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“Green light!”

They take off racing to cover the last few feet. Matteo’s legs move as quickly as they can, his ankles unsteady beneath his weight as he moves one foot in front of the other. He reaches the blue line and crosses it two seconds before the other kid does.

“Yes!” Matteo exclaims, pumping his fists in the air as he ends up losing an edge and falls onto one knee. The other kids cheer for him and we all meet in the center of the ice.

I skate over to him, sliding to a stop as I pat him on top of his helmet. “Good job, bud. I’m proud of you.”

Matteo looks up at me and all I see is his grin through his cage. “Thanks, Dad,” he says softly, his voice filled with excitement as he nods.

“All right, kids, time to get back to work!” Coach Dan calls out as he begins to skate towards the opposite end of the rink. I reach for Matteo with both hands when I feel the weight of my cast around my right hand. I can’t do that—not yet. My good hand finds his, and I pull him onto his feet.

The other kids are already forming two lines and we skate over to where they are, but Matteo doesn’t get in line at first. He hangs back for a moment, worry knitting in his brow as he watches Coach Jackson run through the drill as he explains it to everyone.

“You good?”

Matteo glances up at me. “I’m not very good at crossovers,” he says quietly as he turns back to watch.

“I wasn’t very good at them at first, either,” I tell Matteo, my voice soft as I let my hand rest on his shoulder.

His head whips to the side, his chin tipping upwards so he can see me from under his helmet. “You weren’t?”

I shake my head at him. “Nope. Every time I would try to go to the right, I would trip over my own feet and end up falling head first on the ice.” A chuckle rumbles in my chest as I remember those moments. I used to watch Caleb skate and just wanted to be as good as him. “Coach made me keep doing it, over and over.”

“What happened after that?”

“I learned how to do it.” I give him a gentle nudge, pushing my hand against his shoulder to urge him forward. “And I know you will too.”

Matteo stares at me for a beat, as if he’s absorbing my words. He gives me a nod. “Okay. I can work hard and learn how to do it too.” There’s determination in his voice and confidence in his stance as he skates over to the other kids.

I hang back and head over to the boards to keep an eye on the one section as the kids skate through. I watch Matteo the same way I’ve watched game films countless times before.

Except this time it’s different.

It isn’t about stats or scouts or contracts.

It isn’t about my performance and ability to produce.

It’s just about being here.

I can’t play. I can’t help my teammates as they battle through the playoffs. Hell, I can’t even open a water bottle without help right now. But this? Hanging out at our local rink, helping with a youth clinic while watching my kid skate?

This is something I can do right now and honestly—this is more than enough for me.

This is everything I didn’t realize I was missing . . .

And it’s everything I don’t want to lose.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

ANDI

Istare at Henry, my eyes wide with disbelief. This entire remodeling project for Aunt Bella’s house has been headache after headache. If we were gutting the house and redoing the inside completely, I could understand why that would happen.

This is entirely unexpected . . . and highly inconvenient.

“How is there mold in the duct work?”

Henry screws up his lips. “It can be caused by numerous things, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some leaks in the roof before it was repaired.”