“Val.” Her eyes lit up. “What do you think?”
Seeing her so excited had me cracking a grin. “Your skating partner from the cruise?”
“Yupp. He’s like this big brother grump, and he takes himselfwaytoo seriously sometimes, but I think she could lighten him up.”
“Well, set it up,” I said. I loved seeing her so excited about the future.
She bit her lip as she smiled. “You think?” She shivered then. “You sure you weren’t cold down here? I’m freezing.”
“Nah.” Reaching down by my feet, I fished a hoodie out of my duffle bag and handed it to her.
“Ooh, yes.” She handed me her coffee to hold while she pulled it on. “How does it look?” she asked, turning slightly like she was showing off a dress.
“Great,” I said with a chuckle. She was basically drowning in it, but she looked much warmer.
She brushed her hair behind her ears and curled back up on the couch. “I don’t think you’re getting this back.”
Reaching over, I massaged the back of her head, making her hum. “What’s mine is yours, babe,” I joked.
Her smile slightly faltered, and I internally kicked myself for referencing anything that had to do with marriage.
“Don’t worry about it. I already contacted my lawyer. Wewillfigure this out,” I whispered.
Her nose flared with a shaky breath. “Okay.” After a beat, she patted my leg and forced a smile. “Ready to tell your dad today?”
“Yeah.” My voice came out a little higher than intended.
“Oh my God.” She laughed. “Areyounervous?”
I could feel her stare boring into me. My eyes dropped to the floor. “No, not at all.”
“Liar!” She cackled. “Wow, you were so chill yesterday when it came tomyfamily. Not as fun when you’re in the hot seat, eh?”
“Brat,” I said with a chuckle.
Her gaze stayed trained on my face, studying me. “Do you think your dad’s going to be upset?”
“With you and the babies? Absolutely not. With me…” I weighed my head to the side. “Most likely, yeah.”
“I don’t think so, your dad is so nice.”
“Yeah, to you,” I scoffed. “Did you forget the favoritism heshowed you back in the day? If the two of us made the same mistakes, he’d comfort you, but he’d beat my ass.”
Laughing, she gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before walking out of the room to get ready.
___________
When Ali turned down my dad’s driveway, I immediately felt like a neglectful son. His driveway hadn’t been shoveled, the large tree next to the cabin was dying and needed to be taken down, and the gutter had come unattached from the roof and was almost falling down. These were all things he usually would’ve taken care of immediately. The fact that they weren’t done just showed how much he was slowing down, even though he constantly denied it.
“When’s the last time you came out here?” Ali asked, as if reading my mind.
“It’s been a while,” I admitted. “He usually comes to visit me. He was gonna come up to Chicago for Christmas because the team does an annual dad’s trip for the first away game of the new year.” That was another thing that was wrecked now because of my injury. My dad loved that trip. Then again, this year would feel different anyway. In past years, Kappy always invited Hans, and my dad loved watching the game with him.
When Ali put the truck in park, I didn’t immediately reach for the door.
“We’ve faced much harder things, right?” Ali gave me an encouraging nod.
“Yeah.” My eyes drifted over to Ali. She was bundled up in my hoodie with an old Carhartt jacket overtop, so the baby bump was mostly concealed. I cleared my throat. “Let’s just ease into this, yeah? Don’t wanna give him a heart attack or anything, ya know?”
