| |
TYLER
Tyler was tired and just wanted a quiet night with his wife. They needed to talk about adoption. It was something he wanted to do, but he’d been wrong to not talk to Paige first.
His phone rang just as he pulled into the driveway. It was his lawyer, Chuck.
“Tyler, I’ve been trying to catch up with you. I’m sorry to say that I haven’t been able to fast track those inquiries about adoption. There are a lot of forms you’ll need to complete, investigations into your lives and appointments to visit your home. Red tape, you know how it is. I know you and Paige are busy right now, so you probably don’t have time to follow up.”
“Chuck, I understand what you’re saying. It looks like it’s not going to happen for us. Well, not any time soon, anyway.” He paused, and Paige heard his keys drop into the bowl on the hallstand.
“Yeah, I know it’s got to be hard waiting until you both have time after the season.”
“Actually, I’m relieved that it isn’t happening yet,” Tyler continued. “Paige is stressed out enough, and it’s close to the end of the season for me. All these appointments and investigations sound like a drag.”
Tyler paused again, hanging his coat up. Disappointment filled his chest.
“If you decide you want me to push ahead immediately, I can do my best to move things forward for you.”
“No, it would be a big intrusion into our lives right now,” he went on after a moment. “I’ve had second thoughts. I just don’t think I’m ready yet.”
“Right, backburner then. Oh, by the way, did you want me to copy Paige on all the information I have?”
Tyler, lowering his voice: “Actually, could you keep this between us? Paige doesn’t know about this. I just haven’t found the right moment to approach it.”
Chuck responded, chuckling: “Understood. And yes, it would be a good idea to talk to your wife before moving ahead.”
“Thanks for your help. I’ll talk to you soon.” Tyler hung up the phone just as Paige walked into the kitchen. “Hey, babe.”
“Who was that?” she questioned flatly.
“Chuck. He just had to go over a few things with me.” Tyler wanted to talk to her about how he was feeling and the steps Chuck had been taking for them.
“Oh,” she answered, and yet sounded unconvinced.
“I missed you! And why didn’t you tell me that you had a doctor appointment? I heard it from Melanie when I went looking for you.”
“You were busy. I figured I could handle it.”
“Babe, you know I would drop everything for you.” He took her by the hand. “Let me know next time. I really want to be there. So, how did things go?” Tyler wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. “I was looking forward to a nice afternoon in. If you’re done for the day, maybe we could order some dinner and watch movies? I wanted to talk to you about something.”
“Yeah, that sounds great, but I have a meeting. Sorry.” Her words were short and flat.
Tyler shrugged and flashed his best smile for his girl. He rarely ever faked a smile, so she had no idea that he was miserable that she was leaving.
“I’ll be back for dinner,” she called on her way out.
“No kiss?”
“Sorry, babe. I’m late.” She never even turned around. “Maybe order a pizza for dinner.”
Something about her dark tone worried him, not to mention her not giving him a kiss before she left. “Whatever you want, babe. I’ll be here waiting for you.”
Why didn’t she answer me about her doctor appointment? Is something wrong> did she get bad news? Is she afraid to tell me about it? Tyler crumbled into a chair. His head was spinning, which seemed to be the new normal for him.
He texted Melanie to see how long Paige would be. Maybe if there was a chance she wasn’t needed at the meeting, Mel could send her home?
To his surprise, the message he got back was that there was no meeting.
Melanie answered: Don’t worry. I got this. She’ll be home by dinner.
“What is going on?” he asked out loud.
He quickly sent another message to Mel, asking if the doctor had told Paige something that upset her.
Melanie’s reply was short: Doctor, no. You, yes.
What the heck did that mean? “What is going on?” he asked out loud.
“Meow.” Reggie squeaked and hopped up onto the arm of the chair. The kitten rubbed his head against Tyler’s arm.
“Hey little guy. I think I messed up.”
“Meow.” The kitten jumped down and hurried away.
“Even Reggie knows I screwed up,” he said to himself.
He got up and went to get a beer, but stared at the can. He knew that he needed to clear his head, and alcohol would just make it spin more.
Tyler grabbed his keys and his jacket, and petted Reggie on his way out the door.
After driving around for about twenty minutes, he ended up in Trina’s driveway. Before he could drive away, after deciding that he needed to stop running to his sister for advice every time he screwed up, Willow appeared in the window, waving at him.
“No turning back now. And I possibly see a dance party in my future.” He turned off the engine. Once he got to the front door, Willow was there to greet him.
“Uncle Ty, Uncle Ty, Uncle Tyyyyy!” Willow said, jumping up and down.
“Tri,” Tyler said, as his sister opened the door for him. “Do you feed this girl a diet of straight sugar?”
“Hardly.” She scoffed. “Willow, please let Uncle Ty get in the door.”
“Hey, Ty. Is Paige here, too?” Sam asked, as he shook Tyler’s hand.
“No. Uh, just me. I—I need some advice,” he stuttered.
“Uh-oh.” Trina curled her lip. Directing her attention to Willow, she said, “Sweetie, why don’t you go put on one of your shows? Uncle Ty needs to talk with the adults.”
“Okay.” Willow pouted. “But first...” The little girl ran and jumped into Tyler’s arms and gave him the biggest bear hug that her little arms could manage.
“Hey kiddo!” Tyler gushed, as he hugged his niece. “Thanks for giving me a little time with your parents. I appreciate it.”
“Don’t mention it,” she called, before she ran to the living room.
Tyler couldn’t help but laugh at the little girl’s very grown up comment.
“That girl.” Trina shook her head in exhaustion. “C’mon Ty, we can sit in the dining room.”
Once the three of them were seated, his sister stared at him. “So, are you guys fighting?”
“Um, I don’t think so.” He honestly didn’t know right now.
“You don’t know?” Sam asked. “Is this about—”
“Maybe?” Tyler really wasn’t sure. “I know I’m being confusing. I was all set to talk to Paige about something big today, and she basically ran out of the house, claiming she had a meeting.”
“Maybe she did.” Trina said calmly.
“That’s the thing. I texted Mel to see how long Paige would be, and she confirmed that there was no meeting.” He tapped the table. “She also implied that Paige was upset about something I had said.”
“Ty, start from the beginning,” Trina said.
Tyler worked backwards. He told them how he had been going to tell Paige all about his misstep, and then they could discuss adoption together. But she had run out the door to her fake meeting before he could say anything.
“Tyler, you do realize that first you told the whole team, and now you’re telling Tri before you talked to your wife about this?” Sam asked.
Shit. Tyler dropped his head into his hands.
“You told the team before me? I mean...before your wife?” Trina’s eyes narrowed. “And here I thought you were smarter than that.”
“Trina, can we save the lecture for later and just jump to the part where you give me on advice on how to fix this?”
“Absolutely.” Trina looked like she was settling in for a long-winded discussion. “It’s very simple. You need to apologize and grovel.”
“Grovel?”
“Groveling always works,” Sam agreed, while Trina nodded with a smile.
“Yep. You said she would be home for dinner, right?”
Tyler nodded.
“Get her some flowers, her favorite bottle of wine, and order her favorite dinner.” Trina looked at her watch. “And it’s getting late, so you better hurry so you can be home before she is. Then once she gets home, apologize. Explain everything to her.”
He knew his sister was the right person to go to.
“Do you think Mel can give you a head’s up as to why she stormed off?” Sam asked.
“Probably not.” Tyler shook his head. He wasn’t sure, but he really didn’t think Mel would’ve told Paige anything. “But does it even matter? If I screwed up, then I need to fix it.”
“I’m going to have to agree with that,” Sam said.
“Paige doesn’t typically get like this. If she’s mad, she lets me know,” Tyler said. Lately she’d been getting upset quicker and more often. It was unusual, and he was at a loss for how to react. “It would have to be something that really upset her for her to run off.” His mind raced over what could possibly have happened to make her behave that way.
Everything had seemed fine the last time they’d talked. Then he’d walked into the house, tired after the day. He’d thought he heard her on the stairs, but his phone had rung, and he’d had that conversation with Chuck...
Was there any chance she’d overheard that conversation and put two and two together that he’d gone ahead investigating adoption without her?
“Just apologize and spoil her. Women like that,” Trina said. “I don’t think it matters what you did, as long as you are sorry, and you make it up to her.”
“Even if I don’t know what I did?”
“Yes,” Sam and Trina said in unison.
Tyler chuckled. “Well, considering you two are still going strong, I’m going to take that advice to heart.”
Sam slid his arm around Trina. The way they looked at one another with such love, Tyler was certain their advice was solid.
“Okay, I better get going.” Tyler got up from the table.
“Uncle Ty, are you leaving already?” Willow called from the living room. She had been so quiet, he’d forgotten she was even in there.
“Yeah, sweetie, I’m afraid I have to leave. But, how about you come over to my house next weekend and play with our new kitten?” Tyler offered.
“You got a kitten?” Willow gasped.
“Yep. So you want to plan for next weekend? Maybe we can get a pizza for dinner?” Tyler said.
“Mommy, can we?” Willow begged.
“Sure,” Trina agreed.
“All right, I will see you all later,” Tyler said, as he slipped on his coat and opened the front door. “Guys, I can’t thank you enough.”
“And don’t forget, I need to yell at you later for being stupid and not including your wife in this. She is your family. You can’t go running around making decisions for the both of you willy-nilly like you do your hockey team. Not to mention, she should be the first person you go to with things, not the team. But you can come to me for advice. That’s allowed, because we are family, too. But not the team before her. EVER.” She wagged her finger at him.
“Okay.” He stifled a laugh. “But I think you just did.”
“Oh, right.” Trina nodded, very proud of herself. “Now go talk to your wife!”
