Page 131 of Ask Your Mom If I'm Real

He’d asked if I would be willing to travel to his games, and with nothing else to do, and his assurance that he wanted me there, I’d agreed.

I’d been doing exactly that since mid-January.

Only, this time was different.

This time, everyone knew that Neesha would be having her baby any day now, so I’d stayed home.

Thank goodness I did.

I’d been intending to come up to the house with their things after the baby arrived, but poor Chris had been out on a job out of the dang state when Neesha had gone into labor.

I’d gone with her and had stayed despite Chris arriving.

Which led me to now.

“You have a brand-new niece, Jeremiah,” I said as I turned FaceTime on.

Jeremiah’s face filled the screen, and I was still awed with how gorgeous he was.

His mouth split into a huge grin as he saw Rosa’s sweet, scrunched-up face.

“Awww man, I was really hoping I’d be home!” he cried out. “Gah, she is gorgeous, Nee. You did so good, sweetheart.”

This man.

God.

“Thanks, Jer,” she said. “Your girls were a huge help. We pushed all the way through overtime.”

Jeremiah laughed, and I pulled away, desperate to get a moment alone with him to find out how he truly was after the game.

He’d suffered quite a few hard hits in this game, and I wanted to make sure he was taking care of himself.

“How are you really?” I asked as I walked out into the hall.

“I’m good,” he promised. “Shoulder’s a little stiff. But the trainer already had a look at it and says it’s fine.”

I blew out a relieved breath. “Good. Now get on that plane and come home. I miss you.”

He winked. “Yes, ma’am.”

Before we hung up, he said, “Give Annie a kiss for me. Tell her that I love her. And her mom.”

There went that fluttering in my chest again. “I love you, too, Dix.”

I’d started calling him Dix sometime in between his first home game and his first away game.

Everyone called him that, and I’d just fell onto the bandwagon.

Now I called him nothing but Dix.

Which he loved.

It was much easier for Anleigh to say, too.

“Bye, baby. See you soon.”

Chapter

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