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“No importa. So, Morao, you ganchillo?” She pulled out another set of crochet needles and a ball of orange yarn and shoved them toward him. “Toma, agarra esto. I teach you.”
“Um, I…OK.”
“Look, I show you a chain stitch. Is basic.” She scooted over closer to him and demonstrated, rather quickly, how to hold the needle, how to form a slipknot, and how to hold it while guiding the yarn from the back to the front around the handle to ultimately pull it through.
Hayes’s head spun. “Listen lady, you’re gonna have to slow down ‘cause I have no clue what you just did.”
“Ay, Dios mio. Lady? Where are your manners, chico?”
“Well, I mean, I don’t know your name.”
“I know your name. Why you don’t know mine?”
Hayes rolled his eyes. “What’s your name?”
“Isadora. Or just Dora,” she replied. “Yes, like the little bitch who’s always lost with her cousin.”
He snickered, watching her as she deftly maneuvered both needles. “You’re real good at this, eh?”
“Eh? You Canadian, yuma?”
“Yep. Ontario. How about you?”
“Miami. But my family come from Cuba. Anyway, mi Yaya taught me. Grandma. I’m pretty good. I make an elephant for mi nieta. Granddaughter. Keeps me busy. I got nothing but time in here.”
“You got that right.”
“So, what’s your story, Morao? You are too young and too beautiful to be here.”
He sighed. “I’m a professional hockey player who nursed an old injury with a bit too much oxycodone and alcohol. Got a little out of control with a teammate and the club made us both get help if we wanna keep playin’.”
“Oh, so you are famous, huh?”
“Um, I guess you could say that?” he replied uncomfortably. “Still feels weird. But yeah, lots of people know who I am.”
“I don’t,” she replied flatly, shrugging and continuing her needlework. “But I know this: I bet the ladies love you. Novia?”
“Uh,” he said with a smirk. “Nah. Novio, actually. Well, ex-novio, and I was hopin’ we’d get back together. But apparently, he’s going out on a fuckin’ boat with one of his new hot teammates today. He didn’t call it a date, but I know better. And how can I blame him? I, uh…I fucked things up real good, Dora.”
“No te preocupes. Everything broken can be fixed, chico.”
He continued watching her crochet, and within just the few minutes they’d been sitting here together, it’d started to become recognizable as an animal. “Hey, so I…my best friend just had a baby. JT. Maybe you could, uh, teach me how to make something for him?”
“I can do that, Morao. What’d you have in mind?”
Hayes shrugged. “Dunno. I guess somethin’ easy since it’ll probably take me the rest of my life.”
“Nah, I bet you learn quick. Inteligente, you are. I can tell.”
“Thanks,” he said quietly. “So what’s your story, Dora the Explorer? You out lookin’ for your lost map and end up here instead?”
“Sabelotodo,” she muttered, then chuckled before her smile disappeared. “Too much alcohol, Morao. My whole life, demasiado. Missed out on everything, missed all my babies growing up. I decided…I won’t miss my grandbabies, too. I’m 67 years old, but is never too late, hijo.” She turned to look at him. “I see your pain, baby. And I’m so glad you’re here.”
“I’m…I’m glad you’re here too, Dora the Explorer.” He picked up the needles. “Now teach me how to make somethin’ beautiful, eh?”
Don’t Hold Back (21)
Ryan stepped onto the back of Koski’s Silverton 50 Convertible from Mar and Jake’s dock, setting down the cooler he’d brought on the back deck and making his way up the stairs to join his teammate on the fly bridge. “Holy shit, dude,” Ryan told him, awestruck. “This is fucking incredible.”
