Page 37

Lola

The crisp air has an extra chill as Cookie approaches the last jump of the outdoor course. For the first time this session her back legs clear the last obstacle. I pat her head in excitement. It’s been a long road getting Cookie back into show shape, but our runs improve every week.

“Good girl.”

I pull an unwrapped peppermint from my pocket. A reward for all her hard work.

Charlotte wasn’t at the barn when I got in this afternoon. So she squeals and ditches cleaning out the stalls of the therapy horses. Stopping me from getting Cookie ready for the night.

“How was New York?” She asks.

A loaded question really. While the trip could not have started any worse for me by the end of the engagement party I was on cloud nine. It was quick and unexpected, but something about Byron has always felt right. I realized on that balcony I couldn’t lose him again.

It took one look at Byron when he got back to Ivy and Jalen’s apartment and I could tell that it was his turn to have his world turned upside down.

“My heart broke when he told me that his dad was sick.” I trace patterns in the dirt floor with the toe of my boot.

“I’m hopeful that his dad will come up for his games tomorrow, but he keeps telling me he’ll believe it when he sees it.”

The normally talkative Charlotte is in a state of shock. Her eyes are wide and she has been holding a brush to the horse’s back completely motionless for the last minute.

“That’s a lot,” she says as she starts to move the brush again. “I saw Dalton this weekend at a party and he didn’t say anything.”

“Of course he didn’t.” I roll my eyes. “He isn’t going to let something like a cheating sex tape ruin his reputation.”

Life quickly gets put into perspective when your worst day is followed by your friend finding out his mother is dating his estranged father. Then just when you think it can’t get any worse he tells you his father has cancer.

I am not convinced Byron has fully digested that his dad is sick.

Life just simply went on when we got back to Westvale.

He recorded three hits and a goal in the Retrievers team scrimmage they had to make sure they didn’t lose their momentum during their bye week.

We finalized the menu for our project. The only thing that’s changed is we spent almost every night together.

He’s also been initiating sex whenever I’ve tried to ask him about his dad. I’m not complaining, just nervous that him not talking about how this all makes him feel will only hurt him in the end.

“Well he’s a scumbag and I’ll be wearing Westvale gear at the rivalry game in January,” Charlotte tells me.

I forgot about the annual rivalry games. One’s played at each school. They are always sold out and they are always rowdy.

“I hope we fucking destroy them,” I pause before adding, “And Dalton loses his shit when he sees me there in Byron’s jersey.”

I’m sitting on the couch in my poorly lit living room, getting ready to start The Nightingale for the fourth time. I’ve just finished clipping the book light on when Byron storms through the door.

I jump at the harsh thud of the door against the wall. Then clutch my chest as I try to regulate my heart rate.

“What the fuck Byron?” I scream and the innocent look on his face incites a laugh that only he can get out of me.

“You almost gave me a heart attack.”

I smile when Mia comes trotting in behind him.

The house has been quiet today since Margo and Indy have already left for tomorrow’s away game.

“Sorry, I’ve just missed you,” he tells me as he settles on the couch next to me.

There goes my quiet night reading by myself. He pulls me into his lap and I trace the tattoos on his left arm.

“What’s this?” His pointer finger and thumb pinch around the light. He pulls it out of my hands. I’m distraught as I watch my well-loved book dangle two feet above the couch.

I snag my book and make sure it’s secured safely in my lap before turning to Byron.

“That is a book light I use because the lighting in these apartments sucks.”

Byron gently picks the book off my lap and places it on the coffee table.

“You know what we don’t need good lighting for?”

The way his sinful blue eyes rake down my body tells me that my attempts to read are done for the night. His athletic frame eats up the space between us as he lightly pushes my shoulder back. My head lands against the arm of the couch, my body sprawled beneath Byron’s.

The first kiss is a light off centered peck. Byron’s lips tilt into a smirk as he pulls away from me.

“If you’re going to distract me from my book, you better make it worth my while,” I say as a reminder. Knowing Byron is aware of how much I hate a half-hearted kiss.

“Be careful what you ask for Pipsqueak.”

He tucks a stray hair from my attempt at a top knot back into the black scrunchie. The gentle gesture doesn’t match the heat in his eyes.

He knows exactly what I’m asking for and now I’m desperate for it.

He kisses me again and this time I reward him by kissing him back.

As he lifts his body off mine and fits a hand between the couch and my body getting ready to flip our positions.

I notice Mia making a mad dash for us out of the corner of my eye.

“Byron,” I yell as he is about to lower his body to mine and push his shoulders back. As Byron is falling to our carpeted den floor, Mia lands safely on my belly.

“Oh my gosh, Byron are you okay?” I say through a grimace. I honestly didn’t know I had that kind of strength in me.

Byron pushes himself off the ground and rotates his shoulders a few times. When he swings his arms in front of himself then crosses them, Mia jumps out of my lap and scurries off to the spare dog bed Byron left here at the beginning of the week for the nights he spends at my house.

Byron gently lays his head in my lap. I brush his shaggy blonde hair away from his forehead as we sit in comfortable silence.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” I hesitate trying to find the right words.

“I was wondering if you wanted me to see if my dad could set up an appointment for your dad. Getting a second opinion is never a bad idea.”

He freezes in my lap. We haven’t talked about his dad since we got back to school. I was waiting for Byron to initiate some kind of conversation, but with the possibility of his parents coming up this weekend he’s given me no other choice.

“Are you sure?” he asks me with his eyes glued to the ceiling.

“I’d do anything for you, By. I hope you know that.”

He sits up and rotates until he is facing me.

“Is it bad that there is a small part of me that says fuck him. He doesn’t deserve my help after he abandoned me and my mom for so long.”

Pain flickers in his deep blue eyes. I can see the hurt kid who just wanted a father who stayed.

“No, I think you have every right to feel that way, but do you want to know what I think?”

He nods.

“The Byron I’ve always known would want to help. He may be the aggressive hockey player to opponents or the goofy class clown to our friends, but I know the Byron that brings home a stray dog after a night of drinking and gives her a home. The one who will do anything for his friends. Or his mom.”

I let those last words hang between us.

He’s spoken with his mom a couple of times this week. I don’t know what they’ve talked about because he hangs up the second I enter the room. Everytime I ask him about their conversations he abruptly changes the subject.

“Yeah, why don’t you ask him?” he says. His smile doesn’t reach his eyes. I just want him to let me in.

I grab my phone off the coffee table and go to get up, but am stopped by Byron tugging me back into his lap.

“Thank you for doing this, Lola.”

Then he kisses me. It’s the kind of kiss that tells me he loves me without him having to say the words.

“Let me go call him now. He’s coming up for the games this weekend too so maybe he can have some appointment days ready.”

He lets me go and I head to my bedroom. Even though my mom is an oncologist, working with breast cancer patients, my dad and I have always had a better relationship. So knowing that they will have to set up the appointment with another doctor I think it’s best to call him.

I tuck my legs under me as I pull up his contact and hit the call button before I lose my confidence. It rings, then rings again. A small part of me hopes he’s been called in for an emergency surgery.

“Hey Lowy, is something wrong?”

That goddamn nickname again.

I ignore the nickname and jump into the reason that I called.

“I’m fine Dad. I’m actually calling for a friend,” I say, deciding it’s best not to dive into my current relationship drama.

“You know Byron, he’s on Oliver’s team?”

“The blonde center?”

“Yeah, so when we were at Ivy and Jalen’s engagement party this weekend he found out his dad has cancer. I was wondering if you could set up an appointment for him to get a second opinion?”

“What kind of cancer does he have?”

“I don’t know. He left right after his dad told him.”

I hesitate for a second knowing it’s not my family drama to tell. I make the decision it’s best he knows. I think it’s an important part of the story.

“They haven’t had the best relationship. But his parents will be up for the games this weekend.”

He sighs in understanding.

“I’ll get some tentative dates but I’ll have a better understanding of the direction we need to go in after we talk this weekend.”

“Thanks Dad.”

“Anything for you Lola.” I hear the muffled voices over a speaker.

“I’m getting called into an emergency surgery. I’ll see you this weekend honey.”

“I’ll see you Dad. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

A small sense of relief comes over me, but my shoulders are still tense. I don’t know if Byron fully understands that if he doesn’t try to fix his relationship with his dad now he might never get another chance.

When I get back to the den Byron has the Westvale men’s basketball game on the television and Mia curled up in his lap.

“Do you want a beer?” I ask as I open the fridge and pull one out for myself.

He nods, then looks me in the eyes.

“Did the conversation not go well?”

I pop both caps off the bottle and settle back into the couch. Byron wraps his arm around me and I snuggle into his side.

“No it did. He said he’ll set up a couple appointments but he won’t know where the best fit will be until after he talks to him this weekend.”

Byron nods before turning his attention back to the game. I know he will need to talk about it eventually. I guess now isn’t that time.

“How are the guys doing?”