Wade

"Hey." Zane stands at the edge of the table with his hands deep in his pockets. "I won't stay if you don't want me to." Nervously, he sways from side to side.

I've lost the ability to speak.

Lola kicks my shin under the table. "Ouch." I reach down and give it a rub.

"Take a seat, Zane," Lola says sweetly. "We both want you here."

"You sure?" He looks me dead in the eyes.

Fuck it. We do need this."Yeah." I grab a spoon and hand it to him.

"Creamy coconut sundae." Lola digs her spoon into the ice cream.

"My favorite." Zane pulls his mouth to the side, making Lola's face light up like a jukebox. "Mine too, and Wade's." She points her spoon at me while Zane slides into the seat opposite. "That's one thing we all have in common. You two might be more similar than you think."

"Maybe," I mutter.

"Both handsome, both hockey players. Share the same dad. Like creamy coconut sundaes. What else?"

"Okay, you made your point." I poke her ribs gently.

"She doesn't have an off switch. Talked the entire way here." Zane tucks his lips into his mouth.

"You traveled together?"

"And returning together." Zane pretends to be mad about that, but does a terrible job of hiding his smile.

"No off switch." I burst out laughing. Fuck, this is bizarre.

Protesting, she mumbles with a mouth full of white ice cream, "Hey, that's mean. I have an off switch."

"When?"

"When I'm sleeping." She takes another giant spoonful. "Dig in. It's good."

Which is what we all do until it's finished. Every minute or so we glance at each other and shake our heads at the bizarreness of our situation.

I drop my spoon into the finished sundae, which makes a tinkling sound as it hits the glass. "So." I wipe the sides of my mouth on a napkin.

"So." Zane rests his back against the pink and yellow leather backrest. "I have something to say."

"Okay."

"I'm sorry."

"For?" I want to hear him say it.

"All the hurtful, untrue things I've said to you and about you. I'm sorry."

"Why did you say them?"

"Deflection, I guess." He shuffles in his seat, looking uncomfortable.

"I don't understand."

"A lack of confidence in my ability. But you, you just seem to have this gift. Everything comes naturally to you. He talks about that a lot, you know?"

"Who?"

"Dad. Marcus. Him and I watch tapes together, replays, and every time he points out your techniques and tells me how to improve."

"You're a star goalie, Zane, the best in the NHL."

"I was threatened by you. The things I said were spiteful and disrespectful. It was more about how I felt about myself. It was never about you."

"Go on."

He lets out a long breath. "You have this confidence and ability I don't have. With me it's all bravado. I needed help. A lot of it. Extra lessons."

"Me too."

"Did you?"

"Almost every night after school." Didn't need them though. Wanted them. There is a difference, but I don't tell him that. Rubbing salt into wounds is not my style.

"Same."

"Not quite so different after all." Lola pipes up.

"I made assumptions about you, Wade. Caused you aggravation and grief as well as unnecessary pain."

I look my brother up and down. "You were a bully."

"I was. I was jealous of you. Everyone liked you from the start. While everyone thought I made the team because of who my dad is."

That last comment hits hard. "They think the same about me now, too."

"They don't. Seven other NHL teams wanted you. Only two wanted me."

"Stop caring about that shit, Zane. It's all in the past. You're an NHL player now. A goalie. An epic one at that and you're messing up your career. Just stop being a dick and enjoy the ride." Talking to him makes me realize that I miss hockey so much. I'm itching to get back onto the ice.

Four days. That's what Lola's given me.

"You should maybe listen to your own advice, brother." Lola stares me down.

Zane leans forward and clasps his hands together on top of the table. "She's right."

Zane holds eye contact with me. "I've been seeing a counselor."

"Me too." I may as well confess. "Your dad?—"

"Our dad," Zane interrupts.

"Marcus," I correct. "Hired a support team to get me back on track. Amelia cheated on me, then Gretchen died. I've had a lot going on you don't know about."

"Is that what all the community publicity was about and hiring Kali?"

"And me." Lola holds her hand up.

"Yeah. It's changed my life."

"I'm sorry you've had a tough time of it. I guess I didn't help matters?"

"I broke your nose. I think we're even."

Zane rubs his nose as if phantom pain still lives on from the memory. "Kali did too."

"She should have broken your dick."

"It felt like she did when she kneed me in the balls." His eyes flit away and then back to me. "I'm sorry for what I did to her that night at the hotel."

"It's not me you should be apologizing to."

He fidgets with the salt cellar. "I went to see Kali after we left your house the other day."

"And?"

How is she?

How did she look?

Did she ask about me?

"Kali accepted my apology and forgave me. I'm a changed man, I promise, Wade."

We'll see.

"As long as she's happy, then so am I." I know therapy helped me find myself again; changed me back to the man I was before Gretchen died, but Zane was never that nice to begin with. To move on, I'm going to have to learn to trust him.

Not something I am good at.

I look between Lola and him, then ask her, "He's not…"

"What?" Lola's eyes widen in shock when she realizes I'm asking if he's the father. "Oh, my God. No way."

Thank fuck for that.

"What?" Zane asks, completely baffled by our interaction.

"Nothing," we both say at the same time.

"We should take a photo of all three of us together as a mini celebration of sorts. The day you two called a truce." Lola grabs her phone.

Zane and I screw our faces up in disagreement, but she doesn't let it go.

"C'mon, scootch in." She beckons us to move in to her left and right while she holds the phone out in front of her and we sandwich her between us.

"Do we have to do this?" I protest.

"Once you two get back on the ice together, this could all be a distant memory, so let's make the most of it. Now smile." She taps the button. Our faces fill the screen as we smile, and there is no denying it. We do all sort of look like one another.

"What should I put as the caption?" Lola asks. "I'm tagging you both."

I grin. Wide. And suggest. "A sister from another mister and a brother from another mother, who is also a mother––"

"Don't say it." Zane leans over Lola, trying to cover my mouth.

"… Fucker."

"Yeah, about that." He turns as bright as a strawberry.

"Forget it," Lola says. "We are never talking about that woman ever again."

"Not ever?" I thought Lola might want to connect with her in some way.

"Not now. Not ever." She sounds pretty certain about that, so I don't push it.

"Posted. I put one word. Family." Lola says, smiling down at the photo.

"Family," we all say together.

It's unconventional and a fucking mess right now, but what family is normal?

Not this one, that's for sure.