Chapter 24
Kieran
ICEHAWKS BITCHES
JOHNSON
who the fuck leaked a photo of me from the egg race online?
VALENTI
not me
ELLINGTON
I was cooking on the grill with Grayson
KIERAN
I’m in the photo next to you so I’m ruled out
seems we’re both trending
JOHNSON
I’m going to be known as egg guy
KIERAN
it’s not that bad
JOHNSON
it looks like I have five yellow nipples
I have multiple yolks dripping down my chest
IRVING
that’s what she said ;)
JOHNSON
it was you wasn’t it
IRVING
I don’t kiss and tell
JOHNSON
you sent that to a puck bunny???
IRVING
she was asking where I was
JOHNSON
a simple I’m busy would have sufficed
IRVING
you don’t know much about ladies do you?
they have to be loved and cherished
they deserve communication
VALENTI
I am howling
ELLINGTON
yeah Johnson, gotta brush up on your knowledge of women
JOHNSON
I’m going to throttle you Irving
We’ve managed to seat everyone at a long table comprised of six smaller ones. With several white cloths tying it together, it’s quite a feast. Bambi is in heaven, running up and down along the back of the table begging people for food.
After all, the way to a golden retriever’s heart is their stomach.
Grayson clears his throat from my left where he and Bella sit. Rising, he grabs everyone’s attention. Irving, down at the other end, starts banging on the table like a damn monkey. “Speech! Speech! Speech!” he chants.
“If you shut up maybe he’ll do one,” Johnson snaps.
“Are your feelings still hurt from the egg nipple photo?”
Pinching the bridge of my nose, my shoulders shake with silent laughter as Johnson’s face turns beet red. Layla snickers to my right, the corner of her eyes wrinkling with her smile.
“I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who came today. I appreciate everyone showing up and embracing the community we’ve created within this team.
” He clears his throat, the air shifting.
“This team means everything to me and I know a lot of you share the same sentiment. We’ve all been through a lot over the years, on and off the ice, and with our families growing I’d love to make this a tradition every Sunday.
To come together in support, in the best way we know how for one another.
” He lifts his glass full of Coke and smiles. “To us, to family.”
“To family,” everyone cheers.
Emmy wriggles on her seat beside me, her eyes barely reaching the table. Snorting, I heft her onto my lap and begin to cut up the sausages Ellington and Crawford grilled.
“Want some, Emmy?” I ask.
“Yes.”
My fork scrapes the plate, Layla beside me dropping her utensils. Bella and Cindy gasp.
Emmy’s eyes widen, darting around in alarm, and I realize as much of an amazing moment this is, our shocked reactions are ruining it.
Quickly kissing the top of her head, I continue cutting her sausages, her speech therapist’s words barreling down my mind, reminding me not to overreact. This is normal. Speaking has to remain normal.
“How many pieces do you want?” I ask, but even I can hear the emotion thickening my throat.
Emmy holds her hand to her mouth, her little brows furrowing as she stares down at the plate.
Layla reaches over, her hand squeezing my knee under the table, and just that one small touch grounds me. I blink away my tears and focus.
Don’t fucking scare her!
“When’s your next game?” Layla asks, trying to get the table talking again, and I could kiss her for it because Emmy leans into me further, her voice a mere whisper as she says, “Six.”
Despite my best efforts to remain normal I can’t, my eyes burn, my throat right along with it. My baby’s talking to me. She’s talking.
“Six it is,” I whisper hoarsely, trying my fucking hardest not to cry like a baby.
She spoke.
She spoke to me.
And it’s over sausages! Thank you, sausage gods!
I will forever love sausages.
Emmy begins to munch on the said sausages as if she didn’t just reach out and clutch my heart in a vise.
Grayson’s voice is rough as he says, “Next Saturday.”
Bella clears her throat. “You should have Allie look after Emmy and come with us; we’re planning to go to the bar after.”
“Oh yes!” Cindy says. “Please, Layla, it’s so fun. You have to come.”
Layla looks up at me, the question dancing in her eyes and, fuck me, she could ask for anything in this moment and I’d hand it to her on a silver platter.
“Of course she’ll come.” Soaking in the small smile she gives me, I turn to Grayson. “Speaking of Allie and Carlton, how long are they in town for?”
Despite the conversation I’m submerged in I can’t stop a single thought from repeating.
She spoke to me, my baby girl spoke to me.
He rubs the nape of his neck. “Well…”
My brows rise. “No shit, are they thinking of moving here?”
Bella laughs. “How you can always tell what someone is thinking is a mystery.”
“A superpower,” I hear Layla murmur beside me.
My lips twitch at that.
Grayson nods, a spark in his gaze I’m beyond ecstatic to see. “They are. They want to keep their home though, and I agree. I don’t want them to get rid of the house Drew and I grew up in.”
Bella leans over, clasping his hand. “Grayson is thinking of surprising them,” she whispers, keeping her voice low so they don’t hear.
I peer halfway down the table where they’re fully engrossed in a conversation with Lukas Whitman and his wife, one of the older players on the team.
“We are thinking of surprising them,” Grayson corrects.
“It’s your money.”
“Our money.”
She rolls her eyes. “Stubborn hockey player.”
“Stubborn artist,” Grayson counters.
Bella glances over at Layla and something passes between them, a silent conversation. Grayson and I share those looks often, too. It happens when you’ve known someone for as long as we have.
While Emmy continues to eat the sausages, I catch Matteo frowning down at the phone in Ellington’s hand, his thumbs flying across the screen.
“Speaking of family, how are things with Evie?” I start.
Ellington lifts his phone as if in answer. “Not good.”
A muscle ticks in Valenti’s cheek. “What happened now?”
The sudden darkness in his tone has our end of the table falling silent. Bella, Cindy, and Layla pop their heads up, and even Emmy stops chewing.
Ellington looks back down at his phone, shaking his head. “This stupid prick she’s dating,” he growls in frustration, running his hands through his hair and pulling. “Apparently she picked him up from work and he smelled like his colleague’s perfume.”
Layla frowns. “Could the bottle maybe have spilled?”
Oh sweet innocent Layla.
Ellington snorts. “Like how his phone accidentally deleted the text thread between them?”
“Oh.”
Ellington shakes his head in frustration. “I swear to god, it’s like a switch flipped in his head and now he’s suddenly a boyfriend that treats his partner like utter garbage.”
“I hope you mean soon-to-be ex-boyfriend,” Bella mutters under her breath.
“Here’s fucking hoping,” Valenti growls, his fists clenching around his utensils in a white-knuckle grip.
Cindy leans forward, peering past O’Connor. “Is that why she stopped coming home? Over Christmas, right?”
Ellington sighs. “I have no idea anymore. I think my mom knows, because around that same time she got all weird and cagey.”
Valenti’s gaze snaps to his best friend. “You didn’t tell me this.”
“I honestly didn’t put it together until recently.”
The heaviness of his shoulders has me moving the conversation off the topic; he needs a distraction. “What’s up with the whispers in the league? Are there trades happening?”
Ellington sends me a grateful smile before putting his phone face down on the table. Valenti, on the other hand, can’t seem to tear his gaze away from it.
Grayson’s chin dips. “Lukas is retiring. This is his last season.”
O’Connor whistles. “Fuck, feels like he’s been around since the beginning.”
“Because he has been,” I snort. “He’s a dinosaur in the NHL.”
Layla elbows me and whisper-hisses, “He’s right there.”
“He can’t hear me.”
“She’s right, he hasn’t publicly announced it yet so let’s just keep it between us.”
O’Connor chuckles. “Yeah, Ashford, keep your big ass gossipy mouth shut.”
I lean back, gasping in mock horror. “Me? Gossip? No such thing.” Shaking my head, grinning, I turn to Grayson. “Who are they thinking of bringing in though?”
“Rhodes?” O’Connor asks.
“No better than women,” Cindy mutters under her breath.
“And they say we gossip,” Bella adds.
The girls fall into another conversation as Grayson chews, pondering. “I’m not sure Rhodes wants to leave San Francisco. He seems happy there.”
Ellington frowns. “Patrick?”
“Odare?” Valenti scoffs. “As if IceHawks would offer him a contract. He’s a walking nightmare.”
Grayson points his fork at Ellington. “Matteo is right. After the headaches I gave the team they won’t want to touch anyone with a bad PR rep with a ten-foot pole.”
Rubbing my hand along my five o’clock shadow, I muse, “What about Silverton?”
A smile tugs at O’Connor’s lips. “Kai Silverton?”
I nod before facing Grayson, finding his brows high. “If IceHawks aren’t considering him yet they should. His stats this season so far are off the charts.”
“Last year too,” Valenti chimes in.
“He’s a weapon on the ice.”
O’Connor leans back in his chair. “Has he got a family? Any ties to California?”
Grayson shakes his head, laying an arm across the back of Bella’s chair and playing with the ends of her hair. “Not that I know of. He’s a pretty private guy though. I barely see anything about him online.”
I shrug. “Time will tell but maybe speak to Coach and mention Silverton in case they’re not already looking.”
“I’ll bring it up at practice next week.”
Emmy places another bite in her mouth before tipping her head up and looking at me.
I fucking love sausages.
“Hi, pretty girl,” I whisper.
Her nose wrinkles as she laughs, returning her gaze to the food.
Feeling eyes on me, the table continues to chat around me and I turn my head to the side. Layla smiles up at me, mouthing, Sausages.
I can’t help but laugh and mirror back, Sausages.