Page 31 of On Thin Ice

She wasn’t wrong. I just hoped my heart remembered not to get in the way.

DOM

“We have a special guest reading out tonight’s lines,” Millsy said with a grin.

It was our first regular season game tonight. We had another home game in two days and then we were heading on our first road trip, with our first away game being in San Francisco. My gut tightened from the various emotions rolling through me. Ally said we could meet up, but I had no clue how that was going to happen or if Harty and my old teammates would know about my impending fatherhood by the time I got there. She still hadn’t told anyone that I was the father, and I was following her lead on that.

I was already bracing for a gut punch or two from Harty. He was known as one of the nicest guys in the league, but I doubted that meant shit once he found out the truth.

But I shoved that thought aside. Yeah, I was apprehensive about the entire thing, but I couldn’t wait to see Ally. We’d kept up with our texting and video chats and movie nights, and it was all a lot more fun than I’d imagined.

I hadn’t gone into building our friendship just to be a good guy or to do the right thing. I told her I wanted to be invested, and I meant it. That still scared the ever-living shit out of me, but I wasn’t going to walk away from her or our child. Her surprise whenever I brought up something I’d read in one of those baby books still stung. I guess I got it, but I didn’t know what else I could do to convince her that I was all in and meant it.

I got some valuable info from those books, and it was fun to teach her a few random pregnancy facts. I bit back a chuckle, thinking about her face when I told her that babies can taste garlic in the womb if she ate a lot of it. She laughed, saying that she was just preparing our daughter for all the Italian food from Lanzi’s that she would consume over her lifetime.

Which, of course, got me thinking about how hard this was going to be with Ally still in San Francisco. We were making progress with our friendship, but co-parenting would be so much easier if we lived in the same state.

A small voice pulled me out of my head, and I finally noticed who was standing in the middle of the room.

Violet Lafleur, Flower’s daughter. She was decked out in Flower’s jersey while Brooke stood next to her, helping her read the lines.

“First line tonight is Tally, Sin, and Santa,” she said in her adorable voice. Then she turned to face Santa. “Your beard should be white, you know.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, that only happens in December.”

Everyone laughed. Santa grinning was still a weird occurrence, but we could thank his girlfriend and baker extraordinaire, Anna, for that. I wondered if I could get a box of Anna’s chocolate peanut butter cookies sent to Ally.

Violet leaned toward him. “I know you’re not really Santa. He’s in the sky making presents.”

“Okay, next line, Violet. These guys have to get on the ice tonight,” Brooke said good-naturedly.

“I know. I’m getting there. Line two is Dom, Haldy, and Xan. You guys don’t have fun names.”

Flower shook his head. “Oh, Violet.”

“Maybe someone less sassy should read the lines,” Brooke said, grinning.

“Nope. It’s my job tonight. Daddy said I could,” Violet stated matter-of-factly.

“Yes, please continue, Violet,” Millsy said, trying to look stern.

Violet read the rest of the lines, but all I could think about was my daughter doing the same one day. Wearing my jersey and reading out the lines or learning to skate with me.

I wanted that. And I wanted them here. I knew Ally would never agree. Her entire life was in San Francisco. But, I wanted herhere.

Fucking hell. What was I going to do?

“You okay, man?” Micah muttered next to me.

“What? Yeah. Fine,” I replied, brushing him off. I was in a heightened emotional state and I needed to rein it in, not spill my guts on my friend right before we had to step onto the ice.

He quirked a brow at me, but I turned my attention back to Violet.

“Now, go kick some butt,” she announced.

“Violet,” Brooke admonished, but Flower was just laughing as he walked over to her and pulled her into his arms. His smile lit up the entire room.

I wantedthat.

---