Page 102 of Hockey Halloween

Jessica

Six months later

Jessica loved visiting her son in Denver. She enjoyed shopping in the city and checking out the hiking trails near his house. And of course, she loved watching him play hockey.

He was in his second year with the Denver Drift and had really started to make the team his own. He seemed to be more at ease there and she could tell he felt like he was part of the team now and not just some rookie learning as he went.

Jessica had to be honest though. She also loved visiting Denver so she could see her boyfriend.

Unfortunately, there were many problems with this. Her boyfriend was the captain of Chase's team and the man Chase looked up to as a mentor. The left wing to Chase's right wing on the same line.

But Chase didn't know.

He would have to find out eventually. Jessica and Xander knew this.

They even talked about it when they spent a week together this past summer in Jamaica.

It was a fancy resort that Xander paid for, and Jessica told Chase she was meeting up with some of her college friends for a girls' week. Such a lie .

The sneaking around was fine for now, but it would have to end at some point. Jessica just didn't know when.

"Mom, can you help me?"

She turned to see Chase standing in his living room like the saddest sunflower and she couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh, bud. A green unitard?"

"First, I'm not sure I appreciate the plant pun while I'm wearing this."

Jessica gave him a teasing motherly smile. "Alright, bud ."

Her son gave her the perfect eye roll. "Moving on, I'm wearing tight underwear and a cup just in case, I promise." He threw his head back and stared up at the ceiling. "Why am I even telling you that?"

"I appreciate your attention to detail," she said with a laugh. "Now what do you need help with?"

"Tyler's girlfriend gave us these things to attach this stuff to the whatever. I don't get it."

He walked over and dropped a handful of stuff on the kitchen counter including some safety pins, elastic strips, and Velcro with adhesive on the back.

"Can you be crafty with this?" he asked desperately.

"Of course, sunflower."

Jessica couldn't help but laugh at her joke.

Her poor son had somehow let his teammate's girlfriend talk seven of them into being flowers for Halloween.

She assumed all of them were in these ridiculous green unitards and the flower pedals that circled their faces and stems that attached looked like they were homemade out of felt.

She had to give Tyler's girlfriend credit for the hard work and attention to detail on the costumes.

She grabbed some of the adhesive Velcro and stuck it on the back of the stem to attach it to his chest, thankful that the sticky side didn't slide off that crazy green unitard.

"You know, I have to admit I kind of like helping you with your Halloween costume," she said wistfully.

"I don't think I've done this for you since elementary school. "

"Thank you, mom. "

Chase muttered it under his breath, but she could also tell he actually was grateful for her help and didn't mind this time with her.

But just like that, the moment was gone with a knock on the door. Jessica watched as Chase opened the door to see Tyler standing there on the other side in a green unitard with a rose ringing his head.

"I'm really sorry I let my girlfriend talk us into this costume," he said quietly.

"You look so cute, Chase!"

Jessica leaned over to see Tyler's girlfriend standing there looking like a normal gardener with gardening gloves, a gardening tool belt, and a gardening hat. She definitely got the better side of this costume idea.

"Hi, Chase's mom! It's nice to see you again!"

Jessica smiled and waved. It was a little running joke between her and some of the players' girlfriends. She had been spending more time in Denver to see Chase play and the girlfriends were kind enough to invite her to watch the games with them even though she wasn't dating anyone on the team.

Except she was.

"Alright, you guys. Go have fun tonight and call me if you need a ride home."

"Thanks, but we'll be good," Tyler said. "The girlfriends are our designated drivers tonight in exchange for us wearing these things. You sure you don't want to come?"

Jessica just hand waved them away, and she could see the grateful look on Chase's face. "I don't think moms are invited. Go have a good time."

The three of them waved goodbye and Jessica quickly closed the door behind them. She loved Chase and liked his friends, but she was also waiting on someone else.

As soon as their car pulled out of the driveway, Jessica grabbed her phone and immediately texted what she was waiting for.

They're gone. See you soon

She watched out the front window waiting for Xander's car to pull in the driveway.

He knew to pull into the back so no one would see his car.

He knew where to wait to make sure the coast was clear before he drove up to see her.

And he knew how to get out quickly before Chase found out he was even there.

Jessica had fallen for Xander back on that Moms Trip all those months ago. This was not a one-night stand or friends with benefits or something like that.

This was different. The real deal. A thing that she saw being a long-term relationship. It was already the longest relationship she had ever had with someone since she got divorced from Chase's dad a decade ago.

But there was still something about sneaking around. Part of it was because she liked having a secret relationship and not having people in her business about her relationship.

Part of it was also out of necessity as Xander's was Chase's teammate and his captain. What would the players say when they found out their captain was screwing around with another player's mom? And not just a mom but a woman who was a decade older than the captain?

It was going to be a mess.

But she couldn't think about that now. She only had a little bit of alone time since she came to Denver and she had to make the most of it with Xander before he headed out to the team's Halloween party.

She heard the back door open and close, and a whispered "Hello?" come from the mudroom.

"Don't worry, he's gone," Jessica said with a smile.

She could hear Xander's feet quickly cross the hardwood floor before he came into view looking like…

"What are you wearing?" she asked incredulously.

"My Halloween costume."

"Are you supposed to be a Santa's elf or something?"

Xander's shoulders fell a bit with a defeated look on his face. "I'm a garden gnome," he lamented. "Some guy's girlfriend talked me into being a part of a themed team costume."

Jessica couldn't help the teasing smile that tugged at her lips. "A garden gnome?" She walked closer and grabbed the strings holding his garden gnome vest together, giving them a gentle pull until they came undone. "I can work with this I guess."

"Really?"

She shrugged and pulled herself closer. "I missed you. A lot. You make it quick and I'll make it work."

Xander growled and pulled her closer, his lips rough and strong on hers. Yeah, she missed this.

"I wish we had more time," he murmured against her lips. "But I had to see you now."

She knew the feeling. Her plan was to come to Denver from her home in Toronto, stay with Chase for a few days, and then sneak over to Xander's place for a few more days before finally going home. But she couldn't wait that long to see him knowing that he was so close.

And right now, he was so close. She knew making out with her secret boyfriend in her son's kitchen was probably wrong but she didn't want to be right. This felt good, Xander felt good, and he made her feel wanted in a way that no other man had in a long time.

Her hands snaked their way under his shirt, and she could feel his muscles tense up under the palm of her hand. Damn, she wanted him so bad, and she could tell Xander wanted her too. The way he moaned against her lips, his hand trailing down her body, his arm pulling her?—

"WHAT THE HELL?"

Jessica quickly pulled away and she could feel Xander's hands recoil from her body. She looked up, her eyes searching Xander's face, but he was standing stoically in front of her.

She didn't want to turn around but knew she had to. And she saw exactly what she didn't want to see: Chase standing in his kitchen staring at them.

"What are you doing with my mom?"

Oh fuck. This was definitely not how Jessica wanted her son to find out about her new relationship with his captain.

"Hey, bud," she tried to say casually .

"Bud?" Chase responded incredulously. "Bud? Really? You think it's a good idea to go with that horrible garden pun right now?"

It was definitely not a good idea, and she had just said it on instinct. It just made everything worse and she knew it.

"Listen, Chase. It's not what you think," Xander said.

Chase's eyes went wide as he stared at his captain. Yeah, this was not going well for either Jessica or Xander, but neither of them had expected her son to walk in on their make-out session.

"It's not what I think?" Chase asked. "Because what I think is that I forgot my ID because I don't have pockets in this stupid costume and I came back in the house to get it and my mom is making out with the captain of my hockey team!"

"OK, it kind of is what you think, but it's not like that."

Chase put his hand up so vigorously to stop Xander from talking that a sunflower petal came off his costume. "I don't want to hear it! I just…" He put his hand down, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. "I'm going to grab my ID and walk out of here, and I will deal with this later."

And with that, Chase grabbed his wallet from the counter, pulled out his ID, and stomped out of the house with the front door slamming shut behind him.

Xander and Jessica could only stand there in Chase's kitchen in shock, an uneasy quiet descending over them. It was finally Xander who spoke with a soft gravely voice.

"Well, that could've gone better."

Jessica couldn't help her nervous laugh. "It couldn't have gone much worse."

She took a deep breath and put her head in her hands, trying to calm herself down. It was Xander who was there to wrap his muscular hockey arms around her and pull her close to his chest.

"Don't worry, babe," he murmured in her ear. "We'll talk to him and work this out, OK?"

"This is a mess."

His hands rubbed up and down her back, soothing her as her mind raced with all the things she would have to deal with now that Chase knew what was going on.

He would have so many questions, but would she really have the answers?

And really, are there any good answers when your son finds his mom making out with the captain of his hockey team? Yeah, probably not.

"Hey," Xander whispered. "Hey, look at me."

His hands came up to her cheeks and he lifted her face towards him. He still looked ridiculous in his stupid garden gnome costume and Jessica wasn't sure she could take anything he said seriously looking like that.

"We'll figure this out, OK?"

He leaned down, brushing his lips against hers in a tender kiss that was missing the passion he had before her son walked in the door and caught them.

It was enough to make her believe that Xander was telling the truth.

She trusted him when he said this would work out because she knew he wouldn't lie to her about this.

"We'll figure it out," he repeated to her.

"Promise?" she tried to ask with a reassuring smile.

He gave her a teasing look. "Maybe not a promise, but I'll try my best."

She stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him again. It was the only thing she could do to reassure him that she was unsure of all of this but sure of him.

"Alright, it's time for you to get to that party."

She gently shoved his chest and he didn't move at all. It was a hockey player thing.

"I'll call you after the party."

He leaned down and kissed her again, a quick peck goodbye before sneaking out the back door as if he was still hiding what was going on from Chase.

Jessica could only stare out the window and watch him drive off, worried about what Xander would face at the team's Halloween party knowing one of the players was now very much aware that their mom was in a relationship with their team's captain.