I can see the eternal battle rage on inside her head. Sadly, her brain wins out.
“Sweet dreams, Devin,” she tells me before closing the door behind her.
So close. Dammit. I almost won that.
Chapter 37
Callie
When I walk up to the brownstone a few nights later, I see a rental car parked in front—right next to Wyatt and Donna’s truck. I’m confused. Should I be panicked? Is something wrong? I rush up the stairs and fling open the door. The first thing I hear is chatter—lots of it. It’s coming from the back of the house. I drop my bag and my coat, kick off my boots and rush toward the noise.
The kitchen is filled with people and through the French doors, past the deck, I see even more people in the snowy yard. Donna is sitting at the breakfast bar next to my sister Rose. Luc is on the other side of the breakfast bar holding a freshly opened bottle of wine and Devin is standing in front of the stove, stirring something that’s cooking in a giant pot. Outside Conner is building a snowman in the yard with Wyatt.
“What’s this pleasant surprise?” I ask, excited to see everyone.
Rose jumps up at the sight of me. Her coal-colored eyes are bright with excitement. I get a panicked flash that she’s going to tell me she’s engaged. She straightens her small shoulders and grins.
“Luc’s been traded!” she announces and she jumps up and down. “HERE!”
I cross the short distance to her and hug her. My eyes find Luc over her shoulder. He’s smiling happily. This potential trade has been hanging over his head since last summer, and judging by the look on his face, he’s happy about where he landed.
“You’ll look good in the red jersey,” I say with a proud smile. I can’t believe I missed this news but I was so busy at work I hadn’t even checked my Google alerts for the day—which were all related to these guys and my show. “Better than that crappy yellow and black Vegas wears.”
He just chuckles at that.
“Tommy needs knee surgery. He’s out for the season,” Devin explains, turning away from the pot on the stove. “Our GM told me they were talking to Vegas already anyway, but the injury made it happen more quickly.”
I break my hug with Rose and hug Luc. Then I hug Devin because I know he’s excited about having one of his hometown “brothers” on his team. Jordan, Luc and Devin have never played together professionally but when they were kids, that’s what they dreamed of doing. They all wanted to be on the same team. Plus, he got really close to Luc this summer when Luc was going through problems with his team and problems with Rose.
Devin wraps his free arm—the one not holding a ladle coated in chili—around my waist, buries his head in the crook of my neck and hugs me back so hard he lifts me off the ground for a second.
“This is so great,” I whisper in his ear. “I mean, not for Tommy, but…”
He laughs at that.
I break the hug reluctantly and move to Donna. She’s smiling at me with a bit of a knowing look. I just don’t know what it’s for but I hug her anyway.
“You must be thrilled to see them together on one team,” I say jokingly.
“Now we just have to get Seattle to trade Jordy,” she jokes back.
Wyatt is climbing the deck stairs and Conner is following. I can hear him repeating my name excitedly as they open the French doors and step inside.
“Callie! Callie! Callie!” he sings and I reach down and scoop him up. He feels like a plush, damp pillow in his puffy snowsuit. He wraps his little arms around my neck as tight as he can and it makes my heart swell. I kiss his cheek and pull off his hat, ruffling his hair.
“Hey, sport,” I say. “Did you congratulate your uncle Luc? He’s going to play hockey with Daddy!”
“Yay, Lu!” he bellows.
Everyone laughs. I kiss Conner’s cheek and he gives me a tiny but strong hug.
“Chili’s ready!” Devin calls out. “Let’s get you out of your snowsuit, Con.”
“I’ll do it. You serve up dinner. I’m starving,” I tell Devin and start unzipping Conner’s jacket.
The dinner is amazing. It’s not the food; it’s the company. All of us squeezed in around the kitchen table laughing and teasing each other brings back the only warm and loving memories I have from childhood. It makes me feel happy and content and safe.
Devin is sitting on one side of me and Rose is on the other. Conner is moving from my lap to Devin’s and back every ten minutes or so as he eats his chili and corn bread. We pass him back and forth wordlessly with an unspoken, comfortable rhythm.
