Page 25 of Actions and Reactions (All It Takes #5)

“How the fuck were you supposed to know what those strange things meant otherwise?” He’s shouting now.

.. and yes, there’s some anger there. “He did a few weird things and you were understandably hesitant to push him, but Silas has always been a little weird, just like Paul. He’s been suffering from that damn accident for years, and it’s not your fault everything bubbled up to the surface now .

I know you can’t control it, but goddamn it, Ivan!

” He slaps the armrest between us. “You need to stop feeling guilty over things you couldn’t have changed, couldn’t have noticed, couldn’t have prevented.

You need to let it all go like you let go of a bad game. ”

I stare down at his heaving chest because I can’t face him. I know, at least I think I do, that he’s seeing the logical side of things, but being logical has never helped me when it comes to Silas, not once.

“I don’t know if I can,” I whisper.

“Well then,” he muses, sounding out of breath still, but less angry now. “At least you know this isn’t like what your mother and I have. ”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because your mother is annoying. She can tease me to no end, and makes me laugh like few people can, but she doesn’t make me blind to logic.”

I’m stunned for a full ten seconds and then I have to burst out laughing. Dad always finds the silver lining, even if it’s a twisted one.

I open the door and walk to the trunk to get my bag and suitcase. Dad’s already there, and we each take one.

“So you don’t mind?” I can’t stop myself from asking, and I realize I need to clarify when his face screws up in confusion. “About me and Silas being... together?” That’s the safest way to phrase it, I think.

“Of course I don’t! Pfft ,” he scoffs. “I knew you were in love with each other when you were five, and that never changed, not even a few months back at the cabin.”

“E-each other?” I stutter. “You think he loves me too?”

“Well, obviously ,” he cries out. “Do you think he would’ve taken a job for any hockey team other than yours?

” I frown and look away to the front yard of my childhood home.

“He wouldn’t have! He’s been avoiding hockey left and right all these years, but given the chance to be close to you and that didn’t seem important anymore.

Why don’t you think about that instead of this imaginary guilt? ”

He leaves me standing there, thinking his words over, and I have no clue if he’s right, but I don’t think it would hurt to think things over again with a different lens. Maybe that way I can enjoy these days with him and Lex.

“You know I’m always glad to spend time with you two,” Dad says out of the blue during dinner. “But there’s something besides Silas I wanted to talk to you about.”

He looks at me, then very pointedly at Lex.

“What is it?” I put down my fork and knife, paella forgotten.

Dad’s eyes on the other hand stay right on his plate.

“I’m seeing someone.”

I wait for him to say something else, but he keeps eating. His hands tremble just a little, and I realize he’s actually nervous.

“Like a therapist, a girlfriend, or a ghost?” Lex asks, and I think he’s serious.

“A girlfriend, Lex.” Dad leaves the duh unsaid, but his tone is enough. Then he looks up just in time to see my brother’s shit-eating grin. “You little shit,” he mutters.

“I’m as tall as you and still growing,” Lex quips back.

“In your dreams.”

I let them get the bantering out of their system, and when they shut up for a second I pipe up.

“Who is it? Anyone we would know?”

“Probably.” He shrugs as if he doesn’t have a care in the world. I just stare him down until he breaks, which doesn’t take five seconds. “Alaina Newman.”

“I’m sorry?” I lean in on instinct. I can’t have heard him right .

Lex had the bad luck of taking a drink just then, so he spits it all over the table.

I have Dad’s genes to thank for my reflexes, because I reach for the platter of paella and pull it away from the spray.

“Okay.” Dad lets out an exasperated sigh, like we’re the ones who did something wrong. He could’ve warned us, or he could’ve waited until Lex was done sipping his water. “Let it rip.” He invites our comments by raising both hands and making a come forward motion with both.

So we . . . let it rip.

“You’re dating Alaina Newman?”

“You’re dating someone who has three Oscars?”

“I mean, what do you even talk about?”

“Isn’t she like, the best actress ever?”

“Where did you meet her?”

“How did you get her to give you a shot?”

“Are you lying?”

“Is this a joke?”

Dad stares at us in silence after that, and when we don’t say anything else for a long moment, he nods and... picks up his fork, the infuriating man.

“I met her at a TV awards thing.” He waves the fork around before piercing a bite of only the puffy bread that surrounds the actual meat.

“I am dating her.” Pause to take the bite.

“That’s right, Lex, she does have three Oscars, and I have four Stanley Cup rings, thank you very much.

” That time he talks while chewing. “We talk about all kinds of things. Including but not limited to how annoying teenage sons can be.” A pointed look our way.

“Yes, she’s very talented, I made her laugh, that’s how I got her number, just like your Momma.

I am not lying, and it’s not a joke. She and her son, Corey, are coming to dinner tomorrow, and we’re going to the game Monday night, which will be our first ‘outing’ as a couple.

” He even makes quotation marks with his fingers.

“Is her son cool?” I ask.

“So we have another stepbrother?” Lex muses.

I really want to bite back what pops into my head but I just can’t, it’s too good.

“Chill, Lex. You already made one stepbrother fall in love with you, leave some for the rest of us.”

Dad, the good man that he is, really tries not to laugh, and Lex, well, he gives it right back.

“I don’t think anyone would appreciate your advances since you’ve been hopelessly in love with the same man for more than a decade and haven’t managed to seal the deal.”

Yeah, okay. That’s fair, I guess.

And that makes Dad lose his control and he laughs at us.

“Where did I go wrong?” he asks between chuckles. He clearly wanted to sound mournful but failed. Massively.

“Well, you married your best friend, divorced her when she found her one true love , and then traumatized your children by telling them it was fine with you because you only had sex to have kids or when you were really, really horny.”

“Oh, God ,” I groan, remembering that conversation with painful clarity .

It only makes Dad laugh harder.

“You were traumatized.” He mocks us, even pointing at our faces.

I shudder and share a disgusted look with Lex, but we let Dad laugh as long as he wants.

“To answer your questions,” he says, finally getting back on topic.

“Corey is pretty cool. He’s an art major at UCLA, twenty, so right between you two, and he illustrates and writes comic books.

” Now that really is cool. “As far as becoming your stepbrother, things are going well with Ally.” Aww, he calls her Ally.

“Which is why I’m telling you guys, but we’re not quite at the marriage stage, so let’s hold off on that. ”

“If you’re going to be at a place with lots of cameras, then I guess Mom already knows?” I’m pretty sure I know the answer already, but I still think I have to ask.

“Of course she knows,” Dad scoffs at me. “I told her the night I met Ally, Ivan. She’s happy for me, and they’ve FaceTimed a few times, mostly this last week since Mom and I were talking about you three times a day.”

“Thanks, Dad,” I murmur.

“I wanted to go, son, but?—”

“I know why you didn’t.” I cut him off before we get into it again. We already talked about this a few days ago. “You’re dealing with the network’s shit over here, and you know Mom’s got me under control.”

“I know.” There’s a lull for a moment, and then I force the conversation back to a happier topic.

“So we’re meeting Ally tomorrow,” I muse, and again share a look with Lex. “That’s going to be fun,” I quip, and Lex’s smile grows as Dad groans.

“ Very fun.”