I bark out a laugh.“That is too cute!Mine looks more like when Anna wakes up drooling.”
Marcus walks over with a small canvas bag.
Olivia turns her big eyes on him.“Can Tessa do it?”
He smiles, shrugging.“If Tessa’s up for it.”
I pat the spot right in front of me.“Come here, turn around so I can see what we are working with.”
She crawls closer and twists around, smelling like sunscreen and lake water.Taking the mixture that Marcus handed me, I finger-comb the curls gently, working the oil through until they shine again.“There,” I say softly.“Good as new.”
She turns to look at me, all serious.“Now I do yours.”
I laugh, sitting cross-legged while she clambers behind me, tiny hands tugging through my curls with exaggerated care.Every time she hits a tangle, she huffs, muttering something about “royal hair being difficult.”
Kenzie snaps a picture, grinning from ear to ear.
“You’ve officially been claimed,” she teases.
I am not sure what to say.My life has changed so much since coming back here.I don't think I have ever been claimed by so many people before in my life.I wasn't sure what to expect from coming here, but I am glad I did.
When Olivia finishes, she kisses the top of my head gently, something I am sure her daddy must do, and whispers.“All done, my precious princess cowgirl.”
I smile.“Is that a thing?”
She nods like it’s the most obvious truth in the world.“It is now.We might have to tell Disney.They have rights, you know.”
I laugh so hard at that, I don't remember smiling this much in a long time.I catch Marcus watching us, and before he heads back towards some of the other players, he mouths'thank you'.I swear I can feelhimwatching me again, but I don't look.He has yet to approach me, and no matter how hot that man is, I am not wading through the sea of his female fan club to fight for his attention.
The afternoon passes in a blur.Kenzie is beaming, soaking in whatever attention she can get from her brother when he isn't surrounded by women.I am pulled into selfies and group pictures with some of the players.One of the guys here, Jamie, is a part of the marketing and PR team for the Kodiaks.We talked about how he's hoping to get some wholesome pictures for the team's social media to balance out the bad press.I shoot him a look when he says wholesome, and he smirks with a'I know'look, "I have been selective with who I am including in the pictures.Plus, the ones I have of you and Liv are golden."
We chat some more, and he follows my account, so he can tag me in photos.
I look up to see John shifting uncomfortably.I excuse myself and make my way over to one of the families who have claimed me as their own over this past year, hoping that the result of today's visit goes the way Kenzie is hoping for.
Chapter 10 - Nate
I’ve been meaning to walk over there all damn day.
Every time I take a step, something gets in the way.A teammate with a question.A camera pointed where I don’t want it.A girl who thinks my bicep is a handrail.Or maybe it isn’t them.Maybe it’s me, more content to watch than risk finding out I don’t have anything worth saying she’d want to hear.
So I watch.
Tessa’s by the lower deck, sunlight sliding over her shoulders like it was invented for that job.She’s been orbiting in and out of circles that have nothing in common except the way they rearrange themselves when she walks up.Kenzie drags her to meet wives and kids; Reeves’ little girl barely leaves her side.Even Jamie, the kid from PR, has her laughing, hands moving as he pitches something that looks a lot like hope in a storyboard.
I tell myself I’ll go when she’s alone.She isn’t.Not once.And even when there’s a slice of space, my feet act like I nailed them to the deck.
I want to thank her.That’s the line I feed myself.Thanks for getting Mom and Dad here.Thanks for whatever you said that made Eli unclench his jaw.Thanks for the way Kenzie looks ten pounds lighter in worry today.
But the words sit heavy, stuck behind my ribs with everything else I don’t say.
Tessa finishes with Jamie and starts toward my parents.My feet finally listen.One step, then another, heat beating up through the boards into my soles, bass thudding against the inside of my skull like a second pulse.
I almost make it.
Reeves cuts across my line, Olivia’s towel-wrapped body tucked against his chest, a careful look on his face I’ve only ever seen on the ice.He moves toward Tessa like the ground shifts a degree to make it easier.They exchange a few words I can’t hear, and then she smiles, bright, blinding, like the sun came closer on purpose, and hands him her phone.
I stop so fast it feels like a groin pull.
