“Do you … like my daughter?”
“Of course I like her.”
Vadim snorted. Remy grinned. Even Theo looked amused.
Bren? Not so much.
“What I think Bren’s asking is if you like-like her,” Theo said.
I turned to Bren. “Is that what you’re asking?”
Silence, made only more eerie by the craggy-faced veteran standing before me.
“Yeah. Yeah, I do. But I don’t think she likes me the same way.”
Another snort from Vadim. How did he make it sound so Russian?
“Knew it,” Theo said.
“What? That she doesn’t like me the same way?”
My brother laughed. “No, that you like her. God, you kids are a mess.”
We were. I didn’t mind admitting it.
“I’m not what she expected and she’s not what I expected. And rather than thinking that’s a good thing because surprises are the fucking best, she’s sticking to her guns. The rules were set in the beginning, and the ending can’t be any different than what she planned.”
Never mind that the middle had changed everything.
“Perhaps you should come up with a pros and cons list,” Vadim said. “Franky is a woman who likes to think things through. She would like a man who comes at it logically.”
Remy scoffed. “Logic? This is the heart we’re talking about. Francoise needs a big gesture, maybe something on the Jumbotron during the Finals.”
Franky would hate that. Me, on the other hand? I kind of liked the idea.
I turned to Bren, expecting a contribution. He raised an eyebrow, and then … nothing. In other words, you’ve done enough to upset her, asshole.
A taut moment later, Bren skated off, followed by his cohort, while Theo raised an eyebrow and patted my arm.
We were here to skate. I needed to forget my head and my heart and think only of my hands, feet, and the blood pumping through my veins. I had a cup to win.
After practice, Theo and I went to the Sunny Side Up Diner for breakfast. He had been relatively quiet during the on-ice Francesca debrief, but I expected he’d have more to say now. We put in orders—the Theo omelet for him, the French toast and pancake stack for me—and then I sat back and waited.
He stirred his coffee. “So tell me what’s going on.”
I inhaled a breath. “Somehow, she’s gotten the impression that I might have offered my sperm donation services purely to prove Everly wrong. Like, ‘look at me, I can have a baby, too.’”
Theo looked horrified. “Dude, tell me that’s not what happened.”
“Not … really? Sure, seeing Everly happy and knocked up by Coughlan got me thinking about what I was missing. Kids, the wife, the life.” Everything you have, brother. “The chance to have a kid was right there. I didn’t really care about the wife part until?—”
“You did.”
I sipped my coffee. “She thinks she’s the pinch hitter. The stand-in because I didn’t get what I wanted with Everly. But hell, Theo, neither of us went in expecting more than a bundle of joy at the end of the nine months.”
“And now you’re in love with your baby mama and she’s not buying it.”
“I’m not—that’s not …” I’d been trying my best not to put a label on it. That seemed the safest way to approach the situation. Now I felt like shit, so I guessed I’d screwed up somewhere.
