Page 47

CHAPTER

TWENTY-THREE

brEE

I woke up with her hand on my chest and sunlight bleeding through the blinds.

Bree—warm, tangled up against my side like she belonged there.

Like she always had. My heart felt lighter than it had in weeks, even with the weight of everything still circling us.

My mom. The mess with Dane. The threatened lawsuit that I knew he’d carry through with.

The headlines we were bound to face. But she was here.

We were back. And there was no going backward now.

Her lashes fluttered as she woke, and when she smiled up at me, everything in me stilled.

“Morning,” she whispered, her voice scratchy and soft.

“Morning, beautiful.”

She stretched like a cat, arm brushing mine. “How long have you been awake?”

“Long enough to know we’re done with keeping this apartment as a failsafe.”

She laughed, snuggling closer. “That’s bold talk.”

“No. That’s commitment,” I said, running my fingers through her curls. “It’s done. You, Benny, and Claudia have to move back in with me— permanently .”

She blinked up at me, stunned silent .

“I mean it,” I said. “That house isn’t a home without you. Without our boy and his great-grandma. Without the woman who’s given me the only thing I ever wanted that I didn’t know I needed.”

“Reece…” She paused to collect her thought. Then, with a hand to my chest, she said, “You only just realized you loved me. If things start to get too much for you, if you start to pull away again, what will we do? This isn’t like when Dane and I lived together. There’s so much more at stake now.”

“I fucking know that. You don’t think I know that? There’s so much I have to tell you. My teammates ganged up on me. I fought Antonov.”

Bree gasped.

“Yeah. I know. My mom died. She’d been the only person in my life for so long, but then you were there, and Benny and Claudia.

I needed a chance for everything to make sense in my brain.

Then you were gone. Bishop was so pissed at me and when he told me to ‘ fix it ,’ I thought about it.

I thought about why my mom wanted me settled.

I thought about why I came to you, of any woman in the world, and yeah?—”

Tears flowed down over her cheeks and I reached up to draw a thumb through them.

“Shh… no need for tears, baby. This is all good. I’ll build Claudia her own cottage if she doesn’t want to stay in the main house. I just want us together. We’re a family. Let’s live like one.”

The tears continued to fall, but she nodded. “Okay. Okay. Let’s talk to her.”

In the middle of us getting dressed, the bedroom door creaked open and Benny stuck his little head inside the room with us.

“Hey, bud,” I said with a lightness that came from realizing that despite losing my mom, I was the luckiest man alive. “Want to get Grandma Claudia and go get some breakfast? ”

He stared up at me. The yes was all over his face. Benny reached his arms up for me and I scooped him into mine, hugging him, swinging him and just letting myself feel happy.

“Momma has to shower before we go,” Bree said, kissing the top of Benny’s head as she passed by us. I grabbed her, pulling her in for a kiss before letting her continue on.

“Take your time, babe,” I told her before turning back to Benny in my arms. “Is your firetruck shirt clean? Let’s go look.”

Still carrying the boy, I walked into his bedroom, where I set him down to find a shirt, but he knew exactly which drawer his firetruck shirt was in, pulling it out and handing it to me.

We changed his Pull-Up, slid his jeans on—none of his pants had buttons or zips yet.

All elastic at the waist because he was learning how to dress himself.

I helped him with his socks and when he tried to push his head through an armhole, and I grabbed a navy-blue zip-front hoodie from his closet before we headed out to the living room to get our shoes.

It wasn’t long before Bree joined us. She took my breath away even wearing something as simple as her purple joggers and the matching sweatshirt. Her hair was thrown up in a high ponytail with a few curly strands framing her face. Only the lightest of makeup.

Bree’s purse, our keys, Benny’s bag with his Pull-Ups, tablet, toys, and change of clothes in hand, we walked across the hall to Claudia’s place. Bree knocked softly. Claudia answered in her robe, glasses perched on her nose, coffee in hand.

“Well, good morning, you two.”

“Morning, Claudia,” I said. “Can we come in for a second?”

She stepped aside, curious but smiling. We walked over to her sofa and sat. Claudia took the wing-backed chair closest to Bree, who took her hand.

“We want to ask you something,” Bree started.

“That sounds serious.”

“It is,” I said. “I want Bree and Benny to move back in with me. I want you to come too. Not as a guest, but as family. If you’d rather have your own space, I can build you a cottage on the property—separate, but close.”

Claudia blinked. Her grip on Bree’s hand tightened.

“You don’t have to decide right away,” Bree added. “But we wanted you to know the door’s wide open.”

Claudia’s eyes shimmered. “I never thought… Well, it doesn’t matter. I’ll go wherever my family is.”

Bree teared up and hugged her. I let them have their moment, my throat thick.

“Good.” I stood. “Then I’m taking you out for a celebratory breakfast because last night was the last night you’ll sleep here.”

True to my word, I got movers there the next week, but we’d taken apart Benny’s whole room again, just like before, to reassemble in his permanent room at the beach house.

We packed up their clothing, Benny’s sippy cups, just whatever to make them feel settled until every last piece of their lives at the apartments were moved in with us.

Different than Thanksgiving, when we reached Christmas, I wanted a quiet, intimate day with just the four of us. It was the first Christmas without Mom.

I’d braced myself for it—for the quiet ache, the hollow space at the table, the realization that no one would burn the ham this year because they’d gotten distracted again.

As great of a cook as she was, Mom had always made the same mistake.

Sworn she’d do better next time. Then she’d do it again the year after, laughing as she hacked the crust off with a knife and told me it added character.

Now that I thought about it, it might’ve been on purpose, to give us a special memory when it was just she and I against the world.

That woman. I laughed thinking about it.

Her absence still cut deep, but the memories helped.

The first time it happened she’d been caramelizing the glaze under the broiler when I’d worked up the courage to talk to her about the travel team.

It came with a massive price tag, but had been my best chance to get scouted for college one day.

Even at thirteen years old, I’d known that hockey was the only thing I ever wanted to do.

Ma never told me no. Maybe ‘ not right now ’ or “ we’ll save for it ” but never no.

Fuck. I ran my hand over my face. She’d taken the list from my hand, scanning everything.

“Baker,” she’d said. “I’ve always told you that you could do anything in this world.

So if this is what you want, we’ll make it work. ”

I hugged her so hard that day. She’d already given me so much. And as she’d kissed the top of my head, I sniffed the air. “Is something burning?”

She’d pushed me away, turning to the oven to pull out the ham. I remember falling into each other laughing our asses off.

And God, I missed her laugh.

But the house wasn’t quiet this year. Not at all.

Benny was up at five-thirty in the damn morning, rubbing my arm like he was petting a dog. He had on those flannel penguin pajamas Bree bought him and was smiling all crazy-eyed like he’d mainlined maple syrup.

When I sat up, Bree opened her eyes with a true look of contentment, shoving the hair out of her face. “My boys,” she said. “Merry Christmas.” Then she turned to Benny. “Ready to go downstairs and open presents?”

Excitement radiated through his pores. This kid understood more than people gave him credit for.

And what he understood today was that when he got up, he’d get presents.

Bree, Claudia, and even I played into it for probably the last week.

Reminding him about the magic of Christmas morning.

Crossing off the days on the calendar. Reading him “‘Twas The Night Before Christmas” last night and giving that one final reminder. Oh, yeah, he knew.

I carried him down the steps so that Bree could go knock on Claudia’s door to let her know we were up. When she and Claudia joined us, Bree bent down to Benny’s level where I’d set him close to the ring of presents around the tree.

“Santa came!” she shouted. “Look at all the presents!” To my surprise, she asked, “Reece, would you like to play Santa this year?”

It was my honor, but I didn’t say it. I simply got to work passing out gifts. Bree walked up to me with a wrapped package. “Merry Christmas, Baker,” she said, then she kissed my cheek.

I took the gift, tearing open the wrapping. A framed photo of her in a Copperheads jersey. The name REECE on the back. Fuck, I loved it. I loved seeing her wear my name.

“That was the night I realized I loved you,” she said and words weren’t enough. I held her in my arms, kissing every feeling I had for her onto her beautiful, pink lips.

We dragged ourselves back to the sofa, wrapped up in blankets, and watched Benny tear through his gifts. Once he had passed out in a sea of wrapping paper, his arm around a giant bag of Duplo blocks, and Claudia walked to the kitchen to start the coffee, Bree handed me one more gift.

“I didn’t know how you’d feel about this, so I wanted to give it in private,” she said, handing me the small card and my laptop.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Open it.”