Chapter 13
thirteen
Iset the pan on the rack to dry and shut off the water. Turning, I take in the counter full of Tupperware and wince. I might have gone a little overboard. Still, I wanted to do something nice for Wyatt. Something he wouldn’t expect.
Pushing off the counter, I head to the other side of the kitchen and start placing the containers into bags so they are easy to carry. Despite the amount of food, it only takes me a minute to do.
I look around the kitchen to make sure I have everything I need.
Two plates are set to the side so both Dad and Will can have breakfast. The bacon, sausage, pancakes, and hash browns are in the bag. I even have a container of eggs in case they don’t have any at the hockey house.
Okay. This is it. I think I have everything.
The house is still silent, both Dad and Will still sleeping. Just hearing my dad snoring down the hall makes me smile. Without thinking about it, I look up at the ceiling, toward Will’s room. For a split second, I contemplate waking him up to tell him I’m leaving.
No, I told him last night. He knows I won’t be here.
Taking a deep breath, I gather the bags and head toward the door. Quietly, I slip outside and lock the door behind me.
“Brr.” I shiver as I walk toward the hockey house.
The seasons are definitely changing. We will be covered in snow before we know it, but until that happens, I’m going to enjoy being able to walk wherever I want to go without worrying about freezing to death.
I can’t help but smile as I look around and take in the silence.
It’s still early enough that classes haven’t started yet, so the road is quiet. There are a few lights on in homes as I pass by, but for the most part they are still dark. The grass is covered with frost from the drop in temperature overnight.
It’s peaceful.
A few minutes later, I walk up the front steps of the hockey house and knock on the door. I wait for a beat for someone to answer, and when they don’t, I knock again.
Right when I start to second-guess this entire idea, Jason answers the door, looking like he’s still asleep.
“Lyla?” he asks as he rubs his eyes.
“Good morning,” I say softly.
“What time is it? Did you get locked out?” he mumbles.
I have to bite my lip to stop myself from laughing. The poor kid is definitely not a morning person.
“It’s early, go back to bed,” I say quietly.
Jason grunts as he turns around, stumbling back toward his room. I can’t help but laugh under my breath as I watch him. Slipping inside, I shut the door behind me and head to the kitchen where I drop the bags.
Then I make my way silently up the stairs and head to Wyatt’s room. I can’t help but smile when I see that he’s lying on his stomach, blankets pushed down around his hips, facing my way. He looks so peaceful that I almost don’t want to wake him up.
On silent feet, I walk over to his bed and sit down on the edge of it.
“Wyatt…” I murmur.
When he doesn’t respond, I say his name again. Only this time, I brush hair away from his face.
His eyes flutter open but fall shut.
“Wyatt, wake up.” I laugh quietly.
He groans and reaches out to me. “It’s too early, come back to bed,” he says as he tries to pull me down with him.
“As much as I would love to, I don’t think so, mister. You have three minutes before your alarm is set to go off.”
“Then we can cuddle for three minutes,” he pouts.
“Or you can get out of bed and get ready quickly so we can have breakfast together.”
“Where do you want to go?” he asks as he cracks open an eye.
I shake my head. “I don’t want to go anywhere. I thought I could make us something, so I brought stuff over.”
He sits up and pushes himself up against the headboard. “You want to make me breakfast?”
“Only if you’re okay with it.”
“Of course I am,” he says right as his first alarm goes off.
I stand as he reaches for his phone to shut it off. “Get ready. I’ll be downstairs getting everything ready.”
“Wait for me and I’ll help,” he offers, making me smile.
“I made everything before I left home with the exception of the eggs. All I have to do is heat it up.”
“Okay, if you’re sure,” he says, looking more awake by the minute.
“I am. Now go shower. You stink,” I lie, waving my hand in front of my nose.
Wyatt chuckles, making goose bumps break out across my skin. “Baby, we both know that’s a lie.”
“Whatever,” I mumble as I leave his room.
Halfway down the stairs, I hear the shower kick on.
Perfect.
Once in the kitchen, I start pulling everything out. I turn the oven on the lowest setting, and as it heats up, I pop the food into it to warm. Then I get to work on making eggs. Twenty minutes later, after bumbling around the guys’ kitchen, breakfast is ready, and Wyatt comes into the kitchen.
“It smells delicious in here,” he says as he pulls me into his arms.
“Yeah?”
He leans down and kisses me softly. “Yeah. For a minute, I thought I dreamed you in my room, but then when I was halfway down the stairs, I knew I hadn’t imagined it.”
“The food led you right to me, huh?” I tease, making him laugh.
“You know it. Do you need any help?”
“Nope, everything’s ready. Just grab what you want,” I tell him as I step back.
I grab a plate and hand it to him.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I hope you enjoy it.”
His eyes soften, making my heart race. “I know I will.”
I sit down at the table and turn to look at her.
She’s here. She’s really here.
When I woke up to her sitting on the edge of my bed looking like something straight out of a dream, I thought it was just that. A dream. It wasn’t, though.
This has to mean something, right?
“Does everything look okay?” she asks as she turns her plate so the bacon is off to the side.
“It looks great,” I tell her as I pull my eyes away from her.
“Not a morning person then?” she teases, making me chuckle.
“I am, but I’m still surprised to see you here,” I tell her as I pick up my fork.
“Good surprise?”
“The best.” As soon as the words leave my mouth, her shoulders relax and she smiles.
“Good. You have like an hour and a half before practice, right?”
“I do.”
She nods. “I started to second-guess if I got the time right before I left my house to come over here.”
“I don’t even want to know what time you woke up to accomplish all of this, do I?”
She winces as she shakes her head. “Probably not, but it was worth it.”
She gave up her own sleep to do something for me. Part of me feels guilty, but the other part is over the moon. This has to mean she is starting to fall for me, right?
“Seriously, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Do you have a busy day?” I ask as I take a bite of bacon.
She moves her head back and forth. “Depends on your version of busy. I have three classes, but I’ll be done by two.”
“Good, that means you can go home and take a nap.” I reach out to grab her hand, brushing my thumb across the back of it. She lets me before she softly pulls away to eat.
“Maybe, it depends on what kind of day dad is having,” she mumbles.
Before I can even formulate a response the sound of feet pounding down the stairs hits us.
“Hey,” Kellan mutters as he heads toward the counter.
“Morning,” Lyla and I say in unison.
Kellan pauses and turns to look at us. “Lyla’s here,” he points out, making us laugh.
“How nice of you to notice,” she teases.
He shakes his head. “Sorry, it just hit me. Did you stay over last night?”
“No, I came over early,” she tells him.
“What about you? Did you get home early or late? I thought you were staying at Cora’s.” I ask.
Kellan nods as he pulls out some protein powder. “Yeah, I planned to, but then she had to go back to work, so I just came home. There was an emergency placement, and they needed someone to be there with the kid while they did it.”
“Everything okay?” Lyla asks, not hiding her concern.
“Everything was fine,” Kellan tells her. “Looks like you two have been busy this morning.”
“Lyla brought over breakfast to surprise me,” I say.
Kellan smiles. “Nice.”
“There’s more than enough for you guys too. I brought enough for the whole house,” she adds.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I tell her as I lightly touch her leg under the table.
She looks over at me and smiles. “I wanted to. Besides, it would have been really rude to bring it over and not bring any for them.”
“She’s got manners, Wyatt,” Kellan teases, making her laugh. “Let’s keep her.”
I flip him off behind her head, making him laugh.
“What’s going on in here?” Jason asks as he and Calvin stumble into the kitchen.
“Jesus, could you two be any louder? I swear you were raised in a barn,” I mutter as I take another bite.
“Hey, as someone actually born in the country, I take offense to that statement,” Jason says.
“Dude, you were not born in the country,” Calvin says, shaking his head. When he sees all the food in the kitchen, he pauses. “Did someone bring over breakfast?”
“I did,” Lyla says.
Jason looks over at her. “I’m really glad I didn’t imagine letting you in.”
Lyla smiles. “You were asleep on your feet. I’m surprised you remember seeing me at all.”
“Seriously though, we can have some?” Calvin asks, pointing at the food.
“Go for it,” I tell him.
Jason points at me as they load up their plates. “You know she’s a keeper, right?”
“I do, and trust me, I plan on keeping her all to myself.” I wink at her.
Lyla’s cheeks turn pink.
“Stop it,” she murmurs quietly to me.
Never. Hasn’t she figured out that it’s my personal mission to make her realize how amazing she is?
The guys grab food and come and sit with us at the table.
“You aren’t eating?” Lyla asks as Kellan sits down.
He holds up his cup of protein. “Liquid diet. If I eat anything heavy before practice, I’ll end up leaning over a trash can seeing it a second time.”
Lyla winces. “Didn’t need to know that.”
Kellan shrugs. “You asked.”
When everyone is done eating, Jason grabs the plates and loads them into the dishwasher.
“I’ll see you guys around campus,” Lyla says as we all grab our bags.
“Aren’t you going to campus?” Kellan asks.
Lyla nods. “Yeah, but I have to stop by home first. I have something I need to take care of before my first class.”
Something I’m assuming is her dad, but that’s none of their business.
“How about we give you a ride?” I offer.
She smiles at me softly. “I can walk. It’s not a big deal. Besides, it’s out of your way.”
“Who cares? We’re about to leave twenty minutes early. Unless you live farther out…” Calvin challenges.
“It’s five minutes from here,” I tell him.
“There you have it. We’ll give you a ride,” Calvin says.
Lyla shifts from one foot to the other. “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” the guys say in unison.
For a moment all of us are quiet, and then we all laugh.
“Come on, let’s hit the road. I’m driving,” Kellan says.
We head outside, and I get into the back seat of Kellan’s SUV next to Lyla while Jason takes her other side.
I reach over to take her hand in mine, loving that she lets me like it’s natural.
Kellan heads toward her house, remembering the way from the double date we had.
She chats with my friends as if she has always been here.
Like she belongs. Looking down, I stare at her hand in my own.
I can’t help but marvel at it. I have dreamed of this for so long that it feels surreal.
Her hands are so small and soft. Nothing like mine. Her nails are even painted a light pink color. Which, for some reason, makes me smile.
Jesus, I need to pull it together.
All too soon we pull up to her place, and I get out of the car.
“Later, Lyla, thanks for breakfast,” Jason says.
The other two murmur in agreement.
“Later, guys. Have a good day at practice.” She turns toward me. “I’ll see you later?”
“I’m going to walk you to the door,” I tell her as I start to pull her toward it.
“You don’t have to,” she urges.
“But I want to,” I remind her.
She walks toward her front door, mumbling something about me being stubborn. She doesn’t even know the half of it.
Once at the front door, she pretends to huff in annoyance. “Okay, now I’ll see you later?”
“Yes, now you’ll see me later. I’ll text you when I’m out of practice.”
Her whole body softens, and she leans toward me. “Sounds good.”
Without second-guessing it, I bring my hand up and cup the back of her head and pull her face toward mine, my lips covering hers. She makes a little humming noise in the back of her throat, which makes me smile.
“Have a good day, baby,” I murmur as I pull away.
“Bye,” she says absentmindedly as I force myself to walk away.
Once I’m back in the SUV, I can’t help but smile when I see her standing in the same spot, her fingers touching her lips.
Yeah, she’s as gone for me as I am for her. I like it.