Wyatt scoffs. “Well, Dad had to calm Mom down when she wanted to buy a toaster for your new bride. Something about it being a traditional wedding gift. Dad stopped her, and then she said he was right, she needs to go bigger, so she started looking at honeymoon destinations. She’s completely hyped up on your news.”
I scratch my stubbled jaw and can totally picture my mom doing that.
“Dadneeds to talk with your brother,” our father’s voice breaks the conversation. We both look up to see our dad towering over us. He gives a pointed look to my little brother. “Go to my office, have a snack, and we’ll leave in a little bit so we’re back in time for dinner with your mom and little brother.”
Wyatt hops up and throws on a beaming smile. “Someone is getting a talk,” he taunts me and nearly skips away happy.
It only makes me entertained, and I look at my father. “I was going to find you, figured you would be in your office.”
He hums a sound and comes to sit next to me, scanning the area to ensure nobody else is in earshot. “Let’s have a chat,Son.”
I roll my eyes to the side but my grin stays. “Oh boy, here we go.”
“Now that the shock has worn off and I realize that you and Hadley weren’t joking with us, then I think we should talk.”
I hold up my hand to show him my ring. “You mean about this? My marriage.” It still astonishes me how easy it is to say that.
He gives me an unimpressed look. “Connor, I don’t care how you two kids ended up married.” Drunk, that’s how, but I’m not going to highlight that. “What I care about is that you put in the effort tostayin a lasting marriage.”
My grin fades as his words hit me a little more than I was expecting. “Go on,” I say softly because I owe him this. Even more, I owe it to myself. I’ve been living in the moment the past few days, but maybe someone needs to pour a dash of reality on me.
“You play hockey, and that’s a team sport. But the greatest team that you will ever be on is the one with your wife.” He’s serious, but I can’t help it because it’s so cheesy that I burst out laughing. “Connor Spears, I’m serious. Communication, practice, and determination to make it forever are the qualities you want in a marriage.”
I hold my hand for him to stop. “Come on, Dad, even you can admit this is a stretch on the ridiculous side? Didn’t you rehearse this? Come up with a different angle?”
His lips purse out then he pauses before he too has a line stretching on the corner of his mouth. “You get my point, though, right?”
“I hear you.”
He affectionately touches my shoulder. “Do you? Because you have a bonus in this situation. You’ve known your new bride since she was a little girl, and you were the boy who would pull her pigtails. Spencer and April are not only neighbors and friends, but they also care for you as if you were family, and we feel the same for Hadley. You’ve watched Hadley flourish into a woman, and she watched you turn into a man. Not many spouses can say that.”
As touching as his speech is, he’s killing me here. “You lost me at Hadley flourished into a woman. Seriously, you have a few years before Wyatt starts to date. Work on this.” I gently nudge his shoulder. But when all is said and done, he is right.
My father laughs. “Fine. Let me keep it basic. You be there for Hadley, you treat her like a queen and with the outmost respect. I don’t care if in your head you did this because of the talk we had the other week. You will stay married, not because I don’t want my son divorced before he’s twenty-five. No, you will stay married because you’ve both been blind. She cares for you, more than she wants to admit, but I bet my life that if she thought today would be your last then she would be honest, and you would do the same.”
I begin to protest, but my words are trapped at the bottom of my throat.
He continues our heart-to-heart. “She’s wrapped you so tightly around her finger that you don’t even realize.”
My bitter laugh interrupts him. “What if I have always realized?” I’m sincere in my answer. My father’s words only scrape the surface of the obvious that my consciousness decided to hide away.
He smiles gently. “I’ve seen the way you get, and it’s only with her. You get one soulmate in your life; don’t be stupid and ruin your chance to keep her.”
He might be disappointed in a few months when Hadley and I call it quits, except nowhere in the last forty-eight hours, other than saying we would be temporary, have I actuallybelievedwe would be temporary.
“Uh-oh, my first born is pondering. I can tell by the troubled scowl appearing on his face.” He stands and grins in accomplishment. “There. Talk done.” He points at me. “Don’t forget, charity hockey game next weekend to raise money for puppies.” He walks away, knowing damn well my brain is now working in overtime.
The truth is it doesn’t take much to think about. I know his points are valid. The only problem is that Hadley and I are so far gone on our game of cat and mouse that I don’t know where to begin to unravel what we’re doing.
* * *
It feelslike a long car ride before I stop at my aunt Violet’s flower shop. She normally has an answer when I need one.
Entering The Flower Jar, she smirks as she arranges a bouquet of mostly purple blooms in a vase, her eyes staying focused on adjusting the height of the flowers. “What brings my newly married nephew to me today?” she asks.
“Duck it,” the parrot in the cage chirps. He doesn’t know many words, but the ones he does are very questionable. My aunt had to keep the bird when she took over the building from the landlady, and despite telling everyone she hated the parrot, when Uncle Declan bought the building from the landlady and promised to get rid of the bird, Aunt Violet said Nugget could stay.
I walk to Nugget’s cage and cluck my tongue on the roof of my mouth to grab his attention before I answer my aunt Violet. “Flowers.”
