Brayden
fifteen
Spencer’s agent had called him this morning with mind-blowing news.
His gig at Fonda Theatre had sold out within hours of the public sale going live, and the five-state tour he had lined up for the summer was also selling faster than imagined.
His agent wanted to speak about adding more dates and locations.
Spencer’s dream was coming true. I was ecstatic. All his hard work was paying off.
I couldn’t wait to tell Keeley, and I had twenty-five minutes to do just that before I needed to be downstairs for practice.
She was working on another fundraiser. The save the dates for the virtual event were already online. I knew she was busy, but both Spencer and I wanted to see her again. We were hoping for tonight. What better way for us to celebrate than with Keeley?
I heard the baby’s pained cries before I saw who it was, but it didn’t take a genius to guess. What was Hannah doing here? Keeley had her in full-time daycare.
I popped my head into her office, and Keeley was rocking from side to side.
Hannah, dressed only in a diaper, was in her arms. Keeley was managing to balance the office phone on her shoulder while wiping Hannah’s face with a washcloth.
Exhaustion and desperation clung to her.
She was frowning, creases around her pinched eyes more pronounced with the dark circles under them.
She was tense, too, standing rigid even as she swayed on the spot.
This wasn’t professional Keeley, who rocked power suits or the more casual chinos and team polo shirt, or even at-home Keeley, who wore comfortable sweats and another man’s jersey. She needed help and, for whatever reason, didn’t have it.
I didn’t hesitate. I stalked in and eased Hannah out of Keeley’s arms and into mine before plucking the tepid washcloth from Keeley.
The jostling started Hannah coughing, the sound deep and gravelly.
I winced and patted her back. Her throat must be so sore.
Hannah cried out again, more of a bleat than a cry, and I cradled her close, trying to ease her pain with my embrace.
“Poor li’l sweet pea,” I cooed. I touched my lips to her forehead. She was hot to the touch. The washcloth I was holding wouldn’t do anything to reduce her fever.
Keeley hung up the phone and slumped. “What do you need, Miller? Now really isn’t a good time.” she snapped.
“To help you.”
“I'm stressed to my eyeballs. Everything is going wrong. I can't leave until I fix it, but Hannah is sick thanks to my fucking idiot of an ex, and I don't have anyone who can look after her. You have practice in thirty minutes. There's nothing you can do to help. Just go. Please.”
I nodded. “Let me take her for a minute just to give you a breather.” I didn’t wait for her answer. I just walked out of her office and immediately dialed Spencer.
He answered before the end of the first ring. “Cowboy, can you get down here? Keeley needs us,” I explained. “Hannah’s sick, and Keeley needs to wrap things up here before she can leave.”
“No problem. I’ll be there soon. I can stay as long as Keeley needs me.”
I headed into the staff kitchen and wet the washcloth under the cold water faucet before draping it over my shoulder and encouraging Hannah to rest her head against it. “That’s it, sweet pea,” I encouraged. “Let’s get rid of that nasty fever.”
When Hannah finally stopped fighting me and laid her head on my shoulder, I made Keeley a coffee and carried it in to her. Hannah might not have been feeling well, but she knew exactly what I was doing. She tried to breathe it in and croaked, “My coffee. Gimme coffee.”
Her grabby hands had me chuckling. “Has your momma been giving y’all coffee?”
“No, Mamá’s coffee,” she mumbled.
“Yeah. Let’s give this to her, sweet pea.”
When I walked back in, Keeley was slumped in her chair, her eyes closed as she slowly exhaled.
“Hey, darlin’.” I put the mug down, and Keeley moaned.
“Mmm, coffee.”
“Apparently it’s Hannah’s coffee.”
Keeley’s lips turned up in a smile, but she didn’t open her eyes. “She loves babyccinos.”
“I’m not sure how y’all take it.”
“Honestly, at this point, it could be black sludge, and I’d drink it.” She gave me a small smile, brought the mug to her lips, and took a sip of the brew. “Thank you. I’m sorry I snapped, Brayden.”
I smiled at the way she was back to using my first name and said, “You don't need to apologize. I understand stress.”
Hannah coughed again, her body rattling, and I patted her back, trying to ease it. My heart hurt. I wanted to ease this cold, take it away from her in whatever way I could.
“Your ex gave her this?” I asked.
She nodded and held her hands out. “I can take her.”
“Y’all relax for a minute. I’ve got sweet pea.” I plucked a tissue from the box on Keeley’s desk and wiped Hannah’s nose before pressing the washcloth to her forehead.
“You can’t be late for practice.”
“I won’t be. Spencer will be here in a few minutes. He'll take Hannah while y’all finish up here. Then he'll come home with y’all and look after Hannah while you get some shut-eye. I'll come over after practice with some lunch.”
Tears sprang to her eyes and she nodded. “Thank you.”
***
We were on our day off between game days. We had a string of three away games that we were flying out tomorrow for—San Francisco, New York, and Winnipeg. It was a light practice day today before tomorrow’s flight, feed, skate, pre-game rest, and evening game.
Now that practice had wrapped, I had the remainder of my day free, and I knew exactly how I wanted to spend it.
I stopped in at the Italian deli Spencer and I had tried out when he’d first arrived, picked up subs, and headed to Keeley's house. Her front door was unlocked, so I let myself in and immediately grinned. It was quiet except for the sound of splashing and Spencer’s low singing in the bathroom.
I walked the length of the corridor, pausing as I passed the living room.
Keeley was curled up on the sofa, fast asleep, her laptop still open on the coffee table in front of her and papers surrounding her.
I dropped the subs off in the kitchen and backtracked to the bathroom.
When I pushed the door open, Spencer looked over his shoulder and smiled.
He was beautiful there, dressed in black and kneeling on the tiled floor, holding a toy boat.
He bobbed it in the air and kept singing, “Row, row, row your boat,” as Hannah splashed in the water.
The whole scene was adorable. My sexy rockstar husband was in socks, jeans, and a black tee, his hair flopping in front of his eyes, on his knees for a beautiful baby girl.
I wanted to remember this image forever.
“Your reputation as ornery will be dashed if anyone else saw y’all like this.”
“Good thing my only witnesses are the two of you, then, isn't it?”
“How has she been?” I gestured to Hannah.
“Your fever’s broken, hasn’t it, Hannah?” he cooed. “But your cough’s terrible, ey?” He turned to me and added, “I gave her a spoonful of honey, so it's settled a bit, and we decided on a bath to get rid of that fever.”
“Play, bath,” Hannah agreed, bobbing her head in an exaggerated nod.
“Yeah, baby girl, we did.” He smiled at her, and my heart squeezed.
He’d be such a great dad. Oblivious to my musing, he continued, “Keeley's exhausted.
She hasn't slept for two days. Work is killing her, and with this little one sick, she's been extra stressed. Apparently, her ex gave Hannah his cold. Shithead came here when he was sick and tried to talk her into selling this place so he and his piece on the side can buy somewhere with her.”
“She told me a bit about it that day I spoke to her in her office.”
“Yeah, I remember.” He shook his head and chuckled. “She called him over to tell him to shove it.”
“Good for her. He sounds like a piece of work.”
“Dude's two sandwiches short of a picnic.”
I snorted out a laugh at Spencer’s Aussieisms. “He's more than dumb letting her go.”
“Complete fuckwit to boot.”
I had to agree with him there. My husband was nothing if not blunt.
“Well, she has us now,” I stated. Keeley might not be ready for anything serious—I couldn’t blame her after getting out of a marriage like hers—but we were ready. We wanted more.
“Yeah, she does.” Spencer smiled and held his hands out to Hannah. "You want up, sunshine?”
“Up, up!” she replied, and I reached for the towel as Spencer picked her up. He stopped with her halfway out of the water when she shook her head violently. “No. Water di-peer.”
“What’s that, Hannah? Can you show me?” Spencer put her down, and she reached for the plug, then threw it out of the bath.
The water gurgled down the drain, and Hannah stomped in it, splashing water everywhere. “Water di-peer.”
Spencer laughed. “It does disappear,” he encouraged.
Hannah lifted her arms up, and we wrapped her in the towel, then picked the wriggly worm up and took her into her bedroom.
The window was wide open, the blinds pulled back, and the room smelled of lemon disinfectant.
Spencer dressed her in a diaper and T-shirt and said, “Bray’s got some lunch for us. Do you want some lunch, Hannah?”
“Mmm,” she hummed and rubbed her belly.
“Y’all’re feeling better,” I drawled.
We went into the kitchen, and I unwrapped the subs, plated them up, then searched the refrigerator for something to drink. There was a pitcher of what looked like pulpy orange juice, so I poured a few glasses of it.
Spencer had Hannah strapped into the high chair in a few quick seconds and then was at the stovetop boiling eggs and making toast to go with a serving of avocado, chicken, and banana.
He set the food down in front of Hannah, and she powered through it, eating like she hadn't touched a thing in days.
I watched, marveling at the confident way he cracked open the soft-boiled egg and cut it into pieces, blew on it to cool it, then added the egg and toast strips to Hannah’s high chair tray.
“How do y’all know what to feed her?” I asked.
He shrugged and grinned. “I remember seeing what my cousins ate when they were little.”
“Y’all're kind of amazing. You know that, right?” I asked.
Spencer’s cheeks flushed, and his smile turned soft. I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him to me. He slipped his arms around my shoulders and tangled his fingers into my hair, then nuzzled our noses together.
My eyes fell closed at the tender move. I pressed a kiss to the pink stain on his cheek and brushed my thumb over the other one. “Love you,” I whispered.
“Love you, too, Texas.” He tilted his head, gesturing to Keeley. “Why don’t you go and wake up our lady so she can eat something too. That coffee you made her was the first thing she'd had all day. I was gonna to make her something, but she fell asleep before I could ask what she wanted.”
“She’ll be starving.” I pressed a lingering kiss to Spencer’s lips and reluctantly pulled out of his embrace.
I went into the living room, eased myself onto the sofa next to Keeley, and brushed a piece of hair off her face. “Keeley, darlin’, are y’all hungry?”
She blinked her eyes open and rubbed them, then yawned, her hand slapping over her mouth as she did. “Oh my God, I can’t believe I fell asleep.” Her stomach rumbled, and she flushed a pretty pink. She sat up and pressed her fingertips to her eyes like she had a headache.
“Hannah,” she gasped and looked around the room.
“Eatin’ in her high chair,” I explained. “Spencer’s watching her.”
Her shoulders immediately relaxed, and she smiled. “He’s really good with her,” she whispered.
“It’s so hot,” I rumbled.
“God, isn’t it?” She grinned and flicked her gaze to the doorway leading to the kitchen.
“Let’s go stare at his ass,” I suggested.
Keeley smiled at me, but it was slightly off. She still looked tired, and her eyes were dull, with dark smudges under them, but the edge of frantic panic was no longer clinging to her. Pride surged in me. We’d been there for her when she’d needed us. Lord, I wanted to keep her. Hannah too.