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“He asked you… to text Lily?” Yuna asks slowly.
“Yeah.” Hayden shifts uncomfortably.
“That’s all he said?”
“Yeah. He said it on the ice and then before he fell asleep.”
David and Yuna trade a look. A secret girlfriend? But Shane… Shane never lied. He never kept things from them. Didn’t he?
“I know the passcode,” David answers, deciding to take charge. He takes the phone from Hayden, scrolling for Shane’s texts. “Oh. Her contact is pinned.”
Yuna peers over his shoulder. Sure enough, there’s a contact photo of a lily pinned, right next to Yuna, David, and Hayden’s contact.
Who is this girl?
David opens the chat.
Shane
I can’t wait to see you tonight
Lily
Careful there
Don’t want you to lose focus before the game
Shane
Oh please
Like anything’s gonna make me lose focus
Lily
I bet I could come up with a few ways…
“Well, they’re definitely flirting,” Yuna notes, blushing a little. David scrolls down a little.
Lily
Shane
Please let me know if you’re ok
Was a horrible hit
David opens her contact and carefully copies Lily’s number into Yuna’s phone. “We should probably use your phone. I don’t think he’d appreciate us texting her on his.”
Yuna
Hi Lily. This is Yuna Hollander. Shane asked us to text you and let you know that he’s ok. He’s asleep right now, but he’ll be awake soon.
Lily
Thank you so much
He is ok? Really?
Yuna
Fractured collarbone and a concussion, but he is okay.
Lily
He will be out for the playoffs then
That will make him very sad
When he wakes please tell him I’m sorry
And I wish I could see him
Yuna
I will, honey. Is anyone with you?
Lily
No
But is ok
Yuna
Can I call you?
Lily
Sorry, I cannot
Yuna
Okay. Please let me know if you need anything. I’ll keep you updated on Shane.
Lily
Thank you.
“Okay, Lily’s been updated.” Yuna tucks her phone away, feeling tired. She can deal with Shane having a secret girlfriend later. “Hayden, go home. You look like you’re falling asleep on your feet. I’ll call you as soon as he wakes up–go see Jackie and the kids.”
“Are you sure?” Hayden asks, even as he sways. He must be exhausted. Seeing Shane go down like that, and then playing a full hockey game after–Yuna can’t imagine. She’s already wiped, just seeing Shane unmoving on the ice.
Yuna pats his shoulder. “Of course. Thank you for being here, honey.”
“I’ll be back,” Hayden promises.
“Good kid.” David smiles after he’s gone. “I’m glad Shane has someone like that to look after him.”
The two of them sit down in the uncomfortable plastic chairs beside Shane’s bed. He looks peaceful in his sleep. The monitor beeps, the screen showing his even heartbeats.
“So,” Yuna starts.
“I didn’t know either.”
“He has a secret girlfriend? He’s never hid anything from us before.”
“That we know of.” David shrugs. “He’s a grown man. Maybe it’s new.”
“The way Hayden said it doesn’t sound like it was new. And he wouldn’t be calling out for a girl he just started dating.” Yuna bites her lip.
“Well, there’s nothing we can do until he wakes up. We’ll figure it out later. Right now, all that matters is that he’s ok.” David wraps a comforting arm around his wife. Yuna sinks into his warmth, sniffling.
Lily
Good morning, Mrs Hollander. I hope is ok that I check in. Is he doing ok still?
Yuna
Hi honey. You can call me Yuna.
He’s ok.
He’s waking up but very loopy.
Lily
Loopy?
English is not my first language
Sorry
Yuna
Okay. He’s a little out of it.
A little confused? And happy.
Lily
Ah I understand
“Mooooom,” Shane whines.
When Shane woke up, he had referred to the morphine as the ‘good shit,’ which amused his nurse and surprised Yuna and David. It isn’t like Shane to say that, but he is pretty loopy.
“Yes, baby?” Yuna asks, running her thumb across his knuckles. She hadn’t let go of his hand since he woke up, not even to eat the breakfast sandwich David had gotten her.
“I miss Hayden.”
“He’s coming to visit later this afternoon, baby. He was here all last night. He was exhausted.”
“Yay,” Shane sighs, settling into the pillows.
“I texted Lily,” Yuna tries to be casual about it, keeping her expression blank.
Shane looks at Yuna suspiciously. “No. You don’t know about Lily.”
“I do,” Yuna says gently. “I texted her to let her know you were okay. She was very worried about you?”
“Did you read our texts?”
Is Yuna mishearing, or did his heart rate spike on the monitor just a little? He sounds terrified all of a sudden.
“Of course not, honey.” Yuna settles a soothing hand on his good shoulder. “Of course not. I just got her number from your phone and texted her from my phone. Okay?”
“Okay.” Shane sounds relieved, closing his eyes for a beat. “Okay.”
Yuna desperately wants to push, but she knows it’d be wrong while Shane is on the ‘good shit.’ “Is it okay if I keep texting her to update her about you?”
“Yessss. I want her to know I’m okay. She’ll worry otherwise. She’s a… worry wart. Worryyyy wart. She doesn’t even know what that means though. I’m trying to teach her more English phrases, but they don’t make much sense when you think about them.”
Yuna bites down her laughter. “What should I tell her?”
“That I miss her. I wish she was here.” Shane sighs. Yuna has never seen that expression on his face before. Wistful, maybe? Fond?
Oh.
Oh.
He’s in love.
The realization hits Yuna like a punch to the gut. This was her baby. This was Shane. When did he grow up without her realizing? Why did he have a secret girlfriend–someone who he loved? Her baby fell in love, and she didn’t even know. How did she miss this?
“Anything else?” Yuna asks, trying to sound as normal as possible.
“No.” Shane’s eyes flutter.
“Take a nap, honey. You’re exhausted.”
“I’ll nap once she responds.”
Yuna
Shane says he misses you and wishes you were here. He wanted you to know because he says you are a ‘worry wart.’
Lily
I don’t know what that means
But please tell him I miss him more than I can say
And I wish that I was there too
Yuna fights back tears. She seems like a lovely girl. Someone who cares about Shane. Why wouldn’t he tell them about her? How had they managed to screw up so badly that he didn’t want to tell them he had found someone that loved him?
“She says that she misses you more than she can say. And she wishes she was here.” Yuna reports.
“Okay,” Shane says in a high, pleased voice. “Okay.”
Shane is so excited the next morning.
As soon as Yuna walks in, he greets her with a smile brighter than the sun. “Mom!”
“Baby,” Yuna responds, a bit bemused. “Are you okay?”
“Yesss. Ilya visited me.”
“...who?”
“Ilya,” Shane overexaggerates the word. “Ilya. Duh.”
“Ilya… Rozanov?”
Shane looks at her like, of course. “He came to check on me,” Shane hums.
“Well.” Yuna doesn’t know what to say to that. “That was nice. Very sportsmanlike.” Yuna didn’t think that was a word that she would ever use to describe Ilya Rozanov, but it had been a weird few days.
“Did Lily text?” Shane asks. “I wish I could call her. No screens. Stupid concussion.”
“She said she couldn’t call last time I asked.”
“Yeah,” Shane said, like it was obvious. “She can’t call you. She can call me though. Can you dial for me?”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea. You’re supposed to be resting.”
“I won’t look at the screen,” Shane promises.
Yuna sighs. “Okay. Let me text her.”
Yuna
Hi honey. Everything is ok, but Shane wants to call you. Is it ok if I dial your number and then hand it to Shane?
Lily
I would like that
Yes please
Yuna wonders what Lily sounds like. Does she have a nice voice? Does she have an accent? She shoves her thoughts aside as she navigates to Lily’s contact and presses the call button.
“Don’t talk to her,” Shane says suddenly. “She’ll only talk to me.”
Yuna gives Shane a weird look, but he’s nonplussed.
“Okay,” Yuna concedes. She holds out the phone, and Shane takes it with his good hand.
There’s silence for a second.
“Lilyyyyy!” Shane smiles, and his face breaks open with joy. It makes Yuna want to weep.
Shane is silent for a second, presumably as Lily responds.
“I just missed you. Missed your blonde curls. Missed your smell. I wish you could hold my hand again.” Shane pouts.
Yuna gets up to go–this sounds private–but Shane waves her back to her seat, seeming unconcerned.
“Have you thought about it?” Shane asks, focusing back on the phone call. “I still want you to come to the cottage. Think about it. Just you and me for a few weeks. It’ll be so much fun.”
Shane invited Lily to his cottage? That was his sacred space. Not even Hayden had been there.
“Well, think about it. I want you there. I want you to be around me all the time. I think we will have fun. And we can cook together… we can make tuna melts… I’ll buy some Coke for you. It’ll be perfect.”
Yuna, once again, has to try not to cry. She wishes David would come back from the cafeteria and come calm her down.
“Okay. I’ll talk to you later. Okay. Bye-bye. I miss you.”
Shane hands the phone back to Yuna. His smile is sleepy and his eyes are closed. If he had been awake, he would’ve noticed Yuna’s stricken expression.
God, he was really in love.
Lily
How’s he doing?
Yuna
Good. He’s pretty much off the morphine now, so a lot more lucid than the last time you spoke to him.
Lily
Lucid?
Yuna
Present, maybe? More himself, I guess.
Lily
Ah
Ok
That is good
Thank you
“Hi, baby. How are you feeling?”
Shane groans. “Like I fractured my collarbone.”
Yuna laughs gently. “Yeah. The sling is a pain, but you’ll be healed soon.”
They’re wheeling Shane out to the car. Shane had protested when the nurses made him sit in the wheelchair, but they insisted it was protocol. It was cute to watch Shane pout while they loaded him into the blue wheelchair.
“Yeah.” Shane sighs.
“Lily seems glad that you’re lucid,” Yuna comments.
It’s like flipping a switch. Shane whips around. His eyes are wide. He looks… he looks terrified. Just like the first time Yuna brought up Lily when he was still on morphine. “You’ve been talking to Lily?”
“Yes.” Yuna wonders how much of their conversations he remembers. “Remember? I got her number from your phone and texted her. You called her on the phone the other day.”
“Right.” Shane slowly turns back. “Right. I forgot. I didn’t think about that.”
“It’s okay, Shane. You’re allowed to have relationships. You don’t have to hide it from us.” David puts a hand on Shane’s good shoulder.
Shane mumbles something unintelligible as his cheeks flush.
Yuna and David exchange a look. They help Shane into the car. As soon as he’s settled in the back, he rests his head against the window and closes his eyes.
Well. She’ll have to inquire about Lily later.
Yuna
Shane is on the way home.
A little sleepy but okay.
Lily
👍
Yuna bites her tongue until dinner two nights later.
Shane was still in a bit of pain, but he was taking his painkillers every four hours and staying off his screens. He said his head felt fine, but his shoulder was pretty sore. He’d been fumbling through tasks one-handed until Yuna shooed him back to the couch.
“Shane,” Yuna starts. “I know you have a life and you don’t need to tell us everything. But… we’re really curious about Lily-”
“I’m gay,” Shane says flatly.
There’s a beat of silence. Yuna flounders.
“Okay,” David says evenly. “Thank you for telling us.”
Thank God for her husband.
Shane is shaking a little bit. His mouth is set in a determined way, as if he’s steeling himself for something. Yuna’s heart breaks a little.
“Lily is a guy I’ve been seeing for… a few years.”
“Years?” It bursts out of Yuna before she can stop it.
Shane’s face is red. “Years,” he confirms.
“What… what about Rose Landry?”
Shane scratches at the back of his head. “I thought I hadn’t found the right girl. I want you guys to know that I tried. I really did try, but-”
“Oh, honey.” Yuna’s eyes well up with tears immediately. She gets up and hugs him as tight as she can. “I’m sorry you felt like you had to try to be someone else. I’m sorry we made you feel like that.”
Shane sniffles, tucking his head into her shoulder like he’s a little kid again.
“I want you guys to meet Lily. Someday.” Shane’s voice is muffled by Yuna’s sweater. Yuna wipes at Shane’s face before going back to sit next to David.
“We’d love to meet him,” David says gamely.
Shane’s face does something weird at that.
“Everything okay?” Yuna asks gently.
“I’m scared you won’t like him. He’s… someone you already know. And you don’t like him.”
“Baby, anyone who loves you is welcome here.”
“He doesn’t love me. It’s… it’s complicated.” Shane’s hand twisted through the air, as if he was trying to pluck the right one from thin air. “We haven’t talked about it. We’re not even, like, official.”
“But you love him,” Yuna says, like it’s obvious.
Shane’s eyes go a little glassy. “Yeah,” he admits. “I do.”
“Okay.” Yuna’s voice is final. “Then whoever he is, I’m sure we’ll like him, okay? Anyone who makes you happy is okay in my book. You can tell us who he is whenever you want. Or not at all. We’re here for you.”
Shane smiles through his tears. “I love you guys.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” Yuna reaches across the table to hold his hand.
“We love you more.” David takes Shane’s other hand, and Yuna’s heart swells at her little family.
A few days go by, and Shane says nothing about Lily. Yuna hears his voice drifting down the hall sometimes, so full of love and laughter that she feels lightheaded. She’s so happy that he’s found this boy that he loves, and she wishes it could be easier for them both. She wishes that Shane was safe to tell them who he loved.
“Guys?” Shane’s voice was tentative. They were sitting on the couch, watching hockey highlights. David and Yuna were curled up on one end, and Shane was splayed out on the other. He was chewing on his hoodie strings, looking tense.
David paused the TV immediately, and Yuna sat up. “What’s up, honey?”
“Lily’s coming to the cottage tomorrow. I’m going to meet him there and we’ll spend two weeks together. But can… do you think we could have dinner tomorrow night? All of us?”
“Of course,” Yuna breathes. “Thank you for trusting us with this. Of course, sweetheart.”
“I’m excited to meet him. I have some good vodka I’ve been wanting to break out.” David rubs his hands together.
For some reason, Shane finds that hilarious.
“Hello? It’s me… Shane.”
Yuna’s heart swells at the nervous note in Shane’s voice as he enters their house. “We’re in the kitchen, honey!”
Shane says something in a low tone to Lily, and there’s a shuffle as they toe off their shoes. Shane appears in the kitchen, his hand tangled with…
With-
With Ilya Rozanov.
“Surprise,” Shane says weakly. “It’s Ilya.”
Lily. Ilya. The names swirl in Yuna’s head as she tries to make sense of the situation.
“Okay,” Yuna says. “I-I thought you guys hated each other?”
“Years?” David repeats, from their first conversation.
"Years," Shane confirms. It looks like Ilya squeezes Shane's palm a little. Shane takes a deep breath, like he's rallying himself. "Since our... uh, rookei season."
"Rookie season?" Yuna demands. Look, she's okay with Shane being gay. She might even be okay with Ilya Rozanov being Shane's boyfriend. But that means... carry the one, add the five... "Seven YEARS?"
Shane winces a little. "Er, yeah. I guess."
"Is a little before," Ilya puts in helpfully. "The summer before rookie season."
"Ilya," Shane hisses, and isn't that a shock? To hear that first name fall from Shane's mouth so easily, so lovingly.
Ilya shrugs, going silent.
"Well. If we're going to meet you properly, I think we better have lunch," Yuna decides. "Who wants a drink?"
Ilya's hand goes up first.
Yuna smiles wryly. "You're going to fit right into this family."
Shane's eyes go bright and shiny. Yuna follows David into the kitchen, but not before she sees Ilya wrap his arms around Shane, resting his chin on Shane's head.
Yes, they were going ot be ok.