Page 92 of War

Hannah: I added you, and it wasn’t an accident. I need you to test out a theory with hockey daddy.

THIRTY-FIVE

AVA

“Pretty please,can we go ice skating?” Josie asks, her nose pressed to the window as Brayden and his friend glide across the iced-over pond. They’ve got their hockey sticks and a puck, though with the sun setting so quickly, I can’t imagine they can see well enough to accomplish anything.

“Maybe another day, love. You’ll have to ask Tyler to go with you. I don’t know how to skate.”

The door to the garage opens and closes, drawing our attention.

“Daddy,” Scarlett cries as the man himself walks into the house wearing a pair of joggers and a long-sleeve Bolts shirt. I swear everyone I know lives in Bolts attire. Thank god there’s such a good selection to choose from around Boston. Today’s shirt is black, and god, does it look good on my husband.

Josie watches longingly as he drops his gym bag to the floor and scoops up our daughter. I only recently noticed this. The way she goes quiet when Scarlett says Daddy or Mama. I can’t blame her. We’re all trying not to get our hopes up. While Scarlett may be ours, Josie is not yet. And god, do I ache to tell her she can call us whatever she wants.

When Tyler spots Josie where she’s sitting by the window, he sticks out his bottom lip and holds out his other arm. “No hi from my other favorite girl?”

Josie glances at me, then Tyler again. “What about Ava?”

He strides across the room and scoops her up before she can protest. “Ava is my wife. You and Scar are my girls. So you going to say hi to me now?”

She rolls her eyes but snuggles into him. “Ava doesn’t know how to skate.”

With both girls in his arms, he rounds on me. “Youwhat?”

Not able to hide my smile, I shrug. “No one ever taught me.”

Tyler’s eyes soften as he studies me. He’s probably thinking of my confession the other night. How alone I was growing up. It’s sweet, the way he holds me now until we both fall asleep. How every morning since then, I’ve woken to him pressing kisses to my skin. I swear he must search my body while I sleep, looking for every scar. I have quite a few, but he hasn’t said another word about it. He’s giving me space. Leaving the ball in my court. He’ll listen if I want to talk, but he won’t pressure me to do so. It’s the same for me, though. Since the night when I told Dory what a shitty person she was, I feel like things have shifted between us. He knows I have his back, and I know he has mine. We’re settling into a new partnership, a new normal. I’m not sure where that will lead us, but for once, I’m not going to focus on the past or the future. I’d much rather focus on the man who’s holding two perfect little girls in his arms, a man I am not so slowly falling for.

“We’ll have to rectify that tonight.”

My stomach twists as I glance out the window. “It’s dark out.”

He arches a brow. “You scared of the dark, Vicious?”

I sigh. “I’m making dinner.” That’s not a lie. Maria helped me make meatballs before she left for the night. She’s slowly reducing her hours, and although I’ll miss spending so much time with her, it’s what we need.

“Okay. Jos, why don’t we set the table for dinner? Then you and I can work on convincing Ava to let me teach her how to skate.”

Josie is all smiles as he lowers her to her feet. While Tyler sets Scarlett up in front of the television, I head back to the kitchen to check on the sauce. A moment later, he steps up behind me and grasps the oven handle on either side of my hips. With his face buried in my hair, he kisses my neck. “Hi, wifey.”

A shiver works its way down my spine, and heat pools in my belly. Enveloped in the scent of him, I lean my head against his. If we could stay like this, in this little bubble, I could be happy forever. “How was your day?”

“It’s always a good day when I wake up next to my wife and come home to find her with a smile on her face.”

Head tipped back, I give him a small smile. “You keep saying these things, and you’re going to get lucky, Mr. Warren.”

He kisses my cheek. “I’m already lucky; I married you, didn’t I?”

“Tyler, you’re supposed to be helping,” Josie whines as she holds up the forks.

Chuckling, he backs away and pads to the table.

After Brayden’s friend leaves, he comes in and gets cleaned up for dinner. While we wait for him, Josie asks Tyler a zillion and one questions. We’re just settling down at the table when she narrows her eyes and points at Tyler’s hand. “Did you get hurt at practice?”

I follow her line of sight and find a bandage wrapped around the base of his pinky and ring finger. “What happened?”

“Just had to finish a little something,” he says with a wink.

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