Page 6

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“ T o Tristan!” My father raises his mimosa. “We are so proud of you, son. For you and Bradley to break the record for the number of goals scored in a single game is quite the accomplishment and we are so lucky we were able to travel down from Canada to see you celebrated.”

My family all clink their glasses together. Everyone had a mimosa except me. I don’t like to drink all that much during the season, especially the morning after a game. There may be a handful of times where I will party with my teammates or if it’s a special event. Not this morning. This morning I need to stick with water.

“Thanks for coming out, you guys. It means a lot to me that you would travel so far to celebrate with me.” My parents were insistent that we go out to brunch this morning since it was too late to do a celebratory dinner last night. I took them to Oddfellows in the Bishop Arts district. It’s one of my favorite breakfast spots in Dallas and I know they serve beignets, which are both my sisters’ favorites.

“So, honey.” My mom turns to my dad. “When do you want to head to the airport tomorrow?”

Their conversation started to trail off as I dug back into my food. Andi and Nora were sitting directly across from me. I can tell in their faces that they wanted to talk about last night. I can read both of them like a fricken book. They wanted to talk about Brooke.

“So…” Andi starts, smirking while playing with her food with her fork.

Here we go.

“So what, Andi?” I muster up the most annoyed tone I can, even though I am already halfway there.

“What’s going on with you and Brooke?” Andi asks, her eyebrows wagging.

“Nothing is going on between me and Brooke.” My jaw clenches at that reality and I hate it that my body responds that way. It reveals too much about what is going on in my head.

Nora chimes in, “She’s gorgeous, by the way. Her caramel hair. Her hazel eyes. I love her style, too. She looks like she came straight from Barbie Land with the pink headband.” She takes a bite of her beignet and looks accusingly at me.

“I haven’t really noticed.” I shrug and take a drink of my water. Of course I noticed. I’ve always noticed.

“Oh, please, Tristan. You have goo-goo eyes anytime you look in her direction or if we even say her name. Your face lights up in a way that I’ve never seen before. Out of ALL the women you’ve been with…”

“I haven’t been with that many women.” My stomach twists that my sisters have been keeping track. I guess I am their older brother and they have been my shadows from the moment they could walk, always following me around the house. Getting in my business.

“Uh, yes you have,” Andi and Nora say in unison.

I don’t like talking about my relationships with my sisters. I feel pressure to set an example for how they should be treated by their partner, and I feel like I’ve failed them because of my lack of long-term relationships. I’ve never truly had a girlfriend. I always use the excuse of my grueling hockey schedule, but even I knew that is a bullshit excuse. People across the league are married and have kids and they make it work. It’s not that I don’t want to make it work. Trust me, I do.

“Whatever. And I do not have goo-goo eyes around Brooke.” I reach over and steal some of Nora’s beignet. Avoiding eye contact at all costs. If I can read them like a book, they can read me, too. “You both have it all wrong. Brooke and I hate each other.”

Nora raises her eyebrows and takes another bite of her beignet. “I don’t know, big brother. You can cut the tension between you two with a knife.”

I raise my glass to my lips. “Maybe because we want to kill each other.”

“Or you want to rip each other’s clothes off,” Andi says mid-chew.

I do a spit-take with my water. That catches our parent’s attention, who were still busy talking about their travel plans. It feels like the whole restaurant is looking our way. I lower the bill of my cap to deter anyone from recognizing me.

“Are you all right over there, honey?” My mom’s signature worried look crosses her face. I give her a thumbs-up as I clear my throat for what seems like the thousandth time. Thankfully my parents’ attention returns to each other as I take the cloth napkin and clean the mess I made. People at other tables also return to their own conversations. Andi and Nora are snickering across the table, looking satisfied with themselves. Some things never change.

“You both are toddlers.” I wave the server down, desperately needing to change the subject. “Hey, can we have the check? All on one tab. Thanks.”

She smiles, nods and heads toward the register.

I reach in my pocket to get my wallet. I glance over at the two goofballs that are my little sisters. They are just smiling at me and shaking their heads. “What? Stop looking at me like that.”

“We will, once you admit to us that you are so in love with Brooke Beckett,” Andi says before taking another drink of her mimosa.

“Well, I guess I’ll have to get used to you looking like fools all the time, because that will never happen.”

The server returns and hands me a black check-holder. I raise my hand up to my dad before he can protest, stick my card in the slot and hurriedly hand it back to the server, who by the look on her face, has clocked who I am. She not-so-subtly rakes her eyes along my body. I mean, my face is on multiple billboards in the metroplex. I can’t exactly hide who I am in this city. Even if people don’t watch hockey, they recognize me regardless.

“Never say never, Tristan. Life has a way of surprising you,” Nora adds.

Life isn’t going to go my way on this one. There are too many obstacles, one being Brooke’s dating rule and the other being her older brother. I only tell my sisters about one of those obstacles, because the other one shouldn’t matter or have any stock in why I can’t be with Brooke. “She is Bradley’s little sister. She’s off-limits anyway.”