Page 29 of Face-Off with my Childhood Best Friend

I’m so proud of her my heart will burst.

She stops at the end of the runway. Her hands stretches out.

I carefully pick up Cody from my knee and place his tiny feet firmly on the floor. “Do you want to walk on the stage with Mommy?”

“Mommy,” he repeats.

Cody is just over two years old. The planned perfection of our honeymoon. And soon Cody will be a big brother when his baby sister comes into the world.

I can’t wait.

Life is just so fucking perfect.

I lift him and place him on the stage and Nadia lowers and kisses his cheek before she takes his hand as the audience gives a roaring applause.

Cody grins, basking in the attention he receives from the audience. It’s the same as every time he goes to my hockey games, he’s showered with attention from the fans and now he’s a little poser, just like his mom.

Nadia’s sister, Lucia, leans across my dad and taps my knee. “He’s so cute. You and Nadia have made a gorgeous baby. I love him so much. I can’t wait to meet my niece.”

“You just need to find someone who looks like me, and then you can have cute babies,” I joke, because Lucia is just as gorgeous as her sister. Not as tall and her body is softer, but she is super smart, nearing the end of her training to be a lawyer, so I doubt babies are on her mind.

“Nah. You’re too put together. I want someone unpolished,” she says. “Rougher around the edges.”

Dad clears his throat as Lucia realizes her tits are resting on his thighs.

“Sorry.” Her face reddens. She quickly rises and stares ahead.

Dad smiles. “Don’t be.”

Lucia blushes again. Her eyes go to Cody as he walks back down the runway with Nadia and the other models in Hetty Andre’s show.

The audience claps and I stand on my feet, joining them, but my eyes are only on my wife and son.

When the show ends, Nadia and the other models take their closing walk down the runway, as Cody waves excitedly at the crowd, basking in the attention. The audience gives a thunderous ovation.

“I won’t be long,” I tell the others, and I make my way backstage to congratulate Nadia.

The moment I get there, she envelops me in a hug, still glowing from the experience. “You were amazing out there,” I whisper in her ear.

Cody runs over and hugs Nadia’s legs. “Mommy pretty!”

Nadia scoops him up and kisses his cheek. “Thank you, baby.” She looks at me with so much love, my heart misses a beat. “Should we get everyone and go for dinner? I’m starving.”

“Absolutely,” I reply. My stomach rumbles at the thought of food.

Our family climbs into two separate cabs before we head to an upscale restaurant nearby.

Dad organized it.

At the restaurant, I notice my father and Lucia exchange lingering glances. I’m not imagining it, nor the uncomfortable feeling that settles in the pit of my stomach.

I glance at my mother, who is texting someone on her phone, totally oblivious to what is happening in front of her.

“You owned the runway,” Lucia says to her sister.

“I owned it,” Cody says, stabbing his pasta with a fork and lifting his wobbly hand to his mouth.

“Okay, you’re right. You owned it, Cody.” Lucia grins. “Are you going to be a model like Mommy or a hockey player like Daddy?”

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