by Beth Ehemann
I climbed into bed quietly and nudged him. “You still awake?”
“Mmhmm.”
I picked my phone up from the nightstand. “I need to set my alarm. What time are you supposed to go see Dr. Jennings?”
“Andy’s taking me,” he said flatly.
“What?”
“I said Andy is going to take me,” he repeated a little louder.
“I heard what you said, I’m just wondering why.”
“Why not? We were talking a little while ago, and he said he had the morning free and offered to take me, so I said fine.”
I was a little shocked and a little more hurt that Viper didn’t want me to take him, but fighting with him about a ride was the last thing on my mind. “Okay.” I set my phone down. “Will you at least call me and let me know what happens?”
“Sure.”
He was being so cold and dry with me that tears stung my eyes. I’d done as much as I could have done for him the last couple days and he was keeping me at arm’s length. I swallowed the pre-cry lump in my throat and lay down on my pillow, determined not to take any of Viper’s actions too personally . . . and also praying that he’d be back to normal soon.
“Look at you! That’s quite a log you’re dragging around there, huh?” Andy leaned against his car with his arms folded, harassing me as I slowly made my way over. “Could you hurry up, please? I’m hoping we can get there before dinnertime.”
“Shut up, asshole,” I joked as I opened the passenger side of his car.
As soon as we pulled out of the driveway, my cell phone buzzed and Michelle’s smiling face popped up.
“Who’s that?” Andy asked.
“A text from Michelle.”
Michelle: Hey . . . we didn’t get to talk much this morning, but I just wanted to tell you good luck today. The kids and I are thinking about you and hoping for good news. Call me as soon as you can. Love you so, so much!
I knew she’d been trying so hard to keep my spirits up, and I appreciated it, but I just wasn’t in the mood. I also didn’t want to be a dick and completely leave her hanging, so I responded.
Thanks. I’ll take all the good news I can right now. Love you, too!
“You look like someone ran your dog over with a car, dude.”
I set my phone on my knee and stared out the window. “I feel like someone ran my dog over with a car. Actually, scratch that. I feel like someone ran me over with a car.”
“I know this sucks, but you gotta keep your head up. You’re a boss. You’ll have surgery, kick ass with physical therapy, and be back out there in no time.” His phone rang through the speakers of the car and Blaire’s name popped up on the screen.
“No way. Not today,” he said, hitting a button to reject the call.
Blaire was Andy’s crazy ex-wife, and I mean crazy. She sabotaged his friendships, treated their kids like shit, and was an all-around horrific human being. I had literally in my whole entire life never met a bigger bitch than Blaire—ever. “What’s going on with her?” I asked.
“Who knows? She probably wants money. She always wants money.” He clenched his jaw and shook his head. “I pay her more every month than most people make in six, and she still complains it’s not enough.”
“And she hardly sees the kids, right?”
“One weekend a month. It used to be two, but they were coming back so screwed up and weird for a couple days after that I offered her more money to go down to one weekend a month. She takes longer to figure out what she’s having for dinner than she took to tell me yes.”
“I don’t know how you do it, man. She’s such a bitch.”
“I don’t know how I did it for so long. I was so desperate to keep the family together for my kids’ sake that I just didn’t see it. And now they’re happier than they ever were when we lived with her.” He turned the car into Starbucks and looked over at me. “Want anything?”
I shook my head. “I’m good.”
He ordered his drink and pulled around to the side. “So anyway, I don’t know what to say about her. She’s ruined me for all women, I think. I’ve never been so jaded in my whole life.”
“That’s bullshit. You’ll get married again. That’s who you are.”
He laid his head against the back of the seat and turned toward me. “What do you mean by that?”
“I mean that’s who you are. You’re Andy Shaw, family man extraordinaire. You loved being married, even if it was to a heartless slab of concrete. And you really love being a dad.”
“I do love being a dad, that’s for sure,” he said with a nod as he faced forward again. “We’ll see. Who knows?”
I’d had enough of talking about Blaire. “Speaking of women and relationships . . . do you remember Kat?”
“Thank you,” he said to the barista as he took his cup and drove forward. Setting it in the cup holder, he pulled his brows in tight. “Kat . . . Kat . . . I don’t think I remember a Kat. Refresh me.”
“She was probably the only other girl that I kind of dated. I mean, I wasn’t ever faithful, but she hung around for a little over a year. Long black hair and tattoos all over. Killer body, too.”
He rubbed his bottom lip with his fingers as he thought about it. “Okay. I think I remember her. She was a bartender, right?”
“Yep.”
“And didn’t you cheat on her once, with your maid or something?”
“Yep.”
“And she got really pissed off. Like really pissed off.”
“Yep, she launched a picture frame at me and cut my face. I have a little scar on the corner of my eye from her.”
“Okay. I do remember. Why the hell are you asking about her?”
“So get this. Remember how I called and asked Ellie to help me find a nurse for Gam before we left for the road trip?”
Andy’s face fell. “Shut up. No way.”
“Yes way.” I nodded. “She’s Gam’s fucking nurse.”
“When the hell did she become a nurse?”
“I have no idea.” I threw my hands up in the air. “But we went over there yesterday and Gam was sitting on her porch and we started talking. First she yelled at me for hiring a nurse at all, then she was telling me how much she liked this girl.”
“I can’t believe that.” He shook his head incredulously as we pulled up to a stoplight. “What are the odds of that happening?”
“I know. I’m not happy about it.”
“So what are you going to do?” he asked as he rolled his window down.
On cue, an older homeless man who was sitting on the ground against a building walked over. He had a long gray beard and long gray hair and his clothes were full of holes. He took something from Andy’s hand and nodded. “Thank you so much, Mr. Shaw.”
“You got it, Douglas. Do something good with that today.” He rolled his window back up and repeated, “What are you gonna do about Kat?”
I stared at him in amazement. “Wait a minute. What just happened?”
Andy glanced at me quickly. “What? Douglas?” he asked nonchalantly. “He’s a nice man. One day a few months back I was driving into work and there was an accident at this corner. I was stuck and couldn’t move, so I rolled my windows down and turned my car off while I waited. Well, Douglas walked up and asked if I had change to spare, so I told him to get in and talk to me while I waited for the road to clear. We sat here for half an hour, and he told me all about his life and how he served three tours overseas. He was nice, and I liked him, so I offered him a job at my office.”
“You offered him a job? How have I never heard this story?”
The light turned green and he shrugged and started driving again. “I don’t know. I thought I told you guys. Maybe not. Anyway, he said thanks but no thanks. He likes it down here. He likes being free to go wherever he wants during the day and said for the most part, people leave him alone. He’s not unhappy, just homeless. Well, later that day I ended up signing the huge Kenny Sparks shoe deal with Nike.
Remember that deal?”
“Yeah, I remember that deal. That was massive. Why can’t you hook me up with one of those, fucker?”
“’Cause you don’t play football.” He let out a quick laugh. “Anyway, I was convinced that Douglas was my good luck charm, so the next morning he was on the bench again and I gave him ten bucks. He was so thankful, and now it’s become our thing. Douglas is my karma bank. I feel better helping him.”
“So you drive this way every morning and give that dude ten dollars.”
“Pretty much.” Andy nodded. “Unless he’s not here.”
“Huh,” I said, looking back out the window as we pulled into the rink parking lot. “You’re either the nicest human alive or completely fucking insane. I haven’t decided which yet.”
Andy let out a hearty laugh that filled the whole car. “Trust me, I’m neither. I do it to counter all the horrible things I think about my ex-wife during the day.”
The next hour flew by and my head spun with all of the medical terms and instructions thrown my way. Dr. Jennings asked Dr. Newell, the orthopedic surgeon, to come over and be there for our meeting, and I felt like my brain was the ball in their match of medical tennis. My surgery was scheduled for two days later and that’s all I cared about. I just wanted to get it over with so I could get back on the ice as soon as possible.
“Did you understand a fucking word of that?” I asked Andy as we walked to his car.
“For the most part. Why? You didn’t?”
“Hell no. I’m gonna need the condensed, dumb man’s version from you.”
He kicked at a rock in the parking lot and laughed. “Why didn’t you ask them to explain it again, bonehead?”
“I don’t know. It was overwhelming.”
We got to his car and both sat down, but he didn’t move to start the engine. “Here’s what I know for sure. Surgery is Friday morning, really fucking early so you’re going to have to let Michelle handle that one. I’m out. But I do expect a call when it’s over and you’re done . . . and maybe a video if you’re acting like an idiot from all the drugs.”
“You want a video?” I challenged. “I’ll give you a video, all right. One that has people calling you for a statement all weekend long.”
He pressed his lips together and shook his head. “Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had to deal with the media on your behalf, so scratch that. No video. But seriously, your recovery could take up to nine months if you don’t take your physical therapy seriously and do everything you’re supposed to do, got it?”
“Nine months? That’s the whole season. Fuck that!”
“Then you have to be diligent. No blowing off appointments and do all the exercises at home that you’re supposed to.”
“Yes, Dad,” I said sarcastically.
He rolled his eyes as he started the car. “So are you going to finish filling me in on this Kat situation?”
I totally forgot we hadn’t finished talking about that. “It’s not really a situation. Well, maybe it is? I don’t know. I just want her gone and I don’t know how to make that happen.”
“So she’s Gam’s nurse. Does Gam know your history with her?”
“No.”
“Does Michelle know your history?”
“Hell no.”
“Were there . . . any . . . feelings when you saw her?” he asked carefully.
“Fuck no!”
“Okay, good. So basically you have no idea what the hell you’re doing?”
“Basically.”
“Good luck with that one, buddy. My only advice would be to not screw anything up that risks your relationship with Michelle.” He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye for just a quick second. “That girl is good for you. You need her.”
I turned and glanced out the window, unsure if he was talking to me, or warning me.
It had been exactly five days since Viper got hurt and they were five of the longest days of my life. I completely understood why he was grumpy and frustrated with what had happened, but I wasn’t expecting him to take it out on me like he was. I was looking forward to putting his surgery behind us and hoping that once it was done, he would bounce back to normal.
Surprisingly, the morning of his surgery he was unusually peppy.
He stood at the bathroom mirror and I walked up behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist, resting my head against his back. “Are you nervous?”
“Not really,” he said. “I’m more hungry than anything. Not eating and drinking after midnight is fucking torture.”
I smiled to myself. “I think they do that so you don’t get sick.”
“Well, great. They don’t have to worry about me getting sick, but they might have to worry about me scarfing down one of the nurses on the way into the operating room.”
I giggled and let go of him, moving over to my sink to brush my teeth and put on a little mascara.
As I leaned forward and opened my eye wide, dabbing my lashes with the black wand, Viper stared at me in the mirror. “You don’t need that shit, ya know.”
I straightened up and blinked my eye a couple times, frowning at him. “Huh?”
“That.” He motioned toward my mascara. “You don’t need it. You don’t need any of it.”
“I totally do. My eyelashes look like a newborn’s.” I squinted into the mirror and inspected my stubby, thin little eyelashes.
“No way. I agree that a lot of women look better with makeup on, but not you.” He shook his head. “You’re perfect and you don’t even realize it.”
I stared in the mirror at my boyfriend—rough and tough hockey player, a body that looked like it was chiseled in stone, covered in tattoos and intimidating enough to scare the pants off of just about anyone—but when it came to me, and my kids, he was a softie. A gentle giant. My gentle giant.
I turned to the side and tucked my arms under his, listening to his heart beat against my ear. His arms came down around my back, squeezing me hard. This was the moment I’d been craving so desperately the last few days. Between the joke about food and the way he was acting with me, I finally felt like my old Viper was back. Hopefully he was sticking around for a while.
“Michelle Asher?” A nurse asked as she looked around the packed waiting room.
I jumped up. “That’s me.”
She gave me a warm smile and stepped back. “Follow me, please.”
“How is he? Is everything okay? When can I see him?” I started rambling nervously as I walked past her. I hadn’t realized how nervous I really was until that very moment.
“Everything is fine.” She put her hand on my arm. “The surgery went great. He’s in recovery now and should be back to his room in just a couple of minutes. The doctor is going to come in and talk to both of you real quick and then you’re free to go.”
My eyes widened. “That’s it?”
“Yep.” She nodded. “It was a pretty simple procedure, and there’s no need for him to stay overnight, so he’s all yours.”
“Okay.” I smiled nervously. I took a deep breath and gave myself a pep talk as I sat down in the chair in the corner.
You got this. You took care of Gam a couple weeks ago, you can take care of Viper today.
I texted Kacie, Brody, Andy, and Taylor, Mike’s sister, who was babysitting the kids for me.
He’s out of surgery and the nurse said it went well. I haven’t seen him yet, but I’ll let everyone know when I do.
A few seconds later my phone lit up like a Christmas tree.
Brody: Ugh! A group text?! You’re dead to me, Michelle.
Kacie: Glad everything went okay. Give him a hug for me. Brody, stop being an ass.
Andy: Don’t forget to get me video of him all drugged up. One can never have too much blackmail when dealing with Lawrence Finkle.
Brody: I wasn’t being an ass. Group texts SUCK! I’m glad he’s okay though. Tell him I’ll stop by tomorrow and see how he’s doing. Hey, Kacie . . . can you send
one of the kids up to our bathroom with a roll of TP?
Kacie: Really?
I pinched my lips to stifle a laugh.
Taylor: Matthew just pooped and when he came out of the bathroom, he told me not to go in there for twenty minutes or so. He’s turning more and more into Viper every single day. Glad surgery went well. Keep me posted.
The curtain sprung open and I quickly tucked my phone away, even though it was still buzzing.
Those should be fun to read later.
The nurse gave me a quick smile before she stepped back behind Viper’s bed and wheeled him into the room. He was lying back and his eyes were closed, but he had a huge, goofy smile on his face.
“Good luck with this one,” the nurse said playfully as she shook her head.
I looked down at Viper and back up at her. “Uh-oh, what does that mean?”
She shrugged as she dropped the metal sides of his bed and checked his IV. “Nothing bad. People normally come out of sedation really groggy and a little grumpy. Not this guy. He came out cracking jokes and asking for a peanut butter and jelly, then a minute later he was asleep again. He’s a hoot.”
A big smile spread across my lips. “That’s Viper for ya.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “You call him Viper?”
“Well, not just me . . . everyone does. His team started it years ago.”
“What team?” she asked as she scribbled something on a clipboard.
“I play hockey. For the Wild,” Viper shouted, scaring the hell out of both of us. His head turned my way and his eyes caught mine, but it took him a second to realize who I was. “Hey! That’s my girlfriend!”
I let out a quick giggle as I walked over to kiss his cheek. “Hi, baby.”
He titled his head toward me, leaning into my kiss. “You smell good,” he said a I stood up, then he grabbed my hand. “Wait. Come back here. Lie down with me. Here, I’ll scoot over.”
“No, no!” I put my hand on his shoulder. “I can’t lie down with you, just don’t move.”
