Crossing Center Ice: A Christian Romance (The Callaghans & McFaddens Book 5)

by Kimberly Rae Jordan

“Oh, Maya did them for you?” Avery asked, recognizing the name of Max’s daughter who was also dating one of Kenton’s brothers.

  “Yes.”

  “They’re very pretty. I like that baby pink.” After rubbing her palms together to warm the oil, Avery began to work with the muscles in Emily’s hand and forearm.

  “When we first met Mom, pink was her favorite color,” Kenton said as he reached out to brush a strand of hair from her cheek. “In our household of five guys, that was a color that had no place. It took her and the girls awhile to convince us that it wasn’t the worst color in the world. Somehow she’d managed to brainwash Bennett and Ryan into believing that pink worked well with their dark hair.”

  “It did,” Emily said with more force than Avery had heard her say anything before. “They looked good.”

  “You do realize, right, that while you may have sent them out the door in pink shirts, they each had another shirt in their backpacks that they changed into before we got to school.”

  Avery grinned when Emily snorted then said in a halting voice, “Of course I realized. I’m the mom, after all.”

  “Yeah. One of the family’s worst kept secrets.”

  “One of them?” Avery asked.

  “Yeah. One of the other family secrets is that Makayla makes horrible cookies.”

  “How can that be a secret?”

  “Well, Makayla was about ten when she decided that she wanted to make cookies all by herself. She offered the first cookies to Bennett and me, and we made the mistake of telling her they didn’t taste quite right. Well, maybe commenting on the taste was a misnomer since we couldn’t even bite them. Unfortunately, just the hint that her cookies were less than perfection sent her into the fit of all fits. Makayla was a bit of a drama queen. Right, Mom?” Avery glanced up to see Emily smile and nod. “Every time after that, whenever Makayla made cookies, we all tried to disappear, so we didn’t have to try them. They were worse than hockey pucks, they were so hard. In fact, I think one year we used some of them as pucks. She was definitely not impressed.”

  “How did she not know how bad they were?” Avery asked. “Didn’t she eat them herself?”

  “Oh, she knew. Strangely enough, she just happened to be on a diet each time she made the cookies.” Kenton sat back in his chair, a smile on his face. “She knew. That went on for like six years.”

  “What made her stop?” Avery rubbed the lotion onto Emily’s upper arm then worked her way up to her shoulder. The tension that had been present when she’d started had disappeared, but Avery wasn’t sure if it was due to the massage or Kenton and his stories.

  “Someone suggested we use the cookies as teething biscuits for Dalton. Somehow that was enough to get her to stop making that particular type of cookie.”

  “Does she bake anymore?” Avery had only met Makayla a couple of times, but she hadn’t gotten a drama queen vibe from her.

  “No. She left the baking up to my mom, and now Danica does a lot of it. Somehow the baking gene skipped right over Makayla. Even Dalton does better at baking than she does.”

  “I want to make your cookies,” Emily said slowly. “For Christmas.”

  “I’d love that, Mom.”

  Emily turned to look at Avery. “Do you think I can?”

  “We can certainly work toward that goal.” Avery didn’t want to give false hope, but at the same time, she knew that Emily needed encouragement. “Why don’t we plan for a group project? You can be head baker, and Kenton and I will be there as your helpers. I’m not the world’s greatest baker myself—just ask my mom—so I’m sure I could use the coaching.”

  “Then we have a date to make chocolate crinkles in time for Christmas,” Kenton said. “And here’s hoping that they turn out better than the cookies Makayla made, or I’ll never live it down.”

  “You follow my directions. You’ll be fine.”

  Kenton chuckled. “Yeah. I do follow directions better than Makayla ever has.”

  “Do you have a sister or brother?” Emily asked, her gaze meeting Avery’s as they shifted around so Avery could reach her other side.

  “Uh. A brother. He’s only fifteen though, so a big surprise for my parents.”

  “I took him to the Jets game the other night, Mom.”

  “He a Jets fan or a Kenton fan?”

  “Both actually,” Avery said. “Same as my son. The only thing that would make hockey perfect in their eyes was if Kenton played for the Jets.”

  Emily nodded. “I agree.”

  “Hey, now, no ganging up on me,” Kenton said. “I’m locked into LA for at least another year and a half, so no playing for the Jets yet.”

  “But maybe someday?” Emily asked, hope in her voice.

  “I’ll never say never, so who knows.”

  Avery sensed it was a subject that had been discussed before. “How are you feeling now, Emily?”

  “Better, but tired.”

  “Why don’t you take a nap then?” Avery wiped her hands on the towel. “And maybe tomorrow we can work on a few things that will help us move toward that cookie making goal, okay?”

  Emily nodded. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” Avery made sure she was comfortable then gathered up her things. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  She left the bedroom and headed back to the therapy room to make her report. Though she was hopeful that there really had been a change in Emily’s outlook, Avery wasn’t sure how to make a note of that in the reports. In the end, she chose to just say that Emily had seemed to interact more during the massage. Only time would tell if Emily was definitely going to turn the corner. Sadly, Avery had gotten her hopes up in the past only to be disappointed.

  This time, however, it seemed more important than ever that Emily’s mindset change. Her lack of motivation to get better was beginning to wear heavily on her family. Though this wasn’t the first time she’d heard people telling Steve to take a break, it was the first time that she was around when he’d actually done it.

  The nurse came in just as she was finishing up, and Avery did give her more details than she’d put in the report, knowing that the nurse would be able to judge better how things were once Emily woke up. Avery had thought that Kenton might want to talk with her before she left, but he didn’t show up before she headed out, which left her feeling oddly disappointed.

  As she drove home, Avery gave herself a lecture on why that was not the way she should be feeling. She appreciated what he’d been able to do with his mom, but that was where her thoughts about him should end. Where they had to end.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Kenton looked around at the people gathered in the living room. Christmas music played softly in the background as Bennett and Mitch carried in the first of the red plastic tubs that held their mom’s Christmas decoration collection. They were late putting up the tree, and he’d actually wondered if they were going to do it at all, but his mom had insisted.

  She’d joined them at the table for supper and was now sitting in an easy chair watching as their dad and Ryan finished assembling the tree. Though his mom would have preferred a real one, she always wanted to have it up early in the season, which meant they had to settle for a fake tree. Still, it was a beautiful fake tree. Once it was up, Sammi and Makayla worked the branches, spreading them out to give it fullness. Soon, no doubt under their mom’s direction, they’d begin to hang the decorations.

  It had been a few days since his talk with his mom, and she’d seemed to have taken it to heart. She’d worked each day with Rowena and then with Avery. Her mood had continued to improve as well, and it had been great to have her join them for supper earlier that night. On the days she worked with the therapists, she’d been too tired for supper at the table, but since Saturday had been a day off from therapy, she had agreed to join them.

  After some discussion, they’d decided to go with lasagna since it was a favorite of hers plus it would be a bit easier for Emily to eat than something that re
quired cutting. She hadn’t eaten a lot, but just her presence at the table had been encouraging for all of them. Ryan had even been there to witness it too.

  As Canadians, the Callaghans had celebrated their Thanksgiving in October, but because Ryan worked in the States, he got time off for American Thanksgiving at the end of November. He’d decided to come home and spend that time with the family. It was the first time in a couple of years that they had all been together like this. Battered and bruised though some of them might be, they were all together, and it felt good.

  Ryan would be leaving the next morning, but he’d be back for Christmas, and since Kenton had no plans to return to LA until closer to the time he’d start training with the team again, they’d be celebrating the holiday as a family for the first time in a long time. Hopefully, his mom would continue to work hard so that she’d be able to enjoy the season like she had in years past.

  He watched as Grace set her little girl on the floor with an assortment of—what he hoped—were unbreakable Christmas balls. His gaze went to Bennett, and Kenton was not surprised to find his brother staring at the baby and her mom. He felt a pang of jealousy at the love the two shared. A love strong enough to withstand years of being apart, partly due to his own meddling. He didn’t blame Bennett for how he felt about him, but it was long past time for them to get over it.

  Back when it had all started, he’d seen Grace’s rejection of Bennett as a chance for himself with her. But even so, no one had been more surprised than him when Grace had said yes when Kenton had asked her to go to the prom with him. He’d told Bennett that he had asked her so that no one else would, but Bennett hadn’t been a dummy. He’d known then…just as he knew now.

  As if feeling the weighty thoughts of the past straining the already frayed ties of their brotherhood, Bennett glanced up and met Kenton’s gaze. His eyes narrowed briefly before he turned his attention back to the tree. He didn’t even bother to make an overt claim of Grace and baby Olivia for Kenton’s sake. Likely because he knew that Grace wouldn’t look twice at Kenton. She never had, and she never would. She’d accepted the date with Kenton not because she wanted Kenton but because she’d had a message she was trying to send to Bennett. A messed-up message, but a message nonetheless.

  “My feet are killing me,” Makayla said as she lowered herself onto the couch beside him, a hand going to rest on her swollen belly.

  “Guess you’d better ask Ethan to rub them for you,” Kenton suggested. “It seems like the guy will do pretty much anything for you.”

  Makayla grinned at him. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

  “Just surprised that there was anyone on this planet who was willing to put up with your whiney butt. You do know, right, that we didn’t used to call you DQ because of your love of ice cream.”

  She bumped her shoulder against his. “Sure, but it seemed like every time you guys called me that, you felt guilty and brought me a Blizzard. So why would I object? As far as I was concerned, I came out on top.”

  Kenton chuckled. “You always did seem to be one step ahead of us.”

  “You guys just made it so easy for me to manipulate you. Never mess with the queen. Even a drama queen.”

  “So you’ve learned to manipulate Ethan now?”

  Makayla rolled her eyes at him before looking at her husband, her expression softening. “No. He doesn’t let me get away with that, but I don’t need to because he’s done the one thing that you guys never did and that was to really try to understand me and the ups and downs I deal with.”

  “Well, all we knew was that you were a pain in our collective butts. You could hardly expect pre-teen and teenage boys to know better, or to want to know better, to be honest. The only girls we were interested in were the ones that weren’t related to us.”

  “Speaking of…how are things going with…Candy? Uh…Celeste?”

  Kenton scoffed. “Celine.”

  “Right. Celine. How are things going with her?”

  “Well, we FaceTime every day and are constantly texting. I’m thinking about picking out a ring soon.”

  Makayla jerked her head around to stare at him, her eyes going wide. “What?”

  “Were you serious with your question?” Kenton asked, enjoying Makayla’s alarm.

  “Uh…maybe…not?” she confessed. “I thought you’d broken up with her.”

  “Ask a dumb question, and you’ll get a dumb answer. Yes, we did break up. Or rather, she felt I needed to be able to focus on my recovery. I didn’t object.”

  Makayla frowned. “You need to find a woman who looks past your career and your money.”

  “Eventually,” Kenton said, even as Avery’s face came to mind. “I have too many other things on my plate right now.”

  “Maybe this thing with your knee is a sign you need to slow down.”

  “No. It’s a sign I still need to work hard at my game.” Kenton leaned back against the couch, stretching out his legs and lacing his fingers over his stomach as he watched Danica and Dalton squabble over the placement of various decorations. Sammi, meanwhile, handed decorations to her baby’s daddy who then reached to hang them where she indicated. Yet another man having fallen under a McFadden woman’s spell.

  “Can I get coffee for anyone?” Mitch asked.

  “Oh, let me get the cookies ready,” Danica said, abandoning the tree in favor of the kitchen.

  Mitch and Ryan ended up getting the drinks, declining help from the walking wounded as they’d named Kenton and Gabe. Though their mom hadn’t been able to make cookies herself, she’d helped Danica with the recipes and answered any questions she’d had. It wasn’t a huge selection, and the plate she brought back in didn’t have his chocolate crinkles, but that didn’t matter. As far as Kenton was concerned, those cookies were on hold until his mom and Avery could make them with him. He didn’t have any true goals for himself right then since he’d achieved the one of walking without crutches already, so he was clinging to this goal for his mom.

  Kenton’s lack of defined goals changed Monday morning during a video meeting he had with the team’s trainers and medical staff. They’d been pleased with his progress and the work Avery had been doing with him, so that was a good thing. Since he was almost six weeks out from the surgery, they wanted him to begin more focused training alongside the therapy.

  Because of that, he needed to talk to Avery to see if she’d be willing to meet with him at the gym located at the wall climbing place that Gabe owned with his friend, Hunter. It would be easier if she could supervise—at least at the start—what he was doing as he expanded his rehabilitation.

  When she arrived shortly before eleven, Kenton was already in the therapy room since Emily had finished with Rowena a little early. Now that she had made up her mind to get better, she was working harder, but that also tired her out more quickly. Even if it was the simple things like strengthening her grip in order to hold a pen or a hairbrush more firmly. He was thankful to see that she wasn’t getting discouraged at having to work on things so basic. Kenton wasn’t sure he’d be able to avoid discouragement if he was in her shoes.

  Avery would be working on bigger things like getting her to stand and walk. So far, Emily did limited standing and was usually moved using the wheelchair. Hopefully, with Avery’s help, she’d be able to walk on her own soon. He knew that in some ways, his mom’s age wasn’t necessarily in her favor, but she had been in fairly good health up until the aneurysm.

  “Good morning,” Kenton said when Avery walked into the room. She was bundled up in a black wool coat with a purple plaid scarf wrapped around her throat. “Cold out there?”

  “Freezing,” she replied as she pulled off her gloves then unwound her scarf, revealing cheeks pink from the cold. “This is supposed to be January weather. It’s been too cold for November.”

  “It’s good for what I have in mind,” Kenton said as he settled on the exam table.

  She hung her coat up and turned to him, tugging down th
e sleeves of her sweater, a curious look on her face. “And what’s that?”

  “I’ve talked to my dad and a couple of my brothers, and we’re going to try and do the rink again this year. My dad wasn’t really up to it considering what happened to my mom, but we still want to do it.”

  Avery frowned as she crossed her arms. “And will you be able to resist the temptation to skate? You won’t be far enough out from surgery to be able to do that.”

  “I think I’ll be able to resist. I didn’t even bring my skates home with me.”

  “Don’t make me have to tattle on you,” she said, a reproving look on her face. “Because you can bet I will. It’s practically in my job description.”

  Kenton grinned. “Don’t worry. Your reputation as a physical therapist extraordinaire will be intact when I finally get back on the ice.”

  “Well, I don’t know about that reputation, but I at least want to know that you benefitted from my efforts and didn’t mess them all up by skating too soon.”

  “Did you get the new instructions from the team medical staff?”

  She nodded and moved to the laptop. “I need to print out a form for a test they want me to put you through.”

  “A test?” Kenton asked. “I didn’t study for any test.”

  “Haha.” She bent over the laptop, and soon the printer whirred to life. “They want me to test you for a few things, and then we’ll have other tests in the weeks ahead. The results of these tests will indicate how successful the surgery was and how you’re doing at recovering your strength and agility. They want you over ninety-five percent before they’ll consider letting you back on the ice.”

  Kenton scowled as a pit formed in his stomach. What if he never got to that point? What if, for some reason, he didn’t heal as quickly as he needed to? He knew that Avery wouldn’t let him push too far, and he also knew that was right, but at the same time, he absolutely needed to get back on the ice. Having a bad season for the last year of his contract was not acceptable. There was no way he could let that happen. That meant that he needed to make sure that he was fit to skate as soon as possible in order to have enough ice time to get back on his feet before the season started.