Chapter 16
Chapter
Sixteen
I discovered two things about Jenna the next day. One, her brother was a mechanic, and two, her brother’s shop was only a few streets over from Logan’s condo. He sent a tow truck over first thing, which left me free to make my weekly sojourn to Rob and Shar’s.
It didn’t disappoint. Carter was warm and heavy in my arms. He made a tiny sighing noise, scrunched his face, then melted against my chest like I was the safest thing in the world. His hair was soft, downy fuzz that made my heart do a ridiculous boop every time I looked at him.
Shar flopped onto the couch beside me with the energy of someone who hadn’t slept since the Trudeau years. “He likes you.” She stretched her legs out and wiggled her toes. “How are you enjoying being a certified aunt?”
“I kind of expected a badge. Or a tiara. Maybe a pin?”
“No pins around babies,” she said automatically, then snorted. “Listen to me. I’m one week postpartum and already thinking about safety hazards. Do you know how many outlets are in this house?”
I glanced around the living room, but didn’t see plug-ins.
Instead, my eyes caught on the laundry basket overflowing with tiny onesies and cotton blankets, a half-packed diaper bag by the door, and the textbooks stacked on the coffee table.
“This is insane, Shar. I have no idea how you’re functioning. ”
Shar leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “Honestly, neither do I. My boobs finally don’t feel like they’re about to explode, though, so that’s something.”
“Carter, did you figure out breastfeeding?” I cooed. A sentence I never in a thousand years thought I’d say before I graduated.
Shar shifted, adjusting the pillow behind her back. “Oh, he didn’t have a choice. Stubborn little bug.”
I laughed, brushing a finger over Carter’s impossibly tiny hand. “He is stupid cute.”
“He is.” She beamed at us. “Rob cries like twice a day while looking at him. Don’t tell him I told you.”
I mimed zipping up my lips, but my heart melted at that. Of course he did. I never would’ve guessed, but Rob Thompson, with all his rough edges, was gooey in the middle.
Shar sighed. “I’m just trying to keep up with everything. We both are. My professors are being saints, but I still have performances coming up, and rehearsals, and pumping between classes. It’s a circus.”
“You’re a saint.”
“I’m—” she yawned, rubbing her eyes. “Surviving. So that’s something.”
I breathed in a full whiff of intoxicating baby smell. “You’re keeping a tiny human alive.”
At that, Carter let out a little “ehh” noise that made us both “awww!” Shar reached over and brushed his cheek.
“Okay, Chunk,” she murmured. “Sleep a little longer. It’s not snack time yet.”
We sat there for a moment, just being. Somehow, at home I was always antsy, but I could’ve sat there for hours without moving once.
Shar crossed her legs under her. “So? Any updates for me?”
I tensed, and Carter’s golden brow furrowed. “Not really. Everything’s fine. I’ve been doing more admin work at the gallery, so that’s great.” Where would I even start with the last week? Everything I’d updated her on had to do with the one person I had zero interest in bringing up at this moment.
Her eyebrow arched. “Crystal.”
“Shar.”
She gave me a look, and I gave her a look back, but she already had that mom energy. She won, no contest.
“Fine,” I sighed. “It’s complicated.”
“In what way?”
“Well I’m sure Rob filled you in on what he did at the breakfast.”
She smirked. “Oh he definitely did. Classic Logan.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, he’s all fun and games until someone threatens him or someone he cares about. Once tried to fight a guy in Red Deer because the guy threw a pretzel at Axel. Ooh, and Jake is pissed, by the way. Have you not talked with him since?”
I frowned. Huh. I guess I hadn’t. It took me a moment to respond because I was still hung up on what she’d just said. Someone he cares about? “I didn’t think Jake would want to talk to me. He thinks I’m with Logan.”
She shrugged. “You could still keep your options open. Doesn’t this whole agreement end in December?” I nodded, and she grinned mischievously. “It’ll definitely ramp up the tension.”
I shook my head. “I thought you were a wholesome wife and mother now?”
Shar laughed. “C’mon, I have to live vicariously through you a little. Speaking of which, don’t you have a fancy event coming up?”
I lit up. “The Palliser. I have no idea what I’m going to wear.”
Shar jumped up from the couch with an impressive amount of energy for someone running on less than four hours of sleep every night. “I have the perfect thing.”
She appeared a few seconds later with a straight black off-the-shoulder cocktail dress. “I got it for our quick honeymoon weekend and didn’t get a chance to wear it.”
I shook my head. “I’m not going to wear your dress first!”
“Babe, it’ll be a solid six months before I can fit into this again. Please. Wear the hell out of it.” She draped it over the arm of the couch by my purse and shoes.
Carter seemed to sense his mom’s arrival because he started to squirm. Shar sat beside me and reached for him.
“I’ll go so you can feed him.”
She made a face. “I’d tell you to stay but it’s still easiest for me to do this topless.”
“Ugh, you’re going to make me miss a free boob flash?”
She chortled. “Anytime for you. They are pretty fantastic right now.” I laughed as she turned to the side, showing me her full D cups.
“Jealous.” I leaned over and gave her a hug, careful not to squish Carter, or her boobs, between us.
She pulled back. “See you tomorrow?”
“You know it.”
_____
The Outlaws played at home the next night and Chase was with the Hitmen, so Maddie and I finally had a date.
It was a packed crowd and the air buzzed with the kind of electricity that only university hockey could generate.
Shar arrived ten minutes after puck drop, and Carter was wrapped in so many layers he looked like a marshmallow with eyes.
Every female in the bleachers struggled to watch the actual game, they were so distracted by his cuteness.
Really, who could blame them? The chances of seeing a baby on campus were lower than spotting a moose.
Shar soaked in every compliment while Maddie and I helped her juggle the diaper bag, the baby, the blanket, and the bottle. It was Carter’s first real outing, and we came prepared to help our girl.
But once Carter was settled in for a nap and we were midway through the first period, it felt exactly like before. Back when it was just us. I let that wash over me like a warm hug.
Of course, I thought of Logan. Remembering how he used to play—how he still played.
I’d been watching his games, and he was getting an impressive number of shifts as a rookie.
He still had that same explosive energy, those smooth transitions.
I could spot when he got the puck before I even saw the number on his jersey.
“I don’t understand how Rob is playing better,” Maddie called out after he sprawled on the ice to tap a pass to Axel for our first goal. “His reaction time should be terrible with the late nights he’s pulling.”
Shar leaned her head on my shoulder. “He’s exhausted, but he’s the happiest he’s ever been. His words, not mine.”
Ugh. The cuteness was going to kill me.
We watched the game in a blur of snacks, baby passing, and cheers, especially when Rory scored a shorthanded beauty and Rob got a breakaway for a goal in the third. By the end of the game, an Outlaws win, the three of us were borderline feral with nostalgia.
“Ranchman’s?” Maddie raised a brow.
“Like you even have to ask.”
_____
Ranchman’s was already humming when Maddie and I walked in.
We’d stayed longer at the Douglas Dome to help Sharla get Carter in his carseat.
She opted to get him home for the night, and I said a silent prayer that Carter, after all the excitement, would sack out for at least four hours in a stretch this time.
I didn’t know I’d missed the smell of wings, spilled beer, and shower gel but I was breathing it in like I was at a rose garden. We pushed through the crowd to see our table at the back was already half-filled.
Axel stood when he saw us. “LADIES!” he boomed, arms wide like we were returning soldiers.
Rory gestured at the empty stools. “Spill the tea, MacMillan.”
I laughed. “What tea? I have no tea!”
Axel shoved a plate of nachos toward me. I spotted Jake a few seats down. “We need insider information!”
“Are we insiders?” Maddie snorted as she slid onto a stool.
“Crystal is,” Rory said. “Kemp’s been on every news outlet in this city over the past week. Did you see his goal against the Canucks?”
Oh, I’d seen it. Jenna may have recorded the game on our VCR, and I’d rewatched that particular section enough times to see scratches on the tape.
I groaned internally. “Sounds like you know as much as I do!” I shouted over the music.
“I would ask about his dick, but I’ve already seen it.” Axel grinned, shoving a chip in his mouth.
I rolled my eyes. “See? I have nothing to add.”
“Kay, if you’re not going to give us details, can you at least get us tickets?” Rory leaned his elbows on the table, smirking. Jake tuned in at that question.
“I want the Oilers game Thursday.” Axel waggled his eyebrow. “Come on, Crystal. I know you have it in you.” Laughter and post-game chatter swelled around us, and it almost made me tear up. I knew I’d missed it, but I didn’t realize how much it would feel like home.
“You’re asking me to manipulate my boyfriend for you?” I teased. The ‘B’ word felt strange on my tongue, but it didn’t feel wrong. That made me pause.
Axel’s hand flew to his heart. “We would never.”
“Tell Logan I’m offering sexual favors.” Rory poured himself another beer.
I winked. “I’m sure he’ll be tempted.”
“Ooh! Maddie! Forgot to tell you, I had this math midterm . . .” Axel jumped into a discussion on proofs and equations that my brain was too distracted to follow after hearing ‘sex’ and ‘Logan’ in the same sentence.
That moment at his house replayed in my head every hour, and I needed to make it stop. No amount of rationalizing was working.
“Hey.” Jake left his stool to stand with us. He rocked on his feet a moment, then said, “I’m sorry if I caused a problem the other day. I didn’t know about Kemp.”
I waved him off, my nerves jumping. “You’re fine. He took it a little too seriously.”
Jake nodded. “How long have you two, uh, you know. Been together?”
“Not long,” I answered, regretting it when his eyebrow jumped.
“Is it serious?”
A pit yawned open beneath my ribs. All that defensiveness I saw in Logan the other day poured into me at full force.
Was he really asking that when he’d been told point blank I had a boyfriend?
Maybe Logan’s assessment of him had been spot on.
“I think so, yeah,” I said with an exaggerated smile. “I guess time will tell.”
I turned back to the nachos, giving Maddie a look. I was not telling Logan about this.
Jake thankfully wandered back to his seat, and Maddie and I stayed until Chase called the bar and told her he was on his way home. She dropped me off on the way.
When I walked in with my skin humming and ears ringing, the apartment was quiet. Jenna and Lindsey were either out or already asleep.
I dropped my coat on a chair, kicked off my boots, and headed straight for the phone.
Logan answered on the first ring. “Hey. How was the game?”
“Amazing. You should’ve seen Rob’s goal . . .” I gave him a recap with special attention on my preferred highlights, ending with our night at Ranchman’s. Minus my short conversation with number twelve.
At one point I paused to get a blanket from the couch. We really needed to invest in a phone with a longer cord.
“How was practice?” I asked after my monologue.
Logan grunted. “We have a new conditioning coach. He’s brutal. I’m not sure if my legs followed me home.”
I frowned. “Is that normal? To push that hard right before a game?”
“Crys, it’s the NHL. I’m getting paid a shit-ton of money. I don’t think they care if my quads are tired.”
I bristled. “Well they should care. How can you perform your best if they’re grinding you like that?”
Logan chuckled. “Okay, I kind of like this feisty side of you.”
I ignored his attempt to pivot. “Are you still working with that nutritionist?”
His grin was audible. “I’m eating, MacMillan. I promise. We have meals after practice. Lots of chicken. Rice. Protein shakes. I even eat the greens.”
“Okay. Good.” I drew a breath, trying to reign in whatever weird mama bear moment I was having.
But seriously, how did they expect these guys to perform at peak levels when they were running them into the ground?
Logan was one of the hardest workers I knew on the ice.
He and Rob were always out there after hours, and I had no doubt he was doing the same thing with the Blizzard.
If he said he was hurting, it was ten times worse than what he was letting on.
“Thanks for being a good fake girlfriend.”
I scoffed. “I’m the best fake girlfriend. Oh, get this. Forgot to tell you, at Ranchman’s, Rory and Axel were asking for tickets—”
“To what?”
“The game you have against the Oilers. I told them—”
“They want to come?”
“Yeah, Logan, they want to come. They were using me to get to you, and I said—”
“I can definitely get them tickets.”
I frowned. “You’re kind of killing the punchline of my story. Where I tell you I set proper expectations. That they can’t expect me to milk this connection all the time.”
He chuckled. “You can milk it all you want.”
“Oh, for the love. I’m going to bed. Good—”
“No! No, I’m sorry. I promise, I’ll behave. But seriously, I can get them tickets. I haven’t used my freebies.”
I pursed my lips. “Well, you can’t just give it to them. You have to make them earn it.”
Logan considered that for a moment. “Yeah. Okay, I’ve got it. I’ll email them.”
“What is it?”
“Afraid you’re not privy to that information. I’ll tell you before the game, though.”
“Logan—”
“Do you want to come?”
My heart skipped. “Of course I want to come.”
He sucked in a breath. “You’ve never asked me, so I didn’t know—”
“Logan, I didn’t want to use you for tickets.” I heard the grin before he opened his mouth, and cut him off. “No, don’t say it.”
He guffawed. “I think you’ll like it.”
“I won’t.”
“It’s a good one. C’mon—”
“I’m going to bed—
“What do you want to use me for?” He blurted, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Goodnight, Logan.”
“No, you hang up.”
“I’m not—”
“I know, I want to talk longer, too!”
“GOODNIGHT, LOGAN.”
His laugh was contagious. “Goodnight, Crys.”
I hung up and walked to my room with a stupid grin still on my face.