I Want You Back (Want You #1)(109)

“What’s going on?” Thomas’s mother asked.

“We had an incident earlier. Mimi”—she gestured for her to stand up—“bodychecked Thomas. It’s a long-standing rule in hockey that there is no checking in the eight and under age group during a game, say nothing of in practice, and there’s never any checking at any age level in the girls’ or women’s divisions.” She looked at Mimi. “Which I’ve repeatedly reminded everyone.”

“Oh, thank the lord,” Thomas’s mother said. “I thought maybe Thomas had crashed into her.”

Wait. What? She wasn’t angry?

“It was more than a simple crash, Sheila,” Gabi said carefully. “Mimi went after Thomas on purpose and knocked into him hard enough he’ll have bruises on his bum.”

Thomas’s mom harrumphed. “I’ll bet her coming after him wasn’t entirely unprovoked, was it, son?”

Thomas hung his head and muttered.

She poked him on the shoulder. “Speak up so everyone can hear you.”

“No, ma’am.”

“What did you say to her?”

“That girls shouldn’t play hockey with boys because they aren’t tough enough and they can’t even bodycheck. And the only reason Mimi was on the team was because of her dad being famous.”

Beside me, Lucy sucked in an indignant breath.

Sheila forced Thomas to turn around. “We’ve talked about this. That is bullying and baiting and completely unacceptable.” She poked him in the chest. “You are a big kid and it doesn’t matter if you bully with your body or your mouth. And I won’t stand for it, Thomas.”

Gabi seemed at a loss for what to do, then she rallied. “Lakeside has a zero tolerance policy for disregarding standard hockey rules as well as a zero tolerance policy for bullying.” Her gaze moved from Thomas to Mimi and back again. “Since you both broke the rules, you’re both suspended for one game and one practice session. Sitting on the bench tonight doesn’t count. I’m disappointed in both of you. Very disappointed. Head into the changing rooms and apologize to your teammates. You’re supposed to be a team; you work together, not against each other. Now scram and get changed.”

Then Gabi looked from us to Thomas’s mother. “The matter is settled. No need to further hash it out. Obviously as parents you can do whatever you want as far as additional discipline. But when I was a kid, official discipline from the coach was worse than anything else—except my parents not allowing me to play hockey at all as punishment. So keep that in mind. I’ve already been the bad guy today.” Her gaze flicked to someone behind us. “It’s a role I’m familiar with. Now excuse me, I’ve got another class to teach.” She skated away.

I hadn’t expected that. Neither had Lucy. She leaned over and said, “Can Gabi run the entire hockey program?”

“Yeah, but she doesn’t want to. She wants to coach.”

“Jax. Who’s going to be running it?”

“Me. For now.” I stood. “There’s a few things I need to wrap up before I come home. I won’t be long.” I leaned down and smooched her mouth, just because I could.



* * *



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After owning the rink for just a few days, I knew the place could eat up my life in a way that the bar never did. And if I created a nice office space for myself, I’d end up being there all the time, which defeated the purpose of starting over with Lucy and took time away from Mimi.

But I couldn’t just tell Margene to handle everything either. That’d been the issue with Lakeside—an absent owner and no one on the staff knowing who was in charge. I’d have to interview potential managers once we determined the long-term and short-term goals for the facility.

Life had been so much easier when all I had to worry about was playing hockey.

The next week the family counselor we’d chosen had requested to meet with Mimi alone for the first appointment. Lucy and I met with her afterward and were shocked at all the things the counselor had found wrong with our child. It took every ounce of restraint I had not to lash out at the supposed professional for her comments about Mimi being egotistical, manipulative and unmotivated as well as suffering from ADHD and only child syndrome—I hadn’t even known that was a thing.

By the end of the hour, my hand had hurt from where Lucy had squeezed it so hard. Her tears soaked my shirt after we finally escaped from the counselor’s berating. It just reminded me how lucky I’d been in finding a counselor who helped me through my recovery, because not all counselors were created equal.

It was the first crisis Lucy and I faced together as parents. We weren’t sure how much truth there was to the counselor’s claims and if we’d downplayed Mimi’s behavioral issues because we loved her and chalked it up to Mimi being . . . quirky little Mimi. Figuring out the next step—whether we should contact a different counselor or muddle through on our own—ate at both of us, especially when Mimi wasn’t acting out and seemed to accept the new reality that she lived with her mom and dad together as a family.

Thanksgiving week started out with a bang, Lennox giving birth and my cousin Brady being over the moon about their baby boy, Jaden Ward—whom I’d already nicknamed JW. Lennox’s absence from the PR department meant Lucy had to stay late to catch up, leaving me and Mimi to make Thanksgiving preparations.