Page 69 of Westward

“I’ll have you know, there’s nothing weird about my goalie superstitions.”

“Don’t you talk to the pucks?”

“As does any sane individual. It is a process.”

“Whatever you say, old man.”

I rolled my eyes and brought the kid in for a hug. He stiffened for a minute before wrapping his arms around me and hugging me tight.

“Thank you. For everything.”

I pulled back, my throat tight. “It’s no problem, kid. You’re stuck with the Carters now.”

“Are you really sure that I can stay here when you’re gone? I mean, it’s not going to be a problem?”

“Of course it’s not going to be a problem, Will. We’ve been over this. You have a good system here, and you can call anybody you need for help. If there’s something wrong with the house, you know who to call.”

“Finnian for sure.”

I flipped him off. “Excuse me.”

“What? Are you jealous?”

“I am not going to answer that.”

“Ms. E only has eyes for you.”

“Damn straight she does. But really, if staying under this roof alone is weird, my parents are happy too. You’ve sort of been adopted into the Carters. It’s a little scary.”

“I like your parents a lot. They’re badass.”

“I really want you to tell my mother that to her face.”

He snorted. “No fucking way,” he teased. “I’m not going to curse in front of your mom, I know better.”

“I curse all the time.”

“And you have a Stanley Cup.”

“That is very true,” I teased before swallowing hard and heading back to my porch. Everything was stuffed in the car, though I had an entire wardrobe and life at my place in Portland.

I had already jogged this morning, trying to exercise out my anxiety, and that hadn’t helped. I just wanted this to start, so we could figure out exactly how the year was going to go, but I needed to be on the ice again. And I needed to be with Lizzie.

Finding the middle ground on that was always our flaw.

Will headed out after our goodbyes, and we knew he’d be in good hands. My family wasn’t going to let him drown. And I had a feeling that my mother already had a plan to help out anyone else who needed it once they were out of high school. She was always like that, a better person than I was. Ashford Creek had its issues, and I knew we were trying to fix some of them, but it wasn’t always going to work.

“Hey, I thought you would already be gone.”

I turned to see Thatcher coming up to me, and realized he had parked out on the main road.

I stuck my hands in my pockets, still feeling awkward around him. Yes, he had called to tell us about the accident, but we hadn’t had a conversation since we had been in the hospital employee room.

“I’m leaving soon. I’m just putting it off because I don’t want to say goodbye to Lizzie.”

“I take it you already said your goodbyes to your parents and family.”

“I did. It sucks all the time. Everybody ended up back here, and I’m still out on the road most days of the year.”