Page 75 of Pucking Secret

“Mommy! Where’s Daddy?” she demands, climbing onto the bed and bouncing next to me. Hearing her sayDaddywarms my heart and I swallow the lump that rises in my throat.

I hold up my phone. “I’m talking to him now.”

Her eyes light up with excitement. “I want to talk to him too!”

Laughing, I swipe to the call screen and hit the button to video call Owen. It rings only twice before he answers, his face appearing on the screen. He’s in full hockey gear already and I can hear the other guys talking in the background.

“Hey,” he greets, his smile spreading wide when he sees Millie. “There’s my girl!”

“Daddy!” Millie shouts, grabbing the phone from my hand and holding it far too close to her face. “Where are you? Why’d you leave without saying goodbye?”

He chuckles. “Sorry sweetheart, I had to get to practice. We have a big game tomorrow, so I’ll need some extra luck. Think you can cheer loud enough to send me some?”

“Uh-huh!” she says, nodding vigorously. Then her eyes narrow like she’s concocting a plan. “You gotta take me skating when you get back, though.”

“Deal,” Owen promises, holding up a gloved hand for a virtual high-five. “As soon as I’m back, it’s a date.”

Millie grins, but then her expression grows serious. “You gotta get me a jersey, Daddy. With your number on it! I wantto wear it to school and tell everyone my dad’s a Night Hawk. They’ll be sooo jealous!”

Owen’s laugh echoes through the phone. “A jersey, huh? Alright, consider it done, but only if you promise to cheer extra loud.”

“Double promise,” Millie says solemnly, crossing her heart with one tiny hand.

I sit back, watching the two of them talk and laugh, feeling a sense of contentment and warmth. This is everything I never knew I needed. Millie has her dad, and Owen… he’s making her feel like the most important person in the world.

“Alright, kiddo,” Owen says after a few more minutes of Millie’s rambling stories about school and her plans to decorate her jersey with sparkles. “I gotta go. Gotta practice so I can impress you tomorrow.”

Millie pouts but relents. “Okay, Daddy. Love you!”

“Love you too,” he says.

I brush my hand over Millie’s hair. “Go on and get dressed for the day, sweetie. I’m going to say goodbye to Daddy.”

Wow, the word doesn’t even feel weird coming from my own mouth. It’s so natural to refer to Owen that way, it’s like we’ve been doing this for years. Like we’re a real family already.

Millie scrambles off the bed and hurries out of the room. I wait until she’s out of sight before looking back to Owen.

“I should go get her breakfast ready,” I tell him, giving him a small smile. “I’ll see you at the game.”

“All right,” he says softly. “I’ll, uh, talk to you later.”

“Okay.”

There’s a brief moment of silence where we just stare at each other. I want to say more to him… so, so much more, but the words are stuck in my throat. Before I can get them out, he speaks again.

“I love you, Stacey.”

My lips part and my heart stops. He said it before, but it kind of got lost in everything else that was happening. Now, I can take a beat to let the words sink in. It feels so amazing to hear them after all this time.

“I love you, too,” I murmur.

He grins and I can see his cheeks turning red. God, he’s adorable!

Someone suddenly yells his name and he stammers, “I… I gotta go, Stace.”

“Okay, I’ll see you soon.”

We hang up and I throw my covers off and hop out of bed, feeling light on my feet as I grab my robe and head downstairs.

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