Rewind It Back (Windy City, #5)(126)

“Can we talk?” I ask, an edge of desperation in my tone.

Because I am desperate. I’m desperate to fix this for him.

His mom doesn’t answer right away, walking past me to her coffeemaker. She takes her time grabbing a mug and pouring a cup, until finally, she asks, “Why?” with her back to me.

“Because I love your son, and I won’t be the reason you two aren’t talking. And when he moves back to Boston, I’m going to be visiting often until I eventually move back here too. It’d be nice if we could be in the same room. For him.”

Her shoulders deflate, then she grabs a second mug to pour another coffee.

She’s not looking at me still. “You cut your hair.”

“I did.”

“Rio’s not with you?”

“He doesn’t know I’m here.”

Finally, she peeks over her shoulder at me.

“If you’re up for it, I’d like to explain myself. And if you don’t want to hear me out, I wrote it all down.” I slip the letter out of my back pocket and hold it out to show her. “If you still hate me afterward, I’ll have to live with that, but it’s killing him that you two aren’t getting along, and I love him too much to not try to fix this.”

She turns to face me, leaning back on the counter, assessing me. “I don’t hate you, Hallie. But you were practically my daughter, and you didn’t tell me.”

My throat goes thick. “I didn’t, and I have regretted that choice since. It not only lost me him, but it lost me you. I can’t change it, but I’m hoping if I can explain why I didn’t say something at the time, you might understand.”

Her jaw tics as she processes.

“I’m not here to give you an excuse,” I continue. “But I’d really like to see if there’s any way we could move forward.”

“For Rio?”

I nod. “Maybe for us too.”

Finally, she grabs the two mugs of coffee and brings them to her kitchen table, placing each on a coaster.

“Come on.” She takes a seat, gesturing to another empty chair. “Let’s talk.”

I join her, both of us bringing the coffee up to our lips and taking a drink.

“Thank you,” I tell her quietly.

“It’s your birthday tomorrow.”

My eyes flit to hers, shocked at her memory. “It is.”

“Doesn’t Rio want to spend it with you?”

I nod with a soft smile. “I have a flight home in the morning. I’ll get back there before his team lands in Chicago.”

“That’s good.” She takes another drink of her coffee. “I feel like I should’ve added alcohol to this.”

“You’re telling me.”

She chuckles and it’s nice to hear. This isn’t comfortable by any means, but she could’ve closed the front door in my face instead of sitting down and drinking coffee with me.

Mrs. DeLuca stands, going to the fridge before coming back with a bottle of Bailey’s, pouring a healthy amount in mine, then taking her seat and adding some to her own coffee.

“So, what is it you want to tell me?”

I take a long sip of my drink. “I need to tell you what happened two weeks before you found out about everything.”

She nods, and I can practically see her mentally preparing herself. “I’m listening. Tell me what you came here to say.”

Taking a deep breath, I do exactly that.





Chapter 41


Hallie


Age 19

I’m supposed to be looking for a place for us to live, but every time I open my laptop to do so, I end up typing in the words non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the internet search bar.

Because right now, that’s all I care about.

I need to know everything. I need to find the best treatment options. I need to know how sick he’s going to get so I can prepare myself. But most importantly, I need to know how to fix him.

I’m frantic and desperate to fix him.

I’m also terrified, but I don’t know how to handle this fear other than doing everything in my power to change this outcome.

The past three weeks have felt like a dream. Rio got picked up in the first round of the NHL draft, which for anyone is a huge deal, let alone a defenseman. We celebrated with both our families, some of our old high school friends, and the entire neighborhood. I immediately started packing for our move and working on my transfer paperwork to a Chicago-based university, and each day since, I’ve spent looking for the right apartment for us to rent until we can find our dream home.

But everything changed last night when my parents sat me and my brother down to tell us that my dad has cancer.

A few days ago, the idea of living a thousand miles away from my parents seemed like no big deal. But today, that distance feels unfathomable. After crying myself to sleep last night, I woke up with the determination to fix this . . . right now, ideally.

There’s so much of me that still wants to go with Rio, but the terrified side of me doesn’t want to be more than ten feet away from my dad. Yes, I’m panicked and frantic, and probably not thinking clearly because this is all so fresh, but I don’t care about logic at the moment.

I need him to be okay. I’d give up everything to make sure he’s okay, and last night, as we found out everything was about to change, it seemed like I was the only one of us who felt that way.