The Captain Who Ended My Brother's Career Is on My Table novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: Her Name on His Back
We lost the final in six games, and Duluth threw us a parade anyway.
Hugo had his shoulder rebuilt in June.
By the second week of August I had signed the form that let him lift a bucket.
He drove me up the shore on a Saturday evening in the Tahoe, with the windows down and the lake silver on our right.
The cabin sat on a point of black rock, with a dock running out into the water and a stovepipe smoking on the roof.
"Yours?" I said.
"I bought it in July."
"With what?"
"With the part of the contract nobody voided."
On the dock he put down a canvas duffel and unzipped it.
Inside was a folded jersey, white and plain, a practice sweater without a crest.
He shook it out.
The number on the sleeve was a four.
He turned it round for me, and across the shoulders, in black block letters a foot wide, it said CONTINI.
I put my hand over my mouth.
"Aili sewed it," he said. "She wouldn't let me touch the thread."
"Hugo."
"Nine years I carried my own name like something I'd stolen. I'd like to wear yours."
He pulled the jersey on over his bare chest, slowly, favoring the new scar.
Then he went down on one knee on the wet boards.
"I've knelt for you on a table," he said. "And on the ice for your brother. I'd like to do it once because I'm happy."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of The Captain Who Ended My Brother's Career Is on My Table are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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