“Louie’s head wasn’t in it tonight,” she says. “Could’ve cost us.”
“Agreed.” I smooth a hand over her bulging belly. “And how is baby girl feeling after that win?”
Lennons sighs and holds her lower back. “She’s quiet now, but I’m sure when I’m trying to sleep later is when she’ll decide she needs to celebrate.”
“Two more months,” my mother-in-law assures her. “You’ll forget all this pain and want to do it all over again once you hold her in your arms.”
Lennon rolls her eyes and levels me with a serious look. “Not happening. Two and done, right, babe?”
“Right,” I say then wink at Rose, who hides her smile from her daughter.
Lennon scoffs at the both of us. “I miss the times when you didn’t even like him.”
Rose looks affronted. “I never disliked him!”
She totally did.
It took almost a year for her parents to come around to the idea of us being together. While her dad, Cameron, was a fan of mine back when I was playing, that did nothing to win him over when it came to his one and only daughter.
They didn’t like how our relationship started, the fact that I was divorced, and twelve years older. But as time went on and we proved to them that what we had was real, they slowly came around.
And when we got married six years ago, Rose even danced with me during the mother-son dance I couldn’t have with my own mother.
Now, her and Cameron have moved out to Denver to be closer to us to help out with Killian, and soon, Evelynn as well, while Lennon and I work with the Mountaineers. It’s been nice having family close by since mine still lives back in Michigan.
Lennon checks her watch. “We should get going. I’m sure your dad and brother already have the barbeque going, and they better not eat all the ribs before we get there.”
We each stop by our respective offices to grab our things, collect Killian from where he’s play-fighting with a few of the players in the locker room, and get the car loaded up.
My dad, Seb, Sierra, and their three kids are all visiting this weekend to celebrate my dad’s birthday. Since it’s the middle of the season, and with Lennon being in her third trimester, we couldn’t make it back to Michigan to celebrate there. So since we had a matinee game today, we’re having a cookout and small party tonight back at our house for him.
The drive home is quick, and the moment the car is parked in the garage, Killian is unbuckling himself out of his carseat and tugging on the handle.
“I wanna go play, hurry up!”
“You need to say please?—”
Lennon clicks the locks, and the next thing I know, Killian is running in front of the car and into the house. I look over at my wife. “I was trying to teach him manners.”
“And I’m trying to have a moment of peace,” she counters with an exhausted sigh. “Just a small one before we go face the chaos.”
Rose clicks her seatbelt and opens her door. “I’ll go see what I can help the boys with.” The door shuts, and we’re enveloped in perfect silence.
Lennon leans her head back against the headrest, her chocolate-brown hair still styled in perfect curls down her shoulders.
“You know, we have a moment to ourselves now…” I trail off and squeeze her thigh.
She immediately holds up a single finger. “Nope. Not again. You already got what you wanted in the shower this morning.”
“I think you wanted it, too.”
She rolls her head to look at me. “Damn straight. But my feet are swollen, and my back feels like it’s on fire.”
I lean across the console and press a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll massage them tonight once we get Killian down.”
She smiles contentedly. “I love you.”
“Love you too, baby. Now, we have a party to get to.”
