Page 13 of Game On

I mouthed ‘thank you’ to Olivia, and she waved me off like it was nothing. I lifted Rosie up into my arms. “Okay, my sweet girl, change of plans. You’re gonna go hang out with Aunt Mari tonight.”

“Da-da?”

I shook my head. “No, baby. Daddy had something come up.”

“Want Da-da!” she cried.

I shifted her on my hip. “You’ll have so much fun with Aunt Mari, okay?”

Then she started to cry again, on the verge of throwing a tantrum. I sighed and walked into the office, where I tried to calm her down. She inched closer to toddler tantrums lately, and I’d admit it was in these moments that being a mother was really freaking hard.

I put her back in her stroller and closed down for the day. I hated having to leave before I was finished because my daughter was having a meltdown. This single-mom thing was the hardest thing I ever had to do. Some days, like today, I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage. Thank God for my sister coming to my rescue.

Chapter Five

LOGAN

I needed to find a new nanny. I couldn’t keep relying on my friends.

“You okay, man?” Blaise asked.

“Huh?” I asked and realized I had wrapped tape on my stick way too many times.

Blaise raised an eyebrow as he laced up his skates next to me. The other guys were getting amped up to go out for warmups before the game started, so no one else was paying attention. They were getting in their game day zone while my thoughts were all over the place.

He nudged me with his stick. “You taped your stick so much, I thought you were Riley.”

Riley glared at him from his other side. Everyone gave Riley shit for how much he did that.

“I’m good,” I reassured him.

“You sure?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I got this.”

He squinted at me but didn’t press me on it before getting up and walking out to the hallway with the rest of the team. I couldn’t afford to mess up my career because I was worried about my nephew. I had to play well here, so when my contract was up, they’d re-sign me, and I could stay in Philly.

I undid the tape on my stick and redid it the right way before walking into the hallway.

“You okay?” Cally asked.

I nodded.

Cally and I were both fighting to earn a bigger contract next year, but since we were on entry-level contracts, we roomed together on the road. I wasn’t as close with him as Blaise, but he was a good guy. Noah had taken him under his wing, so much that Cally was living with him and his fiancée. Noah had offered that to me too, but with Liam, I didn't want to impose.

“Still dealing with trying to find a nanny,” I explained.

He nodded. “I don’t envy you. But you’ll have your head in the game, right?”

“I’m good.”

We shuffled down the tunnel, getting amped up to get out on the ice for the first time tonight. Riley was at the back after Metzy, our goaltender. Since Coach put the ‘C’ on his chest, he’d taken it to heart. At the front, TJ was yelling to pump us up. Actually, right now, he was yelling in Noah’s face. The stoic giant stood there, letting him do it. It was their weird pregame ritual that no one else questioned.

Blaise turned around, and we bumped fists before we took off down the hallway and skated out on the ice. We skated around the zone until we came around to the glass where the girls always sat. I watched, amused, as he and Veronica did that heart-tapping thing they always did with each other. He tapped two fingers against his heart, pointed at her, and then she repeated the action to him.

Alarm bells went off in my head when my nephew wasn’t with her.

Blaise grabbed the sleeve of my jersey, sensing my panic, and pointed to the cute blonde next to Veronica holding Liam. Lily was holding Liam in her arms and pointing at me. Instead of waving at me, Liam crushed his face into her boobs.