Luca nods. “Me too.” He takes off his helmet and rubs at his hair. “I should go shower up. See you later tonight?”
“Pillows and all,” I mutter under my breath.
His gaze tightens, but he nods. I’m not sure if he caught what I said or not. The crowd has dispersed, so it’s not nearly as loud as it had been earlier.
“Give Zeke a goodnight kiss from me,” Luca says.
I pause, surprised. He’s never tucked Zeke into bed. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him give my son a kiss or say that he loves him.
“Yeah, will do.” I force a smile but can’t help but feel confused.
Luca glances around me. “Do you have a ride home? Where’d Kensley and Nova go?”
“They’re heading to the party. I walked here with Zeke. I’ll walk back. It’s fine, there’s plenty of people out tonight, and the weather is nice.”
“It’s single digits outside. It’s not nice. Just wait by the locker room. I’ll drive you back to the house before the party.”
“You don’t have to do that, Luca.”
“I’m not asking. Wait for me outside the locker room.”
I give a curt nod. “Yeah, sure.”
He skates off to shower and change. I wander through the stands, making my way toward the entrance of the Narwhals’ locker room.
A few other girls are standing around waiting, Nova and Kensley included.
“Hey!” Nova’s eyes widen, surprised to see me and Zeke. “I thought you were taking the little tiger home for bed?”
“We are, but Luca is driving us home. He didn’t want me to walk alone.”
Kensley smiles and leans against the wall. “That’s really sweet of him.”
Nearly thirty minutes later, Luca steps out of the locker room, Chase and Ashton right behind him.
Luca’s hair is wet, and a few water beads drip down his neck as he wipes them with the back of his hand. “I’m going to drive Harper and Zeke back home, then I’ll be at the party. Nova and Kensley, Chase is going to drive you to the party. I’ll take you guys and Ashton home after.”
“Here, let me take him.” Luca offers his arms out to hold Zeke.
“Are you sure?” Zeke is nearly asleep. His eyelids keep fluttering open and shut as he fights it.
“You’ve been holding him all night. Let me give you a break for a few minutes.”
I manage to untangle Zeke from my grip and hand him over to Luca. “Thanks.”
Zeke’s eyes widen as he changes from me to Luca, but then he settles right back down and shuts his eyes, cuddling Luca.
Within seconds, my little toddler is snoring soundly, which is going to be problematic because I have to put his winter coat and hat on him.
“You played well today.” I am really proud of Luca, he excels quite well at hockey. Maybe he can make a professional career of it and steer clear of his father’s business.
“I did okay,” Luca says modestly, offering a wry smile. “It was a good game.”
I button my coat and slip on my hat. We approach the door outside but pause while I manage to wrangle Zeke’s coat on him.
He fidgets and grumbles, his eyes opening and shutting. He doesn’t want to stay awake, and he also doesn’t seem to want to put his coat on, but I manage to get it on with Luca’s help and then I zip it quickly while he cuddles Zeke, bouncing him in his arms to get him to settle back into slumber.
I pull the hood up over his head since getting a hat on him right now will just be another fight.
