Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 124494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 498(@250wpm)___ 415(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124494 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 498(@250wpm)___ 415(@300wpm)
“If that’s where you want to keep it, absolutely.” Lexi gives her two thumbs-up, all smiles.
Taking up more space than is reasonable are life-size cutouts of the two of them. Callie’s dressed in her hockey gear, and Connor’s wearing his #1 Fan T-shirt. It’s fantastic, and I almost wish I’d thought of it.
Callie opens gifts from her friends, oohing and ahhing over the stuffies and games and toys. Lexi hands her the gift from Kristoff, and Callie tears into it.
“Oh this is so cool! I love it!” It’s a special-edition Connor Grace jersey, complete with sequins. He probably had it custom embellished.
The girls pamper her with more fun gifts, and she rushes over and gives me a huge hug after she opens mine. Callie is big into Legos, and I picked up the Terror hockey rink kit.
“Can we build it together?” she asks.
“Absolutely.”
I exchange a look with Lexi, hoping Dred and Hollis are the only ones who pick up on that.
The final gift is from Tristan. It’s huge with a big bow.
She tears through the paper and opens the box. “Oh my gosh! No way!” She pulls out brand new goalie gear. Top of the line. It’s extravagant, especially for a kid who will grow out of it in less than a year, but her joy and Tristan’s are worth it.
“Dude, that’s like five grand in gear,” Nate mutters to his brother.
“I bought you a car,” Tristan counters with a furrowed brow.
Nate opens his mouth to argue, but shrugs instead. “True.”
When all the presents are unwrapped, Callie passes out the loot bags, which again, are ostentatious and over the top.
“I will never be able to top this birthday,” Lexi says as she surveys the mountain of gifts.
“You won’t have to, now that you have us,” Tristan assures her. “We take care of our own. You’re family, Coach. We’ve got your back.”
The girls hug Lexi, echoing Tristan, and I stand back, knowing how emotional this makes her. I want to say fuck it and step in. But I’d be doing more harm than good.
I have a deeper appreciation now for how hard it must have been for Hollis last year when he was in this position—feeling like he had to hide his feelings for Peggy, wishing he could love her the way he does now, afraid to blow up our friendship, unsure if I’d ever get over the betrayal.
But they made it out the other side, which gives me hope for me and Lexi.
Once all the kids have gone and we’ve cleaned up, we take the gifts out to Lexi’s car.
We’re halfway to Lexi’s vehicle when we run into Donnie Richards and his kids. “Hey, how’s it going?” I rearrange the gifts so I can shake his hand and say hi to him and his boys.
“Roman? Hey, this is a surprise. Someone have a birthday?” He glances between me and Lexi. “Hey Forrester.”
“Hey Donnie.” She smiles, but it looks strained. “My youngest sister. She plays at this arena.”
“Right, yeah.” He nods slowly. “I didn’t realize that.”
His son tugs on his sleeve. “Dad, we gotta go in or we’ll be late.”
Donnie thumbs over his shoulder. “We need to head in.”
“Good luck on the ice today,” I say.
“Yeah, thanks. See you tomorrow. Happy birthday to your sister,” Donnie says.
“Thanks,” Lexi replies.
Donnie corrals his boys and heads for entrance.
She tosses a worried glance over her shoulder. “I don’t love that he’s seen us together outside of the arena.”
“All the guys are still in there, and he’s about to run into them, too,” I remind her.
“Right. Yeah. I’m being paranoid.”
“Don’t forget that Donnie and Arnold are friends outside of work.” I don’t say anything about having run into Donnie here before, though, because I don’t want to cause her unnecessary stress. “Come on, let’s get these presents in your car.”
She pops the trunk, and we pile gifts inside.
“I don’t think all of it will fit,” she notes.
We haven’t even loaded half of them and her trunk is almost full.
“I can take the rest and follow you,” I offer.
Lexi scans the parking lot, like she’s nervous we’ll run into someone else we know. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“It’s not a problem. My SUV has loads of space.”
“Okay. Great. Thank you.” We load both vehicles, and there’s another round of hugs and happy birthdays for Callie. She comes to me last, and I crouch so I’m at eye level for a hug.
“I have a question,” she whispers when her arms are wrapped around my neck.
“Okay.” I pat her back.
She backs up and looks over her shoulder, maybe making sure we have a little privacy. “We’re going to watch a movie when we get home. Will you stay and watch it with us?”
“Sure. I’d love to. Is that your question?”
She shakes her head and twists her fingers. “I made a wish today when I blew out my candles, and I know I’m not supposed to tell anyone, but I told Fifi, and now I’m worried it won’t come true.”