Page 91 of Two for Charging

“Does he know Chris didn’t control the draft?” Luca asked Matty in an undertone.

Matty shook his head and rolled his eyes. “In his world, Chris ought to have been drafted first overall so he could have gone to Montreal.”

“Maybe if he took an example from his roommate here and scored more goals, he would have been,” Chris’s dad barked without turning his head.

“I was drafted in the second round,” Luca pointed out.

“So, Matty,” Chris asked. “How’s university going?”

“Great. Midterms were tricky, but I’m doing okay in all my classes.”

Luca asked him what he was studying, and Matty managed to fill the remaining car ride discussing his future in mechanical engineering. On Luca’s other side, Chris relaxed slightly. He pulled out his phone and opened the team’s Instagram to watch the replays. Wincing over Howie’s poor performance wasn’t better for his mental health than letting his family berate him, but Luca supposed it wasn’t worse either.

Whatever progress they’d made devolved when they got to the restaurant, and Mrs. Calabrese ordered the carpaccio.

“Had to take the most expensive thing on the menu,” her husband derided. “We’re not here celebrating you.”

“Dad, I’m paying,” Chris tried, but his words put fuel on the fire of his mother’s retaliation.

“Oh, and there you go making our son pay for dinner because you’re too cheap to do it. Why can’t you ever let us have a nice meal in peace?”

Matty groaned dramatically and buried his face in his hands. “Mom. Why do you always escalate?”

“Escalate? Mamma mia, you bring two sons into this world, and they can’t even take your side once!”

The way she said “mamma mia” was so over the top it made Luca snort into his glass of wine. He would need several to get through this. The things he did for love. Luca snuck a look over at Chris. He stared down at the tiny plate the restaurant provided for the complimentary bread, cheeks flushed, mouth turned down. It wasn’t fair on Chris. He saw his family once a season, and he loved them so much, and they behaved like this?

Under the table, Luca knocked his ankle against Chris’s.

Chris looked up and smiled at him. Thank you, he mouthed and then turned to his family.

“Enough,” he said in a perfect imitation of Tom Crowler last season when he’d decided to step up and be the captain the team needed.

Chris’s family was significantly worse behaved than a hockey team. They continued to bicker regardless.

“I said enough.” This time, Chris used his voice at full, booming potential, alerting several tables next to them.

Everyone fell silent.

“I get to see you one time during the season,” Chris said. “If this is how you want to spend it, that’s up to you, but I’m not going to stick around for it.”

Worry lines drew tight on his mom’s forehead. “If your dad could be reasonable—”

“If your son could stop being such an ungrateful—”

“It’s not ungrateful to want to enjoy the time I have with you instead of listening to you argue.”

Mr. Calabrese scoffed, but he looked away.

Good.

He should be ashamed that his adult son had to call him out for his behavior.

Chris cleared his throat. “I offered to pay for dinner, and I’m happy to do it. Everyone here knows what I earn. It’s not a secret, and it’s not a problem for me to invite you when I’m here. I’m also going to be taking over your mortgage payments, and when I’m here in the summer, I’m going to be renting my own place.”

Mr. Calabrese snapped to attention. “Mortgage? You’re not—”

“Let me be generous. You don’t have to fight me on everything, Dad. I’m not trying to argue with you; I’m trying to show you how grateful I am for everything you and Mom did for me.”