Hockey Holidays Read online

  “Thanks, Mom, for being okay with all this.”

  “I love you. And your father will be okay with it all too.”

  God, I hoped so. She patted my face and left me to finish getting ready. I folded like a cheap lawn chair, dropping to the edge of the bed to get my shit together.

  I was one lucky man in so many ways. Hopefully that luck would continue. We’d see. I pushed to my feet, went upstairs, and gave Mom a fast hug before heading out the door with her car keys in my hand. Shaun was ready when I pulled up. He dashed outside and threw himself into the still chilly Subaru.

  I gave him a fast once-over. He was dressed like me only with black chinos instead of jeans.

  “You look nice,” I said, because he did.

  Shaun flashed me that smile that you saw on the magazine covers, leaned in, kissed me soundly on the mouth, and then sat back.

  “So, your mother called my mother and told her we were dating.”

  I had been touching the rend in my lip to see if it was bleeding—it wasn’t—when his words soaked in. My finger dropped to my lap, and my mouth fell open.

  “Right? I mean, wow. The speed of news on this stupid road is amazing. So, I just ducked out of a conversation with my mother about how you’re her son and how awkward it’s going to be for her, but she’s totally fine with things even though you are her son.”

  “God, they’re like the same woman but with different amounts of melanin.”

  Shaun laughed aloud. “I know. It’s freaking terrifying.” He buckled up and then looked at me. “So, you and your mom had the talk. Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah, it’s good. I mean…it was weird, but she was okay after the shock wore off. She assumed I was going out with Jen.”

  Shaun wrinkled his nose. “God. That’s not awkward or anything.”

  “It was so bad.” I slipped the Subaru into reverse and eased it past Mr. Sandbeck’s huge Ford pickup. “Tell me that we’re not going to the café for dinner. I just cannot do Jen tonight.”

  “As if I’d take you where your ex works. Time for some tunes.”

  He cranked up the CD that I’d muted.

  “Oh hell,” I groaned, making a swipe at the stereo to eject the CD. Shaun swatted my hand away, snickering at the music.

  “My mother has this same CD. Hall & Oates Greatest Hits, I think.”

  “That just solidifies my stance that our mothers were twins separated at birth.”

  “I hope not. If they were then all that kissing we’ve been doing is majorly squicky.”

  “Yeah, good point.” I pulled the left to take us down into Liberty. “Where are we going?”

  “Bolero’s over in Graves County.”

  “Oh, cool.” I liked it there. Woodsy place with good food, a bar, and music on the weekends.

  It took about thirty minutes to reach the out-of-the-way eatery. It was a log cabin tucked back into the woods. Always busy, and tonight was no exception.

  “Looks like everyone is tired of leftovers,” I commented after parking and exiting the Subaru.

  “Glad I called and reserved a table.” The snow had stopped. Shaun walked over to me and held out his hand. “Want to hold my hand? If not, just say no and that will be that. This is totally your night; run at your own speed.”

  I slipped my palm over his. “Let’s go eat. I’m starved.”

  Shaun lifted our joined hands, pressed a kiss to my knuckles, and led me into the restaurant. Snow-covered holly wreaths hung on the double doors.

  No one really said anything as we waited to be seated, our fingers linked. When the hostess nodded at us, Shaun released my hand, and we slipped into the packed dining room, the space between the tables not conducive to hand holding. I noticed a few odd looks as we were being led to our table by the huge brick fireplace. Shaun kept his hand on my lower back.

  “Your waiter will be with you shortly. Can I order you gentlemen something from the bar?” The hostess handed us our menus after we were seated. She was pretty, tall and thin, with platinum blonde hair, a nice figure, and wide smile.

  I felt Shaun looking at me checking out the hostess. “Oh, uhm, Coke please.”

  “Same,” Shaun said. The blonde left. I did not look at the way her black dress clung to her swaying hips. “Did you know that Jack Preston used to work here?”

  “No. Whatever happened to him?”

  Shaun laid his hands on the menu resting beside the fat flickering candle. It was warm here. Like, incredibly warm. The fire was tossing out some big heat, so I peeled off my jacket. Shaun followed suit.

  “He’s in jail. Got caught pulling a B&E on a hunting camp over on the Wolf Creek Road.”

  “That guy was always a loser. Remember that time he shoved Damon Davies into the wall and broke his glasses? I mean, who does that to a kid with Downs?”

  “POS like Jack Preston. Remember when we were at that away game of yours and…”

  That was how the whole meal went. Talking over the people we’d gone to school with, where they were now and what they were doing. Rehashing the good times, laughing over the stupid shit we’d done as teenagers. Our steaks came and were eaten, the conversation never hitting a dip or skidding to a halt like with a stranger. We knew each other so well. We were friends, closer than friends, to be honest. I wasn’t sure what came after close friends on the intimacy scale. Lovers? Partners? Soul Mates? Would any of those ever apply to us?

  “Hey, you drifted again.” Shaun reached around the candle and the empty plate that had held a slice of coconut cream pie. He placed his hand over mine. I smiled and turned my hand over, the back on the linen tablecloth, my palm touching his. “Where were you?”

  “Just thinking about what comes next.” I studied our hands, the way our fingers were so similar. Long and strong, short nails, some scars. Masculine hands.

  “We talk about some things.”

  My gaze lifted. His eyes were beautiful. “I’m negative and always use condoms even if the woman says she’s on the pill because I do not want kids now.”

  “Okay. Well, I was going to save that for a time when we weren’t surrounded by strangers, but cool. Me too except for the women and birth control pill bit.”

  I threw a fast look at the people closest to us. No one seemed to have heard my announcement. Someone opened the front door, the cold air felt wonderful.

  “Sorry, I just figured that was talk number one for gay guys.”

  “It’s right up there. I was leaning more toward opening with how we think we can have more when I’m headed to Aspen tomorrow for a week-long competition while you go back to New York.”

  Yeah, that part was going to suck. “We need to pull up our schedules and plan around them, pick times when we can be with each other. I’m willing to fly to you.”

  Shaun nibbled on his lower lip a bit. “It’s going to be tough, you realize that, right?”

  “I know. Nothing worth having is easy.”

  “True, but long distance…it’s going to be hard. But I’m willing to try it as long as you are.”

  “I am. I’m into this.” I squeezed his hand, not letting go when the waiter brought our check and refilled our coffee mugs. “I’m committed to doing my best to make this work.”

  His gaze softened. “Me too. So, let’s see what we can do to make some Mitch and Shaun time.”

  Over coffee and another shared slice of coconut cream pie, we compared travel plans and game schedules, worked around snowboarding competitions and road trips. When we were done, we had a total of twenty-four free days from January first to May first. Summer would be better for us because I’d be off after the Calder Cup finals if we made it that far and could travel to any competitions Shaun had to attend. According to him, there were some big events in Europe during the summer.

  “I’d love to see Switzerland,” I told him.

  “I’d love to take you to Switzerland,” he replied, pulling me along when we exited the pub after our long meal. We lingered outside, jacke