Page 136 of Unravel Me

My gaze coasts the room, finding the same people it’s been looking for all afternoon. Adam hasn’t been more than three steps away from Connor, and the only time he’s taken his eyes off him is to put them on me. Right now, he’s sitting on the floor with Connor, Ireland, Garrett, Carter, and Emmett, the kids squealing with laughter as the boys entertain them.

“There’s something so innately attractive about men with kids, isn’t there?” Olivia asks me on an exhale, her eyes on her husband.

I watch as they aggressively sing the words to “The Wheels on the Bus,” actions and all, until Connor and Ireland’s shrill giggles fill every inch of this house, and when Adam scoops my son against his chest, hugging him tight and dropping a kiss to his cheek, fireworks explode in my stomach. “Soattractive.”

Olivia turns to look at me, grinning.

“What?”

“He deserves this, you know. You. He deserves you. Someone who sees him for everything he is and doesn’t ask for anything more. Someone who loves his gentle heart and matches it with her own. Someone who looks at him the way you look at him.”

Adam’s eyes come to mine then, a softness that melts me from the inside out, love that shines like the flecks of golden sunshine in his cerulean blue gaze, and when he smiles, my whole world rights itself.

“The same way he looks at you.”

I wave a flappy hand through the air to distract from the feelings that are staring me down the nose, demanding me to toss thisslownotion out the damn window and pick up right where we left off: me, with three little words on the tip of my tongue, meant just for him. “You don’t know this yet, but I’m an exceptionally emotional person.”

“Oh my God, me too! Even more so after I had Ireland.”

“Postpartum hormones are wild. As if I didn’t cry over enough things before having a baby. Like those commercials with the puppies, you know the ones I’m talking about? The SPCA ones with—”

“—Sarah McLachlan! Yes! I had to bite my tongue to stop from crying over one the night I met Carter!”

“Is that song necessary? It makes it so much worse.”

“Kills me every damn time.” Olivia takes my hand, pulling me up with her. “C’mon. Let’s make another drink.”

She putters around in the kitchen, tossing ingredients into a blender while I examine the tray of snacks on the island. It’s BYFS Night—bring your favorite snack—something Adam explained to me as he loaded five boxes of Fruit Roll-Ups into the wagon. You’d think we were at a kid’s birthday party by looking at this elaborate setup, mostly made up of several kinds of Oreos, Dunkaroos, Pop-Tarts, and random assortments of fruit snacks and cereals, but apparently, this is just how they like to celebrate the start of their season, and tomorrow is their home opener.

“If you choose an Oreo over a Fruit Roll-Up, Carter will hold that over Adam’s head forever,” Olivia tells me.

I laugh, peeling open a Fruit Roll-Up, and Adam grins at me from across the room. He winks, mouthing,Good choice, trouble,and my insides heat.

“What’s this?” I ask, finding a scrapbook among all the food. The front cover shows a picture of Carter in his hockey equipment, holding a smiling Ireland, the wordsDaddy Goes to Hockeyscrawled over the cover.

“Carter’s been working on that all summer. It’s a book for Ireland for when the boys are out of town for hockey. Go ahead and look at it.”

I flip through the pages, obviously created with so much love, pictures upon pictures of their family, of Carter on the ice, Olivia and Ireland in the stands. It goes through their daily routines, morning snuggles and a messy breakfast, walks in the park, doggy kisses, and bubble baths before bed. And then it shows Carter boarding a plane, explains how he’s going somewhere far to play hockey but that he’ll be thinking of home, and soon, he’ll be with his girls again.

On the last page is a photo of Carter with Ireland tucked in the crook of his arm, Olivia held tight against his side. The love reflected in his gaze is staggering, but it’s the words beneath the photo that tug at every bit of my heart.

Daddy goes to hockey, but his love stays here.

Carter sidles up next to me, peering over my shoulder, wearing a small smile. “I don’t know what I’ll do being away from her so much.”

“You’re really gonna miss her, huh?”

“Uh, yeah. I’mkindaobsessed with her.”

My gaze flicks to hisDaddyT-shirt. “You don’t say.”

“What if she forgets about me, you know? What if she forgets what I look like?”

I look to Ireland, sitting in Garrett’s lap, her dad’s face on her outfit. “I truly don’t think that’s possible.”

“You’re right, Rosie. I should have more shirts made for us. One for every day of the week. Great idea, thanks.”

“What? I didn’t say—”

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