The Good Luck Charm(70)

A small box sits on the stoop, a notecard attached to it. I turn it over.

It’s not quite what you’re used to, but know I’m rooting for you tonight.

~Lilah





The box is full of Hot Lips. I smile and pop one in my mouth, despite the fact that sugar is not on the menu today. I snap a picture and send it to her along with a thank-you. Her response comes a few minutes later, while I’m brewing a fresh pot of coffee.

Lilah: You’re going to be great.





I want her to be there with me, so I put it out there, even though I can already predict the response.

Ethan: I still have an extra ticket if you want it.





The next message takes a while longer to arrive. The hope I tried not to give in to deflates like a balloon.

Lilah: I have class tonight, but thank you. I’ll either catch the end at home or the closest pub on campus with all the twenty-one-year-old lushes. eyeroll.





I’d prefer no twenty-one-year-olds get anywhere near Lilah, but there’s not much I can do about that. I don’t know how to navigate the new boundaries, so I let her lead.

I get why she needs this time, even if I don’t like it. I know what we’re like when we’re together, because she consumes my world just as much as I seem to consume hers.

I fire off a quick thank-you, tell her to have a good day, and pour myself a coffee, feeling lighter than I have since she asked for space. I need to stop by my parents’ place this morning to drop off the tickets for tonight’s game before I head to the arena for the pregame skate.

My mom’s car isn’t in the driveway when I arrive, which I assume means she’s out buying groceries or something. I find my dad sitting on the screened-in porch with a travel mug of coffee in his hands.

“Hey, where’s Mom?”

“We ran out of cream. Coffee tastes like shit with milk unless it’s one of those expensive latte things.” He pats the arm of the chair beside him and inclines his head, an invitation to sit. “What brings you by?”

I drop into the chair. “I have tickets for tonight’s game. Row two, center ice.”

He lets out a low whistle. “Pays to have someone on the inside, doesn’t it? It’s going to be a good one.”

“I hope so.” I tap on the arm of the chair, restless. I wish I had the same faith in myself as everyone else seems to. “I got benched during practice yesterday.” Okay, now I’m being a little overdramatic.

He raises a brow. “What’d you do?”

I chuckle. “I rolled my ankle.”

He nods knowingly. “Pushing too hard, like you’ve got something to prove.”

“I do have something to prove.”

He gives me a wry smile. “I think you’ve already proven it, son. You’ll be fine. You know what you’re doing out there on the ice. Just keep your head in the game and stay focused on the goal.” He takes another sip of his coffee and grimaces. “Lilah stopped by this morning on her way to work.”

I glance over at him, aware the segue is meant to throw me off.

“Give her some time. This is hard on her in ways you can’t understand, Ethan.”

“I don’t know what’s going on with us,” I admit.

“She’s scared. This year has been full of struggle, for both of you, but mostly for Delilah. She ended a marriage that wasn’t right for her, and I had a stroke and we had no idea if I was going to be okay. Those two things alone would’ve been difficult for her.”

“And then I came back into her life.”

He nods. “You did, and without warning, at a time when she was vulnerable.”

“I don’t know if that’s good or bad, considering how things are right now.”

My dad smiles with a serenity I don’t share. “You two fought against what you have for a long time, and then when you finally figured it out, there was no separating you. Your mom and I worried about what that would be like with you being a year ahead and going away to college while she was still here.”

“That first semester wasn’t easy.”

His expression turns somber. “I remember.”

“My marks were shit.”

“Well, Delilah was the one who kept you focused on school, wasn’t she? She was always the level head between the two of you. You’d go off half-cocked with these ideas of what things were going to be like, and she’d be over there planning things out.”

“She was a drill sergeant with the studying.” And the rewards for correct answers were a real incentive to do well, not that I’m going to mention that to my dad.

He sets his coffee down and shifts a little so he’s facing me more than the view. “You two can be a good balance for each other. Delilah is grounded and logical, and you’re an idealist.” He raises a hand when I open my mouth. “Now, before you take that as an insult, hear me out. That idealism is exactly why you’re where you are in your career, so it’s not a bad thing. Delilah made safe, strategic choices, and you made the ones you felt were right, at least most of the time, when I wasn’t interfering.”

“You were right, though, about us breaking up when I was drafted—whether you meant it or not. That was the right thing to do. I just should’ve found a better way to do it.” I look at the lake, watching the waves lap against the shore. In little more than a month it’ll be warm enough to swim. Eight more weeks and it’ll be perfect. I wonder if Lilah and I will be together by then, if this break will be enough time for her to figure out what she wants. I hope so. I hope I don’t fuck my career without her.