Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 130275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130275 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 651(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Before I even acknowledged it, my feet were carrying me across the yard and to the bench where Jacob sat alone. His shoulders tensed when I sat down beside him. I stared out over the yard. I smirked as a little kid trailed after Travis, trying to tag him. Travis screamed playfully when the kid got him—he was good with them.
I inhaled deeply and said to Jacob, “You don’t want to play tag?”
Jacob shook his head and played with his hands. His gaze was cast down. Was this how shut off I’d been all year? Was this how I’d looked to Stephan? To my parents? How I’d looked to Savannah?
“I’m Cael,” I said. Jacob flicked a look to me, then refocused on his hands. He was nervous. I got that. “You’re Jacob?”
He nodded but still gave me silence. I hated it. Not that he wasn’t speaking. But how this little kid had clearly lost his hero and didn’t know how to move on.
My heart slammed in my chest as I pulled up a mental image of Cillian. At his smile when he’d looked down at me. “You’ve got this, kid …” I could still hear his voice, as if he were sitting down on this bench with us too, guiding me. I closed my eyes and felt the warm breeze run over my face. “Help him,” Cillian’s phantom voice said. That was my brother. He was such a good person. And hell, I loved him so much.
I pictured him throwing his arm around my shoulders and taking me to watch the high school football games. “This is my little brother, Cael,” he would tell anyone who would listen. “He’s gonna be the next Gretzky,” he would say. My chest would fill with so much light I could have been made of the goddamn sun. He was so proud of me. Even just weeks before he passed, he would sing my praises …
“Yo, Cael!” he shouted from the bottom of the stairs. “Let’s go!”
“Where are we going?” I said as I threw on my jacket and raced down the stairs.
“Let’s go get food,” he said, and I followed him out to the car.
I buckled myself in and looked to Cill. He was wearing his Crimson Hockey jacket and track pants. That would be me soon, I thought. When we played together.
“Are you training well?” Cillian asked me.
I nodded. “Yeah,” I said. It was true. I was on fire. Nothing could touch me lately. Everything I’d worked for seemed to be fitting into place.
“You?” I asked.
“I don’t want to talk about me,” Cillian said. “I want to hear all about my little brother and how he’s gonna take the hockey world by storm.” I laughed and he laughed too. “You know that, right?” he said. “My teammates are already on countdown to you joining the Crimson.”
We pulled through the drive-through and Cillian ordered us burgers and fries. We shouldn’t be eating this crap in season, but I wasn’t going to argue with him.
Cillian parked, and he seemed to lose himself, just staring out of the windshield. “Cill?” I said, waving my hand in front of his face.
He blinked, shook his head, and plastered his usual happy-go-lucky smile back on his face. “Sorry, kid; spaced out there.”
I laughed as he handed me the burger and fries. “Your grades are good, yeah?” he asked. I nodded. “Your coaches happy with how you’ve been playing?”
“Yeah,” I said, taking a bite of my burger. Cillian often came home to visit, as he was only a short drive away in the grand scheme of things. But he’d been coming back more lately. Been spending more time with me. Making sure I was on track for college.
“Good.” Cillian stopped eating, then put his hand on the back of my neck, turning me to face him. He seemed lost in thought again but then said, “I just know you’re gonna make something of yourself,” he said, and I felt ten feet tall. “Something epic.”
“And you will too,” I said. Because that was the plan. We would do it all together. Cill smiled, but it didn’t feel real. Then he didn’t say anything back. I began to frown, when he said, “Did you watch the Bruins’ last game?” he laughed. “Total shutout, baby!”
And Cillian hung out with me for the next few hours, then dropped me off at home. “I’ll see you at your next game,” I said, and Cillian’s smile faltered.
“You know it,” he replied. I climbed from the car, and bent down to look through the open passenger side window. “Love ya, kid,” Cillian said. “Always remember that.”
“Love you, too,” I said and waved goodbye. I hated it when he had to go back to college. But I’d see him again in few weeks. Then in no time at all, I’d be seeing him every day. Playing beside him at Harvard. All our dreams finally coming true …