Worth the Fall (15 page)

He hated that he needed help with the simple tasks but had been around injuries long enough to know that the more you follow the rules the doctor laid out, the sooner you were back on the ice.

Except he wouldn’t be back on the ice.

By the time they got all this accomplished, he was hungry again, so they made their way back to the kitchen and Darío made him a sandwich.

“You don’t want one?” Petey asked him when he placed Petey’s in front of him but then sat down without anything for himself.

“
No, thanks. I’m picking up something for myself and Katie on my way home. She has a craving.”

“
For what?”

Darío let out a sigh and said,
“Pasties. Again.”

“
Not a pasty fan?”

“
They are fine. But not every day. And I do mean every day.”

Petey laughed. He loved the meat pies, but even he wouldn
’t want them more than once a week. “It’ll be over soon,” he said. Darío got a look of sheer happiness on his face, and Petey felt a pang of envy.

Trying to change the subject before the golfer launched into baby clothes and birthing methods, Petey asked,
“What were you meeting with Mark about? Just wanted to shoot the shit about golf since you couldn’t be out playing it with the snow up to your balls?”

Darío chuckled at what was a pretty accurate visualization.
“That, but a little more. I wanted to get his take on an idea I had.”

Petey motioned for him to continue as he took a large bite of his sandwich.

“I was thinking it might be nice for the area to have an indoor driving range since the winters are so long here.”

Petey took a drink of milk and swallowed.
“You mean it would be nice for
you
to have an indoor driving range.”

Darío shrugged, but grinned.
“
Sí
. But I truly believe it would be good for the community. For as short as the season is here, there are a fair amount of golfers.”

“
Right, but they’re all playing league hockey during the winters. Or going to their kids’ hockey games. And hockey practice.”

Another shrug.
“So I’ve been told. Mark is for the idea in theory, and the university has looked at it, but they don’t think the numbers will work. Plus, it would take a large chunk of land to do it, and they don’t want to take that away from the existing golf course, which I agree with.”

“
Can it be land anywhere?”

“
The flatter the better, or at least the cheaper to develop. Which is not as easy as it sounds around here. You have a lot of hills.”

“
That we do. But, I also happen to have a huge plot of land up by the airport that I’ve been hanging on to for a while. Nothing ever presented itself as a good opportunity for it. I bought it as a write-off years ago.”

“
Flat?”

“
Very.”

“
How large?”

“
I can’t remember for sure. My business manager would know and I can call him, but I want to say it was around two or three acres. Would that be large enough?”

“
And then some. And you’d be willing to sell this land? To me?” Darío leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. Surely no longer tan from daily golf, his arms were covered in a thick sweater. The man probably hadn’t even owned a heavy sweater before this year.

Petey took another bite of the sandwich and took his time chewing, thinking furiously as he did. Gulped down some milk, then wiped his napkin across his face.

“Okay,” he finally said. “What do you think about a partnership on this thing? My land. Your idea. Our venture?”

Darío blinked several times, taking it in. He sat back in his chair, his arms dropping to his sides. Then, just as quickly, he sat back up, placing his arms once again on the table.
“You don’t want to just sell me the land?”

Petey shook his head no.

“You want to be involved?” Petey nodded. “How involved?”

Now Petey pushed the plate and glass aside, put his own arms on the table and leaned forward.
“Very involved.”

“
Why?”

“
Because you’re going to be spending the next three months changing diapers and being sleep-deprived. Then you’re going to spend the spring and summer on the Tour, if Katie lets you go.” He looked pointedly at Darío.

“
Katie wants me to go. She said she and the baby will try to travel with me. I’m happy to take a season off, but…”

“
She’s not going to let you do that.”

“
No.”

“
So, you, and hopefully Katie and the baby, will be gone most of the spring and summer, right when they’ll be able to break ground and start building. If we get a really aggressive contracting company—” He stopped at Darío’s raised hand. “What?”

“
You’re really serious? You want to be that involved in something you didn’t even know existed a minute ago?”

“
Yes.”

“
Again, I must ask. Why?”

He shrugged, and massaged his upper thigh where the brace pinched him a tiny bit.

“I was never going to stay in Detroit after I retired. I’d always planned on living here full time, I just hadn’t given much thought to what I’d do up here.” He moved his suddenly throbbing leg to a slightly different angle trying to ease the pain. “Well, it’s time to give it some thought. And I’m thinking ‘local business owner’ has a nice ring to it.”

And more proximity to follow up on his threat to chase down Alison.

“Besides, who else is qualified to hand out those buckets of balls to kids if not a former jock?”

Hockey players have fire in their hearts and ice in their veins.

~ Author Unknown

Eighteen years ago

Alison couldn’t believe she’d finally see Petey again after their night together. The Monday after graduation, she, Lizzie and Katie had taken their gift money and gone to Green Bay for three days of shopping and lying by a hotel pool. When they’d gotten back, she’d found out through the grapevine that Petey was in Ann Arbor at a hockey camp for two weeks.

So here they were, three weeks after that night in his truck, finally facing each other.

She had no idea what to expect. When Petey had dropped her off at home, he’d kissed her sweetly and whispered, “See you soon.” She’d been in her bedroom before she realized how cryptic that farewell had been.

Of course, she hadn
’t said anything to Lizzie and Katie about it. It would probably blow their minds, the thought of her and Petey together—as a couple or even for one night only. And of course those questions—what it was, what they would be—would definitely come up. So until she had the answers, she kept mum.

Hopefully she
’d get some sense from Petey tonight. They were all hanging out at Katie’s house in the finished basement—the scene of many of their youthful misdemeanors. Katie had rented some movies, and they were all just going to chill. They all held various summer jobs, some daytime, some night, so these nights of just hanging out were becoming harder to schedule.

Alison was the first to arrive according to Mr. Maki, who let her in and waved in the general vicinity of the basement door.

She was assaulted by loud music—more like screaming—as she made her way down the stairs and into the large, open room.

“
What is that?” she said loudly, getting Katie’s attention.

Her friend, who
’d been standing next to the stereo moving with the music, startled and then turned the volume down. “It’s Nirvana.”

“
Hardly!”

Katie shook her head, her blond mane loose and flowing as she laughed.
“No. The band’s name is Nirvana. Aren’t they great?”

Alison listened for a minute. Obviously her friend had different taste in music than she.
“I can’t understand a word they’re saying.”

“
I know. It took me, like, twenty times, and I’m still not sure I’ve got them right.”

“
They are not coming to State with us.”

Katie stuck out her tongue at Alison and said,
“That’s what headphones were made for.”

“
Then may you and Nirvana end up in…nirvana together.” She made her way over to the corner of the sectional that she always sat in and staked her claim. “But can you tear yourself away from it for now?”

Katie turned the volume down even further until it was just an irritating buzz, and then joined Alison.

“How was work today?”

“
Good,” Alison answered and started telling Katie about her day in the biology lab at Tech where she’d snagged a summer internship. Typically they went to college students after they’d completed at least their freshman year, but usually their sophomore year. It had only taken taken one look at Alison’s SAT scores for them to give her the spot.

A few seconds in, Katie held up a hand for her to stop.
“Let’s just say it was a rhetorical question.”

Right. Of course. Nobody really wanted to hear about the things that were fascinating to Alison. They wanted to talk about sports, movies, and Nirvana, apparently.

She rubbed her hands on her khaki shorts, suddenly more nervous than before about the thought of seeing Petey again.

Who was she kidding? He would never go for a girl like her for anything more than a one-night stand. Just a warm body to nicely pass the evening with.

Still hopeful, she decided to waive judgment until he showed up. Maybe, just maybe, he was more than the dumb jock everybody thought he was and could see her for more than just the class brain.

God, she hoped so.

Katie’s boyfriend showed up next, and they cuddled together not far from where Alison sat. Curtis was his name, he was from Houghton and was on the hockey team with Petey.

He seemed to like Nirvana just fine. Or at least he told Katie he did.

Zeke, Lizzie’s twin, came down the stairs next, leading a girl by the hand. Valerie, a sophomore from Calumet that Zeke had been dating for a year. Tiny little thing, even shorter than Alison. They said their hellos and plopped down in the La-Z-Boy that was adjacent to the sectional. Zeke sat down first, then he pulled Val onto his lap.

“
Let’s start the flick,” he said, his hands already up the back of Val’s shirt. They would soon be up the front of her shirt when the lights went out and the movie began.

Great. It was shaping up to be a couples
’ night and there she sat in the corner of the couch alone.

And apparently no Petey.

“Isn’t Lizzie with you?” she asked Zeke.

“
She’s coming, she and Petey.”

“
They’re together?” she asked a little too quickly.

Zeke pulled his face out of Val
’s neck long enough to answer, “Outside. She came with us, and Petey pulled up at the same time. There’s something weird going on with them. They huddled together pretty quickly and just stayed out there talking.” He then poked his head all the way around Val. “They’re not back together are they? It was okay the first time, but now? I don’t know. It would feel weird. Verging on creepy.”

Creepy? Try shattering. She
’d faked not liking Petey well enough when Lizzie had been dating him, but now? After she and Petey had…but wait. “Isn’t Lizzie dating that guy Finn?” she asked anyone who had the right answer.

“
Not any more. I’m not really sure what happened or when, but that’s off,” Zeke said.

Alison looked at Katie.
“Did you know that?”

Katie shook her head.
“No. It must have happened fairly recently. But you know, it’s been a few days since I’ve actually talked to Lizzie. And she’s back with Petey already? Fast worker.”

“
We don’t know that she and Petey are back together,” Alison said, hoping that the panic she was beginning to feel wasn’t heard in her voice.

Just then, the door at the top of the stairwell opened and Lizzie and Petey descended. Petey
’s hand was on Lizzie’s shoulder and, when his face became visible, the look on his face as he looked at the back of Lizzie’s head sent a shiver of dread through Alison.

Affection. There was so much affection there. She craned her neck forward over the back of the couch to see more closely. To see if it was
“best buddy” affection or “I finally got my girl back” affection. She couldn’t tell for sure. As they both reached the bottom of the steps, Lizzie turned to Petey and put her arms around his waist, hugging him and saying something to him which Alison couldn’t hear. He hugged her back, and a strange look came over his face.