Page 28

Rio

After giving Hallie a head start, I walk back into the waiting room. There’s no one else in here other than Luke and the woman sitting next to him.

It feels strange to sit clear across the room without acknowledging my childhood friend, so I don’t. I take the empty seat on the other side of him.

Leaning forward, I extend my hand to the woman. “I’m Rio.”

She offers me a kind smile as she shakes my hand. “Sarah. Luke’s wife.”

Oh shit. I had no idea he had gotten married. But how would I? It’s not like I’ve talked to him since I left for Chicago.

“I’ll give you guys a minute,” she says, standing from her seat, taking her coffee, and stepping out into the hallway.

He and I sit facing forward, not looking at each other as I start the conversation. “So, you got married, huh?”

“Yep. Had a kid too.”

“No shit? Wow. Congrats, man.”

Luke pulls out his phone, showing me his lock screen. “This is Hudson. He recently turned two.”

I chuckle at the picture of a two-year-old boy covered in birthday cake. “He’s cute.”

“Well, he looks like his mother, thank God.”

We share a quick laugh, but it’s a bit awkward because we’re both aware of how weird this all is. We haven’t spoken in six years.

“You’ve made quite a name for yourself in the NHL,” he says, keeping up the small talk.

“Yeah, I’ve been lucky to stay healthy and have a solid team around me.”

He nods and then I nod, because again... awkward.

“Look, Luke—”

“If you’re going to apologize about something from the past, don’t worry about it. It was a long time ago, and I’ve moved on.”

“Regardless, it was a shitty thing for me to do. To never call or text you back.”

“It was, but it was a whole lot shittier that you did that to my sister, and she’s clearly not pissed at you anymore, so why should I be?”

That feels like a punch to the gut if I’ve ever felt one. It’s one thing to hear it from Hallie or to acknowledge it myself, but to know the people closest to her also recognize that I made a huge fucking mistake by leaving her behind makes me wonder if any of this is repairable.

“But I’m not going to give you a hard time for that either,” he continues. “I’d be a hypocrite if I went after you for abandoning her when I did the exact same thing.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Luke looks over at me apprehensively, realizing just how out of the loop I am. “What exactly has Hallie told you about our dad?”

“Nothing. I have literally no idea what’s going on.”

His eyes go wide. “And you’re here? Missing a game for this and everything?”

“I don’t need to know what’s going on to know that she needs someone here for her.”

Luke pauses for a moment. “Yeah, you’re right about that.”

My phone dings in my pocket, cutting off our conversation.

H ? : Could you come back here? My dad wants to see you. Room 424.

I stand from my seat. “I’ll be back.”

“Hey, Rio,” he calls after me. “Even if I didn’t want to see it at first, you guys make a lot of sense together. And she deserves to get what she wants for once, so if she wants you, I hope you stick around this time.”

All I can do is hope that she wants me.

“Yeah.” I nod. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Down the hall, I find room 424. The door is open, but still I knock to make my presence known.

“Come on in,” Mr. Hart says.

Rounding the corner, I find him sitting up on a hospital bed with Hallie at his bedside. She’s no longer crying, once again the picture of strength and resilience. Same as she seemed when I first found her in the waiting room while Luke was hugging his wife.

“Is the all-star defenseman for the Chicago Raptors here to see me?”

Hallie shakes her head. “No need to hype him up, Dad.”

“Good to see you, Mr. Hart. You look good.”

“Don’t lie to me, kid. I look like shit and we both know it.”

He’s got this playful edge to his tone, so it feels okay to laugh when he says it.

Even though it’s only been six years since I’ve last seen him, Mr. Hart has aged more than that. His hair has grayed. His skin is sunken in. He’s lost a lot of weight, and you can tell that his body has been through the ringer. But still, he’s looking up at his daughter and smiling at her as he always has.

I do my best not to focus on any of the information written on the whiteboard the nurses use for their rotations. I try not to play detective and figure out what’s going on because no one in their family has told me what’s happening, and I’m doing my best to wait until they’re ready to share.

“My dad didn’t believe you were here,” Hallie states. “Said he wanted proof.”

“I’m here.”

Mr. Hart rolls his eyes playfully. “About damn time.”

I chuckle. “Yeah. I deserve that.”

“Dad!”

“What? I’m dying. You expect me to hold my tongue?”

“Jesus, Dad. You’re not dying. Your doctor told us that you’re perfectly fine. Dehydrated but fine. Though I should ask her if that fever wiped out any filter you may have had.”

He pats his daughter’s hand. “Hallie girl, we’re all dying.”

“You’re so morbid sometimes, I swear.”

I have absolutely no problem being the punching bag here, especially because the energy feels light and easy. The opposite of what I originally walked into in the waiting room. Hallie is smiling and teasing after having a cry, and I fucking love that.

“Dad, Rio has a long drive home, so we should let him get going.” Hallie looks at me. “Oh. I drove your truck here. I probably should’ve mentioned that.”

My smile goes soft as I look at her. “I was hoping you did.”

“Or are you flying back? I can drive your car back in a few days.”

I didn’t really think that far ahead. I was desperate to get to her, but now that things seem settled here and she’s okay, I should get back to Chicago for our game tomorrow night.

“Rio, are you okay to drive back tonight?” Mr. Hart asks.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“Good. Take Hallie home with you.”

“Dad—”

“As you said, the doctor told us that I’m fine. You’re going back to Chicago with him. You need to get back to your life. I’m not your responsibility anymore.” He looks to me. “Rio, you make sure she goes with you, okay? And be careful with my girl.”

That phrase feels too familiar. This situation feels like a recurring dream, and my throat goes tight when I realize he said the exact same thing to me the very first time I drove Hallie home.

Nodding, I swallow. “Always, sir.”

He smiles at me. “I knew I always liked you.”

“All right, Dad. No need to kiss his ass. He’s not that great.”

I laugh. “Yeah, I kind of thought you would have hated me by now, Mr. Hart.”

“Nope,” Hallie cuts in. “Dad, I don’t think you’ve missed more than a handful of Rio’s games since he’s been in the league, huh?”

He lifts a brow. “We both know I wasn’t the only one watching.”

I tilt my head as I look at her. “Oh, is that so?”

“Big hockey fan,” she says. “Couldn’t care less about the players themselves, though.” Hallie shoots me a smile to tell me she’s full of shit and does, in fact, care about one.

Mr. Hart grabs her hand again. “Hallie, go home. I love you but you need to go home. This isn’t on you anymore. I’m perfectly fine.”

I watch her watch him, as if she’s searching for any sign that he isn’t okay, before she eventually gives in. “Okay. But I’m going to call you tomorrow and check in.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” He nods towards the door. “Go say goodbye to your brother. I want to talk to Rio for a minute.”

“Dad, please don’t.”

“Dying man, remember?”

Her attention darts to me, an apology written all over her face.

I shake her off, silently telling her I’m fine and that I can handle this. “I’ll meet you out there.”

She bends down to hug her dad before giving my arm a squeeze on the way out of the door. I close it behind her, giving us privacy, grabbing a chair in the corner and bringing it to his bedside so I can take a seat.

“You’re very lucky,” he starts.

“I know. I know I made some mis—”

“No, I mean you’re both very lucky. To have found each other again. Don’t throw it away this time.”

“I won’t. I’m trying not to, at least. Hallie’s not ready to forgive me, which I understand. I have no issue being patient and trying to make up for the years we missed.”

“She’s already forgiven you, Rio. But those years you didn’t see each other were not easy for her, so I don’t blame her for taking her time in letting you know that.” He eyes me for a moment. “Do you know why I’m here?”

I could make an educated guess, seeing how many signs I saw plastered on the walls of this building. This hospital is one of the top cancer research facilities in the country.

“I don’t know for certain.”

“I’m in remission from blood cancer. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. My second remission, actually. Today was thankfully only a scare, but that’s what our past six years have been consumed by. Me and this disease.”

The confirmation makes my stomach drop. It’s a weird mixture of relief that he’s not currently sick, and guilt knowing that he was. Not only because this man was such a kind person in my life growing up, but because Hallie loves him so fucking much that imagining how scared she’s probably been makes me physically ill.

“I need you to take care of her,” he continues. “Because she’s spent so many years taking care of me, but I couldn’t do the same for her. I don’t know that I’d still be here if it weren’t for the sacrifices she made for me.”

There’s this ominous air lingering in the room. Like I’m about to put a lot of the missing pieces together, all while knowing I’m probably not going to like the final picture.

Regardless, I need to know.

I lean forward in my chair, knees to my elbows. “Can you explain what that means? What all happened since I last saw you guys? Because I don’t know if Hallie will, and even if she did, she’s going to downplay it, but I need to know the truth.”

He doesn’t even hesitate. “Well, for starters, as soon as I was diagnosed, she did endless research to find the best oncologists and treatment centers. We got lucky that this is one of the best cancer research hospitals out there, and I happen to be from here. I had a childhood friend who practiced here who got me into a trial. Hallie dropped out of school and moved to Minnesota to take care of me.”

My eyes shoot to his.

“She eventually finished taking online courses at night or while I was busy getting treatment. She’d sit next to me the whole time and do it from her computer. That was a hard pill to swallow, knowing I was the reason she was missing out. She had worked so hard to put herself through school.”

The last time I had seen Hallie was the summer after her freshman year of college. I had gotten drafted five weeks prior and was planning our move to Chicago. Hallie was looking into transferring to a university in the city so we could live together. I assumed she continued classes where she was already enrolled. I had no idea she dropped out.

“We sold the house back in Boston,” he continues. “But the market was terrible at the time. We didn’t make anything from the sale, and I wasn’t able to work once we moved because of how sick the treatments made me. Thankfully, the trial covered housing and included a caregiver’s stipend, but still, things were tight. Hallie worked any odd job she could find to get us by while also making it to every one of my appointments. She was suddenly taking care of me, when I was supposed to be taking care of her, you know?”

Nodding, my nose pricks with heat and the back of my eyes burn. There’s an overwhelming sense of pride flowing through me, knowing that Hallie took this on all on her own and handled it. But that’s coupled with immense guilt. Our years apart couldn’t have been more different. I was busy living out my dream, while unknowingly leaving her to deal with this nightmare all on her own.

My voice is hoarse when I ask, “Where’s her mom?”

Mr. Hart waves me off like she’s the least important piece of the story. “She said something pretty horrible around the time of my original diagnosis that none of us have been able to forgive her for.”

“And Luke?” I ask. “Where was he during all of this?”

“He was doing what any twenty-something should’ve been doing. Living his life. Finishing school. He wasn’t ready to pause everything for me, and I can’t blame him for that. Once he got married, I think Sarah opened his eyes to what his sister had been handling all on her own and that she needed her turn to live her life. They moved back to Minnesota last year, and Hallie left for Chicago shortly after that.”

I’d be a hypocrite if I went after you for abandoning her when I did the exact same thing.

I’d like to go out there and give my old friend a piece of my mind for not helping his sister when she needed it, but what ground do I have to stand on? I fucking left her too.

“When um...” I clear my throat. “When did you find out you were sick for the first time?”

He eyes me for a moment, and for a man who’s been so forthcoming with this conversation, he hesitates for a long while. “I think that part of the story should come from Hallie.”

There’s that pit in my stomach again, telling me I’m not going to like the answer.

The puzzle gets clearer, and as I suspected, I hate what it looks like.

It’s no wonder Hallie hasn’t wanted to give us another chance. Why would she?

I didn’t just break up with her and move away. I left her when I promised her forever. And not only that, I left her to fend for herself when everyone else did too. And I’m not only referring to financially taking care of herself, but she had to emotionally take care of herself too. That was my job, and I didn’t do it because I was so focused on my own life falling apart. For years, I couldn’t see past my own bullshit, when all the while, she’s been dealing with this.

Fuck me. I wouldn’t forgive me either.

“Rio,” Mr. Hart says, pulling my focus back to him. “You’re adults now. Don’t let your parents’ lives dictate your decisions this time. You get to choose for yourselves if you want to forgive each other, and I hope you do.”

I shake my head. “She shouldn’t forgive me. I don’t even think I can forgive me.”

“You didn’t know. I need you to give yourself a little grace, okay? I need you to take care of her and you’re not going to be able to if you’re too busy regretting past decisions. She needs someone to take care of her for once. Can you do that for me?”

Can I do it? Absolutely. Should she give me another opportunity to? Probably fucking not.

The things I was angry at her for so long seem impossibly inconsequential now. I was holding a grudge because she didn’t tell me about my dad, while her hurt was because I left her when she needed me the most.

Regardless of what I didn’t know at the time, she wins. Hallie has every right to hate me.