“Dr. Denise.” I turn to see Jack and Sarah. Jack is dressed in jeans and a team jersey. A team beanie hat covers his head as he pulls Sarah’s hand toward me.
“Hello, handsome,” I say to him as approaches me, and I bend to hug him. “Are you here to watch the game?” I ask him, smiling.
“Yeah, Daddy plays defense,” he tells me, and then he put his hands up. “He’s the biggest.”
“Is he now?” I ask him and then turn to smile at Sarah. “Is this your first hockey game?” I ask her, and she nods.
“I’m excited to see what all the fuss is about.” I throw my head back and laugh.
“You haven’t seen a hockey game? It really is the best sport there is,” I tell her and then hear Jack shout with glee.
“Michael is here,” he says, and Michael runs to us, and they jump up together while Allison makes her way to us. Alex finally leans out of my arms for her mother.
“Sarah,” I say, turning to look at Allison, “this is my sister-in-law, Allison. This is Jack’s nurse.”
“So nice to meet you,” she says and then looks around. “I think I’m going to head up to the lodge so I can put her down and let her explore a bit.” She looks at Michael. “Do you want to come with me?”
“Can Jack come with us?” he asks his mother, and Allison just smiles at him.
“Of course, he can.” She tilts her head to the side. “Come on, let’s go.”
“We can have pizza.” I hear Michael tell him while they walk, and then Jack turns around, looking for me, holding out his hand for me. I look at Sarah, who just smiles. I walk ahead to them, and he grabs my hand as we walk up the stairs to the lodge.
“Come on, and I’ll show you where we can sit,” Michael tells Jack, and I look over at Sarah.
“You can relax a bit. I’ll go and take care of them. Give you a break.”
“Oh, that’s okay,” she tells me, and I just flick my wrist.
Walking to the outside of the lodge where the seats are, Michael and Jack sit down and start pointing at things when the players from Toronto come out, and the fans start booing.
“Do you guys want to go down and see the warm-up?” I ask them. Jack doesn’t know what I’m talking about, so he looks at Michael.
“We get to go see our dads skate and practice,” he says, and Jack looks over at me.
“Can I really go?” he asks, and I have the hardest time not taking his face in my hands and kissing his cheeks. “Momma never let me go down with all the fans because it was too loud.”
“Well, she isn’t here, so let’s go and bang that glass,” I tell them and tell Sarah who is talking to Allison now that I am bringing the boys down to the glass.
They both hold my hand as we walk down the steps to the glass. “That’s my uncle Matthew.” Michael points at him as he skates to the glass and hits it with the blade of his stick, and the boys crack up laughing. Max gets there right after Matthew, and Michael yells his name.
“Daddy.” Michael’s jumping up and down, and then I see him, the blue eyes I dreamed of, the blue eyes I could honestly get lost in.
“Daddy,” Jack says and jumps up and down, slapping the glass. He puts his glove on the glass over his face and then looks up. When he sees me smiling at him, he puts up his hand to wave hi to me. Max pushes him on his shoulder and tells him to stop looking at his sister.
He just shakes his head and skates off, and the boys watch them warm up. After everything is done, Matthew comes over to the glass and tosses two pucks over. The boys grab them and shoot their hands up in the air cheering. “Okay how about we get some pizza?” I ask them, and we walk up the steps to the lodge. Once inside, I make a plate for each of them and have them sit down with their pizzas on their lap.
I sit behind them as they make fun of the different things on the boards. “Thank you for taking him down to the glass,” Sarah says as she takes the seat next to me.
“It was my pleasure. They had so much fun,” I tell her, and she just looks ahead. I hear squeals coming from inside the lodge and turn to see that Allison’s parents have arrived.
Her mother, Parker, grabs Alex and cuddles her to her chest. “It shows that her f-a-t-h-e-r isn’t here.” She spells out his name; otherwise, Alex might start again. While Allison just laughs, Parker looks at the seats and shakes her hand at me. “Hello, Denise. You look so beautiful with your hair down.”
“Thank you,” I tell her and then lean down. “Michael, Grandma is here.”
He turns around and yells at her, “Grandma, I’m sitting with Jack and we’re eating pizza.”
She laughs at him. “Okay, love.”
Cooper, who is Allison’s father in all sense of the word, comes to us and leans down to kiss my cheek. “Hello, Denise,” he says and then walks around to sit next to Michael. “Is that my boy?” he asks and then looks past him at Jack. “And who are you?”
“I’m Jack,” he says proudly. “My daddy is a defenseman, and he’s strong,” he says, and Cooper laughs.
“Well, Jack, I’m Cooper. Michael’s grandpop.” He puts his hand out, and Jack does the same thing, shaking it.
The teams now skate onto the ice, and everyone gets to their feet and starts cheering. The JumboTron shows Max on the screen, and it’s enough for Alex who is standing up on Parker’s lap while she claps to call, “Dada.”
“That’s my dad,” Michael says to Jack, who’s just watching the big JumboTron, and then Zack’s picture appears, and he jumps up.
“That’s my dad,” he tells everyone, and you have no choice but to fall in love with him.
The puck drops, and it’s a slow game during the first period, but then when the second starts, it’s like Toronto is ready to win. They score first, a slip of a tip in making Mark smack his hockey stick on the ice.
It takes twenty-five seconds for us to come back and score, tying it. With Matthew slipping it past the goalie after a pass from Max. Sometime during the second period, Michael comes to sit on Parker’s lap next to me and puts his head on her shoulder. Jack comes also, looking at him. I open my arms, and he walks to me and jumps in my lap. He puts his head on my chest, and I lean my cheek down on the top of his head.
“Tired?” I ask him, and he tries to say no but yawns instead. He reaches out and grabs a curl around his finger, twirling it between his fingers. Sarah comes over and asks me if I want her to take him, but I look down at him, his legs draped over mine, my arms over him, cocooning him into me. His fingers never stop twirling my hair. I watch the game, and I have to say it’s the most content I’ve been in forever.
Chapter Eight
Zack
I put on my elbow pad and then my jersey, pulling it up at the sleeves. “You nervous?” Matthew asks me as he grabs his gloves.
“Nah,” I say, and I’m really not. There are no butterflies in my stomach, no big nerves about stepping on my new home ice. It feels like I’ve always been here, like it’s always meant to be here.
“Is Jack out there?” Max asks, and I just nod my head.
“Yeah, I got tickets for him and Sarah,” I tell him, grabbing my own gloves and following them out to the ice. Matthew skates on first and then Max. I skate on, and some of the fans bang on the glass, shouting my name, but I don’t really pay attention to them. Instead, I pay attention to Jack, who is standing by the glass banging on it. He’s never come down to the glass before. He always stayed away from the fans because Chantal hated it. I skate to the glass and see he’s with Michael who’s also banging on the glass, trying to get Max’s attention. Then I look up and standing right behind them is Denise, who beams with pride behind the boys. Her eyes find mine, and I suddenly get the butterflies that shouldn’t be there. The butterflies that I thought were gone are now back. Nerves also come as my palms get sweaty in my gloves.
I don’t even realize I’m staring till Max shoves my shoulder.
“You better keep your eyes on the puck and not on my sister,” he says, and I just look down. W
hen we come back out to skate, I look up at the seat I got for Sarah and Jack and see they aren’t there. I start to panic as I look around when Matthew nudges me and points at one of the boxes.
I look up and see Jack and Michael stand and cheer for us while Denise sits behind them, watching their every move. I look back down and shut it off. I close off everything but the game until the last second of the third period. Only then do I look up and see that Jack is in Denise’s arms, and she’s rocking him. I skate off the ice and head back to the locker room. Taking off my jersey, I wait as the press comes and asks questions. I duck my head and call Sarah as soon as I get some away time.
“Are you still here?” I ask her.
“I am. I’m in Olivier’s office,” she says quietly. “I’m with Denise. Jack fell asleep in her arms, and she didn’t want to wake him.”
“I’ll be right there,” I say, walking out of the locker room shirtless, my skates off and my feet slipped into flip-flops. I walk down the hallway to Olivier’s office, knock once, and then open the door, and for the second time tonight, I’m left speechless as Denise sits in the chair with one foot propped up, her arm wrapped around Jack, and resting on her knee. Her hair twirled around Jack’s finger.
She looks up at me and smiles. “Hey,” she whispers, and then I look around to see where Sarah is, but I don’t find her. “She went to the bathroom.”
“Do you not want to put him down?” I ask her, and she just shakes her head.
“It’s okay.” She smiles at me. “Besides, my hair’s entangled with his fingers, and I don’t want to wake him.”
“I shouldn’t be long, but—” I say and then Sarah comes back into the room.
“Hey,” she says and then points at Jack, “he fell asleep in her arms, and she didn’t want to wake him.”
“That’s okay.” I look at her and then at Denise. “If you really don’t mind waiting till I finish, Sarah, you can go.”
“Are you sure?” Sarah asks, looking from me then to Denise.
“I’m fine. You go ahead,” Denise says as Sarah makes a beeline for the exit. “Take your time,” she tells me, and then I nod at her and turn away.
I don’t take my time. Instead, when I get back into the room, a couple of players are still lingering. Matthew is one of them. “Where did you take off to?” he asks me, unrolling the tape from his socks and throwing the ball into the garbage in the middle of the room.
“Jack fell asleep on Denise,” I tell him, and he starts with the tape on the other leg now. “I just made sure he was okay.”
“There isn’t anyone better to leave your kid with than Denise. I swear she is like the baby whisperer. When Vivi was born, she was fussy, but then after two seconds in Denise’s arms, the kid was fast asleep.”
“Yeah,” I say, “Jack hasn’t always had that much attention on him. I mean, I gave him all the attention in the world and so did my parents, but Chantal just didn’t feel the connection she said.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” he asks me with his eyebrows pinched together.
“According to Chantal, she just didn’t have that motherly bond,” I tell him, and I realize how fucking stupid those words sound right now.
“My father was almost like that,” he says, shaking his head. “Jack’s better off without that in his life. Trust me.”
“I’m starting to see that. Now more than ever.”
“We are having Sunday dinner, and Max is coming over with his kids. Why don’t you and Jack come?”
“It’s family dinner on a Sunday; I would hate to impose,” I tell him, and he just smiles.
“You’re part of the team, so that means you’re family.” He smiles, and I just nod my head.
“I’ll text you the address,” he tells me, turning to go shower.
I take a shower and dress, then walk back to Olivier’s office. Opening the door, I take a second to just watch Denise with her head resting on Jack’s head. Her eyes are closed as she holds my son, protecting him. She must feel me staring at her because her eyes flicker open, and she smiles at me. “You caught me resting.”
“I didn’t mean to wake you,” I tell her, coming into the room. The desire to bend down and kiss her knocks me back. I can’t do this. This can’t happen. There are lines, and I’m sure that is one I can’t cross.
“It’s okay,” she says, looking at me. “As a doctor, you learn to sleep even sitting up if you have to.”
I chuckle. “The car is waiting outside,” I tell her. When she stands, I lean in to grab Jack from her, putting his head on my shoulder and watching her walk out before me. “Did you drive here?”
“No”—she shakes her head—“I was going to go to the bar with Vivienne after the game, but she was a no-show. I’m going to just take a cab.” She walks with me down the almost empty hallway.
“We’ll give you a ride to your house,” I tell her. “Max would kick my ass if I made his sister take a cab. Besides”—I look over at her—“I couldn’t possibly do that. If it wasn’t for me, you’d be home already.”
She shrugs and looks down and then up at me again. “I had the best night ever, so we can call it even.”
“Agreed,” I say, pushing the door open and seeing the Lincoln Town Car waiting for us, “after I drop you off safe and sound.”
She rolls her eyes, walking to the car. “Fine.” She walks to the other side of the car while the driver holds the back door open for us. I bend down to get in as she opens the back door, sliding in next to Jack’s car seat. I place Jack in his car seat, trying not to wake him, and he sleeps through me buckling his seat belt.
“Marco,” I say when the driver returns to his seat, “we are driving Ms. Horton home first.”
“No problem,” he says. “Where to?” She gives him the address and then turns to look at me.
“That was a good game,” she says.
“First goal was my fault. I got caught up and left my man open,” I tell her, knowing exactly where I fucked up.
“I don’t think you can take all the blame. It’s a team effort,” she says. “You win together, you lose together.”
I laugh at her. “Spoken like a true supporter.”
“My earliest memories were of the arena. Mom usually let Max take me with him.”
“His own personal cheerleader?” I ask her, smiling, and she just smiles back at me.
“I guess so,” she says, and the car stops in front of a loft building. “This is me,” she says softly. “Thank you so much for the lift,” she says and then leans over and kisses Jack on the forehead. “See you soon,” she says, getting out and closing the car door behind her softly. Marco waits for her to get inside before he drives away.
I close my eyes, basking in the calmness of the night. We’ve been here about two weeks, and not once has Chantal tried to call Jack, not once has he asked for her, and not fucking once did she try. Yet thirty minutes with Jack, and Denise was protecting him. Fuck, it could have been five seconds, and I have no doubt she would protect him with her life.
Growing up, my mother was a stay-at-home mom. The mom who would bake cookies for the class, make homemade Play-Doh, and come in and read with the class. Never not once did she not hold my hand when she got the opportunity. Even when I turned thirteen, she would come sit with me before bed, and I would talk to her about anything and everything. There was no mistaking the love she had for me. It’s the only thing that I wished for whatever children I had, and I thought that Chantal was that person, but I was wrong. I was so wrong.
But in the end, he has me, and I will do whatever I need to do to make sure he doesn’t feel like he’s missing anything. The car comes to a stop, and I open my eyes, unsnapping the car seat from the car. I carry him in my arms attached to the seat, trying not to wake him. “Night, Marco,” I tell him, walking up the steps toward the front door. I struggle with opening the door and holding the seat and Jack in my arms.
I finally make it inside and to his room, undressing
him and tucking him in. “Night, buddy,” I say to him and walk out, leaving the door open. Untying my tie, I shrug out of my jacket and make my way to my walk-in closet. I use one foot to take off one shoe and then the other. My phone beeps in my pocket, so I pull it out while I unsnap my belt.
Thank you again for the lift.
I smile and answer her back right away.
How are you not sleeping?
I guess I got a second wind.
Make some warm milk with honey. It always does the trick.
That sounds delish. Thanks.
I don’t bother answering her anymore. My pants drop to the floor, and I step out of them. Standing in my closet in my black Hugo Boss boxers, I shut off the light and walk to the bed. I place the phone on the bedside table and slide into bed. It doesn’t take me long to fall asleep; it also doesn’t take Jack long to come to my bed. When he sits up in the bed the next morning, I turn the television on for him, trying to get a few more minutes of sleep.
He watches Paw Patrol for as long as possible before asking me what’s for breakfast. I roll over and get out of bed, grabbing shorts and walking downstairs to the kitchen. “What do you want for breakfast?” I ask him as I start the coffee.
“Toast and peanut butter,” he tells me, and I just nod. “Where is Dr. Denise?”
“What do you mean, buddy?” I ask him, grabbing the bread from the pantry and sliding two slices in the toaster.
“I fell asleep with her last night,” Jack says while I pour him some orange juice and then a glass of milk.
“We dropped Dr. Denise off at her house before coming home,” I tell him, and he takes a gulp of his juice. “We were invited to Matthew’s house today. Did you want to go?”
“Is Michael going to be there?” he asks.
“I’m not sure. Maybe. But they have kids too,” I tell him when the toast pops up, and I grab the butter. “Do you think we should go?” I ask him. I butter the toast and stir the peanut butter to get the oil mixed in so I can add that to the toast.
“Okay,” he says, taking a bite of his toast and then wiping the crumbs away from his mouth with the back of his hand.
Something So Unscripted Page 6