I laugh softly, “Payback then.”
Nalani agrees gently. “The best kind.”
I clear my throat, because I’d rather get their input on Lucy’s bedroom, because I can see where this would work its way to mine and his. My old roommates and I finally found a day to meet up and had lunch yesterday, and it went wellthereimmediately, especially after they searched his name on the internet.
“I showed her the room tonight, and we talked about what she would like to change to make it feel like it was hers. She said she liked the color sage,” I giggle, “Oddly specific.”
“And a good choice,” Sofie states.
“We talked about more space for books, and her own reading space, like at school, but smaller.” I smile. “She walked in, looked around, and said, ‘This is where I’m supposed to be now.’”
Claudia presses a hand to her chest. “Stop it. That’s adorable.”
“It is, but is it too much too soon for her?”
“How does it feel for you?” Claudia asks.
“I kept waiting for it to feel reckless,” I admit. “Like I was making some impulsive romantic decision that would unravel in six months.”
“And?” Sofie prompts.
“He doesn’t make it feel that way at all. He makes it feel measured. Intentional. Not frantic.”
On screen, Lenzin lays a clean hit and skates away like it was nothing.
“That’s not rushing,” Nalani says. “That’s wanting his family close.”
Claudia shifts her baby gently against her shoulder, patting softly. “He’s not trying to take something from you. He’s trying to build with you.”
I nod.
“I want him to walk in after this road trip and see it done,” I say. “Lucy settled. Her room upstairs. Our room… ours.”
Noelle nods to the ice as they line up for puck drop. “He’s going to be calm, even though inside he won’t be.”
“He is,” I agree. “He’ll do that controlled face. And then he’ll stand in the doorway and take it in like it’s something fragile.”
“And then?” Sofie asks.
“And then he’ll probably kiss me like I just scored the winning goal.”
Nalani laughs. “Good. You deserve that.”
The puck drops, and the room shifts into game mode. We cheer. We analyze. We groan when Ottawa scores first.
Between plays, my gaze drifts upstairs. The bigger space, but shared rooms.
On the screen, Lenzin scores late in the second period. We all leap up, Nalani clutching her water bottle, Claudia carefully bouncing Savannah, all of us whispering, shouting as if the men on that ice can actually hear us.
Six days. Then he comes home. And when he does, I want him to see that while he was out there defending the net, I was here defending something too.
Not from threats or from doubt, because I chose us. I love us, and there is no doubt, I love that man, number nine, Lenzin Faulker, right defense for the Brooklyn Bears,my love.
Lucy is at school. Lenzin is somewhere between Winnipeg and Vegas, Erin is coming from Elmira, landing at JFK at four pm for a conference in the city, and Scotti has insisted on driving me to pick Lucy up and then swing by the airport.
“I’m already on the clock,” she’d said. “Might as well make it efficient.”
I kind of adore her.
