Page 99 of Icebound Hearts

We’re at the school for at least another hour, since I insist on having a private meeting with Principal Chapman while Violet spends time with Jake. She was right. Thisisa good school. Jake has been happy here, and the teachers are great, so I make itclear to the principal that I have no desire to pull Jake from the school—but that I will if something like this ever happens again.

Once I’m satisfied with his assurances, I go to find Jake and Violet. It’s getting late in the school day, and Jake is clearly upset by all of this, so I decide to take him home early.

He rides with me, although I can tell he’s not happy about having to say goodbye to Violet in the parking lot, even though he knows he’ll see her at home. I think he wishes we could all drive together, and I’m almost tempted to tell her to leave her car in the guest lot for now, but there’s no real reason to do that.

Fortunately, we arrive back at the house at almost the exact same time. Jake was quiet on the way home, but he perks up a little as I open the side door to unclip him from the booster seat.

“Ms. Violet!”

As soon as I set him on the ground, he runs over to where she’s just climbed out of her own car, tugging me along. He takes her hand too, walking between us with one hand in each of ours.

As I unlock the front door to let us in, I meet her eyes over his head.

“Thank you,” I tell her quietly. “For sticking up for him like that.”

She flushes as we walk inside. “How much did you hear?”

“Enough.”

There’s more I want to say, but I don’t even know how to begin putting it into words. So since I don’t have a game tonight, I focus on getting Jake settled in and making sure that the remainder of his day is a lot better than the first half.

I cook dinner for the three of us, going all out with a new recipe that I found several weeks ago and have been dying to try. It goes over well with both Jake and Violet, which makes me smile, and after dinner, we all settle into the living room to watch a movie.

Jake picks an animated movie that we’ve seen once before, then cuddles up next to Violet. Admittedly, I don’t pay much attention to the movie, but Jake is totally consumed with it. He laughs at all the silly jokes and Violet laughs right along with him, and hearing that is all I need.

By the time the movie ends, they’re both asleep, knocked out by the events of the day. My heart strains at the sight of Jake curled up against Violet, and even though the credits are rolling, I can’t bring myself to wake either one of them up. So I just sit and watch them for several long moments, trying to commit the sight to memory.

When the credits finish and the app kicks back to the home screen, I get up as quietly as I can from the couch to gather up the bowls from our movie snacks and wash them, then turn off the lights around the house we aren’t using. Back in the living room, I scoop Jake up in my arms, and although he groans, he doesn’t wake up, nuzzling his face into the crook of my neck. But Violet stirs from the motion, her eyes fluttering.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you,” I whisper.

She checks her phone for the time, her eyes bleary. “Why not?”

“Because you looked…” I trail off, the words catching in my throat.

Perfect.

Right at home.

Like you belong here.

That’s what I want to say. But instead, I just lean over to kiss the top of her head, then carry Jake upstairs to his room with the words still burning in the back of my throat.

Chapter 32

Violet

A few days after, Jake is at school and Sawyer is at practice while I do a few odd chores around the house.

I worried at first that Jake wouldn’t want to go back to his elementary school after being caught in the middle of a fight and then being accused of starting it, but he’s a resilient little kid. There was a bit of reluctance to go back the first morning after it happened, but by the time I picked him up at the end of the day, he was back to his usual bright, bubbly self.

I finish folding and putting away Jake’s laundry, then glance over at the Bluey clock on his wall. Sawyer told me he had to stay late for a meeting after practice today, but he should be finishing up soon.

Maybe I should see if he wants to grab lunch.

I chew my lip, debating with myself for a moment, then decide,screw it, why not?

We’ve been spending every spare minute that we can together, soaking up the time we have before I leave for LA, and even though it feels a bit risky for me to show up at the arena without having the excuse of being there to see a game, people are used to seeing us together by now. Everyone on the teamknows I’m his nanny, which makes it easy to explain away any quiet conversations or interactions we have.

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