Page 67 of Possessive Ink

“See you tomorrow.”

Ending the call, I exhale, then quickly tap at my screen and open the group chat I have with my siblings. Typing out a message, I hit send, then glance over at my princess, who looks shell-shocked.

Me: Just spoke to Ma. She sounds down, so I said we’d go to dinner tomorrow night. Who else can make it?

Within moments, the three dots appear to show someone is typing.

Tori: I can. Nero is still on shift .

Me: I’ll come pick you up, and we can ride together.

Tori: Awesome. I’ll bring wine.

More dots appear.

August: Jude and I are in Chicago on an away series right now, but we should be home early afternoon tomorrow. Assuming there are no delays, we’ll come too. We’ll meet you there.

Me: Perfect. See you all tomorrow.

More dots appear as I’m about to close the chat.

Tori: Are you bringing Lemon?

Within seconds, two identical messages appear.

Jude: Who is Lemon?

August: Who is Lemon?

Shaking my head, I smile and chuckle lightly. My sister is a fucking shit stirrer.

Me: Lemon is my girl, and of course I’m bringing her.

The chat explodes with head-exploding emojis from my brothers and laughing face ones from Tori. Ignoring them, I type out a short message, hit send, then close the chat.

Me: Gotta go. You’ll all meet her tomorrow.

I’m smiling as I pad back to Lemon, scooping her off the couch and into my arms the moment I’m close enough.

“Atticus.” She giggles, wrapping her arms around my neck as I walk us out of the living room and into our bedroom.

“We’re having dinner with my parents, Tori, Felix, and the twins tomorrow,” I tell her, laying her down on the bed and climbing on top of her.

“What?” She blinks.

“My ma got it into her head that we’d be staying with her and Dad for a while.”

“She didn’t know you bought this place?”

“We told her, but she probably forgot or just assumed we’d get the work on the place done after we got here. She made up bedrooms for Felix and me and for Jude and August too.”

“Wait, your brothers live locally?”

“They’re hockey players. They recently moved to the new expansion league team, the Montana Mountain Marauders. Right now, they’re living in a condo that the team arranged for new team members, but once the season finishes, they’re moving here.”

“Wait, your brothers play hockey, like in the NHL?”

I nod.