Turbulence

Over the past years, I had gotten extremely good at avoiding people, now was no different. After locking lips with Patrick, I had done everything in my power to keep from seeing him. There was no denying that we needed to talk about what happened, but I wasn’t ready for that. I couldn’t get things straight in my head.

“I’m over him,” I mumbled, flipping a pancake. “I’m so over him.” I looked over my shoulder as Cameron let out a giggle followed by a weak cough. Seeing that he was content in his high chair, I turned back to the stove. Then why didn’t I pull away? I definitely can’t go back there.

The doorbell broke me from my thoughts. After taking the pancake out of the pan, I made my way to the door and took a deep breathe. I had a good idea of who would be on the other side, but was praying like mad that I would be wrong. Pulling the door toward me, I let out a sigh of relief. “It’s just you.”

“Who were you expecting?” Jonathan asked, pushing past me.

“Pat,” I confessed.

“Why would Kaner be coming over?”

“I’ve been avoiding him for the past week.”

“What did he do this time?” Jonathan led the way into the kitchen and moved a chair up to Cameron.

“It’s not important,” I replied, returning to the stove and putting more batter into the pan. “Have you had breakfast?”

“Before I headed over.”

“Who’s going to eat all these pancakes?” I smiled as I watched him play with Cameron. “You’re really good with him, you know.”

Jonathan tried to hide how proud he was by looking away. “He’s a good kid. It would be pretty hard to do something wrong.”

“Don’t start,” I muttered, hearing the undertone in his voice.

He glanced at me innocently before returning to playing with my son. “You want to come by the rink tomorrow? We are having some kind of Thanksgiving family skate.”

“What would I do with Cameron? Trina’s probably going to be going with Dave.”

“Bring him along,” Jonathan suggested. “Maybe we can find him a pair of skates. Then we can finally see if he’s anywhere as good as his dad.”

I chuckled and flipped over the pancake. “I don’t know, Jonny. We still haven’t told anyone else from the team.”

“Maybe this is the perfect time. You and Kaner seem to be getting along.”

“I guess so,” I said, slowly. I couldn’t help thinking about what Patrick’s reaction would be if I happened to show up at the rink. “I might have to run it by Patrick first. Wouldn’t want to surprise him. He’d probably get so pissed off he’d never speak to me again.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Jonathan joked.

Rolling my eyes, I put the last pancake on the plate and carried it over to the table. “Is it a mandatory skate for you guys?”

He nodded as he reached for one of the steaming flapjacks.

“I thought you ate?” I accused, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, yeah, but there are just so many. There is no way you will finish them all.” He took a large bite out of the food and chewed thoughtfully. “You know what you need around here?” He asked once he had swallowed.

“I have a feeling you will tell me.”

“Another pet.”

“No chance,” I laughed. “Maxxie is enough for now. Maybe once Cameron is a few years older, then that could be an option. For now, Maxxie is all I need. I just moved into this place, I’d like to get settled a bit before I go rushing out to change more things.”

“Fine,” he surrendered. “Just promise me you will think about coming tomorrow.”

“I promise.”