Mick
Quinn drags his hand down his face. “You’re not serious.”
I start stuffing my gear into my duffel bag. I should never have mentioned it.
“She called you when you were already at the movie with Dalma—and you actually left?” He wipes the ice off his blades and laughs.
“Jade’s playing you,” he says.
I’m meeting Dalma in a few minutes by the flagpole. I don’t want to talk about this now.
“Seriously. She’s playing you,” he says again.
I give my duffel bag a shove. “How?” I say. “Come on. Tell me. How?”
Quinn looks at the ceiling like he can’t believe he has to spell this out for me. “It’s so obvious. She sees you with someone else, and immediately she’s got some big crisis only you can solve.”
“Her little brother had a migraine,” I say.
“And you’re the only one who can help? Where’s her mother?”
“Working.”
“Her father?”
“Who knows?”
“What about a relative…a neighbor…nine-one-one?”
I grab my shoulder pads and ram them into my duffel bag.
“I should have said to Jade, ‘Call nine-one-one. I’m going to a movie.’ That’s what you’re telling me?”
Quinn stands up and zips his fly. “Yeah. Sorta. She’s not your problem anymore.” He sniffs his T-shirt. Even from here I can tell it’s rank, but he puts it on anyway.
“She’s pulling your chain, Mick. Trust me. You keep responding to her, she’ll keep making crap up.”
I’ve got my helmet in my hand. I consider slamming it into his head but put it away instead. “She didn’t make anything up,” I say. “I was there. I saw Gavin. He had a migraine.”
“Maybe he’s in on it too.” Quinn leans over the sink to check his so-called sideburns in the mirror.
“He’s four years old. You think a four-year-old can make himself throw up? Go pale? He’s a preschooler, Quinn, not Ryan frigging Gosling.”
“Fine. Whatever.” He turns and looks right at me. “But you don’t think this is a little strange? You’re out on your first date in—what?—three years, and suddenly Jade absolutely needs you to drop everything and rush right over?”
I close up my duffel bag. There’s no point arguing with him.
“What can I tell you, Quinn? Coincidences happen. If she needs help with Gavin, she needs help with Gavin. I’m not going to desert her.” I grab my jacket. “I gotta go. Dalma’s waiting.”
“That’s what I’m talking about. How long you think she’s going to wait while you’re off looking after your ex-girlfriend’s little brother? You’re not the only guy around here interested in her.”
I push open the change-room door. “Thanks for that, Quinn.”
“Dude. Just trying to be your friend.”
I walk through the rink. I wave across the ice at the coach. Jade has always said Quinn didn’t like her. Maybe she’s right.
Then I think about last night, and I wonder.
No question about it. Gavin was really sick when I got there. He must have puked five times. Jade might have been able to handle it herself, but she was worn out. I could see that. Anyone could see that. Dalma and I could go to a movie another time.
I lay in the dark with Gavin until he fell asleep. I checked my phone. It wasn’t that late. Dalma had said I could drop by any time before eleven.
When I came out of the bedroom, Jade was sitting on the couch, folding laundry. Her Chemistry book was open on her lap. I felt sorry for her.
I’d never felt sorry for her before. I’d just figured that’s the way she is. The perfect little A student. But then I saw her there on a Friday night, cleaning up, studying, taking care of Gavin—doing all the stuff she has to do just to survive—and I thought, Frig. No wonder she called me.
“GooGoo asleep?” she said.
I nodded.
“Good. Give me a minute, I’ll be done here soon too.”
I sat down on the couch next to her. She can’t do this alone anymore, I thought. She needs help. Problem is, who’s going to help? Her mother’s working. Her dad’s a deadbeat. Gavin’s dad is too. They can’t afford to pay anyone. Even the doctors don’t do much good. Jade says they just tell her to be careful about what he eats, make sure he gets enough sleep and give him a headache pill as soon as the migraine starts—it’ll only last a few hours. Lot of help that is. Someone still has to look after him. I don’t see any solution.
I closed her textbook and put it on the coffee table. One thing she didn’t need to be doing was studying on a Friday night. That much I knew. I started folding towels. It was the only thing I could think to do for her.
She went “Aw…” and patted my arm.
She shifted a little closer to me. I didn’t think much about it. She might have just been getting comfortable. Then she pulled her legs up onto the couch. Then she leaned her head on my shoulder.
I could see where that was going. I panicked. I did this really lame, “Oh, would you look at the time?” thing and took off as fast as I could.
Quinn’s wrong about Jade. She didn’t make the problem up. But I get the feeling she wouldn’t mind taking advantage of it.
Dalma is waiting for me by the flagpole outside the rink. She’s shivering. She’s not used to what we call spring around here. I open up my jacket and wrap her in it.
“Where do you want to go?”
“Surprise me,” she says.