Noah grinned, his eyes bright as he said, “And your captain and center, number ninety-one, Connor O’Shea!”
A huge cheer rose up from the room and Noah grinned before he walked over to Connor.
“Hey, good to see you,” Connor said warmly.
“Good to see you too. Congrats on the relationship.” He nodded toward Jesse who stood and walked over, as if that had been his cue.
“Boucher,” Jesse said with a faint tremor in his voice, and Thad smiled when he realized how starstruck Jesse looked. Almostnervous.
“Hey, how many times have I told you to call me Noah?” he chastised softly, pulling Jesse into a friendly hug.
“Uhh, at least a couple,” Jesse said with a quiet laugh when he drew back. “It’s just … you’resuchan inspiration to me.”
Noah laughed, but it was filled with kindness. “Yeah, I heard you have a little shrine set up. Something about Saint La Bouche?”
Connor let out a choking noise and Jesse’s face went white before he covered it with his hands. “Oh my God, who told?” Jesse finally sputtered. “I am going to fuckingkillthem!”
“No, no, don’t be embarrassed. It’s quite flattering,” Noah said with a laugh and a wink. “Glad I can help out. Not that you needed it. You’ve had ahellof a couple of seasons, man. Honestly, I liked it better when you were doing it for Toronto, but I have to admit, you’re definitely flourishing here.”
Jesse relaxed a little, leaning in to press his shoulder against Connor’s. “Yeah, it’s been good. Connor and the girls and Nolan are everything to me. I’ve found my place here.”
Noah smiled. “Seems like a great group you have.”
“It is,” Connor agreed. “We have something special here.”
“Well, I won’t keep you two any longer,” Noah said with a glance at the clock counting down to when they needed to go out forwarmups. “But Simon and I will drop by after the game, and we can chat more.”
“Sounds great,” Connor said with a hearty handshake. “Enjoy the game, man.”
As Noah left the dressing room, Thad continued recording the guys inside it, but once he’d followed them into the hall and they’d headed down the tunnel for warmups, he lowered his camera.
To his surprise, Boucher stepped up and said, “Hey. You’re Thad Racine, right?”
“Uhh, yes?” Thad replied, surprised La Bouche had everheardof him.
“My husband, Simon …” Noah frowned and looked around. “Well, I am not surewherehe’s at the moment, but he specifically wanted to speak to you.”
“To me?” Thad asked, even more confused.
“Yes. Oh, there’s Simon!” He gestured toward a tall, handsome man with jet-black hair who was juggling two toddlers, one on each hip, as he and Tyson came around the corner. “Oh, shit, let me go help. He has his hands full.”
Thad followed Noah over to Simon and Tyson. Without a word, Simon passed over their son to Noah with a grateful look, still nodding at whatever Tyson had said.
Noah stepped closer to Thad, grinning and turning his body so Thad could see the face of the toddler he was holding. “This is Théo and Simon has Camille.”
“Twins?” Thad asked, smiling at Théo who buried his head against his father’s neck.
“Yup. That’s common with surrogacy. We knew going in but …” Noah gave Thad a faint shrug. “I guess nothing prepares you for parenthood, no matter how many you end up with. Turns out caring for twins is a lot of work though, eh?”
Thad chuckled. “I have heard that.”
Noah smiled. “Worth it though.”
“Wait until they become teenagers,” Thad said drily. “Then you’llreallyhave your hands full, if Gavin and I were any indication.”
Noah laughed. “That’s what my sister, Margot, keeps telling me, eh. She was our surrogate and she and her husband, Hugh, have four kids of their own.”
“Wow. That’s quite a gift,” Thad said.
