Page 67 of Sleepless Nights and Hockey Fights

I smile up at him, infusing all the warmth I can in my words. “Stick with me and I’ll bring the peace.”

Bobby brings his hand up to cup my jaw, his thumb caressing it as he stares into my eyes. “That’s exactly what you do, Molly.” His voice catches. “You settle my soul and give me that calm I didn’t even know I needed so badly.”

“I love you, Bobby, and we’re going to work through this. Together.” The sting of building emotion hits my nose.

“I have no idea what I did to deserve you, baby,” he whispers as he leans down to rest his forehead against mine.

“Right back ‘atcha, Mister bigshot hockey man.” I slide one hand up to wrap around the side of his neck. “How about we patch up that eyebrow and get something to eat. Then maybe you can call the nurse’s station and get a full update on your mom?”

“I do get a little cranky when I’m hungry.” This time, his smile is closer to the Bobby I’m used to.

I pat his chest. “I know.” Then I take my man to dinner.

“You’ve told me a few things about growing up, but I get the sense you don’t like to talk about it, so I haven’t really brought it up,” Bobby says an hour later as we both lay our napkins over our empty plates at a diner near his family home. Drama and grief sure do work up an appetite. “Now that you’ve had the full Rhodes family experience, I kind of feel like it’s my turn. If you feel up to it, I’d like to hear what growing up in the Hooker household was like.”

I pause with my drink straw halfway to my mouth. “You just like saying my maiden name.”

“I don’tnotlike saying it.”

I bark out a laugh. “Believe me, I was happy to get rid of it when I married Blake.” After sipping my drink, I set it back onthe Formica tabletop and pause for a moment. “I don’t know, I guess our family’s story isn’t that uncommon. Money was tight, utilities weren’t a given, depending on the month. I had to grow up fast.”

Bobby leans in and rests both forearms on the table. I get momentarily distracted by the arm porn he so casually lays out there. “Being an only child in that situation must have been rough. I mean, my brothers are assholes, but it doesn’t mean we never had fun. And Richie has always been fairly tolerable.”

“Yeah. It was lonely.” I spent way too much time alone as a kid. “It wasn’t fun growing up feeling so insecure about everything, so I don’t know that I would have wished that on another child.”

I shake my head, allowing the memories to surface. “For a while, I was too young to understand that not everyone’s mom spent rent money on telephone psychics and nobody else’s dad relied solely on get-rich-quick scams to keep the family fed. There was no true adult in charge, and I didn’t know until I was older how that really messed with my head.” I lean forward, infusing my words with all the conviction in me. “It’s why I’m so adamant about giving Matthew a strong foundation and letting him be a kid. I don’t want him worrying about adult stuff yet.”

Bobby winces. “And then I go and fuck things up by acting immature and probably making you relive some childhood trauma.”

“No, Bobby. You didn’t.” I reach over the plates and grasp one of his hands. “My parents never took any responsibility for anything that went wrong in our lives. They’d chalk it up to bad luck and blindly promise next time would be better. They never owned their own shit. One of my very first conversations with you was about how you were in therapy to improve yourself and show up for the people in your life. You own every ounce of your shit and you’re not afraid to work hard for what you want.”

One of his dimples pops. “Were you a cheerleader in high school? Because you are damn good at building up a guy’s confidence.”

I give his hand one more squeeze and lean back in my side of the booth. “Nope. I was working from the time I was fifteen, so I didn’t have time for normal high school stuff. But I could still do a mean herkie. And I could work a deep fryer like nobody’s business.”

His eyes widen. “Stop turning me on, Sparkle.” Then he sobers and sighs. “I really hate that you had to go through all of that.”

I shrug because life is going to life, no matter what we do. I’m just glad I have him in mine. “Everybody’s got family baggage. Ours just might be a matching set, Mr. Rhodes.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Bobby

With Molly by my side—and my brothers still at the hospital—we head to my parents’ house. I show her my room, the pictures on the staircase wall that showcase my terrible haircuts over the years, my hockey trophies, and then the shade tree in the backyard where all five of us boys carved our initials.

Seeing my childhood home through Molly’s eyes reminds me that there’s been a lot of good that’s come out of this house too. The Rhodes boys are far from perfect, but there’s love underneath all the immaturity. Maybe with a little more therapy, I can tap into the love and not just the immaturity.

I call the hospital again and they inform me that Mom’s staying overnight for more tests to be sure she’s stable, and that visiting hours have ended. I figure Dad and my brothers will be home soon, so I take Molly to the nicest hotel in town. It’s still not much, but I get us a room on the top floor and breathe a sigh of relief knowing we don’t have to stay at the house with my brothers.

Molly sinks onto the fluffy comforter and swings her legs up to lay down. Today’s been an emotional rollercoaster, but there’s nothing I want more in this moment than to show this incredible woman how much I love her. Hearing her fight for me, for us, was everything I needed to get my doubts to shut the fuck up.

I slip into the bathroom and lay a mat down on the floor, then kneel to run the hot water. Soon, the bathtub is nearly full, so I dump in the entire travel bottle of bubble bath the hotel provided and turn off the water. The scent of lavender and something woodsy fills the bathroom. Standing back up, I head into the bedroom and see Molly thumbing out a text.

“Everything okay?”

She puts her phone down and smiles up at me. “Yeah. Just checking in with Matty. He had his second therapy appointment today.”

“How did it go?”

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