Page 89 of Not A Chance

Once he had a chance to process the news, I would be there for him if he wanted to talk about it.

All the Yao-Miller siblings started talking at once.

“Way to go, Dad!” Theo grinned.

“Oh, Dad’s going to finally get some. It’s about time!” Chase said with a sleazy wink.

“That’s amazing, Dad. I’m so happy for you.” Though Emery aimed a reassuring smile toward her father, the slight hitch in her voice gave away her uncertainty. From experience, I knew that Emery was upset but didn’t want to take away from her dad’s moment.

“Is this another thing everyone knew about but me?” Liam groaned.

The Yao-Miller patriarch sagged back into his seat with relief. “Really?” he asked. “You kids are okay with this? I mean, it’s happening. But I’ll feel a lot better if you all are on board.”

Liam, complaint forgotten, held out his fist for his dad to bump. “Go for it, Dad. You gotta keep those pipes clean, eh? All those years of no action can’t be good for your prostate.”

A chorus of gags and groans—including my own—rang out at Liam’s statement.

“Too far, bro.” Chase shoved his twin’s shoulder. “Waytoo far.”

Liam just shrugged, a satisfied look on his face at being back on top of this morning’s shenanigans.

“What’s for breakfast?” He looked around at all of us as if he hadn’t just grossed us all out with his inappropriate words.

Even if food was the last thing I could think about at the moment, I was glad to be surrounded by the love this family had for each other.

I let myself picture what years of this would look like, if I could really be part of something so special.

With the din of the siblings arguing over who held the record forgrossing out the family the most, I burrowed further into Theo as he debated, feeling more content than I could ever remember.

Back in Toronto a few nights later, I already wanted to be back with Theo’s family.

Theo and I hadn’t even considered heading out for New Year’s Eve. Both of us avoided anything that had to do with over-the-top hype. And December 31 felt like the ultimate way to spend a fortune to have a crap time.

The combination of my family’s name and his career made it so that neither of us had a low-key outing in years. We always had to be on guard, so it was nice just to have the time to ourselves.

“Couldn’t cook that,” Theo commented as we lazed on my couch with Giz. We were currently on our second season ofSomebody Feed Phil. It had become our preferred pastime to watch chefs from all over the world make things that neither of us could ever hope to make whenever we had more than one night when Theo wasn’t on the road.

We still hadn’t had time to master the basics in the kitchen.

“Any resolutions, Rocky?”

My nonprofit and my list came to mind as they tended to when one calendar year ended. But for the first time, my ambitions were being balanced out by the here and now—by the man I was curled up against and had been for all these months.

I’d have to give it more consideration. It was too much for my post-Yao-Miller-Christmas-chaos brain to compute at the moment. I let those thoughts slip away as I buried my face in Theo’s chest.

“Nah. Not this year.” I went with the easiest answer. “What about you?”

The deliciously taut muscles in Theo’s chest and abs expanded and contracted on a sigh.

“Balance,” he said finally. “Not letting hockey take over everything until all I can see is the next game or the next win or getting to the playoffs.” He kissed the top of my head, just brushing his lips lightly across my hair.

I smiled at the thought that we both felt the need for balance. It was amazing to be in tune that way. I hoped I gave him the steadiness that he gave me every day. But I was too chickenshit to ask him.

I opened my mouth in an attempt to be brave, but my words were cut off by the annoying-as-hell sound of my phone ringing.

My stomach flooded with unease. There was only one person I knew who would call me on New Year’s Eve. Or this close to midnight any day of the year, really.

My father.

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