by Beth Ehemann
“Good morning.” A light chuckle mixed with his surprised tone.
“Don’t move. This is nice.” His back vibrated against my cheek as he laughed harder, squeezing my hands in his.
“Do you have to go to the hospital today?” he asked.
The knot in my stomach returned. I was dreading heading into my bedroom and putting my scrubs on. I was dreading driving up to work and seeing an ambulance parked outside. I was dreading seeing Maureen again, who probably thought I was a total flake after yesterday.
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“Why? Quit. Stay home with us. You don’t have to work. Who needs a degree these days anyway?”
“Not a chance, but you’re sweet.” I squeezed him tight one last time and turned around to the fridge.
“Why not? Do you ever want to be a stay-at-home mom?”
“I don’t know. After him, I swore to myself that I would never depend on a man again. It was embarrassing to move back home and rely on my mom to feed and take care of us.”
“What about when we have kids?”
I spun to face him, nearly dropping the eggs that were in my hand. “What?”
“Down the road, when there are dozens of little Brodys running around the house, do you want to be home with us?”
“Dozens of little Brodys?” I chuckled.
“Why not?” He grinned.
“Uh, I can think of a few reasons. My poor uterus for one.” I poked him in the chest.
“Okay, fine. Not a dozen, but at least like… six.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “After that, we can just practice—a lot.”
“I’m definitely down for the practicing.” I batted my eyes at him. “And what do you mean at home with us? You’ll be traveling most of the time.”
“Yeah, but not forever. Eventually I’ll retire and do the full-time dad thing.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I cocked my head to the side and looked at him skeptically. “Since when does staying home with kids all day interest you?”
He looked over at the girls, who were watching a movie in the living room, and shrugged. “Since them.”
I grinned at him as my stomach flipped. “You’re too good to be real.”
“Nope, I’m real and I’m all yours.” He reached over and grabbed my T-shirt, pulling me in close to him.
“Until next week,” I pouted dramatically. “Then you have to start practicing every day and we won’t see each other much. Add in games and you’ll forget who I am.”
I was not looking forward to his season starting. My subconscious knew it was coming, but I was purposely not thinking about it. I’d gotten so used to seeing him often over the last couple months, this would definitely be an adjustment.
“It’ll be tough, but we’ll still see each other,” he said, lifting my chin up to face him. “We’ll just have to make an effort to really, uh, make good use of the time we do have together.”
I set the eggs on the island and shoved my hands up the back of his T-shirt, pulling him hard against me. “I like the way that sounds, Murphy.”
“I love when you call me Murphy.” He groaned as he trailed kisses down the side of my neck, stopping at my collarbone.
“Really? I’ll have to remember that,” I cooed.
My glance panned over to the clock. “Holy crap! I gotta hurry.” I rushed over and tossed a pan on the stove.
“Go. I got this.” Brody came over and grabbed the handle of the pan.
I tried to snatch it back from him, but he held it high above his head so I couldn’t reach it.
“Stop.” He laughed. “I admit that I’m better with a hockey stick than I am with a spatula, but I can handle scrambled eggs. Go get ready. You can pay me back later.” He wiggled his eyebrows up and down again.
“Deal.” I smiled and started out of the kitchen, but he caught my wrist and pulled me toward him as he bent down to kiss my lips.
I quickly turned my head to the side and covered my mouth, mumbling through my hands, “I haven’t brushed yet.”
“I’ll take my chances,” he said, gently pulling my hands away from my mouth. “Pay the toll, stinky.”
“Lucy, are you dipping your popsicle in syrup?”
She grinned at me and nodded, clearly proud of herself.
“Great.” I laughed. “At this rate, you’ll be diabetic by noon. Your mom’s already going to kill me if she finds out I let you have popsicles with your eggs and pancakes.”
“We won’t tell!” Piper grinned, red juice dripping off her chin.
“You guys rock!” I leaned over and high-fived her. “Okay, my little Twinkies, next on the agenda: what do you want to do today?”
“Play Barbies.”
“Watch Sleeping Beauty.”
“Build things with Play-Doh.”
“Play Mario Kart.”
“Can we paint your nails again?”
I got dizzy looking back and forth between the two of them as they spit out more things than were possible to accomplish in one day. “Whoa, whoa.” I held my hands up. “I might need to write this down. Are we taking naps at all? Please?”
“No!” they squealed in unison.
“I have an idea. Mom was running late today and didn’t pack a lunch. What if we go to the hospital and surprise her?”
Smiles lit up both of their faces as they nodded furiously.
I looked down at their plates of brown, gooey syrup mixed with red popsicle juice and bits of scrambled egg and sighed. “I’m gonna clean up breakfast while you guys play for a few minutes, okay?”
With that, they hopped down from the island and ran toward their bedrooms.
I had just about finished scrubbing the egg pan when Sophia and Fred came in the kitchen.
“Good morning!” Sophia said cheerfully.
“Hey! You guys just missed eggs and bacon.”
“No problem. We’ll make something in a little bit. Kacie leave already?”
“Yep, a little while ago. She was in a hurry and didn’t make her lunch, so I thought the girls and I would drive up there and surprise her, if that’s okay with you?”
“Of course it is.” Sophia walked up and lightly cupped my face. “You’re a good man, Brody.”
“It’s my mom’s fault.” I winked at her.
An hour or so later I was showered, dressed, and ready to walk out the door of my guest room when my cell phone chirped. It was Viper.
V: HEY SHIT-FOR-BRAINS. WHERE ARE YOU?
WHAT’S UP, NUMBNUTS? I’M AT KACIE’S.
V: I FIGURED. WENT BY YOUR HOUSE AND YOU WEREN’T THERE. YOU EVER COMING HOME OR WHAT? GONNA WORK AT THE INN FULL TIME AS THE NEW COOK? SHOULD I BUY YOU A PINK APRON?
SHUT IT, ASSHOLE. I’LL BE HOME SOON, AND I’LL BE READY TO GO ON OPENING DAY.
V: YOU BETTER BE. YOUR CONTRACT IS UP THIS YEAR. IF YOU PLAY LIKE YOU LEFT YOUR BRAIN, AND YOUR DICK, UP THERE YOUR ASS IS GONNA GET TRADED AND SHIPPED OUT OF STATE.
AWWW, VIPER. DO YOU CARE ABOUT ME?
V: FUCK OFF. GET IN SHAPE. WIN US GAMES.
LOVE YOU TOO, PUMPKIN.
There was truth to what Viper was saying. It was an important year for me. I had pushed it from my brain for as long as I could, but I couldn’t ignore it any longer. My current contract was up and if I wanted to stay in Minnesota, I needed to be on the ball this year.
No mistakes.
No fuck-ups.
I also needed to work on finding a new agent. That thought sat in my stomach like a lead weight. Sighing, I shoved my phone in my back pocket and headed out the door.
Lucy and Piper were fidgeting excitedly on the bench by the front door when I got to the bottom of the stairs.
“You girls listen to Brody and don’t act up. Got it?”
They listened closely and nodded as Sophia lectured them on behaving. I couldn’t help myself. I walked up behind Sophia, making silly faces and hand gestures as she continued. Lucy and Piper covered their mouths and tried hard not to giggle, but they w
eren’t successful. Sophia spun around and caught me with my tongue hanging out of my mouth.
She shook her head and smiled at me. “Maybe I should be giving you the lecture.”
“Oh, trust me, I’ve heard it hundreds of times. It’s never helped before.” I grinned at her as I walked over and opened the front door for the girls. I grabbed the booster seats that were waiting for me there, the girls hugged Sophia good-bye, and we were off.
We pulled up to the hospital and I turned and peeked at the girls in the backseat. They stared at the big white building in complete awe. People hustled in and out of the main entrance. A man wheeled a woman out the front door as she held their new baby in her arms. An ambulance quickly pulled up to sliding doors in the side driveway, which I assumed led to the ER.
“Have you guys ever been to this hospital before?”
Lucy shook her head.
“I’ve only been to that one when that man hit me in the lake,” Piper said.
Her innocent comment made my chest tight. When I thought back to that day, to her laying on the ground and all that blood around her, to Kacie’s face as she knelt over her, to her tiny body lying motionless in that big hospital bed… I still wanted to punch things. Preferably that asshole’s face. Hard.
“This one is much bigger. Pretty cool that your mom works here, huh? You guys gonna be nurses like her when you grow up?”
Lucy nodded while Piper twisted her little face, thinking.
“I want to be a hockey player like you,” she said proudly with a big, toothy grin on her face.
“You do? That’s awesome. I can put in a good word for you. I know some people.” I laughed back. “Come on, guys, let’s go find your mom. She’s gonna be so surprised to see us.”
They hopped out of my truck and each grabbed one of my hands as we went inside.
We followed the red signs that led us to the ER.
“Hi there, can I help you?” asked an overly cheery woman with a big smile.
“Uh, hi.” I walked over and leaned on the counter she was sitting behind. “We’re looking for Kacie Jensen.”
Her eyes grew wide as she bit the corner of her lip, trying to keep her smile in check. “Hang on, I’ll page her for you.” She turned and said something into the phone before turning back to us. “You guys can sit over there if you want. She’ll be right out.”
I stared at her curiously for a second before Lucy tugged my hand, pulling me over to the waiting area.
Before we even sat down, Kacie rushed around the corner with a concerned look on her face.
Holy shit, does she look hot in her light blue scrubs. Maybe I can get her to give me an exam later.
“What’s going on? Is everything okay?” Her eyes scanned Lucy and Piper top to bottom before she turned to me.
“Yeah, we’re fine.” I reached over and squeezed her shaky hand. “We just thought we’d surprise you for lunch.”
Her brows were furrowed in confusion as her green eyes searched my face, trying to process what I’d just said.
“Surprise?” I held my hands up and shrugged my shoulders, not sure she was happy to see us.
“Are you mad?” Lucy asked nervously.
Kacie’s head snapped over to Lucy and her face instantly relaxed. “No, no, baby. Not mad at all, just shocked. I thought something was wrong. You just scared me, that’s all.” She pulled Lucy and Piper in for a big hug. “I’m so glad you guys are here. Thank you.” She looked up at me and smiled, but it didn’t quite meet her eyes.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yep, fine. I’m ready for a break anyway. Let’s get out of here for a while, okay?” She looked around nervously and led us toward a long hallway. “I’ll be back in a bit, okay, Darla?”
The woman behind the desk smirked and nodded, still staring at me.
“Where are we going?” Piper asked after a minute.
“The cafeteria. Is that okay? Mommy needs coffee, bad.” Kacie smiled as she slipped her tiny hand in mine.
Once we were in the cafeteria, Kacie seemed back to her normal, happy self. Lucy and Piper had chicken noodle soup while Kacie and I sat and talked.
“You sure you’re not hungry at all?”
“Nope. I’m good.” She lifted her coffee cup to her face and closed her eyes as she inhaled. “This is perfect.”
“Sorry about the food. We were going to stop and get you something, but two little people I know kept asking me to stop the truck so they could pee.” I cocked an eyebrow at Lucy and Piper.
“Uh oh, they do that. I should’ve warned you.” Kacie gave each of them the “mom look.”
“It’s okay.” I winked at the girls. “I just feel bad that you aren’t eating.”
“Oh, don’t worry about me. Darla always has extra food. I’ll steal something from her in a bit.”
“Is that who was sitting at the desk just now?”
She nodded and took a sip of her coffee.
“What do you think of her? She kept looking at me funny.”
“She just thinks you’re hot.” She giggled. “I don’t really know her yet, but from what I’ve seen so far, I like her. A lot, actually. She’s sweet and really funny. Sometimes inappropriate, but mostly funny.”
“Inappropriate, huh?” I shook my head. “Sounds like the perfect woman for Viper.”
“Do you think Viper will ever get married?”
“No way.”
“Who’s Viper?” Lucy asked.
“Uh… Viper is one of my friends.” I chose my words carefully. No way could I ever accurately describe Viper to a six-year-old without scaring the hell out of her.
“Does he play hockey too?” Piper chimed in.
“Yep. He’s on my team.”
“Why did his mommy name him Viper?” Lucy scrunched up her nose in disapproval when she said his name.
“That’s not his real name, baby, it’s just a nickname.” I laughed quickly. “His real name is Lawrence Finkle.”
Lucy and Piper shoveled their soup in their mouths, seemingly unaffected by what I’d just said. Kacie, on the other hand, stared at me with her mouth open.
“Viper’s real name is Lawrence Finkle?”
“You didn’t know that?” I cocked my head slightly to the side.
“No!” She gawked at me in disbelief. “That’s like… the nerdiest name ever!”
“Finkle Tinkle,” Lucy said to Piper before exploding in laughter.
Piper crossed her eyes and responded, “Finkle Tinkle Winkle.”
Lucy threw her head back and laughed so hard the vein in her neck popped out. A second later, Piper joined her, giggling hysterically.
I looked at Kacie and tilted my head toward the girls. “Easy crowd, huh?”
She didn’t even hear me. She was too busy staring down at the two laughing hyenas with that mommy glow all over her face. If anyone ever asked me to, it would be really hard to describe exactly what love looks like, but I got to witness it firsthand every time Kacie looked at her girls. The way she loved them made me love her more, if that was even possible.
A moment later, she came out of her Twinkie coma and looked at me, her eyes red-rimmed. “Seriously, thank you for this. You guys just made my afternoon a thousand times better.”
I grabbed her hand and pulled the top of it against my lips, not kissing it, but holding it there. We were at her work and with the girls, so I was trying to be respectful, but I needed to have physical contact with her.
We sat hand in hand, listening to the girls chatter about how excited they were to start school and what they were going to be for Halloween.
“Wait, you already know what you want to be for Halloween?” I asked incredulously.
Kacie squeezed my hand gently and winked at me. “It’ll change at least a hundred times between now and then.”
“What are we gonna be for Halloween?”
She frowned at me curiously but didn’t respond.
“Oh, c’mon! We have to dress up! I
do it every year anyway; now I have a real reason,” I exclaimed, waving toward Lucy and Piper. “Granted, I might have to tame my costume ideas a bit, but I’m cool with that.”
The girls rattled off all of the princess names before moving on to farm animals.
“So what do you think we should dress up as?” I repeated.
Her eyes slid from the girls back to me. “I don’t know. What do you think—” She stopped talking mid-sentence and the color drained from her face as she stared at something over my shoulder.
“Kacie?” Following her gaze, I spun around in my chair, but there was nothing there. By the time I turned back around, her face had gone to the opposite extreme. Her cheeks were red and flushed as her eyes darted all over the room nervously.
“What’s going on? Are you okay?”
She looked at me, but her eyes didn’t meet mine. Her mind was somewhere else. “Yeah,” she stammered as she rubbed her face. “I’m okay. I think I’d better head back. Maureen just walked by and I don’t want her hating me any more than she already does.”
I didn’t say anything, hoping she’d elaborate. Instead, she gave me a fake smile and turned her attention to the girls, obviously not wanting me to ask any more questions.
“Let’s clean up so mommy can get back, okay?” Kacie stacked their soup cups and silverware on the tray and stood to throw it in the garbage. She was about five feet from the table when the tray slipped out of her hand and everything crashed to the floor.
“Stay here one minute,” I said to the girls as I got up from the table and rushed to help her. I reached for the soup cup in her hand and noticed she was trembling. “Kacie, your hands are shaking. What the hell is going on?”
Sighing heavily, she sat back on her heels with her shoulders slumped, looking at the ground. “It’s Maureen. I think she hates me.”
