Chapter 49
I’m covering the last piece of French toast with the flaky topping when I hear the front door open. Sadie is still upstairs on the phone. I don’t want Sophia to run up and see her yet, so I holler out to her and my parents.
“I’m in the kitchen!”
Sophia comes to a screeching halt when she sees me cooking in the kitchen. “Daddy! Where is my surprise! Is it a goat?”
That godforsaken goat. I’m about to just get her one so I don’t have to hear her talk about it anymore. Come to think of it, Sadie would probably love that too. I make a mental note to call the petting zoo sometime soon to see if they can help me out with that.
“Sorry, Rakas. No goat today.”
Sophia dramatically sighs with her disapproval. Now that I’m done prepping French toast, I set the bowl in the sink and turn back to my daughter.
“Oh, so if it’s not a goat, you’re not interested? You don’t want the other surprise that’s here for you?”
She starts vigorously shaking her head. “No, no, no. Daddy. I still want the surprise! Please!”
My parents walk into the kitchen hand in hand, and they make their way to the stools at the island. It’s not unusual for them to hang out after dropping Sophia off, but the glint in my mother’s eye is awfully suspicious.
“We wanted to see what this surprise is all about too.”
Of course they do. I’m about to explain, but my dad catches me off guard.
“Son, did you know your car door was left open overnight? I thought someone broke in but other than the driver’s seat being drenched, it doesn’t look like anyone was poking around in there.”
Oh, fuck. I forgot. I was in such a hurry to find Sadie, I didn’t bother shutting the door.
“Uh, about that. There’s a reason I left it open. It’s going to sound pretty silly when I explain it but—”
“Good morning,” Sadie sing-songs when she walks back into the kitchen.
Sophia turns on her heel and screams as loud as I’ve ever heard her. “Miss Sadie!”
She takes off toward Sadie as fast as her little feet will allow. Sadie crouches down and catches Sophia when she launches herself into Sadie’s arms.
“Hey, Sunshine. I’m so happy to see you.”
I hear somebody sniffle, and when I look at my parents, I see my mom wiping a tear from her eye. My dad pulls her into his side, and when my mom finally looks from the girls to me, she waves me off. “Ignore me. I’m just so happy to see Sadie is still here.”
Sadie walks over to me, Sophia clinging onto her for dear life. She smiles at my parents and then looks down at Sophia.
“I was thinking I’d stay in Green Bay. If that’s okay with you, of course?” She’s still looking at Sophia, waiting for her to respond. Hell, we all are. Not that it’s up to a five-year-old, but having her seal of approval would be the cherry on top.
Sophia finally picks her head up off Sadie’s shoulder. She looks between Sadie and me a few times before turning to Sadie with a very serious look on her face.
“Are you going to leave again?”
Sadie doesn’t hesitate this time. “No, Sophia. I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”
Sophia buries her face back in Sadie’s shoulder, her little arms squeezing as tight as can be around her neck. “I want you to stay forever.”
I reach down and run my fingers through Sophia’s blonde hair.
“I think I’d like that too, baby girl.”
The five of us move to the dining room table while we wait for the French toast to be done. Sophia is a chatterbox, clearly excited that Sadie is here and she’s here to stay.
“And then Pappa put on the crown! He was the funniest princess in the whole world.”
We all chuckle, and I eye my dad with a smirk. He shrugs his shoulders. “I thought I pulled it off quite well. Who says pappas can’t be princesses too?”
Once the oven goes off, Sadie and I head to the kitchen to grab everything we’ll need for our first official family breakfast.
I grab the French toast and place it on the counter while Sadie moves gracefully around me, grabbing plates, cups, orange juice, and fruit from the refrigerator.
We move so effortlessly together in this space, I’m oddly excited to do this every day.
I want to wake up with her every morning, make love, and then come down here and create a beautiful meal for our family.
The fairytale in my brain is too good to ignore, so, before I can stop myself, I’m propositioning Sadie.
“Move in with us.”
Sadie is mid-pour when her head turns toward me, eyes wide with surprise. “You mean in the apartment?”
I set the spatula I was using down and grab her shoulders gently, turning her so we’re facing each other.
“No. Move into the main house with us. Sleep in my bed. I want you to be the last thing I see before I go to sleep and the first thing I see when I open my eyes in the morning. Move in with us.”
Sadie’s breath hitches and her eyes fill with unshed tears. “Okay. I’ll move in with you.”
I’m grabbing Sadie and lifting her up, twirling her around in a circle as soon as the words are out of her mouth. She’s giggling and squealing, and the sound is music to my ears.
I have the urge to throw her over my shoulder and take her upstairs, but Sophia’s voice calling our names makes me think better of it. Reluctantly, I set Sadie back down on the ground.
“We should get out there,” Sadie says, her eyes not moving from mine.
“You’re probably right.”
We finish plating our food and it’s quite impressive we’re able to grab everything in one trip. Sadie’s balancing two plates on one arm and has three drinks cradled in the other. Doing my best not to drop the plates I’m holding, I lean down and give her a quick kiss on the lips.
“We make quite the team, Kulta.”
She pushes up onto her tiptoes, and I give her another kiss. I follow her into the dining room and the scene in front of me steals all the air from my lungs.
My parents. Sophia. Sadie. All sitting at the table, ready to enjoy breakfast together.
I’m the luckiest man in the world, and I’ll never ever take that for granted.
It’s been three days since Sadie’s decided to stay with us for good. Just like she said she would, she moved into my room—our room—to start life with us as a family, and I couldn’t be happier. Neither could Sophia, who refuses to leave Sadie’s side today at the barbecue we’re hosting.
I haven’t had the team over in a while. It’s hard to get everyone here, especially around playoffs when we all have our own ways of mentally preparing for those types of games.
I don’t like to throw a wrench in anyone’s system with so much on the line.
But with the end of the season, I decided to have one final get together before the guys take off back to their home countries or wherever they spend their summers.
I’m busy manning the barbecue, so I haven’t been able to mingle much. Coach Lincoln and Coach Ellie just arrived, and as soon as they see me they head my way.
Lincoln pats me on the back. “Thanks for having the team over, man. I think it’s great for morale. Especially after how shitty of an ending we had this season.”
Ellie bumps Lincoln with her beer bottle. “Hey, no work talk today. We’re here to relax and say goodbye to the team. Not stress them out about next year.” She quirks an eyebrow and Lincoln holds his hands up in surrender.
“All right, all right. How are you doing, Cap? Sophia seems happy.”
I follow his gaze to where my daughter is sitting on Sadie’s lap and she’s playing rock, paper, scissors with Coach Hunter and Lincoln’s cousin Katie.
“Yeah. She is. So am I.”
Ellie squeezes my arm which has me looking back to them. “I’m happy for you. Really, I am. But if you ever do anything to hurt my best friend again, don’t think I won’t get your ass traded.”
We all laugh and start talking about our plans for the summer.
Ellie and Lincoln are apparently heading to Michigan for the summer.
They both grew up there and the northern part of the state is gorgeous this time of year.
Hearing them talk about their plans makes me want to plan a trip with my girls.
Sadie joins us now, and I look behind me to see Sophia happily chasing Hunter around.
Ellie’s panicked voice catches me by surprise. “Oh my gosh, I forgot to tell you. You know how Mickey, our play-by-play commentator, retired this year?”
I’m concentrating on not burning the burgers, so I nod along to let Ellie know I’m still listening.
Sadie, eyeing her best friend’s abrupt excitement, casually asks, “Yeah? What about it?”
“Well, I invited the new hire to come to the barbecue today. I hope that’s okay with you, Niko.”
I glance at her quickly. “Of course it is. It would be good for him to meet the team and get to know us a bit.”
Ellie smirks. “It would be good for her to get to know the team.”
“No shit? The new commentator is a female? Hell yeah! Do you know her?”
Sadie’s voice raises an octave, catching the attention of a few people around us. They move in closer, wanting to know just as badly who she is.
Connor steps in behind me and nods toward the small group of people that’s now gathered around my Blackstone. “What’s with all the excitement?”
I remove some of the food from the grill and set it on the plate in front of him.
“Apparently, the Bobcats hired a new commentator. I think Ellie knows her.”
We both turn our attention back to Ellie as she tells everyone about the new hire. “She’s a few years younger than me but I played against her for one year in college. She’s actually from Green Bay and played at Wisconsin.”
Connor chokes on his drink.
I turn and slap him on the back once. “You good, dude?”
“Yeah, just went down the wrong pipe.”
I don’t believe him for a second. His face is pale and he looks like he’s about to throw up. I’m about to ask him what the hell his problem is but Ellie’s voice catches all of our attention.
“Oh, here she is now!”
Everyone turns their heads at the same time, and I feel bad for the poor woman. I try to peer around everyone’s heads, and that’s when I see her. She looks so fucking familiar. Where do I know her from? And then it hits me.
“Connor, isn’t that the woman you were staring at on your phone after we won game seven?”
The sound of Connor’s beer bottle shattering on the ground causes everyone to turn their attention to him.
I look back to Connor. He and the new hire are locked in a standoff. Everyone looks between them, trying to figure out what the hell is going on.
Finally, Connor speaks.
“Avery.”