Page 52 of A Little Puck Luck

He said nothing about officiating it, but that’s okay. I can always have Natalie follow up with him. Besides, that was more of a way to sweet talk him to get him to agree to the day off. It seemed like it was going to happen, and all it took was to get a grumpy, loner player to be part of the team.

Petey looked up at me. “Anything else on your mind?”

Looking at the photo of Petey lifting the Stanley Cup, I saw that it showed my old coach behind him, along with Gavin and Klaus’ dads. And it reminded me of the hardest part of what I came to do.

I pushed my hair back, trying to be really chill.

“I was hoping you might talk to my old coach and convince him to let a bunch of the Sound guys come out for the wedding.”

He snorted and leaned back. “You do realize you want this during the start of playoffs? Why can’t you wait until the end of the season like a normal person?”

I chuckled. I knew it was coming. If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t tell him the truth. But I respected Petey too much. He was a die-hard hockey fan who supported his team and the Sound. He played hard as a player.

“Honestly, it’s a mixture of two things. Mostly, I adore my fiancée, and I don’t want to wait any longer. But there’s also a custody case out there. I’m the kid’s biological dad, and she’s the mom, but it looks better in a court of law if we’re married than just playing house.”

Petey relaxed and seemed to like that answer. He nodded.

“All right. I’ll let it happen, but I make no promises about what happens with Scotty. He runs a tight ship, but I’ll ask him after you do. I can’t fight your battles for you, but I will assist.”

Chapter 41

Scuba

Todayhasbeenoneof the best days of my life. I still couldn’t believe Annie agreed to get married almost right away. The fact that we pulled together something in a month was a miracle, especially given the fact that we were in the middle of the first round of playoffs.

I was on a great high after saying “I do” with Annie. But before we could get to the reception, we had to take a bunch of pictures with the wedding party. I was posing with Eric and Annie, who looked fucking gorgeous.

Eric was getting antsy about the number of photos we had to take before the reception.

I lifted him into my arms. “Just a few more, pal, okay? ‘Cause I want to remember this day forever.”

Annie hugged my waist and put a hand on Eric’s back. “Come on. Just a few more."

There were more flashes, and I had a feeling this might result in some of my favorite photos of the day because it had the most important people in my life.

Eric’s head collapsed onto my shoulder. I wished we had a babysitter lined up for the day. Well, we did, but I didn’t want him to go with my mom now. It was too damn early for her to miss out on all the reception, and they both needed to eat before they headed up to the hotel room.

Just then, our party planner came out to the hall and said, “Wrap it up. We’re about ready to make the wedding party announcement.”

“Thank fuck,” Gavin exclaimed and then looked away, realizing he swore. He had never loved modeling the way I did. In fact, about a half hour ago, he started making jokes with Jetski as a way to pass the time.

I was still so glad that some of the guys from the Sound were able to show up for the wedding. It sucked demoting Gavin from co-best man to just a normal groomsman, but he was tied up with his own playoff series out east. He, Klaus, Shoresy, and Weber would be flying back to Cleveland at the end of the reception. Hell, even Coach Weiland showed up and talked with Petey, Legacy’s owner and his ex-teammate, and that was probably the only reason we could get the guys out to the wedding.

Eric’s head popped up from my shoulder. “Language, Mr. Tree Boy.”

I laughed so hard at that. Cupping my mouth, I whispered into Eric’s ear, “That was awesome. Please always call him that.”

Gavin gave me the side eye, though he probably wanted to slug me in the shoulder. He had been desperately wanting to forget the Tree Boy nickname, but I just couldn’t let him forget it. It was just too funny.

Before he could say anything, the DJ started to announce the wedding party, and Gavin had to walk into the reception with Sabrina. After that, Carter and Siobhan were announced, followed by Klaus and his girlfriend Alex, and then, last but not least, Spencer and Natalie.

Annie asked, “Do you want to walk in on your own, Eric, or do you want your dad to carry you?”

Eric squirmed and said, “I’ll walk.”

I placed my kid down, but he immediately reached up for Annie’s and my hands. While there was a part of me that would have preferred to hold Annie’s hand, it was nice to do it with all three of us.

Finally, we heard the formal announcement to walk into the packed reception. It was all cheers, and it was so easy to dance in and soak in all our friends just celebrating our wedding.

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