Page 61 of Playmaker

Cooper and Seb held up most of that conversation. I cradled the glass of wine I was offered and we sat in the living room when Faith insisted everything in the kitchen was under control. Hailey reappeared, having decided that pretending I didn’t exist was the way to deal with me. I did the same with her.

“So you’re a lawyer,” Faith said as she curled up on the couch beside her husband with her own glass of wine.

“Yes. I’m with Anderson, Krys and Chan.”

“I don’t know the law firms in town.”

I shrugged. “I don’t know much about hockey.”

Hailey’s head lifted. “Kook play hockey. Mummy too.”

“So did I, pipsqueak.” Hunter pulled on the blonde ponytail on the top of his daughter’s head.

“Daddy a low-yer?”

“He-heck no.” He looked up at me. “Golfing is as close as I come to lawyers most of the time.”

I tried to hold in a smile. “Golfing is as close as I come to hockey players most of the time.”

Hunter laughed. “I guess that’s our common ground. But I think you’ll do fine in your tournament. I wouldn’t have guessed you were that new.”

“That’s because you’re still terrible after all these years.” Cooper smirked.

Hailey tugged on Cooper’s arm. “Me play golf.”

“Sure, Hails.” Cooper tousled her hair with his free hand and she ducked away. “As soon as you’re taller than the golf club, we can do that.”

“Me big,” she protested.

“Not big enough yet.”

I risked a look at Cooper. He was grinning at Hailey but looked up at me and winked. I felt my cheeks flush and picked up my glass.

Cooper turned back to the little girl. “What are you going to do when you grow up, Hails? Play hockey like your dad and mom and me?” Kid certainly had the genes for that.

The toddler turned to glare at me. “Marry Kook.”

Her dad did a spit take, while Cooper threw back his head and laughed.

Faith shook her head. “We’re going to talk about this, Hailey girl. We need to get you aiming a little higher.”

Cooper pretended shock. “I think I’m pretty high-level there, Blondie.”

Faith swiped a hand through his hair. “Watch it, Blondie.”

While Cooper protested and carefully rearranged his hair, Hailey leaning up to “help,” a pang of envy shot through me.

This—this close-knit kind of family circle—was something I’d never had. I envied Hailey having this environment to grow up in. I envied the adults their closeness, the comfort they had with each other. I only had something like this with Darcy. And someday he’d find someone, even if it wasn’t a hockey player the way he dreamed of.

When he did find his person, would I be like Cooper, a welcome addition? Or would I be left behind?

Chapter18

Your daughter wants to marry me

Cooper

Callie was quiet during dinner,but she seemed comfortable enough. We’d gone out on the balcony to eat, since the weather was cooperating. Hailey was still jealous but seemed happy to mostly ignore Callie. Hearing more about Seb and Faith’s week with Braydon and Jayna reassured me that Mitchell was handling the overtime goal as well as could be expected. What we all needed after that was to get on the ice and put it behind us, but training camp didn’t start till September.

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