Page 23 of Clear Shot (Lauderdale Knights #9)

Hana

I’m a little bummed when Aiden leaves but I wind up too busy to worry about it.

Between helping out at Cicero’s—who’s still feeding the community—and helping Sloane with the baby, I’m on the go all day.

Their nanny hasn’t been able to come to work, and Joanna isn’t sleeping through the night right now, so I try to get up with her in the morning so Sloane can rest for a few extra hours.

The guys have been gone for four days and I’m sitting in the kitchen giving Joanna a bottle when my texts start to blow up. I get five or six messages in a row from Aiden, and when I open the app, I see that they’re links.

To houses.

I blink in confusion for a moment and then it hits me—he’s started house hunting.

For us.

I thought we would rent something once we had time to look, but based on these links, he wants to skip right to buying a house.

And they’re all huge.

Well, huge to me.

The house I grew up in was probably seven hundred square feet, which is big for our little town. Three bedrooms, one bathroom, and a combined kitchen and dining room.

These houses are beyond my wildest dreams.

Granted, Johan’s house is large. Five bedrooms, five bathrooms, a formal dining room and an eat-in kitchen, and the walk-in closet in the primary bedroom is bigger than the room I slept in growing up. He’s a rich hockey player, though. I never envisioned this kind of thing for myself.

Except now I’m married to a rich hockey player.

Up until this moment, I never gave much thought to Aiden’s financial status. I signed the prenup because I’m not in this for money, and the condo he lived in was modest. Modern and comfortable but nothing over-the-top.

Impulsively, I call him.

“You get my texts?” he asks when he answers.

“I did. And I’m… I mean, these houses are huge.”

“Yeah, but they’re also an investment.”

“We don’t need five bedrooms. It’s just the two of us. Even if my entire family comes to visit, we have room for them. And we’re not having kids… Not for a while anyway.”

“Okay, but that isn’t the point, is it? Having room for ourselves, our friends and family, and eventually a family. Kids need bedrooms, whether they’re biological or adopted.”

“I guess that’s true.”

“There’s a four-bedroom house in your brother’s neighborhood that we could get for a steal. It looks like a foreclosure and needs a ton of work—the realtor I talked to said they rented it out and the renters destroyed the inside—but that might be a fun project. We could make it our own.”

That’s intriguing.

“But you’re busy with hockey,” I say, “and while I can supervise and handle things like painting, I don’t know if I can manage major renovations.”

“Of course not. We’d hire people for that.”

“The question is, can we even find contractors now that half the city is in need of repair?”

“You have a point.” He pauses. “Tell you what—get online and start looking at houses. Send me links to the ones you want to see and we’ll set up a time with the realtor to go see them.”

“Aiden…we have to talk about money.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean, why?”

“The prenup is clear—you’re not entitled to anything I owned prior to the marriage, including my retirement funds and such. Anything we buy together is community property.”

“But that’s just it—we can’t buy anything together because I don’t have a job. Yes, I have some savings but I was thinking of using that for school. And anyway, these houses are all over a million dollars and my money won’t make a dent in that.”

“Save your money for school,” he says gently. “I can afford a house.”

“Yes, but if something goes wrong?—”

“Do you anticipate this not working out?” he asks abruptly.

“Well, no, but?—”

“We decided we’re in this for real. Buying a house is part of that. It’s the next logical step.”

“What if you get traded?”

“Guys get traded all the time. It comes with the territory. We sell it and buy something else. The teams help with that.”

“Oh.” I can’t think of any other reason to protest.

“Come on, get excited. House hunting is supposed to be fun.”

“Maybe we should buy something more modest.”

“We’re going to buy something we both like,” he says firmly.

“I want you to start looking. I found us a jumping off point with the ones I sent you, and you can look at the one in Johan’s neighborhood, but it doesn’t have to be there.

We can live anywhere in the greater Fort Lauderdale area.

I’d prefer not to be more than thirty or forty minutes from the arena, but that’s really the only restriction. ”

“All right.” What else can I say?

I’m starting to get excited.

“I have to get going to practice but I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Later, babe.”

He disconnects and I stare at the phone for a minute.

I basically have carte blanche to start looking at houses.

“Good morning.” Sloane comes into the kitchen looking refreshed and leans over to press a kiss on Joanna’s head. “How is she this morning?”

“An angel as always.”

“During the day.” Sloane rolls her eyes. “I don’t know how I’m going to survive if Lorna doesn’t come back soon.” The nanny has been dealing with the damage to her home and hasn’t been able to give Sloane a date when she might be ready to come back to work.

“Well, I’m here,” I say. “And I don’t mind getting up with her in the morning.”

“You’re a lifesaver.” She presses the button on the Keurig machine to make herself a cup of coffee.

“Guess what?”

“What?”

“Aiden wants us to start house hunting.”

Sloane cocks her head. “Yeah? Instead of finding another apartment?”

I haven’t told her about the development in our personal relationship so I pause a moment to gather my thoughts. “We’re, uh, making a go of the marriage. Like, for real.”

Her brows inch up toward her forehead. “Really? That’s wonderful.”

“I know.” I can’t help but grin. “And he thinks we should buy something. Look at this.” I hand her my phone and show her the open tabs.

“Oh. Those are nice.” She smiles. “With a lot of bedrooms. You two planning to have lots of babies?”

“No.” I shake my head. “I mean, we might want to adopt in a few years but we’re not ready for that.”

“Adopt? How come? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for adoption—there are so many kids that need families—but you don’t even want one of your own?”

“He doesn’t.” I explain about his views on his genetics.

“I see. How do you feel about that?”

“I think I’m okay with it.”

“Are you?” She cocks her head. “Because I know how your family is and you’re all about the babies.”

“Yes. But adopted babies are still babies and we even discussed the possibility of a sperm donor. We’re not ready for kids, though, so these aren’t decisions we have to make right away.”

“As long as you’re happy.” She meets my eyes. “And it seems like you are.”

“I am. He’s…well, there’s always been this thing with us. I just thought he was too much of a playboy for me.”

“Yet here you are—married, talking about buying a house. I’m happy for you.” She squeezes my shoulder.

“Thank you.”

“What about work? Are you still trying to find a job?”

“To be honest, the hurricane put everything on hold. I’m thinking more seriously about going back to school now, getting my master’s degree. I need to talk to him about it, see how he feels. I feel like I should pull my weight but I’m never going to make what he makes.”

“Let go of that,” she says softly. “I felt the same way, wanting to work, earn my own money… but at the end of the day, if this isn’t a business arrangement anymore, you have to be practical.

Their lives as professional athletes take a lot out of them.

They need us to be here, running the household, making it easy for them to do what they do.

How will you build the foundation of your marriage if you’re both always traveling?

It can be done, I’m not saying it can’t, but in your case—why?

You’re still very new, still figuring things out both individually and as a couple. He doesn’t need your money.”

“But how do you come to terms with spending his?” I ask softly.

“It’s not his—it’s ours. We’re married. A couple. Now a family. We don’t think in terms of mine and his. Everything is ours.”

“I don’t know if we’re quite there yet,” I admit. “We haven’t used the L word. We’re still in the learning phase, you know? I don’t want to take advantage of the fact that he’s so wealthy.”

“If he was worried about that, he wouldn’t have suggested buying a house.

He knows you don’t have that kind of money.

I don’t think he’d be doing this if he didn’t want to, so here’s my advice: Communicate.

Seriously. Talk about money. How much there is, how much you’re comfortable spending, and what your budget looks like as a couple. ”

“That’s a good idea,” I say. “Thank you.”

“That’s what sisters are for, right?”

“You’re my only one, so I’ll take your word for it!”

“I don’t have any other either. I guess we’re going to figure it out together.”

“Well, I couldn’t have asked for a better one.”

“Same.”

I hand her the baby and then go in search of my laptop.

It’s time to start house-hunting.

We can discuss the details when Aiden gets home.