A Hockey Tutor by Mary Smith

it?”
    “Um . . .” was all I could manage to say.
    “Katie, what do you like on your pizza?” Franks asked, distracting Katie from her question.. “Hawaiian,” Katie and Lindsay answered in unison, and then laughed.
    I looked at my watch. “Hey, I need to run out for a bit.” I stood, slapped Franks appreciatively on the shoulder, and headed towards the door.
    “Do you have a hot date, or just a quick lay?” Katie’s teased me.
    “Katie,” Franks said, shaking his head.
    “What?” She looked at Franks, then me, confused. I didn't say a word. I just grabbed my keys, and left.
    The drive to the church wasn’t long, but the traffic was starting to pick up, and it seemed longer. I thought about what Franks said, again. Did I love Katie? That was impossible. I didn’t fall in love,.
    I parked the car out front, and walked up the stone stairs to the large oak doors. I tugged on them, and the smell hit me. Church, like the ice rink, was somewhere that I could think, and get clarity. I wasn’t a religious person, but coming here brought back memories, memories of a happier time.
    “Andrew, you missed morning mass,” Father Michael said as he walked up the aisle to me.
    “My apologies. I had another matter to take care of.” I shook his hand. “Do you have a moment?”
    “Always.” He points, with an outstretched arm, to a pew near the back of the church.
    “I know you’re getting ready for evening mass, so I won’t take up very much your time.”
    “Take all the time you need, Andrew. What’s the problem?” Father Michael looked at me intently, with concern in his eyes. His steel gray hair, cut short, reminded me of how old he had gotten over the years.
    “Is it possible for me to fall in love?”
    “Of course. Love is an amazing and wonderful thing. You’re a great man, and I have no doubt that you could be in love. Why are you asking? Is there someone special in your life?”
    I looked away from him, and over to the stained glass windows that depicted the stories of the Bible. I shrugged.
    “Andrew,” he pushed after a moment of silence. “Talk to me as if this collar wasn’t around my neck, and as the uncle that I am to you.”
    I turned back to my Uncle Mike, the one person I could tell everything to. “I miss Mom,” I told him honestly.
    “It has been a rough couple years for you. Is that why you came to St. Paul?”
    I slouched down in the pew and looked up at the ceiling. “I came here for a new start, but it started off just like everything else, with Dad bailing me out again. Then this stuff with Wes, and let’s not forget, every NHL scout is looking at me just waiting for me to make a mistake. And then there's Katie.”
    “Who is Katie?” Uncle Mike asked.
    “My tutor that Dad paid for.”
    “Is she the one who has you questioning whether or not you can fall in love?”
    “Yes. She has me working harder than I’ve ever worked in my life. And I want to do well—for her, for myself. She makes me feel like just because I’ve screwed up in the past doesn’t mean I can’t get it right this time. And she’s beautiful and sweet and sassy and . . . and . . .”
    “And you’ve fallen for her.”
    “I’ve only known her a few weeks.”
    “I seem to remember a time when a fiery blonde fell for a hockey-playing chemist. She swore she would never fall in love, but it happened, and they were so madly in love.” He smiled at the memory.
    “I’m not Dad, and she isn’t Mom.” I crossed my arms.
    “Andrew, the first time you saw her, what did you think?”
    “I thought she was hot,” I said candidly.
    Uncle Mike smiled. “Anything else?”
    I paused. “Her eyes. I thought I saw a sadness in her eyes that I recognized. I feel like it’s the same look I have when I think about Mom.”
    For a moment neither of us said anything. We had all a hard time with my mom’s sudden passing. None of us could comprehend the car accident, because Mom was such a good driver. The police