Page 28

Chapter 27

Nash

I wake up to her sobbing. Like shaking the bed the whole bed level of sobbing. I sit up. The room is much lighter. It's morning. Late morning, I'd guess. She's slouched forward, in a bathrobe with wet hair, sitting on the edge of the bed. I lean toward her. "Ten, what's wrong."

“Nothing,” she confesses. “It’s good news. The best news.”

She picks up her phone, which I didn’t realize was in her lap, and hands it to me with a shaky hand. I hesitate, but take it and look at the screen. It’s a group WhatsApp chat.

UNCLE D: Family Zoom availability? We have news.

CONNER: Just say it. Now. Dad, please.

MOM: Callie, are you okay?

MAYHEM: I told you this would make everything worse Dad!

CALLIE: It’s not a tumor. I’m fine. One hundred percent fine.

THEO: Yes!

AUNT ROSIE: Oh thank God!

DAD: Expected nothing less from the toughest woman I know.

TATE: Fuckin’ best news ever!

There are a million other responses from every Garrison family member, including Tenley who responded with a bunch of hearts. She turns to me now as I hand her back her phone and she looks terrified. "I don't care what the odds are, lightning will strike twice. You'll get the same diagnosis."

“I will,” I agree even though I feel a lot less confident than I sound. I know the doctor was sure it was benign but I can’t help but worry until it’s official. I don’t want to share that worry with Tenley because it’s clear she’s already feeling it.

I use the pads of my thumbs to wipe her eyes as I hold her face in my hands. “I’m happy for you guys. And Callie.”

She nods. “Me too.”

She gets off the bed and walks to her closet. "All my good clothes are a wrinkled mess because I just shoved them into bags to get the hell out of your house last night. Guess I have to wear something I didn't move."

She pulls a flowery sundress out of the closet.

“You have somewhere to be?”

“Yep.” She smiles. “So do you, so get that perfect ass of yours in the shower.”

"I don't have practice today. It's optional and I'm opting out," I reply and lean back on the bed, stretching. I'm also rock-hard and was hoping for a morning orgasm.

“We’re going to Crew’s and you’re telling him about this.”

“Tenley. No.” I sit up again. “He will freak the fuck out and he might try and tell me to stop playing.”

“He might, but you won’t listen to him,” she replies as she shrugs out of her robe and pulls the dress over her head. “You’re a stubborn idiot and he knows that. But he is also your best friend and your only sibling. He is going to take it personally that you kept this from him. Like you didn’t trust him enough to tell him or you didn’t want to lean on him. I know because I haven’t been in your life half as long and I felt that. And look at how well it ended up when you tried to keep it from me. We almost crashed and burned.”

And then it hits me. Tenley is right. I think back to how I found out Crew was bi. He never told me himself and I felt like it was because he didn’t trust me. That had me pull away from him and that made him think I was homophobic. We ended up throwing punches before we worked it out. I heave a heavy breath. “Fine.”

“Good husband.”

“Bossy wife.”

“For now,” she says. “Eventually I’ll just be a bossy girlfriend.”

That has my steps falter on my way to the bathroom. I look back at her, wondering what to say. Her eyes find mine and she speaks for me. “I mean we can’t stay married. It would be weird, right?”

“And ass backwards. Who marries before they even date?” I add.

“Right?” Tenley nods. “It’s too absurd, even for us. Plus my mom would want a real wedding that they could attend, and I don’t blame them.”

I walk over to my suit jacket, in a heap by the foot of the bed, and fish around in the pocket. When I find the ring she left on Gabby’s desk I walk over, take her hand, and slip it on. “But for now, we’re married and I want this on your finger. Okay?”

“Now look who’s the bossy one,” she gripes but I don’t miss the smile as she walks away. “Shower. I’ll make road coffees.”

Telling Crew is easier than I thought it would be. But seeing his reaction is so much harder than I expected. My tough, lighthearted, resilient twin who never takes anything seriously and always acts like nothing is a big deal, cries. He gets tears in his eyes and has the audacity to let them fall down his cheeks.

“Fucking hell, Crew!” I say and jump off the couch on his patio that overlooks Laurel Canyon.

“You drop the C word and expect me to what? Laugh?” Crew stands up and runs his hands through his hair, then wipes at his face moving so quickly that the tattoos that cover his arms blur. “This is fucking serious.”

“Which is why I’m telling you,” I reply. “Please don’t. I just need to file it away and concentrate on winning games.”

“You have to tell Mom and Dad.” I know he’s right but I am angry at him for saying it. “Yes they’ll freak out, but Nash. Come on.”

“Only if you back me against Dad,” I kick at one of the broken flagstones that make up the ancient patio. “He’s going to try and micromanage this whole thing and I want to be in charge of all the decisions. All of them.”

“Fair. I’ll back you.”

He looks at me and I look at him and then, before I can dodge him, he’s hugging me. It feels… great. But I still step away. “Don’t be all girly about it. I have Tenley for that.”

Crew sniffs reining in his emotions again, and then he snickers. “Tenley is more of a man than I could ever hope to be.”

I have no choice but to laugh. "Yeah. She kind of is."

A bird chirps in the canopy of trees above us. I sit back down on the sofa, pulling my phone out of the pocket of the jeans I'm wearing. They're Crew's so they feel weird but it made more logistical sense to drive straight here from Tenley's apartment than it did to head all the way over the loft and then back here. So I came in my suit and borrowed a T-shirt and jeans from my brother. I shoot a quick text to my parents who are staying in San Diego and I ask for a FaceTime.

Dad is video calling me less than five minutes later, and with Crew sitting beside me, I gently break the news of my medical hiccup. That’s what I’ve decided to label it. Not a hurdle. Not a drama. Not anything more than a blip. A hiccup. Mom breaks down. Dad gets angry I didn’t have him go to New York with me. I am firm but gentle with them and they finally both calm down. Still, the worry on their faces is as deep as I have ever seen. I feel like I just aged them twenty years and I hate myself for it.

I'm not surprised when they announce they're coming back to L.A. Crew isn't either and offers them a guest room at his place. We decide we'll do dinner tonight, as a family. "Wives and girlfriends welcome, obviously," Dad says before he ends the video chat.

I stand up and stretch, a beam of warm sunlight has sliced through the trees and I turn my face up to it. “You didn’t flinch,” Crew says. “Not so much as even an eye roll when Dad called Ten your wife.”

“She is,” I reply. “And she’s kind of my girlfriend.”

“Shit!” Crew chokes out. “Liv said you two were… making the most of your time together but I didn’t think… I mean, you’ve got a very strict life plan.”

“Yep. And in what? Less than three months one tiny, blonde, big mouth torched it,” I reply.

“I heard that!” Tenley’s voice filters out the open patio doors.

I smile as I see her arms raise, middle fingers extended, from her position sprawled on one of the couches in the den. Liv laughs from where she’s stretched out on the other couch. Crew watches the interaction with a weird look of awe on his face.

“So you’re… staying married?”

“No!” we both say at the same time.

I roll my eyes and pull us a little farther away from the open doors and eavesdropping Garrisons. “It would be weird to stay married… I think. I mean, we should date first, right?”

“I don’t know. I mean, technically, yeah. But there’s something poetic about the world’s biggest rule follower breaking all of them for love,” Crew says and I glare. He puts a hand over his heart like he’s swooning.

I shove him. “You suck.”

He laughs as I walk back into the house. Tenley lifts her legs so I can sit on the couch and then she promptly drops them into my lap. I roll my eyes. She winks. “Good job with the sharing, Nash-Hole.”

“I dare you to stop calling me that,” I counter.

“Might have to lose that one.” She sits up, leans in, and kisses my cheek. “Nash-Hole.”

Mom picks up a whole slew of food from Maggiano at The Grove. It’s way too many carbs for playoffs but I don’t argue. She thankfully also picked up a huge salad and I try not to think of the calories in their signature dressing as I load it onto my plate with some lasagna and baked ziti. We sit in Crew’s dining room. Liv, Crew, Dad on one side and Mom, me, and Tenley on the other. Mom tucks her chair up close to mine.

The meal starts off clogged with heavy feelings that no one dares to speak, but Tenley and Liv start telling stories about growing up Garrison and they get Dad talking about some of the antics from his hockey teams, and by the time we're on dessert, it's like I never told them that I have a squatter in my leg that may or may not be trying to kill me. I'm laughing so hard at some story Tenley is telling about the pranks her brother and male cousins used to play on each other, that I don’t even look at the call display when my phone rings. I just say hello.

“Nash Westwood?”

“Yes?”

“It’s Doctor Marchand.”

“Hi Dr. Marchand,” I say and the room immediately falls silent.

I stand up from the table and walk toward the window. I know if I leave the room every single one of them will follow so I just stand in the corner and close my eyes instead of looking out at the scenery. “Are the results back?”

“Yes. I just got them and reviewed them and didn’t want to wait until tomorrow to tell you,” he says and before I can ask he continues. “It’s benign, exactly like I’d guessed. It should still come out as soon as the playoffs end, but I see no problem with you continuing until that point and I’ve sent that recommendation and the results to your team doctor to share with your coach and management.”

“Holy fuck, thank god,” I blurt out.

“It’s not? It’s not?!” Tenley whispers. I smile and the room erupts in cheers as my little family starts hugging each other and high-fiving over the table.

“Sorry for the language, Doc.”

“I’ve heard worse,” he chuckles. “I’m a Barons fan through-and-through but since they didn’t make it this year, best of luck Nash. I expect to hear from you the day after your last game to schedule surgery.”

“You’ll be my first call the day after I win the Cup,” I promise and thank him again before hanging up.

My mom hugs me and then my dad. Crew says, "Cool bro. I knew it was nothing." And tries to fist-bump me, which makes me roll my eyes.

Liv gives me a quick hug and then as soon as she steps away Tenley launches herself at me, clinging to me with her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist like a koala bear high on eucalyptus. I hold her tight. “You’re stuck with me now.”

“Oh no. Whatever shall I do,” she murmurs in my ear. “I guess I’ll just have to give in to all these warm fuzzy feelings I have for you that feel a hell of a lot like love.”

I kiss her quickly. “I dare you.”