Center Ice

Chapter 2

As you entered Maria's... your home, you could hear Maria bustling around the kitchen. She was humming some whimsical tune, pots and pans clanking together as Ez bolted towards his grandma – wrapping her up in a tight hug and yelling about his new friend.

"-and her name is Beck. Her and her uncle Steve helped me skate without the chair, today!" He was practically vibrating with excitement as Maria ushered him into a chair at her kitchen table, nodding along and handing him a glass of milk as she sat down next to him. "Her mom and my mom said that we can skate together, again! Her mom and her uncle asked mom to do car-ee-okie, tonight."

"Karaoke, goofball." You snorted, setting your bag on the counter and inhaling the warm scent of vanilla and chocolate coming from the stove. "Did you make cookies?"

"I thought that we could watch that Coco movie that Ez told me he loves so much." She grinned, brushing her fingers over Ez's curls, leaning down to kiss the crown of his head before standing up to dig for more glasses in the cupboard – grabbing the stemless set that you'd got her for Christmas a few years prior and pulling out a bottle of wine. "I haven't seen it, yet, but I heard it won a bunch of awards."

"Would you... mind... if..." You cleared your throat awkwardly, taking the spot at the table across from Ez and shifting around, nerves leaving a pit in your stomach. God, it had been so long since you'd asked anyone to watch Ez. "I was thinking I might... check out the karaoke scene, tonight... If it's okay with you?"

"Honey, you don't need to ask my permission to go out." She laughed, sliding gracefully into her chair and handing you a glass of her favorite sweet wine, "Plus, I'm always down for some one on one time with my favorite little man." She sent Ez a sweet smile, patting his back, before turning back to you. "Plus, when was the last time you've gone out with people your own age, without children?"

"Without children?" You snorted, taking a sip of the sweet liquid – which left a cool trail all the way down your throat, but warmed when it reached your belly. "I don't even know the answer to that question." A small sigh escaped before you could help it, and a sad smile lifted one side of your mouth. "It's always been the two of us, in California. My previous friends... they were partiers. I left the scene, after I found out I was pregnant."

"I thought you said you were in one of those mommy groups?" She frowned, elbows holding up her head as her chin rested on her entwined fingers. "Didn't you make friends, there?"

"I was in one for a while, but... I don't know. I felt judged, sometimes." You shrugged, taking another sip of the wine, before picking at your thumbnail. "One of the moms was one of those 'I'm perfect, and I know everything' moms. She kept telling me I was doing everything wrong, and that I should read all these baby books... I was just trying to keep the kid alive. I never had any contact with babies or children, before Ez... She kept making me feel inferior to her, so I left. I didn't want the stress or the negativity."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Her eyebrows were furrowed together, lips pursed in sympathy. Something beeped behind her, and she sprung up – running to the oven and putting a large dish on the rack. "I remember when Ezra was born, I started my own mommy group. Natasha's mom and I started it, together. We met when we were in elementary school, and her family came to Minnesota from Russia. I was her first friend. They moved away for a while, but she came back our sophomore year, and we became best friends, again."

"So, you've known Natasha since she was a baby, then?"

"You bet. She was a sneaky little thing." Maria laughed, brushing her brown locks from her face, watching as Ez ran to the living room to play with his cars – bored with the adult conversation in the kitchen. "Before her mom died, she was quite the rebel. Her, Bucky, Steve, and Ezra were a bunch of little shits."