Page 31 of Sweet Thing

He was closer to me now, still holding Mabel, who was surgically attached to the bottle, suckling away. When he wasn’t thinking too hard about it, he was quite the natural.

He continued. “I wouldn’t for a second believe that a lovely young woman like you would actually think that after all this time.” Before I could weigh in with “why not?” or “you think I’m lovely?” he moved on. “As far as I’m concerned that’s water under the bridge. It’s as if it never happened.”

Easy for him to say, but I appreciated his effort to put me at ease.

“Just schoolgirl stuff,” I reiterated.

“Think no more of it.” He was swaying a little now, with Mabel in his arms. The sight made me melt. “But I understand how this might make working for me awkward. If it makes things easier, you wouldn’t see me much. You’d only be here when I wasn’t, and when I am, your time would be your own. I know you probably have plans or are thinking about next steps in your life. Maybe this would give you a little breathing room while you figure that out?”

I would never have expected that level of insight from a jock like Lars Nyquist. The shock of fatherhood must have opened new neural pathways in his brain.

“You’re not … wrong. Iamstarting to think about what comes next. I also need a job because I can’t leech off my parents forever. This might help us both.”

Something shifted between us, a burgeoning recognition of the other’s needs, and the moment was only broken when Mabel gurgled, now that she’d finished the bottle.

“I can take her,” I said, holding out my arms.

“Is that a yes?”

I nodded. “While we set up more interviews and get someone qualified in permanently.” A few weeks, maximum.

“Thanks, Adeline.” He placed her carefully in my embrace, and for a moment we were close enough to kiss. Instead he inhaled, his nostrils flared, and he looked away. “I need to pack right now for the away game. You got her?”

“I do.”

Lars

To saythat hockey players were a superstitious lot was an understatement, and the Rebels were no different. The crazy rituals, the eccentric prep, the don’t-fuck-with-what-works routines. That meant I had an assigned seat on the team bus to the airport because everyone sat in the same spot going out and coming back. No one would risk a change-up.

And because everyone knew where I sat, I guessed that blow-up baby with a mask that looked uncannily like me was not accidental.

I picked up my doppelganger, dropped it in the place beside me, and took my usual seat by the window.

“Welcome to fatherhood, dude!” Cody Jacobs, one of the centers and a father himself, called out.

“Uh, thanks.”

I hadn’t seen the boys in a couple of days as I was given personal time yesterday, allowing me to skip practice while I interviewed women who would take care of my child.

As the bus filled, people either commented on my new life status, dropped off “gifts,” or both. Rattles, baby toys, a dildo with indecipherable Sharpie markings (from Peyton Bell, the most inappropriate guy on a team of reprobates). The baby-themed gifts were no better than dollar store junk, nothing I’d give to Mabel, which pretty much said it all. No one was taking this seriously. By the time Theo arrived, his seat was piled high with baby junk.

He smirked, which reminded me of Adeline.Do not need that.“Need to be alone with your haul, NyQuil?”

“Nope.”

With his help, I did my best to offload my stash into the overhead storage. It reminded me of how cluttered my life had become in the last couple of days. I didn’t like it.

The captain finally sat in the vacated spot and turned to me. “This might be the best thing to happen to you.”

“How’d you make that out?”

“Well, you’re kind of distant with the guys, even after a few years with the team.”

“Can’t help my sparkling personality.” My Scandi noir vibes as Aurora labeled it. More useful with women, apparently.

“It’s okay. You make up for it by your association with me.”

This was true. In the last year I’d accepted more invitations to the Kershaws, and while I’d never admit it, I loved how they’d thrown their arms wide and invited me in. Growing up the way I did, I wasn’t used to that level of intimacy. But since this baby surprise I felt a need to both stay close and pull away. I hated that I was taking advantage of them.

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