Page 183 of Unravel Me

A sob cracks from her throat, and she clings to me as we cry. Connor wraps his little arms around us, and Adam takes all three of us in his. Somewhere, there’s a cat meowing his disapproval that he’s not in the middle of this hug, and two dogs dance around us, sticking their tongues in our ears, licking away our tears.

When we break away, Lily looks at me, scrubs the tears from her eyes. Red-rimmed and tired, it’s the renewed hope in them that paints over the fissures in my heart like glue, mending pieces of me I didn’t think could ever be fixed again.

And then she takes my hand and says, “I think I’m ready to unpack my bag today.”

* * *

She wears her jersey to Adam’s play-off game that night. Proudly displays that five-letter name on the back, a devastating smile and so much color in her cheeks as she points at him stretching on the ice and tells everyone, “That’s my daddy.”

“Holy fuck,” Cara mutters under her breath.

“Yeah,” Olivia says on a sigh.

“We all knew it,” Jennie hums.

“What?” I ask, my eyes on Adam as he sinks farther into his stretch, his legs straight out at his sides as he does the splits and somehow manages to wink at me and wave at the kids at the same time.

“Adam,” Olivia says simply. “He’s a bigger DILF than Carter.”

Carter tosses his leg up on the bench, stretching and glaring. “How dare you! I’m standing right here. No one out-DILFs me,Olivia.”

Cara points at Adam, fixing his brand-new goalie mask over his face as he skates over. “Adam just did, babe.”

“Dada!”

“Daddy!”

Connor and Lily jump at the glass, smacking their hands against it as Adam stops in front of them.

Connor’s eyes light, and he points at the artwork on Adam’s mask. “Pic-ta! Dada, Mama, Conn’a, sista!Oooh-ho-ho! Bear, Pig-it, Dino-saw!Chomp-chomp!”

Being a dad has never suited a single person alive more than it suits this man, I swear to God. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve jumped on him the moment he leaves their rooms after reading them a bedtime story, tucking them in for the night. And I did the same damn thing when Adam came home four nights ago, showed me the new mask he’d made with Lily’s artwork on it, a drawing of our family.

Lily’s chin quivers. “I drew that picture. You put it on your helmet?”

Adam nods. “Gotta keep my family with me when I’m on the ice.” He lays his palm against the glass, and Lily smiles, stepping forward to lay hers on the other side.

“Here, Connor,” she says softly. “You put yours here, right next to mine.”

There’s a sniffle beside me, and the distinct click of a camera. Lennon, the team’s new photographer and social media content manager, and newest addition to our girl crew, sniffles. “Got it.” She flaps at her eyes. “That’s it. That’s the sweetest picture I’ve ever taken. The girlies are gonna go feral over this.”

Jaxon knocks on the glass. “What about me? Did you get my picture?”

She ignores him, snapping a picture of Carter and Ireland next. “Perfection. Utter perfection.”

“Lennon? Did you get my picture? Look at this.” Jaxon shimmies backward, dropping to his knees, spreading his legs wide. “Look how low I can get.”

“Not as low as Adam,” she murmurs, flipping through her pictures.

“Len? Did you see me? Want me to do it again?”

“Yes, Jaxon,” she finally calls, rolling her eyes for only us to see, her chestnut coils bouncing from where they’re piled on top of her head as she finally swings around to give him her attention. “I saw you. We’re allsoimpressed.”

He grins, so boyish and proud, and I snicker. Between the two of them, I’m not sure which one annoys the other more, but I’m certain they both enjoy it.

A gentle tap on the glass in front of me draws my gaze there, finding Adam watching me, his mask propped on top of his head.

“We’re pretty lucky, huh, trouble?”

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