On the Fly (33 page)

“
Go inside and be polite,”
I said to Tuck and Maddie. “And only one cookie for now. No more
than that until you get some real food.”

“
Yes, ma’am,” they said in
sync. They took off without having to be told twice, with Maddie
giving Mr. Campbell a not-as-wide-as-normal berth as she scurried
past him. He winked at her but kept his distance.

They were about the same height,
Brenden and Mr. Campbell, and most of their facial features were
identical—the same long nose and square, chiseled jaw. Mr.
Campbell’s hair was more of a silver shade, and his skin was a
little more wrinkled. Otherwise, they could almost be
brothers.

I already felt a little awkward about
being here, since it was a family Christmas and my kids and I
weren’t part of this family. Not only that, but I hadn’t had
anything resembling a family holiday since I’d been a kid. I
returned his smile and scurried to the back of the SUV.

I’d brought a bag of toys for Tuck and
coloring books for Maddie because the last thing I wanted was for
them to get bored and drive the adults crazy or for them to play
with something that wasn’t a toy and break it. There was another
bag of presents, plus a duffel I’d packed with everything the kids
and I would need for the night and tomorrow. Brenden had brought a
small overnight bag, too, which wouldn’t be easy for him to carry
since he was on crutches.

He’d deftly hidden the Santa gifts I’d
bought for the kids under the flooring in the back of the SUV. I’d
bring that in later, once the kids were asleep.

Brenden’s dad met me back there. “Let
me get those for you,” he said, taking the bags from my hands
before I could even sort out the handles. “Mark Campbell. You must
be Rachel.” He somehow got all of our stuff in one hand. I probably
couldn’t have carried it all in a single trip.

“
Yes, sir. It’s nice to
meet you, Mr. Campbell.”

He held out his hand to me as though
to shake mine.

I took it, and he pulled me in for a
hug. “Oh, I…” I hadn’t been expecting that at all.

“
Merry
Christmas.”

“
Hands off my girl, old
man,” Brenden said, coming around from the driver’s
side.

Mr. Campbell let me go and winked.
“Just giving her a welcome. Come on in. Your mother wants to see
with her own eyes that it’s just your ankle and nothing more
serious than that.”

“
She just needs something
to worry about,” Brenden said.

“
Some excuse to give you
cookies, you mean.” Mr. Campbell put his arm around Brenden’s
shoulders, pulling him close for a side-hug, made awkward by the
crutches under both of Brenden’s arms.

By the time we got inside, my kids
were each sitting on a barstool with a saucer of cookies and a
glass of milk.

Dana came over to take my coat. “I
limited Mom to two cookies each for now, but I can’t make any
promises about how many more she’ll give them.”

“
You’ll help me keep an eye
on them?” I asked.

She only nodded because her mother was
coming over to me with a plate full of cookies. Mrs. Campbell
looked a few years younger than her husband. She was shorter than
the rest of her family, but that wasn’t saying much when she stood
next to me.

She didn’t bother with introductions
or any of that nonsense. “Brenden was supposed to find out your
favorite kind for me, and the kids’ too, but he never let me know.
I’ve got oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip, and sugar, and the white
chocolate macadamia nut cookies should come out of the oven in a
few minutes.”

Brenden came by on his crutches. He
kissed his mom on the cheek, snagged an oatmeal raisin cookie,
stuffed it in his mouth, and kept going.

I took a sugar cookie so as not to be
rude. “Thank you, Mrs. Campbell. This is perfect.”

“
I’m just glad to have
children here,” she said. “There’s something special about having
kids around at the holidays.”

Dana rolled her eyes, took a chocolate
chip cookie, and pulled me into the living room. Her mom went back
to cookie duty in the kitchen. We sat on the sofa, where I could
easily see both kids and know if she was giving them any more
sugar. Mr. Campbell had set all my bags out of the way near the
stairs, and he and Brenden were sitting at the dining room table
with Eric.

Dana tucked her feet up beside her,
pulling a throw blanket over her lap. “We’ve barely gotten engaged,
and Mom’s already asking us when we intend to give her
grandkids.”

“
Wow. What’d you tell
her?”

“
Eric put her off by
talking about setting a date for the wedding. I’m sure she’ll come
back to it before too long, though. They’ll be here more than a
week. Plenty of time for her to grill us.” She readjusted the throw
pillows behind her. “We haven’t even talked about it between the
two of us, other than agreeing that we both want to have kids. Be
careful. She’s got grandkids on the mind, and she already asked me
how serious you and Brenden were, once she knew you had kids. She
didn’t perk up until then, but there’s no chance she’ll let it go
now. I think she intends to woo you, if she doesn’t think Brenden’s
doing a good enough job of it. And I’m sure she intends to win over
the kids in case that’ll help you make up your mind.”

“
Make up my mind about
what?”

“
About being in our
family,” Dana said without batting an eye. “Mom decided you were
perfect for Brenden before she ever met you. I think it’s mainly
because of the whole insta-grandkids thing, but she also likes the
fact that Brenden’s letting her and Dad get to know
you.”

Insta-grandkids? Tuck and Maddie had
never really had grandparents in their lives. Jason’s parents had
only been involved in a very limited capacity early on, and once
I’d brought charges against him, they’d completely abandoned
us—like it was my fault. And of course, my parents had never even
met my kids. I kind of liked the idea of grandparents for them,
even if I wasn’t ready to go there yet.

“
I’ll deal with it if I
need to,” I said. I looked over to the kitchen and thought at first
that Mrs. Campbell was giving them more cookies. She wasn’t,
though. She had given them each a sugar cookie and some icing and
was letting them decorate the cookies. She’d set out little tubs
with sprinkles and candy and God only knew what else. It was nice
to see.

“
For Santa,” Dana said.
“She had us decorate them every year, even when we were in high
school.” She finished off her own cookie, licking the melted
chocolate off her fingers. “I put Mom and Dad upstairs at the far
end of the hall. I thought Tuck and Maddie could be in the two
bedrooms closest to the stairs, because if they’re anything like we
were as kids, they’ll want to race down to the tree at the crack of
dawn to see what Santa brought.”

“
Good thinking.” Of course,
that would also mean they were the closest to the stairs to hear
while I was bringing it all in. I’d just have to be extra careful
when I got it all out.

“
With Brenden being on
crutches, I thought it would be best to put him in the downstairs
apartment Babs used last year.” She dropped her voice lower. “And
not that it’s any of my business, but if you wanted to stay with
him tonight, being down there would give you two some privacy. I
didn’t know if you would want a separate room, though. You’ve got
one upstairs by the kids if you want it, and if not, that’s okay,
too. Like I said, none of my business. I’ll leave that up to the
two of you to decide.”

My blush had my cheeks on fire. At
least she’d talked to me about it while it was just the two of us.
Some part of me had realized that we’d have to have a conversation
like this—how could we not, considering the situation—but I didn’t
think it was possible to ever fully be prepared for such an
occurrence.

At least it was me and Dana, and not
me and her mother. I got the distinct impression Mrs. Campbell
might already be planning baby showers in her mind, completely
skipping over the whole dating, engagement, and marriage
process.

Brenden caught my eye and winked, his
grin making me feel like I could melt through the spaces between
the sofa cushions.

“
Oh no!” Tuck squealed. He
jumped down from his barstool and raced over to me, his eyes
panicky. “Mommy! How will Santa know we’re here?”

“
It’s okay,” Dana said. “I
sent him an express letter, letting him know you and Maddie were
going to stay with us tonight. I got delivery confirmation and
everything.”

“
You’re sure?”

Dana grinned. “Positive.”

“
Phew!” Tuck flopped to the
floor, both arms spread wide. “That coulda been a
disaster.”

Having Dad around
was always good for me, even if I didn’t like
admitting he was right about things.

He and Zee had pretty much cornered me
all afternoon and forced me to talk about my fears of ending up
back in the minors once I got back from this most recent injury.
Zee had even taken my crutches away while we talked, making it
harder for me to escape. I could get up and hobble around on my
walking boot, but it didn’t feel very good to do that. So I’d
stayed and talked.

After a while, Dana and Rachel had
joined us, too. Rachel didn’t really say much. She’d just sat there
and listened, with her eyebrows scrunched and her lips turned down
in a thoughtful pout. There were definitely things she wanted to
say. Maybe she’d be more likely to talk to me about whatever was
bothering her when we were alone.

Dad and Zee had pretty much nailed it
on the head. What they’d said nearly mimicked what Glen Garner had
said to me almost a month ago—I was trying too hard, pushing too
much, and that was why I kept fucking up and screwing the team, not
to mention why I kept getting hurt.

But now I needed to convince Jim and
Scotty that I knew what the problem was and that I could fix it—or
at least that I deserved the chance to try to fix it.

By the time Mom had dinner ready, I
still didn’t have any definitive answers about my future—I wouldn’t
until we got back to work after the holiday, when I could talk to
Jim and Scotty and plead my case—but I was at least starting to
feel like I could find a solution to the problem.

I made myself forget about it for a
while so we could actually appreciate being able to spend Christmas
together. In a hockey family, everyone being in the same place at
Christmas was a very rare occurrence. There were usually games
being played, one kid on the road and the other at home—something
along those lines. When we got to be together, it was something to
savor.

We ate our dinner, talking and
laughing and enjoying each other. It was the first time since Dana
and Zee got together that I really let go of everything and
remembered why he’d always been my best friend. It felt good. It
felt even better to see Dana so happy. She looked brighter than the
lights on the Christmas tree.

When we’d finished dinner,
everyone moved to the living room so we could sit by the tree near
the fire. Mom brought cups of hot cocoa—and more cookies, of
course—and Dad put on his Santa hat and read
’Twas the Night Before Christmas
. It
was tradition for us. Even back when he was still playing in the
NHL, if he was on the road at Christmas Eve, he’d called home to
read it to me and Dana.