Chapter 9
NINE
I’ll make it weird. I’ll make it weird as fuck.
—Magnolia to Beau
BEAU
The ride home from the hospital was quiet.
I’d left during her discharge to go grab the booster seat from Constance and Odin and had been back just in time to see her being wheeled outside.
Constance had informed me that it was ‘mine to keep’ since I was ‘about to have her with me all the time.’
I hadn’t disagreed with my good friend’s new wife, because I agreed with her. I’d been denying what I wanted for eight months now.
I had a way out planned for my future, and there was no reason to wait any longer.
After today’s events, and almost losing Iris, I’d come to the conclusion on the way to the emergency room that I’d wasted enough of my life.
Now, both were quiet and fully asleep as I drove through the quiet streets of Sawtooth.
The snow always made everything seem so much quieter.
I craved this kind of peace when I was away from it.
Yet another thing that my sister had taken away.
I always traveled with the team. We went to every major city all over the country, and I had quickly come to realize that I liked none of them. They were all too loud. Too crowded. Too peopley.
But my hometown, and the surrounding two towns—Jawbone and Bear Pass—was my happy place.
I never wanted to leave it again.
I’d done the whole traveling thing.
I hadn’t realized until I’d had to start traveling again how bone-tiring it was.
Plus, let’s just be honest, people in big cities were different.
There wasn’t that ‘love thy neighbor’ feel at any of them.
There was hustle and bustle. Who could get ahead of who. Who knew who.
That wasn’t something that happened here.
I grew up a Vanderbilt. And honestly, my family’s wealth hadn’t been a bone of contention between anyone growing up.
It’d just been me, Boone, and all good friends. There were no dollar signs. No silver spoons. Just us being us.
And that was how I liked it.
Instead of taking Magnolia and Iris to their home, I’d taken them to mine.
I wasn’t sure how they would feel going back to their place, but for now, they’d be safe at mine.
I had a sprawling ranch smack dab in between Jawbone and Sawtooth. I was forty-five minutes away from the stadium, and in the middle of nowhere.
I had a creek that ran through my backyard that was glacier fed from the mountain that I lived at the base of.
When I looked out my front window every morning, I could see goats on the mountain, elk in my field, and deer aplenty.
And somehow, I knew that both mother and daughter would love my ranch.
As paved road gave way to gravel, Magnolia finally stirred.
She lifted her head from where it was resting against the headrest and looked around.
“Where are we?” she asked quietly.
I gestured toward the house coming into view. “My place. I didn’t know if you’d want to go back to yours.”
She blew out a relieved breath. “I don’t even know if I locked the door.”
“I sent Constance and Odin over there after I grabbed the booster from them.” I pulled to a stop under the carport. “They locked up, and also packed a bag for you and Iris.” I paused. “I know that you won’t want to go to the game tomorrow so…”
“No.” She was already shaking her head. “I’m going to that. I have two left. Iris will just be along for the ride. They’re used to her going with me anyway. Plus, the school will completely understand after what happened today.”
Magnolia had reached an understanding with the private school that I’d helped get Iris into. Two days a week she did school online. Three days she did in-person.
She joined class via Zoom, and the teacher always let her know a day ahead of time what would be required for class that day.
Though, both Magnolia and teacher alike were ready for Iris to be there five days a week. No matter how hard we tried to make it the same, it wasn’t. Iris loved school with her friends. Friends that were kind and understanding, and even some that were a little bit like her.
I could always tell that she was sad that she wasn’t there to participate when she did her Zoom school.
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” I said as I got out.
Magnolia had rounded the truck just as I pulled Iris out of her booster and into my arms.
She came willingly, wrapping her little arms around my neck.
“You know,” she mused as she watched with a small smile on her face. “You’re able to do things with her that even I can’t get her to do with me.”
I flashed her a grin. “I think it’s because I sneak her ice cream.”
She grinned back. “I’m sure that helps. But not even ice cream will get her to trust you like she does.”
That made me feel all warm inside. “Maybe it’s because I know how to sign, and I don’t push her boundaries?
I know that you don’t do that, but I’m just someone that she made friends with.
Not her parent. She’s allowed to break down with you because she knows you’ll love her unconditionally. Me? I’m just a cool person.”
“It’s more,” she admitted. “But that’s something that we’ll talk about later.”
I winked at her and walked to the front door.
I put my thumb on the scanner and made a mental note to add Magnolia to it so she could get inside anytime she wanted.
The door closed behind us, and the ache of my lonely house didn’t hit the same as it usually did.
“Do you want to sleep in the same room with her?” I asked.
“I would, but she likes her space,” she admitted. “Don’t happen to have a room with double beds, do you?”
“I have a room with a king-sized bed—mine. I have a room with a double bed. And I have a room with a pull-out couch. I can probably move the couch…”
“No,” she said. “I’m serious about her liking her space. She really doesn’t like sharing a bed with me. She says I sweat.”
I chuckled as I led her down the hall toward a bedroom in the middle of mine and the other guest one. This way, she’d be protected on both sides if she wandered to try to find us.
“What time do we have to get out of here in the morning?” she asked. “I have no clue where we’re at.”
“About forty-five minutes away from the stadium,” I answered. “We can leave around nine and get there in plenty of time to board the bus to the plane.”
That was another thing I implemented this year. Plane rides.
My sister had made the team ride the bus to the games, which took fucking forever.
I’d splurged on a contract with the same team that flew the Condors around to games.
It worked out well, raised team morale, and was a big “fuck you” to my sister for being so stingy.
This was a professional team, for Christ’s sake. She should act like it.
“Perfect,” she said. “Where are the bags?”
I poked my head into the first room as we passed and said, “There.”
She walked with me to the second room and watched as I gently laid Iris down.
“Today was the scariest day of my life.”
I tucked the blanket up over her and stared at the mark on Iris’s forehead.
“These sheets and bedding are Lysander approved,” I mused.
“Yeah?”
Her voice trembled.
“Yeah.” I turned to her. “Let’s go out to the kitchen.”
She followed me, her footsteps hesitant to leave her girl behind.
When we got to the kitchen, I poured her a glass of chocolate milk, and she smiled. “Didn’t know that you kept chocolate milk on hand here for yourself.”
“I don’t,” I admitted. “I keep it for you.”
She blinked.
“I’ve been in love with you for eight months, Noli.”
Her inhale was swift as I handed her the milk.
She took it with a trembling hand.
“Today, when I got the call that Iris was hurt, I felt like my heart took a flying leap out of my chest,” I said. “I didn’t realize how much she’d come to mean to me.”
Magnolia placed the glass down on the counter, then threw herself into my arms.
I caught her, bringing her into my chest, and burying my face into her neck.
“I’ve never been so happy than to get there and see her smile at me,” I said against her skin. “I can’t even imagine what would’ve happened had I had to see what you did today. You’re so fucking strong.”
She sniffled. “I’m so scared. All the time.”
I squeezed her shoulders. “She’s okay.”
She blew out a breath, then pushed away from me, staring into my eyes. “It’s not just that.”