Kyla couldn’t help but laugh. The city of Winnipeg had never recovered from losing their National Hockey League team back in 1996 and the recent news that a couple of wealthy businessmen in town had finally succeeded in purchasing a struggling NHL team and were bringing it back to Winnipeg had created a buzz of excitement throughout the city.

She’d grown up with two older brothers who’d played hockey, although neither of them were good enough to turn pro, and her parents’ best friends, the Hellers, had four boys whom she’d practically grown up with as if they were brothers too. Three of those four boys now played in the NHL and the fourth had just been drafted. In fact, one of them played for the team that was moving back to Winnipeg, which had added to the excitement. Return of the hometown hockey hero.

She too had been following the story of the team’s purchase in the news for months, interested largely in the complex legal and business issues that had arisen. She’d done a lot of legal work for the AHL team that had played in the city since the Jets had left and found the business side of professional sports fascinating.

The guys started talking hockey, but this was a subject Kyla was capable of participating in equally. She loved hockey. Then her BlackBerry bleeped in her purse. She pulled it out to glance at the screen. Her mother. She hesitated.

Guilt made her answer the call with a smile of apology at the men before she slipped off her stool and took a couple of steps away from the table.

“Hi, Mom.”

“Kyla. Are you still coming for dinner tonight?”

Hell. She’d forgotten about that. “God, Mom, I’m sorry. I totally forgot. Why aren’t you going out to the lake tonight?”

“We’re going in the morning. We haven’t seen you in…I don’t even know how long it’s been. You won’t come to the lake, so at least come visit us tonight. We’ll be at the cottage for the next few weeks.”

“I’ve just been so busy. But, yeah, okay, I’ll come tonight.”

“We have some exciting news! So come as soon as you can.”

“Okay. I’m just having a drink with some coworkers. Then I should go home and change.”

“So…an hour?”

Her condo in the Exchange District was walking distance from the office and it would only take twenty minutes to drive from downtown to her parents’ home in Tuxedo, but that still meant she had to cut this opportunity to socialize with the guys short. “Yeah. See you soon.”

She returned to the table. “My mom,” she said to the men. “I forgot I was supposed to go over there for dinner.”

“How are your parents?” Jim asked.

“They’re okay.” Mom had recently undergone treatment for breast cancer, which had been a huge scare and stressful for everyone. “My mom’s doing amazingly well. Dad’s been busy as usual, traveling.” Her father was the president and CEO of a large aerospace company.

She tipped her martini glass and drained the last of the drink. “I’d better head out.” She smiled at the men as she again slid from her stool. “Have a good weekend, everyone.”

“You too, Kyla.”

In the lobby of the building, she surveyed the rain still pouring down outside. Damn. Walking to work was great when the weather was nice, even in the winter when it was cold, as long as you dressed for it, but three blocks in pouring rain was going to leave her wet even with her trench coat and umbrella.

She hurried along Rorie Street toward her condo in a renovated warehouse, head down, briefcase and purse bumping against her with every step, finally arriving at her building a bit out of breath. Man, she needed to get in shape. She’d never been athletic, but she knew the importance of staying fit and at one time had been a regular at the gym. But her gym membership had lapsed and working out had fallen to the bottom of her priority list lately, with work consuming all her time.

In her condo, she dropped her purse and case in the living room, hung up her wet coat and left her open umbrella on the rug in her foyer to dry. Luckily her car was parked underground, so she wouldn’t have to go outside again until she got to her parents’.

In her bedroom she sighed as she changed out of her suit and into a pair of jeans, wishing she didn’t have to go out. She was turning into a hermit lately and she knew it, but dammit, making partner was important. In a family of overachievers, she had to do this. So all she’d been doing lately was working, other than the time she’d spent at her mother’s bedside following her surgery and then helping her at home as much as she could without missing too much time from work.

Even attending to a family illness wasn’t looked favorably upon at the firm when they were in the middle of a big important case and she had partner in sight. She scraped her long hair into a ponytail, looping the elastic around the hair to create a messy bun, surveying her face in the mirror of her dresser. She grimaced but didn’t want to bother redoing her makeup just for dinner with her parents. They would love her no matter what she looked like.

Traffic was still heavy and slow-moving on Portage Avenue when she finally got there in her car, the wipers swishing back and forth across her windshield in a steady rhythm. The low clouds had darkened the sky and downtown streets were a smear of red and green and gold from traffic lights and tail lights, the colors bleeding into each other on the wet pavement. But as she left the downtown area, traffic eased and she made the trip to her parents’ home quickly.

She parked on the tree-lined street, the dripping elms forming an almost perfect canopy of lush green above the road, then dashed up the sidewalk to the big old Tudor-style house. She didn’t knock, just walked in. This was the house she’d grown up in, her home as much as her condo now was.

“I’m here!” she called, leaning against the door to close it. The alarm system beeped softly.

“Kyla!” Mom appeared at the end of the hall from the kitchen. “There you are!” They hugged and Mom drew back to study her. “You’ve lost more weight, haven’t you?”

“Mom.” Kyla pulled back and shook her head.

Worry darkened Mom’s brown eyes. “You’re so thin, honey.”

Kyla smiled. “I’m fine, Mom. How are you?” Her mom’s cancer diagnosis had given the whole family a huge scare.

“I’m great! Come in.”

“Where’s Dad?”

“In the family room. Come on. I just made pizza for dinner.”

“You’re not overdoing it, are you?”

“I’m fine,” Mom said, leading the way. She’d faced an incredible challenge with strength and courage and an amazing attitude. She too was thin, having lost weight during her treatment, but she seemed to be back to her usual energy levels.

Kyla’s dad rose from the chocolate leather couch in the great room where he was watching television while Mom bustled around behind the big island that separated the kitchen from the family room. “Hey, sweet pea,” he said giving her a hug. “How are you?”

She hugged her dad back and smiled up at him. “I’m good, Dad. Had to come for some of Mom’s homemade pizza.”

“Would you like a glass of wine?” Mom called.

“No thanks. I had a martini after work and I have to drive home.”

They chatted as Mom served up the pizza and Caesar salad.

“So what’s this exciting news?” Kyla asked, sitting at the big island to eat.

“Oh! Scott’s coming home! Next weekend!”

“Oh wow! With the baby?”

“Yes.” Mom beamed. “And Jessica and Emily, of course. I’m so excited to see them.”

Kyla’s older brother Scott and his wife Jessica had just had their second child. Unfortunately the birth had happened right around the time of Mom’s diagnosis and surgery and so they hadn’t been able to travel home from Vancouver to see Mom and she hadn’t been able to travel to Vancouver to see the new baby either.

“That’s great! It will be nice to see them. I’ll finally get to meet my new nephew.”