Page 33 of Shot to the Hart

“Whoa, that was so cool. Breakfast is ready, so please come here once this song is done, but we can leave the music playing.” She continues dancing for another minute before coming and letting me place her in her tower. We eat breakfast together and then get loaded into the Bronco to head to tumbling class.

I pull up to a brick building labeled Tara’s Tumbles and hop out, grabbing Bella and heading to the reception desk. This is the first class I’m taking her to by myself, but I’ve observed a few with Maverick present. Approaching the desk, there’s a very bored teenager playing on her phone, “Hi, Araballa Hart. She does the toddler tumbling at nine-thirty.”

The teenager looks up at me, clicks something on her computer and then says,”Go ahead.”

We walk down the hall, past the larger gym filled with blue mats, trampolines, and other assorted equipment, and enter a smaller room that’s filled with rainbow mats, varied sized squares, trapeze beams that basically touch the ground, and a smaller trampoline. I set Bella down and Cara, her teacher, approaches us,”Hey, Bella. Kodi right?”

“Yes, Kodi. Nice to see you again.”

“Glad you guys made it! You know where to sit. I’ll wave the parents into the room once class is over to collect the little ones.”

“Sounds good. Have fun Bella.” I crouch down and give her a little squeeze before she runs off to play with the other kids. I exit the room and take a seat on a black plastic chair close to the door. I make sure to sit where I can still see through the glass paneling that allows us to watch class and pull up my e-reader. I fell in love with one of the side characters in my wolf-shifter romance, but the author hasn’t released the second book. Curiosity got the best of me, so I picked up a hockey romance, then another, and now I’m on my sixth one in the past few weeks. This one follows a reformed playboy who wants the girl that clearly wants nothing to do with him. I start reading, peeking up and watching Bella twirl around the room or attempt to do flips every once in a while then the next thing I know her class is over. The male character was just about to get on his knees and beg the female for a chance. I know what I’m doing once Bella is asleep tonight. I think I’ve found my new addiction, hockey romances are like candy that I can’t stop eating.

I’ve got Bella in her carseat when my phone starts ringing with a Facetime call from Maverick.

“Hey, hey! Bella look who it is.” I turn in my seat holding my phone so Bella can see Mavericks face.

“Daddy!”

“Hey little lady. How was tumbling?”

“Fun. I did jumps. And flips.” Bella jumps into a toddler rant about tumbling class and Maverick chuckles at her, letting her get it all out.

“Wow, that sounds like so much fun. I’ve gotta go skate, but I love you.”

“Bye Daddy! I love you!”

“Bye Kodi.” Mav’s deep timbre sends a shiver down my spine before he ends the call.

When the Sunday before Maverick gets back rolls around, I decide to take Bella to the aquarium. Afterwards, we grab lunch with Sin, Harley, and Darcy. We snapped a selfie that included Bella, and once I got her down for bed, I decided to send it to Mav, even though he might not see it since he's probably sleeping or celebrating. Watching the game, I had no idea what was happening, but I could tell they were fighting for their win. I set my phone down, but it pings almost immediately.

Me

Bella got to have a gals lunch today and had the best time. *picture attachment*

Maverick

Aw, look at my lil’ lady. Looks like she's made herself 3 more best friends.

Me

She had so much fun, she introduced them all to Fwoppy, it was fucking adorable. She definitely was worn out after spending most of the day out, and gave me a little bit of a hard time going to bed, but I think she was overtired. A few extra snuggles and she was knocked out.

Maverick

I’m sorry she gave you a hard time. I miss her so much.

Feeling a little emboldened hiding behind my phone screen. I quickly type and send a message before I can second guess it.

Me

What about me? *winky face emoji*

Three little dots appear then disappear then appear again.

Maverick

Well,of course, you too. *smiley face emoji*

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