Page 101 of Decidedly With Baby
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Holly
It wasthat time of the year again. The time that hockey fans lived for—well, maybe not if your favorite team didn’t make itin.
That’s right. Playoffs had begun two weeksago.
Did the Montreal Canadiens make it into the firstround?
I entered the team box where the wives and girlfriends were gathered, waiting for the game to begin. What was Lily wearing? Her Canadiens red jersey of course—like me and everyoneelse.
Was I nervous being here when I didn’t knowanyone?
Were flamingospink?
“Hi,” a woman, who I hadn’t even noticed approach, said next to me. In her arms was a baby a few months older than Lily. “You must be Holly.” Then to Lily she said, “Aren’t ya just adorable?” Lily gurgled and waved her arms as if to sayhi.
Or to agree that she was indeedadorable.
“I’m Emily, Sam Grainger’s wife,” the woman said. “And this is Ethan. He’s six months old. I’m guessing Lily is about threemonths?”
“Three months nextweek.”
Emily introduced me to the other wives and girlfriends—who of course all gushed over Lily. Their friendly smiles and hellos instantly put me atease.
“How come you didn’t move here withJosh?”
Was Emily’s tone judgmental? Not at all. Like the other women with her, she was just curious—which made me relax evenmore.
I explained my reasons—the job and green card part. I didn’t mention the part about Josh suggesting we get married but not for the rightreasons.
Even Kelsey and Erin didn’t know about what could’ve easily made it to the list for The Top Ten Ways HowNotTo Propose To The Woman YouLove.
“I don’t blame you for feeling that way,” Emily said. “I was lucky when Sam got traded here. It wasn’t like I was giving up a great job. And I was able to make my experience work for me. I created my own online business that can be done anywhere.” Emily was a social mediaconsultant.
Could I do something like that? I wasn’t so sure—especially with my career goals. They weren’t exactly easy to convert into something I could doonline.
I know. I know. What happened to thinking outside thebox?
Fortunately, I didn’t have to figure it out, at least not for now. The game was starting. The Canadiens were currently tied in the series, so tonight’s game—the final game in the series—could go eitherway.
Unfortunatelyfor me, they won in overtime. Lily had long since fallen asleep in my arms but stirred at the cheering from the team’sbox.
I smiled softly at her. “Hey, sweetie. Looks like Daddy won’t be coming home to us next week afterall.”
Was I disappointed? Ofcourse.
But I was also happy for Josh and his team. Because, hello? We were talking about the chance to win the most coveted trophy in theNHL.
But like anything of value—winning it came at acost.
Eventually the women met up with their men. Careful not to disturb his sleeping daughter in my arms, Josh kissed me in the way that I loved. The way he always did whenever we hadn’t been together for so long—hard andpossessive.
Once he was finished showing me how much he missed me, he glanced at Lily with the same adoring expression he always had whenever he looked at her. There was no doubt just how precious she was to him—the one girl he’d killfor.
Did you pity her future boyfriends? Yeah, metoo.
“Can I holdher?”
