I must have been as red as red could be. “No ma’am, not yet at least. My girls have quite a while before they’ll even be jumping.”
“So, you work with peewees then?”
I nodded, not knowing what else to say. “It’s really been amazing.”
Griff smiled sweetly at me. “Have you been to any of Gavin’s games this season?”
“I was at the first one. It was absolutely amazing, to say the least.”
Mr. Hayes grunted from the head of the table. He was definitely a man of few words, maybe no words for that matter.How does he coach like that?
Gavin grabbed my hand. “This little lady was our good luck charm for sure that night. Cox and I played even harder knowing she was rooting for us.”
“Honey, I’m sorry but I just cannot do this.” Mrs. Hayes shoved away from the table. “I mean aCoxfor crying out loud, and you claim to love her? Do you really think that will suit our family? A peewee figure skating assistant coach to a washed-up has-been? This is just awful.”
I started to scoot my chair back. “Maybe I should just leave,” I whispered to Gavin. Griff started shaking his head, waving his hand at me to stay in my seat.
Griffin followed his mother into the living room. “I’ll take care of her. Dad? Want to join me?”
Mr. Hayes grunted, taking his Scotch glass and going the opposite direction of his wife and youngest son. “This is bullshit.”
First words I had ever heard the man say and he was piss drunk, swearing about the shit show that had just ensued because his son had brought me home for dinner.
Gavin angrily erupted from the table. “Myla, I’m sorry but I need a minute.”
He rushed out the back door and there I sat, alone in a fancy formal dining room with a roasted Cornish hen in front of me like an idiot.
After a few minutes, I found my way to the backyard.
“Gavin?” I walked out to the back patio where he was pacing.
“Babe, I am so sorry I lost it in there. They just get under my skin.”
I grabbed his hand. “Gavin, look at me.”
He glanced down, his eyes glassing over as he pulled my coat closed to help me stay warm. “What’s up, babe?”
“You cannot light yourself on fire to keep others warm. Just remember that.”
Pulling me into him, he sighed. “How did I get so lucky to find you?” He kissed my forehead. “How about we blow this popsicle stand, grab a pizza, and watch Jim Jefferies’ new special that just came out?”
Beaming up at the man I loved, I hug him tighter. “That sounds perfect.”
* * *
After eatingmy weight in pizza, I curled up under a fluffy blanket in bed with Gavin. Even though the night had started off stressful, there was nothing about these little moments that I would change for the world.
“You know what I don’t freaking get?” My inevitable food coma was starting to make me giggly and totally goofy.
Gavin looked down at me, smiling and laughing. “What’s that, beautiful?”
I paused Jim Jefferies right as he was telling a story about Oscar Pistorius and how he shot the hottest girl on earth. “Why the fuck is a New York team’s mascot an otter? Where the hell did Ollie come from?”
He pulled me closer to him and kissed my cheek. “Do you know how adorable you are?”
“Why is that adorable? I am seriously so confused by this fact.”
“Ollie the Otter was the original owner’s daughter’s pet. She begged her dad to make him the mascot and she used to bring the damn thing into the owner’s box on a leash.”
