In Sequence | H.S.

28.

Harry.

After almost an hour of convincing, my family finally made themselves scarce to join the chaos at the mall, taking Mads in tow with them. Part of me thought she would protest joining them a little more after the shit went down with my knee, but she was the first to grab her bag. Can't really blame her, I guess if I were in her shoes, I'd be pissed too, but I don't want her to be mad at me on the day everything was going well for fucking once.

At least she didn't leave me completely high and dry until after she helped get my brace on, got me situated on the couch with my leg elevated, and handed me an ice pack and a heating pad to trade off with. Selfishly, I wanted her to stay with me, but having her go out and about with my family was better than whatever fight we would've gotten into.

This way, I know she'll come back.

Plus, it's given me the opportunity to get lost in thought and pretend things are alright for a little while. I know mum and Gem are pretty stoked to be meeting Mads. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little petrified of all the shit they might be telling her about me, and I'm anxiously awaiting to find out if mum brought out any of my old baby pictures to show her. The last thing I need is Maddy having that kind of blackmail material against me.

I also wonder what they think of her. I'm not blind, I can see that they're ready to adopt her into the family already, but I catch myself wondering what exactly it is that they like about her.

My guess is that Gemma likes her sense of humor and her caring nature. In ever accused of giving a real shit about me, my sister would deny it at the drop of a hat, but she has her own unique way of showing it, and seeing Mads spring into action with my knee and ask if I'm okay when I was lost in my mind earlier probably brought her some comfort.

I can't pinpoint exactly what mum likes about her yet, other than the weird way she makes me happy, even when I know that this is all an unspoken facade for the duration of their visit. If I had to place my bets though, I think mum probably likes how genuine Maddy is. She's not this stiff embodiment of her interpretation of perfection, she's just authentically her dorky little self that will spend hours getting lost in conversation and connecting with people.

That's partially why I've never brought another girl around my family before, or even as much as mentioned their name in front of them.

Growing up, we were raised to stay true to ourselves regardless of the criticism or opinions of others, and even though it fucking kills me to admit, that's something I lost sight of when I signed on with the NHL. My mum's never directly expressed her disappointment with me in that, but it's audible in her silence.

Maybe that's why I wasn't all that regretful when I let Maddy's name slip to her and Gemma.

-

"The flight? Yeah, it was fine." I mumble into the phone, using my teeth to tear the wrapper on my protein bar.

"Really?" Skepticism was thick in Gemma's voice but I don't have a fucking clue as to why.

"Yeah?" I can hear some back and forth whispering going on between my mum and Gemma, but mostly it's just mum telling Gemma to drop whatever it is she's about to go off on.

"Then why didn't you get off of the plane back in Boston?" I stop midbite, head cocking to the side. Now how the fuck does she know I didn't?

"Huh?" I drop my phone from my ear and put the call on speaker before navigating to google. I enter my own name and scroll down past my stats to check the headlines. There isn't a damn thing about my road trip with Mads, so what the fuck is she on about?