25. Adam
Adam
“Your flight lands tomorrow morning at ten thirty?” Mia asks as I walk into the Wizards’ workout room.
“Yeah, should be around then.”
A white lie. This is the last away game before we’re back in Boston.
We’ve spent a week in Dallas, and now Baltimore.
I have to give Emma credit, postgame flights are rare.
We usually get out the next morning, but considering we have an early game today and the flight isn’t crazy long—we’re flying back in tonight, and we’ll get a full Monday off.
I want to surprise Mia. She’s been working late the whole time I’ve been gone, but I think both of us have really been able to breathe more over these last two weeks now that everyone we care about knows about the baby and we have a plan for what we want to do moving forward.
Before I left, we agreed we would do a courthouse marriage for now. That way we can get the process started on the house and not feel so rushed on moving in before the baby.
Mia wants to hold off on any type of wedding celebration until after the baby’s born, and I completely understand that, but I still want to give her a proper proposal before then.
“Okay, perfect, my doctor’s appointment isn’t until one so that should give us plenty of time, and then we have to be at the courthouse around three.”
“Sounds good, honey.”
I hear the ruffle of her bag and a clatter of what I can guess is her water bottle. She refills it about six times a day, and I get texts complaining it’s my fault every time.
“Are you headed to work?”
“Yeah,” Mia groans. “You know I can’t leave without my water now. I can’t believe you did this to me. What kind of pregnancy craving is water? When am I going to get something off the wall like olives in my ice cream or pickles with—”
The line goes silent for about three seconds. “Mia?”
“Sorry, I got lost in thought about what would be weird with pickles, but honestly everything sounds good. Like pickles with cream cheese…on an everything bagel…ooh, with bacon.”
I laugh. “Yeah, I think we’re only getting started here with cravings. You have a full kitchen staff ready for any meal you can think of.”
“You’re going to text someone my bagel idea, aren’t you?”
“No, because you’re going to tell them. Hell, they’ll probably ask you when you walk through the door.”
Mia scoffs. “Yeah, because you paid them off with season tickets! Half my wait staff has started asking me what they can do to get them.”
Dex’s wave from the back catches my eye, and I hold up a hand to let him know I’ll be over in a minute.
“Tell ’em it’s simple, they just have to help take care of you in my absence.”
If only I could see her face…I know she’s absolutely fuming.
“I know you’re saying this to get a rise out of me, and guess what?
You did. Listen here, All-star, I thought the meal thing was sweet, and really they only do it if I don’t bring my own food, but I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself.
Just because I’m having your baby doesn’t mean you get to take over and be all ‘man in charge.’”
“I’m going to be your husband, let me take care of you, stubborn.” The smile she’d find on my face if we were together right now would only piss her off more. Somehow that thought makes it bigger. “I miss you, Mia.”
She lets out a sharp breath. “I miss you, too.”
“I gotta get to this workout, but I’ll talk to you when I can.”
“You always do. Wait, have you told them yet?”
“I will today. And you’re sure you’re good with me asking Callie to come?”
When we made this plan and set up the courthouse appointment, they told us everything we would need to bring. Even though we could have a random clerk be our witness, we want it to be someone who’s important to us.
I told Mia it was fine if she wanted it to be her parents, but she insisted it be someone who I cared for.
“Of course I am. Let me know how it goes. I’m heading out the door to work now too, so have a good game, All-Star. I’ll watch when I can.”
“You always do.”
Ending the call, I drop my phone in my bag then head to the back of the gym. Dex stands behind Will while he bench presses, and Tripp’s doing warm-up stretches off to the side.
“Okay, you fuckers told me ten. How’d you beat me here?”
“That’s an adult word!” Miles yells, running around me and jumping on Tripp’s back.
“Sorry, bud, didn’t know you were here.”
Dex keeps his focus on spotting Will, but shakes his head. “The girls went to yoga class this morning.”
“We didn’t have anything better—” Tripp tries to speak, but Miles takes over.
“Adam, did you know that Tripp likes Emma, but we aren’t supposed to talk about it?”
That gets us all. I don’t contain my laugh, and Dex ends up having to help Will get the bar set.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, who told you that?” Tripp swings Miles around.
“Nobodyyy.” Miles giggles.
“Bullshit.” Tripp turns him upside down and Miles’s giggles fill the gym.
Dex steps around, taking Miles in his arms. “Alright, alright, my kid has eyes. Maybe you should take that as a hint that you can’t even fool a six-year-old.”
“I’m not trying to fool anyone. It’s not like that. She’s my brother’s ex-girlfriend, and my best friend.”
Will sits up on the bench and fake coughs. “Bullshit.”
“I’m not doing this. Get up, it’s my turn,” Tripp snaps at Will.
“Damn, what I’d miss?” Beck says, coming up and clapping me on the shoulder.
“Miles called out Tripp on his feelings for Emma, and he’s acting like a child.”
“Ah, I bet—” Beck nods, but before he can add anything else, Tripp barks at him.
“Change the subject. I’m done talking about our general manager’s daughter.”
“Someone’s sounding a little defensive.” Will goes around to spot him then nods back to me. “How’s Mia?”
“Good, she still thinks the plan is for us to land in the morning. Considering she’s in the group chat now, thanks for not spoiling it.”
Beck makes this weird noise. “I’ve got to come clean…the message I unsent this morning was a highly inappropriate message for Jensen with all the stuff I wanted to do with her when I got home tonight.”
Tripp barks a laugh while bench pressing. “That’s what that was.”
“I immediately realized I sent it in the group, so I copied and unsent. No one saw it, it’s fine.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “What the fuck, dude?”
Beck holds up his hands. “What? You just said she doesn’t know. No harm, no foul.”
Will laughs. “It’s the clarifying that you copied it before unsending that gets me.”
I know where this is going, and unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be able to stop it.
“Of course I copied it. Hell, the only real reason I unsent it was to keep Adam’s secret.”
Dex scoffs. He’s got Miles set up now with his iPad and headphones on. “So you were going to make us read that shit, too?”
Beck waves him off. “I don’t want to hear it. I’ve been in the room next to you and Anderson. You guys aren’t exactly quiet.”
I sigh. “Please stop there.”
Tripp sets the bar on the rack. “It’s why Emma requests that your rooms are on the end corners now.”
“Alright, now my turn to call for a topic change. As much as I don’t like hearing about my sister, Will also has to deal with it with Lucie, so let’s just move on.”
“Should we talk about you and Mia, then?” Dex comes up to the bench and motions for Tripp to move. “How’s all that going?”
Beck hits my shoulder. “Yeah, I feel like you’ve been pretty quiet about it. What’s up with that?”
“I’ve not been quiet. I just don’t share as openly as you assholes.
” I take a seat on an empty bench. Now is as good a time as any.
I’ve been putting this off for the past two weeks because I didn’t want any suggestions or opinions.
Not to mention, Dex and I had a really good talk, and it played into my reasoning for taking this step with Mia.
But I don’t want it to seem like a slap in the face to him either.
Granted, I should probably wait to say it when no one’s lifting several hundred pounds over their heads.
“Is Mia having any morning sickness?” Will asks, still spotting for Dex.
“Nah, doesn’t seem like it. Some foods and drinks really seem to turn her off, but she hasn’t been sick.”
“Don’t bring that up to Luce.” Dex huffs a laugh and puts the bar back on the rack. “I need more weight.”
“Before you do, there is something I wanted to tell you guys about me and Mia… Before we left, we found out that in order for her to be able to move into the house her grandparents left her, she has to be married. And with the baby coming, we decided that we are legally going to get married.”
Again…silence.
“Okay, we really got to work on the not responding bit. I know all you nosy fuckers have something to say.”
Beck tosses a hand up. “Well, can you blame us? You’ve hit us with some pretty crazy stuff recently. Out of the whole group, hearing this stuff from you is wild. Feels like something Tripp should be dealing with.”
Tripp sends him the middle finger. “Why are we picking on me today? I haven’t done shit.”
Will mumbles a few curses. “When are you going to tell Callie? She’ll lose her damn mind if you’re not going to have a wedding.”
“I’m going to tell her today, don’t worry. And after the baby’s born, we’ll talk about actual wedding plans. I want Mia to have it exactly how she wants. She and I have already talked about all of this, but for now it’s just for legal purposes.”
Dex stares at me blankly. “I mean this with respect, but are you sure about this?”
I don’t hesitate. “Yes. I’m sure.” No more what-ifs.
He nods. “Well, then I think that’s a great plan. You can get Mia on the Blues’ insurance. I’m sure Mia has something, but our policy covers a lot.”
I can see the light bulbs going off with everyone on how similar this whole situation is to Dex’s. Everyone’s smart enough to keep their thoughts to themselves, except Tripp.
“Wait, so are we about to see what would happen if Dex and Kate worked out?”
I shake my head. “You idiot.”
“Tripp, the only thing saving your ass right now is the fact that my son didn’t hear that, and he’s here to witness me beat your ass. You know what, actually? Let’s talk about Emma again.”
Will moves around to add the weight to the bar. “You know, Callie helped cover one of the Boston Bobcats’ practices, and she said she thought of setting Emma up with one of the hockey players.”
Dex leans back on the bench. “That’s a great idea. I’ll have to make sure Luce knows about that idea, too.”
Beck nods along. “I’ll update Jen.”
“I think Mia would give them free alcohol for their first date.”
Tripp’s hands ball up into a fist. “I’m actually going to start this workout with a run.”
He needs to run his head out of his ass. All of us can tell their situation is complicated, but that’s relationships in general. Maybe having the girls set Emma up will be the kick in the ass he needs, but that’s not my place to decide that.
After our workout, we move over to the field for some warm-ups, but before I make it to the bullpen, I spot Callie sitting crisscross on the floor outside the locker room.
“What are you doing?”
Callie doesn’t bother looking up from her camera. “I’m trying to fix my settings. My test shots were really dark for some reason. I let Miles take a few pictures, and he must’ve gone button happy.”
Looking around, everyone’s either in the locker room or already on the field. I don’t have much time, but I also want Callie to hear about the marriage from me. Knowing Will, he won’t keep a secret from my sister for long.
“You can keep doing that, but…” I sit next to her. “If you got a second, I have something to tell you.”
Callie snorts. “Well, now I’ll make a second. How can anyone say I have something to tell you and the other blows it off—like, what kind of freak patience is that?”
“That’s fair, and considering both of us have work to do, I’m just going to say it. Mia and I decided we’re going to get married at the courthouse tomorrow.”
Callie’s eyes go wide, and her jaw hangs. “What? You’re getting married? Like, for real?”
I huff a tiny laugh. “Yeah, it’s for real. Look, there’s a lot going into this, and we’ve both agreed this is the right move for us. I know it’s fast and—”
“Pa-ha, yeah, you could say that.”
I give her a glare. I get this is big, and her reaction is valid, but I need her to remember that it’s me she’s talking to.
Her lips go into her signature thin line to force herself to stop talking.
“Listen, right now we’re just getting the piece of paper, but Cals, I need you to hear me when I say I believe this is the right call for us.”
Her lips roll and open briefly before shutting again.
“We’re going to the courthouse tomorrow afternoon. I was hoping you and Will would come. We need a witness, and I want it to be you.”
Callie’s silence hangs for a moment before her face finally softens. “I wouldn’t miss it.”
I let out a breath. “Thank you.”
“I want you to know that it’s not that I don’t agree with what you’re doing…I wanted you to find someone and be happy—I just wasn’t expecting you to go all out right away.”
“Oh, I misunderstood—I thought you wanted me to get a girl pregnant and marry her immediately. This is all your doing, actually. Here I was, minding my own business, and now—”
I can’t finish before Callie’s laughing, and frankly I was already tired of the bit.
“I’m happy, Cals. All jokes and the crazy pace aside—I’m happy with Mia.
And it’s not like I wasn’t happy before all this, because truly, I believed I was good, but I didn’t understand what you meant about a second chance until her.
I have someone I want to talk to every day.
I want to see all the amazing things she does with her business, and I want her watching my games.
I’m excited to see her be a mom and while I’m still scared as hell—I’m excited to be a dad and a husband. ”
“I’m excited to watch you.” Callie leans her head on my shoulder. “Since we’re filling each other in on our lives, I went to therapy without you.”
“Dammit, Callie, I said I would go. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Oh, I don’t know…I figured you coming to terms with being a dad was more than enough reason to let you sit this one out. Now, knowing you were also proposing during all that—I think if I forced you to go to the session I’d felt like you needed it more than me.”
That’s probably true.
“Well, how’d it go?”
“Good-ish. I sort of felt this weird rush from getting some stuff off my chest, but also felt like I took a beating at the same time.”
“Hmm, so you got the good stuff.”
Callie snorts. “I guess so. It was needed, though. I want to put what happened before moving here behind me. I want to not feel guilty about being so happy.”
I feel her words so deeply in my soul that my stomach ties in knots.
“We deserve to be happy, right?”
“Damn right we do.” Callie lifts her head off my shoulder. “Text me the details for the wedding, and I’ll be there waiting with a pen.”