“Two girls. Violet’s six and Ruby is four,” he says with fondness. “They’re with their mom back in Boston.”
“That’s tough,” I say. “Will she have primary custody?”
Ryker shrugs. “Not sure yet. We were going to try to work out a joint share. She keeps them during the season and I’d have them in the summer, but not sure that’s going to work out.”
“Why’s that?” I ask, and then turn to acknowledge the bartender who brings my burger over.
As I pull the bun off and load it up with ketchup and mustard, Ryker says, “Well, the man that my wife was sleeping with also happened to be a teammate of mine on the Eagles.”
“What the fuck?” I say in surprise as I slap the bun back on my burger.
“Yup. One of my much younger teammates. He’s fucking nineteen years old,” Ryker says, shaking his head with a grimace.
“That’s cougarific,” I mutter.
“Tell me about it. Don’t get me wrong…Hensley, my soon-to-be ex-wife, has it going on in the looks department. She’s hot as fuck, but come on…she’s thirty-one with two little girls and this fucker still gets acne.”
I snicker and pick up my burger to take a bite. That is some whacked shit.
“The worst part is she now wants to travel with him when he’s on the road. She can’t do that with the girls because they’re in school. So she called me the other day and wanted to discuss the possibility of me taking them full-time,” Ryker says, and then picks up a french fry off his plate to wave at me. “I’d kill to have the girls permanently with me, but fuck…I travel too. What am I supposed to do with them when I’m gone?”
“A nanny,” I tell him pointedly.
“Is that what you do for your boy?” Ryker asks, and when I blink at him in surprise, he says, “I had heard about the accident…league grapevine and all. I’m really sorry about that, Zack.”
I nod and give him a smile to let him know it’s okay. “Yeah…well, I hired a nanny to watch Ben when I’m not able to and she’s been working out great so far. I can get you the name of the service my sister used to find her.”
“That would be awesome,” Ryker says gratefully. “It may be moot. I mean, maybe Hensley will come to her senses and realize the girls are more important than her chasing around a young piece of ass.”
“Dude…that’s just some fucked-up shit,” I say, shaking my head as I drag a french fry through some ketchup. “Tell me you stomped the guy’s ass.”
“Let’s just say that he was on the receiving end of my unhappiness when I found out,” he says darkly. “You could also say that little incident may have precipitated my trade from the team.”
“What?” I ask sharply, eyeing him in disbelief. “The Eagles traded a veteran goalie with three Cups and four Vezinas because you clocked one of the other players?”
“Not just any player,” Ryker says with a dark glint in his eye. “Patric Sutter.”
I whistle low and shake my head. “Your wife slept with the number-one draft pick last year? Rumored to be potentially the greatest player the league has ever seen?”
“Little fucker,” Ryker growls. “He’s lucky I only broke his nose.”
Leaning over, I slap Ryker on the shoulder with a laugh. “Brick…dude…I thought my life was fucked up, but you actually make me feel better about myself.”
We both chuckle over that and chow down on our burgers for a few blessed moments of silence. When we finish, we push our plates away and order up two more beers. I have to say, this guy is completely chill and super easygoing. It’s actually not a chore to talk to him…not the way it’s been for me lately when it comes to interacting with people.
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Ryker says once we have our new beers, “how hard is it…being a single parent?”
I tap my finger against the edge of my beer bottle for a moment, considering the question. “In some ways, it’s scary as hell. Having all the responsibility on your shoulders, not having a partner to help you make important decisions. But in other ways…it’s kind of nice. I mean…after Gina died, Ben and I grew even tighter. We had no choice because we only had each other.”
“I have the feeling that if Hensley goes through with this asinine idea of following that little dickhead around, she’s not going to be very involved with the girls.”
“Well, best advice I can give to you is go with your gut on things,” I tell him simply. “Trust your parenting skills. You may not get it right all the time, but you will most of the time.”