Page 2 of On Thin Ice

I’d gotten sick the day before. Bad shrimp or something at lunch, shortly after I’d taken my Pill.

Dammit. Could that have really made a difference?

I’d felt fine the next day and gone to the game, and then Dom had scrambled my brain with his stupid tongue after said game.

Something he’d been doing since I first met him over four years ago and since we’d first hooked up two years ago. We’d flirted since day one, just teasing, but it never amounted to anything. Then, it all boiled over one night. Our fling hadn’t lasted long. We’d both been so young and had wanted different things. But that didn’t mean I was good at resisting him when we ran into each other after that.

See Exhibit A.

The five positive pregnancy tests mocked me.

The back of my head hit the wall behind me. What was I going to do?

Should I call him? I snorted out a laugh.

Yeah, that would go over well.

Yeah, hey, so we made a baby.

Hell. That should not be a phone call.

I took a deep breath, pushed down my nausea, stood up from the toilet, and walked away from those stupid tests.

Then I called my best friend. Darcy would know what to do.

Chapter 1

ALLY

“Am I crazy?” I asked, staring down at my small bump. I was officially twenty-six weeks pregnant, and Dom still didn’t know. I had to tell him, I knew that, but by the time I’d discovered I was pregnant, the NHL season was almost over, and I figured he probably headed back home to Montreal on the whole other side of the continent the second he could. It wasn’t like I was going to randomly run into him or anything.

Not that I would during the season anyway, since I was in San Francisco, and he played in Denver now.

Yeah, I was working way too hard to come up with excuses for not telling him.

Darcy’s voice came over the phone. “You’re not crazy.”

“Tell that to my ridiculous thoughts.” They were entirely the fault of the diva inside who had taken over my body and my brain.

“Ally, it’s going to be fine. You’re just going to tell him the truth. It’s why you’re in Denver right now.”

“I’m actually here for a conference, too,” I muttered. “For my job, remember?”

Darcy chuckled. “See? Perfect timing. You can tell Dom he’s going to be a father and learn tips and tricks to continue being a kick-ass statistician. Win-win.”

She wasn’t wrong. The timing was perfect. It was late August, so Dom would be back in Denver getting ready for training camp, and I had a conference I needed to attend in the area. I figured I would just quickly give him the news, tell him I was good with raising her on my own, and everything would be fine. Easy-peasy.

I slumped down on the small loveseat in my hotel room and tried not to let my anxiety take over. I’d kept this from him for twenty-six weeks—well, to be fair, twenty-twoish weeks since I hadn’t discovered my knocked-up state until a month in. I shook my head.

“Stop freaking out, Ally.” Darcy’s tone was soft but not placating.

“Am I crazy to want to do this on my own? I mean, I’m only twenty-six,” I said.

“We talked about this, and you made a list of the pros and cons. You want to be a mom and you have a great, stable job, you can work remotely, and a family that loves and supports you. Not to mention a bestie that will be over there snuggling that little peanut any time you need a break. You can do this, Ally.”

I smiled, placing my hand on my belly. After the shock had worn off from seeing all those positive tests, I’d really thought about what it would be like to have this baby.

Darcy was right. I’d always wanted to be a mother, and I could do this. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, and I would need help from the people who loved me, but I wanted this baby. And whenI’d heard her heartbeat flood the exam room the first time, my decision solidified.

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