Page 68 of Love Me

“I’m okay. I’m used to Harlow’s bullshit. I hope she doesn’t rat us out, I shouldn’t have even told Hailey, but I just wanted to talk to her about everything going on in my head. Lo walked in and overheard us.”

“Everything will be okay, don’t stress over what she may or may not do. We’ll deal with whatever happens together.”

His confidence in every situation is reassuring but I know my sister, and I was just given one more thing to worry about.

“I trust you.”

“Good.” His lips press sweetly against my forehead. “Me and you?”

“Me and you.”

CHAPTER 21

liam

Arriving at Hannah’s apartment,I let myself in, juggling the bag in my hand, so damn excited to surprise my girls. Hannah has been wanting to do this since their inaugural season, but we haven’t been able to make it happen. Charlie’s at the perfect age to enjoy it with us and I can’t wait to see her face when we get there.

“Where are my girls at?” I yell through the kitchen. Charlie wastes no time barreling through the apartment to get to me. Hiding the bag behind my back, I drop down to my knees just in time to accept her hug, arms wrapping around my neck.

“I haven’t seen you in two days, bear! Two! Where’s Garbage? Aww, he’s not here with you! Where is my puppy?”

“Billyis with Uncle Carter tonight, isn’t he lucky?” She makes a face of disgust, and I can’t help the laugh that bursts from me. She’s not wrong.

“I promise, he loves Uncle Carter, and they have so much fun together, he loves to help out with him. Where’s your momma?”

“She’s folding laundry,” she says, dramatically rolling her eyes into the back of her head.

“Where did you learn to do that?”

“Do what?”

“Roll your eyes. You’re too young to be rolling your eyes at us, I’m not ready for it.”

“Eliza does it after Ms. Katie tells us to stop chitchatting. It’s funny!”

“Well, we’re going to have to talk about that, okay? Let’s go find your momma, I’ve got surprises!”

She gasps loudly, her hands flying to her mouth in excitement. “Surprises! I loooooove surprises!” Charlie turns and bolts from the kitchen yelling as she races. “Mumma! Bear’s got surprises!”

I follow her into the living room, finding Hannah in nothing but an oversizedCarrieT-shirt, her long legs on full display, covered only by the knee-high fluffy socks she has on. She meets my eyes, arching a brow as she watches me check her out. God, I’m obsessed with this woman.

“Surprises, huh?”

“Yep. But, I don’t know, you seem like you’re not really feeling surprises. Plus, you probably won’t like this one. This one may just be for me and Charlie.”

“Yeah, yeah. We’ll see about that. Spill.”

Setting the plain brown bag on the coffee table, I pull out both jerseys and quickly toss each one into their faces. Hannah gasps, grabbing it and holding it out in front of her, taking in the dark blue with the light blue S in the center. She turns it around, seeing the name of the Kraken goalie at the top and smiling so big.

Charlie looks at her matching one, and looks at me slightly confused, which is the cutest thing ever because what freshly turned four-year-old really wants a hockey jersey for a surprise?

“Thank you, bear! This is amazing. We’ll wear them tonight while we watch them on TV. Want to stay up late tonight, munchkin?”

“Funny you should say that, beauty. We’re not watching them on the TV tonight.”

Her face lights up as she sucks in a quick breath of air, holding it in and waiting in anticipation.

“We’re going to go watch them at Climate Pledge Arena!” I yell, throwing my hands in the air.

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