“So,” Jamie began, fishing the last two pieces of clothing from the bag, “I mean, obviously, you don’t have to take this if you don’t want to. I just thought…” He cleared his throat. “Anyway. Here’s one of my jerseys.” He held up one of his jerseys that matched what Rowan was wearing. “Or this.” He returned to the bag, pulling out one of his oldest team crewneck sweatshirts. The team logo was faded, and he’d cropped it so, onhisbody, it hit a few inches above his bellybutton. “Thought you might like this.”
Tyler’s eyes brightened, his mouth curving up into a grin. “That,” he said, pointing to the sweatshirt.
Five minutes later, Jamie watched Tyler strap Rowan’s carseat into the back of his truck. Tyler’s hands moved quickly, although Jamie was having a hard time ignoring the way his black skinny jeans hugged his ass.
Once Rowan was situated with Bunny and a handful of blueberries for a snack, Jamie pulled out of the driveway.
“Jamie?” Rowan called from the back seat.
“Yeah, bud?”
“Can we listen to Baba Barley?”
Jamie glanced at Tyler. “What?” he whispered.
Tyler smiled, shaking his head as he pulled out his phone. “He means Bob Marley,” he said softly.
“Oh my god,” Jamie laughed, and something warm and fuckingbigtangled in his chest. “Yeah, we’ll get some Baba Barley for you.” To Tyler, he added, “That’s the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Once Bob Marley was playing, the rest of the drive was quiet. Rowan’s small voice sang from the back seat, and Jamie’s face ached from grinning.
They parked in the player’s garage, and Rowan clung tightly to Tyler’s hand as they walked into the practice arena. It was where the team spent a lot of their time, including meals, training, meetings, and some of their medical staff had offices there.
“Mr. Sullivan!” Tanya, the security guard, gave him a fist bump. “How’s the hand?”
“Cleared to skate this morning, so that’s good,” Jamie replied. “This is Tyler, and his son Rowan.”
Tanya practically beamed as she introduced herself. “Well, aren’t you all the cutest? Lovely to meet you both.”
Jamie led them down the hallway to the locker room. It was mostly empty at this time of day, but he knew Mitch and his teammate Sergei were bringing their kids to skate.
Jamie had done a poor job concealing how much he cared about this going well. Mitch had only teased him for a moment, before laying off with one of those smiles that said he saw right through Jamie. “It’s a sweet thing to do,” he’d said. “The kids and I will be there.”
More than anything, Jamie wanted to make sure Rowan had fun.
The boy was up in Tyler’s arms, watching his surroundings with those big, curious eyes. It was probably overwhelming, being somewhere new, but he seemed to be hanging in there.
When Jamie opened the locker room door, children’s laughterechoed off the low ceilings. Without thinking, he placed a hand on Tyler’s lower back, nudging him down the hallway.
Tyler looked back over his shoulder, his eyes wide.
Shit. Jamie drew his hand back. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice a whisper. “I don’t know what I was–”
“It’s okay,” Tyler said, his brown eyes searching Jamie’s. “You just surprised me.”
“Sully!”
Mitch’s kids came running down the hall, followed closely by Sergei’s youngest daughter.
“Hey, gang,” Jamie said, smiling down at the gaggle of kids, who were already geared up in skates and helmets. He’d helped teach Stef how to skate last year, and now she toddled along on her skates just like her older siblings.
“Dad is making us stretch before skating,” Henri said, scrunching up her nose. “Stretching is boring.”
“Stretching keeps you from getting hurt.” Jamie didn’t try to hide his amusement. “Come on. I’ll put some tunes on and we can make it fun!”
Then, it was chaos. The younger kids ran circles around the adults. Jamie introduced Tyler to Sergei, who shook his hand with the sort of stoic, rough politeness Jamie was used to from him. Sergei’s teenage boys strapped into hockey gear as they exchanged conversation in rapid Russian.
It took a while to get Rowan in his skates and helmet, but Jamie and Tyler worked together. Once Rowan was geared up, Jamie and Tyler sat side by side and laced up their skates.
