Chapter 17

After their rocky start, the two boys eventually settled into their classes, though their teacher—Miss Trudeau—complained a lot about the fact that Shane didn’t look at people when they were talking to him and that he insisted on things to be a certain way and had meltdowns if they weren’t, while their younger boy was always easily distracted, though he got excellent marks if he was focused on what he was doing.

The constant complaints of the teachers had led Yuna and David to take both their sons to their therapists and doctors again to figure out what exactly was ‘wrong’ with them, though having a name for what exactly was going on with those boys didn’t help with the issues at all.

It took them a while to figure out strategies on how to handle Evan’s ADHD without medication—the boy was adamant he could do without—and Shane’s autism.

They kept both diagnoses out of the official documents because Yuna knew from personal experience what such a thing could do to a child.

Her brother had gotten an autism diagnosis as a child, and it had led to him being treated in very unkind ways, eventually leading to him getting put into a class with those the teachers deemed retarded—something her brother wasn’t—and soon after, that bright spark her brother was in her life, had dimmed and at sixteen, he had taken his life because he couldn’t stand to stay in a world that thought him stupid just because he didn’t fit the mold everyone else wished to press him inside.

Instead, Yuna and David focused on helping both their boys with things that helped them focus and interact with their surroundings in a way that the general populace found acceptable.

One of those ways was for them to join an age-appropriate hockey team, since they had outgrown the pee-wee league they’d been playing in and the way their trainer praised them, it was clear that both boys had bright futures in the Major League Hockey ahead of them if they so choose.

The one thing that quickly became an issue with their boys turning out to be geniuses on the ice was the fact that Yuna insisted on being their manager, and it impacted their family life.

Evan was the one who set her straight, though.

“Mum!” Evan told her, just sixteen years old, but wise beyond his age due to what he had been through as a child and the ages he had spent in therapy. “You are hurting Shane and me … trying to make us into something we are not. You do to us what they did to your brother … neither Shane nor I need this ridiculous diet … nor should we be forced to wear clothes we can’t stand … we both have sensory issues, yet you force us to wear brands that give us these issues because they pay you.”

“No,” Yuna replied. “They pay you! That money is for your future.”

Evan shook his head.

“Is it, though? It is hurting us right now … at this moment … and even though doesn’t say anything, Shane can’t even stand you most days because you are always harping at us about brands, marketing, sponsorships, and money, money, money … money we aren’t allowed to use, yet you use it to eat out every day, wear expensive clothes when it is unnecessary and try to tell us it is for us when all we want to do is be on the ice and play hockey wearing clothes that don’t make us want to tear our skin off, yet whenever we complain, you tell us to shut up,” he ranted.

Yuna stared at her younger son, who was always the more outspoken one.

“You alienate us … and even Dad. He told you more than once to stop it, but you just don’t listen, Mum. If you just want to be our manager, be prepared to move out of our home and be called Yuna or Mrs. Hollander for the rest of your life, because that’s where you are fucking headed, Mum!” Evan continued on, before huffing and walking away, not interested in hearing what she had to say because she had already ranted at Shane and hurt his feelings because he hadn’t worn the Reebok shoes that weren’t fitting well and hurting his feet, yet she insisted on them wearing these shoes because they were sponsoring Shane.

Evan shut the door to his room with a resounding slam and threw himself onto his bed. He hadn’t even talked about the worst thing their sponsorship money had provided.

The new house they had moved to recently, when both Shane and Evan had wanted to stay in their old home, but their mother informed them it wasn’t the kind of house future hockey stars lived in.

Their father, David, had tried to talk her out of it, but Yuna had insisted, and now they were here in this mess that neither Shane and Evan, nor David wanted to be in.

The only one who loved the house was Yuna.

And now, Evan had presented her with an ultimatum that could lead to the destruction of their family, but it was what it was. Either she would get with the program or not.

The glass door leading to his room from the balcony opened, and Shane slipped inside, closing it without making a sound.

“You shouldn’t have screamed at her,” the older Hollander said softly, while settling right next to his brother.

“Maybe,” Evan agreed. “But somebody needed to say something to her before destroys our family fully. Right now, things may be salvageable, but if she insists on going down the path she is on, we both know that Dad will divorce her for our sake and it would break his heart … she’s the fucking love of his life.”

“Evan,” Shane sighed. “Language.”

Evan rolled his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Shane,” he apologized. “I know you wanted to let her have her way, but I can’t stand seeing you suffering sensory issues every fucking day just because she stopped listening.”

Shane closed his eyes and relaxed on his brother’s bed.

“Let’s hope you got through to her,” he sighed softly.

Chapter 18

Yuna Hollander was stunned by the fact that her youngest son unleashed his temper upon her. Usually, he kept that anger to himself and released it at the gym or on the ice when things got heated.

He had never protested the way she was treating either him or Shane before, and she had no idea where this sudden anger came from.

She looked around their new home, stood up and wandered into the kitchen to make herself some tea to help her calm down and focus.

With mechanical movements, she pulled a cup from the cupboard and put it down on the counter. Then she took the kettle from its base, carried it to the sink, and filled it with water. She set the water temperature to 100 degrees Celsius and waited for it to boil with her gaze focused on the water in the glass kettle.

As the water started to bubble, she went to the shelves where she had put all their tea varieties for easy access. She studied all of them for a long moment before picking a white tea flavored with cherry blossoms.

She put some into a tea infuser and set it aside for a moment. The kettle clicked and Yuna used some of the water to heat up the cup, poured it out, before putting the infuser into the cup and pouring hot water over it.

After that, she took the cup to the kitchen table, settled in and tried to figure out what the hell was going on with their family.

David had been distant lately as well. She figured it was about the move because he had a longer drive to work, that he was exhausted, and generally not in the mood to talk after a long day at work and in the car.

Yuna wrapped her hands around the cup, enjoying the heat against her palms. The slight burning drew her attention back toward the tantrum her youngest had thrown.

The accusations that had come her way weren’t true. She was sure of that. Yuna was just making sure that both her boys had what they needed for a stable future in case they took a career-ending injury.

She wanted to make sure that they were successful, which was why she was pushing them so hard when it came to training, eating the right things, and generally presenting the right image to the world, so they could advance through Major League Hockey like the great athletes they were. What she was doing was for the best, and she was sure of that. She didn’t know why her youngest was thinking she was bullying him.

It didn’t make sense to her that he thought she was bullying them. It was for their own good, and she was an adult who knew more about the world than they currently did. They didn’t have her experience with what she was organizing to smooth things over for them when it came to playing hockey. She wanted her boys to focus on playing the game and nothing else. It was what she had always wanted for them.

The idea that what she was doing was bullying was ridiculous.

She took a tiny sip of her tea and turned her head when she heard the soft sound of the front door opening and clicking shut again. She heard the key turn in the lock, knowing that David had come home. She wanted to talk to him, but she figured just like always these last couple of months, her husband would walk upstairs, take a shower, talk to their sons, and then head to bed.

“Yuna?” David called out.

“Kitchen,” she replied, unable to keep the surprise out of her voice.

David was still holding his briefcase as he walked into the kitchen and put it down on the counter.

“The boys called me on the drive home,” he started the conversation. He didn’t come to her and kiss her in greeting or anything else. It was not what she had expected at all, when it came to them spending time together.

“Is that so?” Yuna asked. “And what, pray tell, did they tell you?”

She leaned back in her seat, crossed her arms in front of her chest, and looked at her husband with an unreadable expression.

David leaned against the counter, crossed his feet at his ankles, and just looked at his wife while he put his hands in his pockets.

“Evan said he told you how much they hated that you were more their manager than their mother these days, and that nothing he was saying got through to you. I can see that you are working yourself up into a lather. You’ve got this expression that tells me you are about to lose your temper on my boys and are about to insist that what you are doing is right and that they have no right to criticize you because you are their mother, and you know best,” David said, his expression flat.

“I am not hurting them, David!” Yuna blurted out.

“No?” he asked, tilting his head. “So you aren’t the one who forbids junk food and any type of sweets in this house? You aren’t the one who insisted we sell our home and move out here because it is better for their image, when neither the boys nor I wanted it? It wasn’t you who used the boys’ signing bonuses to buy this house that’s way too far away from my place of work and the arena they train at? You are telling me it wasn’t you who forbade both Evan and Shane to date throughout high school, asking them to focus on their studies, only to then let them know that college wasn’t in the cards because they would head for the drafts instead?”

His voice sounded so flat, it caused her to shiver.

“It’s for the best … for their future, David,” Yuna protested.

“What you are saying is that our boys, who are both just shy of being adults, shouldn’t have a say on what goes into their bodies, where they live, where they will work, and if they even want to play professional hockey?” David interrupted her. “You’ve been doing this ever since their trainer on their kids’ team told you that they both had the talent to play professionally. You’ve focused on that tidbit for a decade now, forced them to abandon their favorite foods for brown rice and salmon, and other foods a kid’s palate can’t even process properly, forced them into training when they wanted to spend time with their friends, made them move away from the friends they managed to keep, and you never ever asked them about the move. You went ahead and spent <i>their</i> money for a house <i>you</i> wanted. It wasn’t your money to spend in the first place, but since you are <i>their</i> mother, you have the right to use it. They both wanted to save money for their college tuition, donate part of it for kids who aren’t as fortunate as we are with working well-paying jobs, and generally had plans for that money, Yuna.”

He released a harsh breath.

“Something you would know about if you actually listened to the boys,” he told his wife, his expression turning hard in a way it never had before.

“Are you … are you accusing me of stealing from the boys?” Yuna blurted out, her eyes hard.

“You know you stole from them, and both they and I know it too, Yuna. It’s just a matter of what we do about it,” David said.

“I am the reason we’ve got that money in the first place,” Yuna snarled, losing her composure. She pushed back from the table and started to pace back and forth in the kitchen.

David snorted, then shook his head.

“You don’t get it, do you?” David asked rhetorically, “They always wanted their mother, not a goddamn manager who forces them to do things they didn’t want to do in the first place. Those boys would have been happy to play in a beer league while going to college, but here we are. They were drafted before they were even done with high school.”

“I did it for them!” Yuna blurted out.

David shook his head again.

“You did it for yourself, Yuna. You are the one whose been so obsessed with hockey you crawled up the ass of a man who just made racist comments about you and our sons, and now you are whoring them out to those men who see at least Shane as a diversity hire, and he’ll be lucky if he’ll even see ice time,” he told his wife. “And since you aren’t even contemplating the fact that you could be wrong, I think the boys and I will have to have a conversation about the consequences of your actions.”

Yuna stared at him with wide eyes.

“The consequences of my actions?” she asked.

“Yes!” was all David said before he grabbed his briefcase and walked away.