“On the women’s team?”
She shakes her head, her smile growing. “I checked my email while you were in the bathroom. They want me to fly out tomorrow to practice with the team.”
“The Vegas Vices?” I ask, my mind blown.
She bounces on the mattress, her expression brighter than I’ve ever seen it. “Yes.”
I clutch her to my chest and squeeze. “Adeline, this is huge.”
She nods, burying her face in the crook of my neck. “I know.”
“Fuck, baby, the NHL.”
“I know,” she says again. “But it’s just practice. I might not get the spot.”
“But they called you. They wouldn’t call you if they didn’t think you could do this.”
She presses her lips together, her dark eyes holding mine. “I know,” she whispers. “JJ, I might play in the NHL.”
“Oh, baby, you definitely will. I can feel it.”
Laughing, she holds me tighter. “I’m gonna kick your ass when we play the Bolts.”
I nod. “Probably.”
The wave of excitement I’m riding suddenly disappears. Because this means she’ll be on another team. On the other side of the country. We just got this, and now we’ll be apart for ten months out of the year. Fuck, I don’t want to be selfish, but this…well, it sucks.
“I know,” she whispers, like she can read my mind.
I’m an asshole. She shouldn’t have to deal with my mixed emotions about this. This is a huge opportunity for her. We’ll figure it out. I didn’t go out on a limb and finally get everything I wanted just to lose it twenty-four hours later. We’re us. We’ll figure it out.
“We aren’t going to focus on anything but the good right now.”
“Okay,” she whispers against my chest.
“I love you, baby.” I run my hands through her hair, stroking softly.
“I love you too.”
When there’s a knock on the door, I release her. “That must be the food.”
She leans back against the pillows, and I press one more kiss to her lips before jumping out of bed.
My phone rings as I reach for the doorknob, so I holler over my shoulder, “Can you get that?” With a wide smile, I pull the door open and smile at the waiter. “I can grab that,” I tell him, stepping over the threshold.
There’s no way he’s coming into the bedroom, not when Adeline is practically naked. I hand him a twenty and pull the cart inside.
“The food smells delicious.”
When she doesn’t respond, I peer over at her.
She’s staring down at the phone, her face ashen. And all that joy and peace coursing through me moments ago drains from my body.
“What’s wrong?”
She shakes her head and lets out a sardonic laugh. Then she holds out my phone. “It’s Tabitha. She, uh, she said she needs to talk to you. She’s in the hospital. She said she just had your baby.”
TWENTY-NINE
