Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Cody felt honored to be inside Erika’s home as she buttered bread for their dinner. She’d told him multiple times that she wasn’t much of a cook, but that no one could mess up a crockpot meal that literally only had five ingredients.
“Or at least, I’ll try not to,” she stated, looking sheepish. “Goulash is goulash.”
“I’m sure it’ll be wonderful.” And he wouldn’t complain even if it wasn’t. Being invited here felt surreal to him. She’d been acting unusually open toward him since Denver. Unless that was all in his imagination, which he hoped it wasn’t. “I’m not a great cook, either, I think I’ve told you.”
“Still, I’m the one who asked you over.”
Yes. Yes, she was.
“Doesn’t matter. Stacey hated cooking. Our marriage was full of sandwiches and lots of cheap takeout.”
“Is that why you broke up?” There was mischief in Erika’s eyes, but Cody used the opportunity to fess up more tidbits about his doomed first marriage.
“What actually broke us up was a lack of communication. Gabe was a surprise, and we invested all our time in taking care of him. We didn’t save any of that time or attention for each other, and marriages are like plants, without sunshine they wither and die. Six years after we wed, we divorced.”
He expected her to say she was sorry like most other people did, but she didn’t.
“Callie and Zeke are polar opposites, yet they make it work. Do you think it’s because they prioritize talking to one another?”
“Probably.” He was sure where she was going with this. “Although Stacey and I weren’t as young as some, I don’t think we had maturity on our side. That didn’t help.”
“Ever considered having more children beyond Gabe?” Erika averted her gaze.
“When she was pregnant with him, we mentioned maybe having more. But the realities of a newborn were overwhelming. Then, it didn’t calm down as our baby grew into a toddler and preschooler. We never reconnected enough to discuss it again, and after that, our marriage dissolved. Since then, I’ve been single.”
She still wouldn’t meet his eyes, and she wore the most peculiar expression. Trailing his thumb along her wrist, he waited for her to glance up at him. “That’s not to say that I’m totally opposed to the idea of more. I might be persuaded should the right person come along.”
“That would be a pretty massive age difference between a second child and Gabriel,” she pointed out, but she hadn’t looked away again.
“True.”
“You don’t think that would pose a problem?”
“For who? Gabe? Or me and this imaginary mother of my child?” He kept his tone light and teasing even though the topic didn’t strike him as anything close to humorous.
“For whoever.”
“Well,” he traced the delicate bones along the knuckles of her right hand. “That would depend on the situation. If this were to ever take place for real, I’d be unlikely to consider it with just anyone. The person I’d have more kids with would have to be special. Like you, maybe.”
Erika’s eyes shown as she looked at him. “Time is running out for me. Any pregnancy I might have would be considered geriatric at the outset.”
“Geriatric? We’re not in our twenties any more, but we’re certainly not old fogies yet. What would that mean, anyway?”
She smiled and shook her head slightly. “It doesn’t mean that, silly. I’d just get some extra monitoring and my doctor would be watching for complications. After a certain age they still consider pregnancy to be high risk.”
“I’m willing to bet I could help take care of you. Make sure you didn’t overdo it.” His hand ached to encircle her stomach, but that would mean crossing a boundary she hadn’t offered him access to yet. So, he tried another tack. “You know what I’ve always believed?”
“What?”
“That if you want something badly enough, you can make it happen. Is us getting together and having a baby something you’d like to happen, Erika?”
“I’d have to take a leave of absence from my career.”
“Would you be okay with that?”
“It would be a sacrifice. But I’d be willing to make it.”
“I’d be willing to sacrifice, too, you know.” He brought his fingertips up to her jawline, then up to her dark hair which he pushed behind her ear.
“You do have experience as a father,” she tapped him on the bridge of his nose.
“I do. And you know more about kids than even the most experienced parents do.” Humbly, she tilted her chin to the side. “I suppose I’d be game if you are, Erika Cantrell.”
* * *
At the midpoint of April, Boone discovered that he would be unable to return to his team before the end of the season. Cody thought he’d be devastated, but he’d taken it better than expected. With his retirement came the question of where he might choose to settle down, and while his lady friend resided up in Canada, Cody still brought up the notion of them coming stateside.
“Rocky Ridge is a beautiful place,” he prompted him, attempting to be persuasive. “The Montana wilderness surrounds the area, and the town itself is quaint and friendly. It’d be a lovely locale for a hockey retiree and his new bride.”
“She’s lived in Edmonton all her life, man. We’ll need to have some discussions about it.”
“Fair enough.”
“I don’t even know what I’ll be doing. I’ll need to stay busy somehow.”
“Montana is a cold weather state, you know. Plenty of kid’s hockey leagues around. And I’m sure some need coaches. Especially the former NFL kind. In fact, I’d bet the college and high school crowd would chomp at the bit for someone like you.”
Cody wasn’t even buttering his bread on that one. If Rocky Ridge couldn’t provide his brother with a job, he suspected that somewhere like Billings could. Minor and junior hockey leagues dotted all these northern towns, both in rinks and on frozen ponds. And it wasn’t like Boone needed to stay in Canada for the money. He was a millionaire several times over.
“I’ll think about it.”
Apparently, his brother did more than think about it, because within a couple of months, he was asking Cody to hunt down a house for him. Boone gave him some parameters of what he and Kelsey were looking for, and Cody enlisted Erika’s help with the deal.
“They like modern with clean lines,” he explained, glancing down at his phone to read his brother’s text. His next descriptors must’ve come from Kelsey because he’d never heard Boone use such adjectives in his life. “Minimalist and spartan. A decent-sized yard and preferably a pond or lake on the property. Think there’s anything like that around here?”
“I grew up with someone who became one of the top real estate agents in the area. Her name’s Marcella. I’m sure she’d love to put out some feelers for him.”
“Oh, yeah?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
He grinned at her. “Excellent.”
Marcella sent them several homes with links to their multiple listing service website, and on their next few weekends, he and Erika motored about town assessing the offerings. One of the high-end homes they visited had tons of square footage and even a large pond on the grounds. But that wasn’t what attracted Erika’s attention.
“Oh, would you look at that,” Erika basically cooed like a dove, pointing—well, it was more like flapping—at the house across the street. “Too bad Boone doesn’t want something more historical.”
The home was a Victorian two-story, white with black shutters, and dotted with lots of tiny details built into the architecture.
“You like that?” he asked her.
“I really do.”
Cody tucked that little tidbit of information into a storage closet in his mind. They arranged for Marcella to meet with Boone and Kelsey who’d be coming to town in the next few days, and in the meantime, Cody prepared a surprise for Erika.
“Ever going to say where you’re taking me?” she asked during their subsequent date.
“Oh, sorry. Just need to run a quick errand first.”
He drove up to the same home they’d made an appointment for Boone and Kelsey to see and parked. He waited for her to spy the change.
“Awww, it sold,” Erika sounded sad after she caught sight of the sold sign outside of the Victorian. “Well, at least someone will get to enjoy it. I wonder who bought it.”
“Why?” He pinched her arm. “So you can knock on their door and demand a tour?”
“No,” she huffed. “I just wondered.” Without another word, he hopped out of his truck and basically raced to her side. Offering a hand to help her out, she glared at him. “What are you doing?”
“You’re necessary for this errand.”
Her glare morphed into a glower. Erika came with him, but the stiffness of her movements told him her acquiescence was anything but voluntary. He had to hold back a snort. Once upon a time, any reluctance from Erika would’ve given him pause, but now he saw it as feistiness. A feistiness he adored.
She twisted in place toward the home Boone would soon be touring, but Cody edged her in the opposite direction.
“I thought you said your brother wouldn’t like this place.”
“He wouldn’t.”
“Also, there’s the fact that it’s sold.” She emphasized the word “sold” in a two-syllable singsong voice.
“Again true.”
“Then, why are you leading me up the sidewalk toward its front door?”
He shook his head at her, nearly snorting again at the look she shot him. It was half derision and half confusion. He paused for dramatic effect at the door, long enough that the suspense had Erika scowling at him more fiercely than ever. Then, he broke the tension by removing the key from his pocket and sticking it into the deadbolt.
“Cody?” His name left her lips at a gasp.
“Come on.”
“What did you do?” Any lingering anger at him had melted like ice cream on a hot summer’s day. He shrugged.
“I put in an offer and got it.”
“But…” She twirled around, staring at the black and white marbled entryway, the sweep of the stairway, the stained glass glowing over the transom and from a window in the kitchen. “But you already have a house.”
“Yes. One that I’m selling. I’ve got a buyer already lined up. The sale is pending.”
“And you bought this place?”
“I did.”
Erika’s mouth dropped open as she studied their surroundings again. It was when she pivoted back toward him that Cody lowered himself to one knee. Her expression became worried, as if she thought he’d tripped, when realization finally dawned.
It might’ve helped that he’d taken the opportunity to retrieve the little square ring box from his pocket and open it on his palm. She gasped again, this time holding both hands over her mouth.
“I know our road hasn’t always been an easy one, but I was in love with you from the moment I saw you in that swishy dress at Callie and Zeke’s wedding. I didn’t admit it to myself then. I just discovered that I couldn’t stay away from you. I couldn’t then, and I can’t now. So, I decided to do this. To make a little gesture to prove my love for you. So, what do you say, Erika? Wanna spend the rest of your life with me?”
She continued standing before him, her eyes blinking rapidly as if to hide the droplets of tears gathering along her lashes. He’d thought of her as beautiful beyond all measure all along, but he had to admit that if she didn’t answer soon, he might have some horrible coronary event.
Good thing she could treat him for it.
Erika began to cry in earnest, and he sighed. His nerves had ratcheted up to uncomfortable levels, and those nerves were only increasing minute by minute. So, he fell back onto one of the strongest aspects of his personality. His smart aleck nature.
“Come on, Erika. I need an answer. I’m not as young as I used to me, and my knee is killing me.”
She gave him another much longer and more drawn-out blink, then she laughed right through her tears. It was the most gorgeous and welcome sound he’d ever heard. She bustled forward into his chest, essentially tackling him into the floor. It was too bad Boone couldn’t see this, as a defenseman, he would’ve been proud.
Despite all her hemming and hawing, it appeared that the woman he loved was no longer tentative about reciprocating his feelings.
“My answer, you old man, is yes.”
“Old man?” he squawked in mock indignation.
“Yes,” she said, repeating the word over and over again. At least until she kissed him, and with that, any doubts he might’ve had about this grandiose plan, about her reaction, about their future floated away.