Chloe
After the game, Maven and Livia led the way to the area where friends and family waited for the players — and it was absolute chaos.
Wives and partners of the players were everywhere, along with various family members and a bunch of kids running around. It felt like my classroom on Halloween.
The Ospreys had pulled out a win, scoring two goals to our opponents’ one, and Ava had heaved her fish with all her might… only to have it land in the section below us.
Fortunately, it seemed all the fans were used to this. Fish went flying the way hats would during a hat trick — a fact Ava taught me halfway through the third period — and if one landed by you, you picked it up and threw it yourself until it made it to its intended destination.
I had to admit, it was quite a spectacle.
Although nothing was as fun to watch tonight as Will having more than two-dozen saves — another term I’d learned from his daughter.
It had been addicting, seeing how determined and focused he was on the ice. I watched him block shot after shot, most of which I felt were impossible to fend off, but he made it look effortless. Whether he had to block the puck with his torso, an extended leg, or his gloved hand — he found a way.
He only let one shot get past him, and I could tell by the way he shrugged off his teammates’ assurance that it was fine that it completely pissed him off.
That man. He demanded perfection of himself.
I couldn’t imagine how exhausting that must have been.
It had also been the most heartwarming moment of the game, because as he attempted to shake off the goal, Ava had sighed, whispering under her breath, “It’s okay, Daddy. We are doing our best.”
It was the same thing she’d said yesterday when I’d brought her to his practice, and I wondered if it was a sort of mantra for them.
I loved it.
Even if it made my eyes water every time she said it.
Ava was just finishing up a chicken nugget from the snacks provided in the family lounge — and ignoring every kid who tried to play with her — when Will spilled in from the hallway.
And I promptly stopped breathing.
He was freshly showered, his long, damp, chestnut hair pulled into a low bun at the nape of his neck. That delicious stubble peppered his jaw, his signature scowl firmly in place, his eyes as deep and haunted as ever. He was no longer in his gear, but in a charcoal suit, instead. It was custom fitted and hugged every lean angle of his body, a black tie fastened at his neck, and he didn’t have to turn around for me to know those slacks would show off that perfect ass of his, too.
And as if all that didn’t make it hard enough not to drool, he searched the room with a menacing scowl before softening as soon as he found his daughter.
She ran to him, her arms open wide, and he dropped the bag off his shoulder and slung her up the second she made it to him. It didn’t matter that she was five. It was like she weighed nothing in his arms, and he pressed a kiss to her nose before listening patiently as she talked about the game.
He watched her like she was his entire world.
My guess was that she likely was.
I knew from my first meeting with Will before the school year that his wife had passed away in the first year of Ava’s life. Every time I thought too hard about it, my eyes would prick with emotion that I’d have to sniff away.
I couldn’t imagine losing my husband, especially after having a child.
Then again, I couldn’t imagine having a husband, either.
My hormones were being pesky little buggers as I watched Ava nearly smile in her father’s arms. He had said something to her to make that almost-grin appear, and then she started rambling on with her own stories. It was the most I’d heard her talk.
And I stood there on the other side of the room with a half-eaten cookie in my hand and my stomach flip-flopping.
I’d always wanted a family. When I was younger, I’d imagined having the opposite of what my mom and grandmother had. I pictured a little house with a little yard, a husband who adored me and worked with me as an equal partner, and maybe two or three little ones running around.
Of course, after my one and only experience with a member of the opposite sex, I realized how delusional that dream was.
But just because a dream is nonsense doesn’t stop it from existing.
Ava said something that made Will frown a bit, and his gaze scanned the room until he found me.
Those deep brown eyes locked on mine, and I thought I saw his furrowed brows bend even more before the corner of his mouth twitched into the best sort of smile he could manage. He said hello to a few people in the room as he passed, and when he made it to me, he dipped his chin.
“Well, how was your first hockey game?”
“Entertaining and informative,” I answered. Then, I narrowed my eyes. “Wait, how did you know it was my first?”
“I told him,” Ava volunteered.
“Ah, I see. Ratting me out already, huh?” I reached forward to tickle her side, and she squirmed away with a playfulness in her eyes that was new to me — though she still didn’t smile.
“I’m glad you could come,” Will said, and when I brought my gaze back to him, I saw the sincerity behind that statement.
“It was nothing. Honestly. I had a great time.”
He nodded, his lips pressed together as he checked the time on his watch. “Do you have a moment to talk about the week ahead?”
“You can have me all night, if you want.”
I said it as a joke. At least, I attempted to say it as a joke. I meant it in the self-deprecating I’m a loser with no social life, so yeah, I have time way. Instead, it came out like a poor excuse for a flirt, which promptly made my eyes widen in horror and my cheeks burn so fiercely I felt like I had a sunburn.
Thankfully, Will just arched a brow with an amused quirk of his lips. Then, he set Ava down and told her to go talk to Maven for a moment before launching into what to expect over the next several days.
They were in the middle of a home game stretch, he explained, but since the next games would be on Sunday and Tuesday, Ava wouldn’t be allowed to come. He’d need me to be home with her and getting her to bed at the usual time.
I pulled out my phone, taking notes on the times he had practice, the times when he could pick her up or drop her off versus when he needed me to, and when to expect him home to relieve me each evening. He informed me that the gate and house codes would be emailed to me first thing in the morning, and that he’d have a binder on the ins and outs of the house ready for me when I arrived to watch Ava.
By the time he finished speaking, he looked more worried than he had when I’d showed up with Ava at his practice yesterday. He let out a long sigh, his eyes searching mine.
“Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
“Mostly.”
“Mostly?”
I dug into my purse and fished out the folded check from that morning. “This is too much.”
Will glared at the paper in my hand, then slid that glare to me. “Hardly. You deserve every penny for how you’re helping me out.”
“This is almost twice what I make in a month.”
That made his jaw clench. “Well, now I’m even more adamant that you take it. You should be paid three times that amount for what you do.”
My neck flushed, and I shook my head, looking down at my shoes as I tucked the check away.
“We fly to Boston on Wednesday,” he explained. “But my uncle should be able to care for Ava in my absence. I get back late Thursday night, and I have the day off on Friday. Would you have time to discuss next steps then?”
“Of course. I can bring Ava home after school if that works?”
He nodded, and once again, I watched him release a long, relieved sigh. “Thank you, Chloe. I can’t… I can’t tell you how much this eases my mind, to know Ava will have you while I figure out what’s next.”
“It’s nothing,” I promised again.
I folded my hands in front of my waist, and Will slid his into the pockets of his slacks. His eyes searched mine for a moment, long enough that I had to tear my gaze away and look at the floor.
“I find it hard to believe,” he said. “That you have the time for this, that I’m not taking you from your friends or…”
He didn’t say boyfriend this time, and I smiled when I caught the way his Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat.
“I lead the life of an eighty-year-old cat lady, Mr. Perry,” I said, trying to laugh with the joke at my own expense. “Trust me — you’re doing me a favor giving me something to do other than start and quit a new hobby this week.”
He almost chuckled, though it was more of a chuff of a breath that left his chest. Then, we were both silent again, his eyes on mine.
At least, until they slid over the length of me, taking in the outfit I’d carefully planned for this occasion.
I didn’t have a hockey jersey, but I did have a sewing machine and a recurring existential crisis around midnight every night. Thus why I was currently wearing a cobalt blue velvet skirt with a white blouse tucked into it, along with an ocean blue scarf, nude tights, and my favorite Sofft Shauna heels.
My skin burned in every place his gaze touched, and when he dragged it back up to my eyes, I nearly combusted at the cocky arch of his brow.
“Nice skirt.”
I was pretty sure my voice was locked in my throat, caged in by sandpaper and a wine cork. Thankfully, I didn’t have time to speak before Ava was running toward us, and she ran right past her father until she was standing in front of me with her hands clasped behind her.
“Thank you for tonight, Miss Knott,” she said, peeking up at me. “I really liked watching the game with you.”
I bent until I was at her level, smiling and tucking her wild curls behind one ear. “Thank you, my little angel bug. I’ll see you tomorrow while your dad is at practice, and you can explain more of the rules to me. Sound good?”
Again, I could see how she wanted to grin, but instead, she just nodded once and looked proudly up at her father. “See? Told you I taught her everything.”
Will reached down for her hand, and I willed my ovaries to not combust at the sight.
“I had no doubts, Pumpkin,” he said. His eyes found me, and he tilted his head toward the parking lot. “I’ll walk you to your car.”
I waved him off as I stood upright again. “That won’t be necessary.”
“I apologize if that came out like a question,” he said, and the way he was looking at me, I knew better than to argue.
I bit my lip against a smile, letting him lead the way, and even though he and Ava were parked in the players’ lot, he walked me all the way to the lot at Sparkman Wharf, making sure I was inside with the engine started before he and Ava waved goodbye.
And I sat there with my hands on the wheel and my heart racing, even long after he’d gone.
