Page 11 of Home Ice

“Don’t go too far,” Amelia calls after us as the front screen slams behind him, and I push through it too.

Kasen’s already started walking along the street before I catch up with him, and it’s only once we’re alone and the silence is suffocating us that I realize this isn’t much better.

“Ah, hi.”

He snorts again.

“Sorry, I … I really don’t know what to say.”

“Right.” The word stretches out with all the emphasis of him calling me an idiot.

I almost snark back at him and have to remind myself that I’m the adult. He’s obviously hurt, and it’s on me to somehow make it better. With all that experience I have with pubescent kids.

Fuck me, this is doomed.

“I’m trying here,” I point out.

“Not hard.”

“This isn’t exactly easy for me either.”

“Shit, I’m sorry.” Kasen lets out a dry laugh. “I forgot the part where your mom died in a fucked-up car crash, and now you’re being ordered to play nice with the parent who never wanted you so he’ll actually pay child support for the first time in his fucking life.”

I stare at Kasen and the glare he’s finally sending my way, not sure where the fuck to start with any of that, but at least I know swearing is apparently fine. “Amelia wants me to pay child support?”

“Duh. Hockey gear is expensive, and all she got from Mom was debt and me. Not exactly the prizes of the year.”

“Don’t say that. She loves you.”

“Of course she does, but she’s my grandma. Not my mom. You really telling me that when you’re her age, you’d want to raise another kid when you couldn’t even be bothered with your own?”

“I’m here, aren’t I?” My tone is more snappish than I’d like, but what the hell did he expect me to do? “I got a call yesterday to say I supposedly have a fourteen-year-old kid and got on the first plane home. Do you think that was easy?”

He sneers and rolls his eyes. “Don’t pretend like you didn’t know about me.”

“I didn’t.”

“Whatever.” He’s dismissive and is brushing me off again. “Just tell Grandma you’ll do it, give us some money, and then you can go away again.”

With how casually he talks, I’d definitely assume this was a scam if it wasn’t for the evidence standing in front of me. “So that’s all you want? My money?”

His lips twist downward. “Well, we’re not going to hug and cry and have some great big family reunion, are we?”

“I thought we could at least …” What? What did I think? That he’d be all excited to find out about me? Because I was so excited to find out about him?

“Exactly.” He turns on his heel to head back for the house.

“Dammit, Kasen. You can’t hold a grudge against me when I didn’t know you existed, and I’m here trying to do the right thing.”

“And what is the right thing?”

“That … I …”

When he turns back around, his eyes are red, and the anger is winning. “You’re a fucking liar. Mom used to tell me you didn’t know about me too. She used to say that you weren’t the father type and didn’t want kids, and that I only deserved a parent who loved me. But I didn’t believe her because we’d see you in town sometimes, and she’d run the other fucking way. So two years ago, I messaged you. We were fighting about something, and I thought that maybe she was keeping you away, so I messaged you and told you that you have a son and I’m him and that I wanted to meet you. And you never replied. So fuck you and the right thing. The right thing was making an effort while she was alive instead of pretending like you’re making an effort now that you don’t have a choice!”

All I can do is stare at him. His voice has gotten so loud that we’ve caught the attention of the neighbors, but I’m clawing at my brain, trying to find the memory of a message. “I never got it.”

Something about that answer only makes him madder. “Well, it doesn’t matter now, does it?”