"Mama, doesn't daddy get home today? Can we go to his game tonight?" Isaiah asked, entering the kitchen to see if lunch was ready.
Carrie was thrown off by her son's question. The word daddy coming out of his mouth felt like a knife to her heart. He'd been at an away game for three days, so Carrie had yet to have to deal with the issue.
Carrie felt tears well up in her eyes, but she bit her lip and pushed them back. "Sure, if you want."
"Yay! I miss him." Isaiah said happily.
Carrie forced a smile to her face. This was going to be harder than she thought. "I'm sure he misses you too."
"Eat your lunch, we need to go to the store before the game." Carrie sat his plate down in front of him, ruffling his hair.
After finishing lunch, the duo went to the grocery store and drug store before heading home to get ready.
Carrie stood in her bedroom, staring at the Fisher jersey hanging in front of her. She bit her bottom lip hard to keep from crying, but a single tear escaped her eye.
Screaming, she threw it from the hanger, letting it knock over a picture frame and hit the ground.
She collapsed to the ground, letting her head fall into her hands as she cried. She exhaled deeply, leaning her head against the back of the bed. She clinched her hands into fists as she tried to calm down.
"Mama? Are you ready?"
"Mommy what's wrong?" Isaiah entered her bedroom to see her crying on the floor.
Carrie sat up, wiping her face off quickly. She forced herself to smile. "'Nothing baby, I'm okay."
"I'm sorry Mommy." Isaiah wrapped his arms around her, hugging her even though he didn't know what was wrong.
"Thank you sweet pea." Carrie smiled, reciprocating the hug. She kissed the top of his forehead and stood up. "I'm okay. I'll be ready in a minute."
She pulled a regular Predators t-shirt off a hanger and put that on instead. She couldn't bare to wear something with his name on it. She slipped her shoes on and grabbed her purse.
"Let's go." She did her best to smile, taking Isaiah's hand as they walked downstairs and headed to the arena.
Isaiah happily skipped through the parking lot into the arena, holding Carrie's hand.
"Are we going back to see him?" Isaiah asked.
"Yeah, we can." Carrie sighed. Her insides turned as knots filled her stomach. She didn't want to face him again yet.
"Hey, can you ask Mike to come out here for a minute when he gets a chance?" Carrie asked Josi as he walked by.
"Sure thing, just a second." He said, flashing a smile.
"Mike, Carrie and Isaiah are outside the locker room waiting on you." He found Mike exiting the bathroom.
"They are?" Mike was shocked. Considering he hadn't heard from her at all, seeing them at the game tonight was the last thing he'd expected.
"Yep. She said to come out when you get a chance."
Mike took a deep breath and walked out of the locker room, turning down the hall to see them waiting.
"Dad!" Isaiah cheered, running towards him. Mike swooped him up into his arms to hug him.
"Hey buddy! I missed you!" Mike said happily, setting him back down.
Carrie nervously approached them, a fake smile on her face.
"Hi." Mike hesitantly smiled. He side hugged her and kissed her cheek. Carrie flinched at the touch.
"Hi." She muttered back.
"How was New York?" Isaiah asked, breaking up their awkward encounter.
"It was awesome! Wish you coulda been with me!" Mike said, bending down.
"Me too! School was boring." Isaiah laughed. "Can I go back into the locker room with you? I wanna see everyone."
"Of course. Go on in and I'll be there in a second." Mike patted his back, giving him a push towards the locker room.
Carrie crossed her arms tightly over her chest, both of them awkwardly standing in the hall watching him disappear into the locker room.
"Can we talk?"
"There's nothing to talk about Mike." Carrie said flatly, not making eye contact.
"You haven't answered any of my texts. We-"
"I haven't answered your texts because we're not together anymore! Every time you text me, it just hurts even more. I'm trying to get over this and you're making it even harder." Carrie felt herself raise her voice as anger started to steam through her body. "I need you to just leave me alone Mike. The only reason I'm here is because I'm not going to punish Isaiah for something you did. He wants a relationship with you and just because we don't have a relationship anymore doesn't mean he doesn't get to. But I need you to leave me alone and quit making this harder than it already is."
"It doesn't have to be hard Carrie. We can forget about this and forget all the heartbreak. I can make you happy again."
"No Mike, you can't. I told you, you can't fix this. You can't take it back so stop pretending like you can." Carrie snapped.
"Now leave me alone and go find your son." Carrie mumbled.
Mike sighed. He looked at Carrie who stood with her arms crossed, her head hanging low. He opened his mouth, but shut it again. He walked away without saying anything else.
When she was sure he was gone, Carrie raised her head. She saw the locker room door swing shut. She let her head fall against the wall as she waited on Isaiah.
Carrie squeezed her eyes shut, blinking away the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. She took deep breaths and tried to calm herself down.
"Good luck daddy! You're gonna win!" Carrie heard her son say. She fluttered her eyes open and smiled seeing Isaiah walking towards her.
"Ready to go sit?" Carrie held her hand out, taking Isaiah's when he reached her.
"Can we get some candy first?"
Carrie put her hand on Isaiah's back, looking back at Mike standing at the door. They held eye contact for a second before Carrie turned, unable to look at him any longer.
"Sure thing bud. Come on, let's go."
