Page 81 of Your Rule to Break
“It’s good to meet you. I promise I didn’t know you were going to be here but I couldn’t let you walk by.”
“So, what now?”
“I’d like to meet up, not at a random resort on my way to shootaround, but for dinner. A drink? I’d also like to meet Riley. I don’t need to infiltrate your family or anything like that. I just want to know a little bit about where I came from.”
This all seems reasonable. I don’t know if this is how I’d be if the tables were turned.
I crack my knuckles. “That seems reasonable. But to be completely honest, my brain is kind of like scrambled eggs at this point. It’s like I hear you but I’m trying to process.”
He laughs at my choice of words and puts his hands up. “I get it. I’ve had lots of time to think about this. Take as much time as you need.” He grabs his phone. “I’d offer to exchange numbers but yours is kind of busted. Do you want to give me yours?”
Such an easy question but the answer feels so much more complicated. Before the silence stretches into being completely unbearable, I reach for the phone and put in my number.
I’m still sitting inthis booth, an hour later. Brooks left, needing to get to practice, and I’ve been staring at the wall. It’s like putting together a puzzle but you only have some of the pieces.
I need to get to Emilie.
I have to call my dad.
I need a phone but the café is technically closed, there’s no one working. I run to the resort lobby, which is closer than my room, to use theirs.
When I reach the front desk, I’m sweating and breathing heavily. Yes, I’m a professional athlete, but running in dress pants and a button up shirt, in Mexico, is different. I awkwardly ask if I can use their phone. They set the phone on the ledge, turning it toward me.
I walk to the side of the reception desk; luckily, there’s no one needing anything right now. I dial his number and my heartbeat feels too fast. It rings and suddenly I’m lightheaded and my chest is tight. I try to get further away from the desk, and when I think the corded telephone is going to pull tight, I’ve found a perfect spot in the corner.
My dad answers after a few rings. “Zack, is that you? I think this is the resort you’re staying at—”
“Yes, it’s me. I’m not physically hurt or anything.”
A sigh fills the other line.
“Dad, is it true?” It’s the only thing that I can think to ask.
“Is what true?” he asks on the other line, his voice hesitant.
“Brooks. Is it true?” It feels odd saying his name.
My dad takes a deep breath and sighs it out, the silence stretching thousands of miles between us.
"Yes.”
My stomach drops, and I rest my head on the cold tile of the wall.
“Did you really not know?”
“No!” he practically yells on the other line. “Things would’ve been much different if I had known. I’d never have just left him without a dad—” His voice crackles with emotion, and there’s a lump in my throat to match.
“I told Mack last week. I needed to tell her before I told you and Riley.”
I can’t believe how small his voice sounds—like pebbles where boulders used to be.
“How is Mom?” I ask the question I’ve been nervous to spend too long thinking about.
“Incredible. Like she always is. She’s pissed I kept this secret to myself for so long. When I didn’t need to.” He pauses, and I sit in the wave of relief that’s hit my body. “After you were born, there were a few months where we broke up. We co-parented, but we weren’t together. I went out with the guys one night and met someone, which Mack knew about, and I think you get the rest.”
This isn’t the first time I’m hearing this. They’ve mentioned it in passing but when they brought it up, it always felt much smaller than this. I looked at my parents and thought they’d meant a fight, or a few days, or a week. Their love always felt so big that it couldn’t be much more than that.
I guess love like that can make it through something like this.