Page 7 of Love Puck

“Gah, fuck it. Show me. I love those little boys.” Trey held his rod in one hand and reached for the phone with his other.

Beau turned it up—and then handed it over. I could see the screen over Trey’s shoulder, and those kids were cute.

Loud.

And definitely off-tune.

But absolutely cute.

“You’re one lucky fuck, Beau Moreau. Great kids who look exactly like you, and a fiancée who stays with your sorry ass for some unknown reason.

The smile on Beau’s face grew exponentially. “Yeah, I know.” He took the phone back from Trey and turned the volume up even more before he gave the phone to me. I chuckled and watched—and listened—to the boys’ performance. “They’re great, man. Trey’s right, you are lucky.”

And I knew he was.

But I also imagined how much work he and Gigi—and the boys—and the boy’s mom—had to put in to make everything okay.

“You guys want more kids?” I asked Beau as I returned his phone.

His eyebrows rose and he shrugged. “Hopefully someday. Gigi’s still young—and she’s got big plans.”

The happiness my friend beamed back made me smile. It told me he was exactly where he wanted to be. And I couldn’t be happier for him.

“What about you guys?” I asked Trey, making him grin like a huge dufus.

“At least a dozen,” he said, and we all laughed. “Or whatever Lexi allows. We’re not in any hurry. It’s nice just being the two of us right now.”

I nodded and said, “You guys aren’t getting any younger, though.”

Beau stuffed his phone back in his pocket. “Tell me about it, asshole.” I watched him turn around and stretch his leg slightly. A move that would be imperceptible to most people. But I knew he’d been suffering with his knee again. I’d seen him with the physio after every practice and every game.

Hockey wasn’t exactly kind to your joints. I had my own issues. The worst being my stupid shoulder. Some days I’d like to just remove it from my body.

“What about you?” Trey shot the question over his shoulder.

My stomach immediately tightened into knots. Because—yeah—of course I wanted kids. But I wanted them with a woman who didn’t want me.

Therefore, having those kids would be impossible.

“Uh, yeah, sure,” I answered back, cursing myself for bringing this subject up. Every minute of the day, I did what I had to do to keep that specific woman out of my head.

And every minute—I failed miserably at it.

“You got anyone in mind?” Trey asked with a tilt of his head. I had the sudden urge to dive into the lake and swim for shore.

“I’m very single, Trey. You know that.” What he didn’t know about was the affair I’d had with Jillian. The one that left me reeling out here on a ledge.

After she’d sent me packing, I hadn’t so much as said one word to her. And I still didn’t have a clue why she’d let me back into her life with a bang—only to kick me out with a bigger bang.

Not that we’d talked about much of anything during our—affair.

Jesus.

I can’t believe I was considered a cheater, now. I never did any of that crap in my life.

If a girl I was interested in had a boyfriend, I never pursued the matter. Even if she looked interested.

Especially if she looked interested.

---