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“I said there was room,” Astrid says.

The two of them look at each other and neither one of them explains it to me, and I sit in a chair in somebody else’s apartment and understand that I’m marrying into a conversation that started before I got here.

“What if I want to go for the whole summer?”

“I’d miss you.”

Her face changes again, so I keep going. “That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go.”

“What if I wanted school there for a while?”

“We’d talk about it.”

“You wouldn’t be mad?”

“Missing you isn’t the same as being mad at you.”

She thinks about that. Then she changes direction entirely.

“What if you play somewhere else?”

Hockey arrives in the room without anybody inviting it in.

“My contract ends after this season.”

“I know.”

“Terrifying.”

“Are you staying here?”

I could tell her my agent is working on it. I could tell her I’m playing good hockey inside a smaller job. None of it answers what she asked.

“I don’t know yet.”

“So if you play somewhere else, do we move?”

My brain starts before I can stop it. School year, travel, flights, schedule. I can build six options before she finishes the question, and I look up and find Astrid watching me build them.

“No automatic answer,” I say.

“What does that mean?”

“It means I don’t sign somewhere and come home with boxes. If another team wants me, I talk to your mother first. Then we talk to you about whatever affects you. Then we decide.”

Tova looks from Astrid to me. “So Mamma doesn’t know where she works and you don’t know where you work.”

“Pretty much.”

“This is a terrible time to get married.”

I laugh so hard I have to look down. Astrid lasts longer and then she goes too.

Tova looks offended. “I’m serious.”

“That’s why it’s funny,” I say.

She narrows her eyes. “When is this happening?”