“Yes. Lisa wanted my input for your name and I wanted to pick something that broadened past the horizons of our culture. When I was searching, I came across the name Kai and it had so many different meanings. In Mandarin it meant victory, in Hawaiian it meant ocean, in Finnish it meant rejoice, in Navajo it meant Willow Tree, in Scottish it meant the keeper of keys, and in Scandinavian it meant Earth. I had never seen one name have so many meanings to so many different people. I knew that was the name for you because I wanted you to have a name that meant you could be whoever you wanted to be. And I called you my little wolf because you were always quiet, more likely to observe first before making a decision, but when you or your family were threatened you were quick to put a stop to it.”

I grab her hand and squeeze. She puts her other hand on top of our joined ones and smiles up at me. I don’t know if I can immediately drop everything I thought I knew, but I’m now confident that we’ll get back to the way we were.

“Did you name Kylie too?”

She shakes her head, smiling. “No, that’s all your mom. She got really into that Kylie Minogue when she was pregnant with her.”

For the first time in a long time, the laugh that escapes my lips toward Po Po is genuine.

“Can I take this off now?”

“Not yet,” I answer.

“Gotta say, wearing a blindfold in broad daylight for hours feels weird.” I laugh at that. I have a surprise for Olivia but I couldn’t let her see where we were headed or she’d know immediately, so I blindfolded her. I was concerned about being pulled over with a blindfolded woman in my car but thank God, we avoided that.

Once I park in the garage, I tell Olivia she can take the blindfold off and wait for recognition to hit her.

“Hold up, are we at Rice?”

“Yep.”

“Holy shit! Is Coach Naughton still here?”

“She sure is. I actually organized our visit with her. She’s letting us do our physical therapy at their facility, and she wants to see you.”

She launches herself at me, kissing me all over my face before kissing me so deeply that I’m about to take her in this car.

“Thank you,” she says when she pulls away.

“One of these days you’ve gotta stop thanking me for doing what I’m supposed to do.”

“Bringing me to see my old coach is what you’re supposed to do?”

“Making you happy is what I’m supposed to do.”

When we make it to Coach Naughton’s office, her assistant coach lets us know that she’s meeting with a student so she gives us free rein to tour the gym where Coach will find us.