The summer after high school, Cole had fucked things up with his hockey friends, so instead of playing in the States, he’d moved to Canada. It had been a terrible time. Riddled with guilt, he’d lost touch with everyone except Darren.
Easy-going Darren, who’d accepted Cole just as he was.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” the attorney said.
“I can’t believe it.”
When had they started to drift apart? Because even after he’d moved to Boson, he and Darren had kept in touch. Somewhere along the way, between his career and Darren’s marriage and kids… It must’ve been a good four years since they’d last talked.
But he pulled himself together because the lawyer wasn’t calling to announce their passing. “Is there anything I can do to help?” Last he’d heard, Darren worked construction, and Lindsay worked part-time for a florist.
“You—”
Actually, he knew exactly what he could do. “I can set up a trust fund for the daughter.”
“Oh, that’s… Well, actually, there are two girls.”
“That’s fine. I can set one up for both.” There was something in her tone, though. Something that made his senses perk up. “But that’s not why you reached out. Are you letting me know about the funeral?” If there wasn’t money for that… “I can cover the costs.”
“Mr. Montgomery, this is all very generous of you, but that’s not why I’m calling.”
“Okay.” A weird sensation crawled up his spine and twisted around his chest. In hockey, intuition won games. He’d honed his well over many years and countless games.
His sixth sense was going haywire.
“You’re named as the guardian.”
One good squeeze yanked the air out of his lungs. He scrambled to make sense of what the woman had just said. “You mean godfather.” He’d gone to the christening, and his assistant sent presents every year on the girl’s birthday.
“No, I mean, Darren listed you as the man he’d like to raise his daughters.”
“Me?” He flung back against the couch hard enough to rattle his bruised brain.Wait.“When did he have a second kid?”
“The oldest is six, and the littlest one’s three.”
Two little girls—their whole lives ahead of them.Damn, that sucks. Still, he’d be the worst person in the world to take care of them.Fuck. His heart thundered, and perspiration broke out over his lip. “That’s not…no, I can’t do that.”
“That’s fine. You certainly don’t have to. It’s just a request.”
“He never told me about it. This has to be a mistake. You must be looking at an old will or something. We haven’t talked in four years.”
“He and Lindsay updated their will when their last child was born three years ago.”
“Okay, but there must be someone else. A cousin, an aunt…someone.”
“Mr. Montgomery, it’s okay. I’m only informing you of his request. You’re in no way obligated to become their guardian.”
“That’s good.” He let out an awkward laugh. “Trust me, no one wants me responsible for their kids.” He got a flash of Booker’s landing that horrible night ten years ago, the way his legs had crumpled. Thanks to Cole, his friend had lost his shot at playing hockey.
He could’ve died.
But no good came of remembering the terrible decisions he’d made in his past. “All right, well, as I said, I’ll talk to my lawyers and get trust funds established for both of them.”
“That’s fine. Thank you for your time.”
His pulse rocketed, and he panicked at the thought of disconnecting. Of not knowing what would happen to those girls. “Hey, is there a funeral?” Better to ask that instead of learning about a fate he could do nothing about.
“Not that I’m aware of.”