Junior Reporter

Jon was pulling Haley around the ice by her hands. I was skating aimlessly behind them for a while. I kept glancing over at Jolene. She was even more beautiful than I remembered. Her hair was a little longer than it used to be, and a few shades darker as well. Her big green eyes sparkled every time she looked at her daughter.

We made eye contact for a few seconds before she looked away, a blush creeping onto her face. I looked back at Haley one more time before skating over to the bench Jolene was sitting on.

“Hey.” I mentally slapped myself. Four years and all you can say is ‘hey’. Fucking idiot.

“Hi.”

Awkward silence. Silence was the worst thing ever, especially when you have so much you want to say, you’re just scared to say it.

Jolene sighed. “Just say whatever you want Patrick.”

“Who’s her father?” I blurted out before my brain could even process it.

I saw her tense up before answering. “Doesn’t matter. He made it clear he didn’t want anything to do with me after he found out I was pregnant.”

“I’m sorry.”

Jolene scoffed. “Yeah. Me too. Maybe it was for the best though. He was just a party boy. Didn’t want anything real in his life, so I think we’re better off with out him.”

I could tell she was getting aggravated with me, so I dropped it and turned back around to watch Jon and Haley again. She was skating on her own now, using the stick Jon gave her to keep her balance, just a few feet in front of my best friend.

Haley looked nothing like Jolene, which meant she looked like her father. Her hair was straight and blonde, just like Jo’s used to be. She had the biggest dimples when she smiled or laughed. Big blue eyes. Suddenly I felt like I was punched in the gut. I spun back around and stared at Jolene.

“What Patrick?”

“She’s mine.”

She scoffed again. “No, she’s mine. No one else’s. Haley, come on, time to go home.”

Jon brought Haley back over to the bench, both looked a little miffed that Jolene had cut their skating time short.

“Mama, do we have to?”

“Yes. No arguing. Time to go home. Come on let’s get your skates off.”

“Jon can go take her skates off. I want to talk to you.”

Jolene shot me a glare. “I can do it.”

“Um.” Jon cleared his throat awkwardly. “I’ll go do it. Come on Haley.”

We both watched them walk towards the dressing room. “So was this the only way you could think of to tell me I had a daughter?” I said a little more heatedly than I meant.

She rolled her eyes at me. “She’s not even yours Patrick. Jesus Christ. It was someone else.”

“I don’t believe you. She looks just like me Jo.”

“She doesn’t.”

“Yes she does! So were you ever going to tell me?”

“Honestly? No, I wasn’t.”

“So she is mine? We have a daughter?” A small smile started forming on my face.

“No. I have a daughter.”

“What the fuck Jo. You couldn’t even give me a chance to be her father?”

“Oh yeah, because that would have gone over well. You were only nineteen Patrick. You were fucking everything that moved, do you think I wanted you to be in my daughters life?”

“So you show up here four years later with her and just expect me to do nothing?”

“Didn’t think you would be smart enough to figure it out Pat.”

I groaned in aggravation. “Jo, she’s my kid.”

“We’re fine without you.” She snapped.

“Oh my god. What the fuck did you sign her up for this then? Why did you bring her here? To flaunt her in front of my teammates? Tell everyone how her father walked out on her, and then when people found out, which they would have, I would look like the asshole. I would look like the douche who didn’t want his own child. I bet that’s exactly what you wanted though.”

“You fucking asshole, I did not sign her up for this! She got picked at a fucking game! She was so excited when they asked that I couldn’t say no to her. And I definitely did not bring her here to show her off to your fucking teammates!”

“Does she know who I am? Does she know I’m her father?”

Jolene shook her head. “No. I’ve never told her who her father is.”

“Are you going to?”

She shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

“God dammit Jolene! Why are you making this so hard?”

“I have to go Patrick.”

I didn’t even respond. I just let her walk away. But I knew that I would find a way to be in my daughters life. No matter what it took.

I took a few laps around the rink to calm myself down, and to give Jo and Haley enough time to leave.

The walk to the locker room never felt so long. Jon was still there, now in his street clothes.

“So…”

“I don’t even want to talk about it.”

“Is she yours?” Jon asked quietly, as if someone was hiding around the corner with a recording device.

I threw off my practice jersey. “Yeah. She’s mine.”

“Are you doing to do anything about it?”

I let out an aggravated sigh. “Jesus Christ, doesn’t anyone have any faith in me? Of course I am. That’s my kid! And Jo kept her away for four years cause she thought I’d be a shitty father!”

“Pat, she probably had her reasons for not telling you. Do you really think four years ago you would have wanted to be a dad?”

I ran my hands through my hair. “I don’t know. But I know that she’s mine now. And I don’t want to be one of those dads who never knows their kid. And she’s going to be around here all the time now. She’s going to be seen and people are going to figure out she’s mine Jon.”

“They don’t have to know. People always joked that Joey looked like me.” Jon said, referring to the old Junior Reporter.

“Yeah but this isn’t a joke, she is my daughter.”

“You should go talk to Jo. If you really want to be in her life then you should be. But make sure this is what you really want Pat. This is a big deal. This isn’t something you can just walk away from whenever you want.”

“I know. But when I saw her today I just…” I let out a long sigh. “I don’t know. I just want to know her. I want to be her dad.”

Jon nodded. “Then go talk to Jo.”

Jon left the locker room, leaving me to think by myself. Quickly I stripped off all my gear and headed to the showers.

After a long shower, and a lot of thinking, I decided I had to go talk to Jo.