Page 15

Chapter 15

That Better Be Glitter on Your Cheek

Nora

S ilence.

For a full five seconds, no one breathed, and no one moved. I blinked at Miles, sure I’d misheard him, but he wasn’t laughing. He wasn’t even smiling. He looked serious. Nervous, sure, but serious.

My pulse raced with an energy that made me want to jump up and pace the room or pinch myself to make sure this wasn’t some bizarre dream brought on by too much late-night ice cream.

“You want to pretend to be the father?” I stared at Miles, searching his features for any hint that this was an elaborate prank. Was I having a concussion episode? That would explain the surreal nature of this conversation.

His cheeks flushed a deep pink that crept up to his ears, and he shifted in his seat, the leather squeaking beneath him. “I mean... yeah. It’s just an idea.”

An idea. A wildly complicated, career-risking idea that made about as much sense as teaching pigs to fly. An idea that was essentially the same thing as saying Dominic was the father, except with an extra layer of deception that could blow up in all our faces.

My head tilted to the side like I was a dog trying to figure out what was going on. I opened my mouth. Closed it again. Finally, I managed to speak, though the words came out more bewildered than certain. “I don’t think that’s necessary. No one’s going to fire me for being pregnant... I hope. I don’t have to name the father. It’s no one’s business.”

Miles leaned forward, elbows on his knees, his green eyes more serious than I’d ever seen them. “But Dominic wants to be involved, right?”

I looked at Dominic, who sat there like a statue carved from tension and uncertainty. He gave a sharp, silent nod, lips pressed into a line so thin they nearly disappeared. Why wasn’t he immediately shooting this idea down? The Dominic I knew would’ve been ranting about how ridiculous this was by now.

“You’re going to need to explain this to me because how exactly does trading one hockey player for another help my job situation?” I fought the urge to laugh hysterically at the absurdity.

“He’s going to want to go to appointments. Be at the hospital. People will notice. Especially with all the attention already on him, but if I’m the boyfriend, it makes sense for him to be around. No one asks questions if your best friend is there when you’re having a baby with your girlfriend.”

“But that doesn’t change the fact that you’re a hockey player and I’m your coach. That’s the bigger issue here.” My throat was suddenly dry, and I took a sip of my water to calm my nerves.

Miles didn’t hesitate. “It doesn’t erase it. But it changes the story. Right now, if anyone finds out you’re pregnant and you don’t name the father, people speculate. If the truth leaks about it being Dominic’s, it’s a scandal. Coach and player, team dynamics, media frenzy. That’s the headline.”

“And if it’s you?” I crossed my arms over my chest as I struggled to process his logic. The whole situation was like trying to solve a Rubik’s cube in the dark. “Suddenly it’s all fine? Like magic, everything’s solved?” My voice carried a hint of the incredulous laughter I was fighting to contain, because really, this had to be the most elaborate solution to a problem I’d heard since in college Paige suggested we fix our broken air conditioner with duct tape and positive thinking.

“No, but we’re connected through the skating world, and no one would bat an eye if we said we crossed paths before you were hired. If people believe we were already quietly dating or even casually seeing each other before you were hired, then it’s not a team scandal; it’s just personal news. A relationship that predates your job. A baby that’s happening inside a committed relationship.”

I swallowed hard, trying to process that. It wasn’t wrong. It was completely overwhelming. “But I’m still your coach.”

“Yeah,” Miles admitted. “But it’s less explosive if management and the public see it as long-term and stable. Not a power trip. Not a fling. Not a broken rule.”

I hated how much sense it made. I hated that I was even considering it. But most of all, I hated how much safer the lie felt than the truth. I looked at Dominic to find him looking calmer than I’d seen him all day. “Dom?”

He let out a heavy sigh as if he was releasing all the things that had been bothering him all day. “He’s right. It’s easier to believe than if we tried to give that story about us. And once the baby is born… well, we can cross that bridge when we come to it.”

This wasn’t what I wanted. But maybe it was the only option that didn’t burn everything to the ground. “I need some time to think this through. I think we all do.”

This was temporary. A cover story. A way to buy time. That’s what I told myself, over and over, as Miles and Dominic left my office.

* * *

I lay sprawled on my couch, staring at the ceiling as if it might suddenly crack open and reveal the universe’s grand plan. My apartment was quiet except for the soft whirring of my refrigerator, which somehow felt like judgment.

The pregnancy test. The paternity revelation. And now Miles’s absolutely unhinged plan to pretend he was my baby daddy.

“This is fine,” I muttered to my ceiling. “Totally normal Tuesday night. Just contemplating a fake relationship with my player to cover up the fact I’m carrying another player’s baby. Real grown-up stuff.”

I pressed the heels of my palms against my eyes until I saw stars. The thing was, short-term, his plan would solve a lot of immediate problems. It bought time. Created cover. Prevented immediate scandal.

But long-term? Long-term, it was career arson waiting for a match.

I needed to talk to someone who wasn’t directly involved, someone who understood complicated situations.

I grabbed my phone and navigated to my contacts, finding my sister’s name while silently hoping she wasn’t currently in the middle of recording. Josie was a nanny by day and clandestine puppeteer by night, filming relationship advice and adult content for her YouTube and OnlyFans.

It was exactly why I needed to talk to her about this situation; she’d listen to me without judgment… I hoped.

The phone rang four times before Josie’s face appeared on my screen, her hair piled in a messy bun on top of her head and a smear of something shiny on her cheek.

“That better be glitter on your cheek and not jizz, or I’m hanging up,” I said by way of greeting.

Josie rubbed at her cheek and looked at her hand. “It’s glitter from an art project.” She squinted at me through the screen. “You look like shit.”

“Wow, thanks, sis.” I repositioned myself on the couch, pulling a throw pillow against my chest. “Are you alone?”

Josie’s eyes narrowed. “Yeah, why? Is this one of those calls where I need wine? Because I can go get wine.”

“It might be a tequila-level conversation.” I chewed on my bottom lip, suddenly unsure how to deliver the news. There was no good way to say, “surprise, I’m knocked up by my player in a completely unprofessional workplace scandal,” so I did what any rational adult would do: I blurted it out like I had two times already. “I’m pregnant.”

Josie’s face froze, then she leaned so close to the camera I could count her eyelashes. “I’m sorry, I think we had a connection issue. For a second there, I thought you said you were pregnant, which is impossible because you’re the one who lectured me for twenty minutes about effective birth control last Christmas.”

“My IUD fell out or something.”

“Your...” Josie’s mouth dropped open. “Holy shit, Nora.” She disappeared from the frame for a solid minute, then returned with a glass that definitely wasn’t filled with water. “But you always use condoms.”

“I did… both men did, and that was the second failure. Two condoms rubbing together is not the best idea.” I would have laughed at her expression if this situation wasn’t so messy.

When she didn’t respond, I gave her a very brief rundown of what happened and ended with, “It’s Dominic Wilson’s.”

Josie choked on her drink, spluttering and coughing. “The hockey player? The one whose dad is basically Satan in shoulder pads? Dad is going to lose his shit, Nora.”

“No one is telling Dad.” I slumped deeper into the couch, wishing it would swallow me whole. “I’m stuck in this impossible situation where I’m his coach, and he’s the father of my baby, and the PR nightmare is about to go nuclear.”

Josie took another long sip of her drink. “It’s not ideal, but people have babies with coworkers all the time. You’re both adults. I’m really surprised you slept with someone you’d have to see again.”

“You and me both… it just kind of happened. There was all this tension, and I hadn’t had sex in months. It was a moment of weakness.”

She snorted. “I understand that.”

“It’s more complicated than that, though.” I lowered my voice, even though I was alone. “Dominic’s teammate, Miles, suggested we tell everyone he’s the father so that Dominic can still be involved.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Josie leaned in again, her expression incredulous. “So your solution is to pretend a completely different hockey player knocked you up? That’s not a solution; that’s a CW drama.”

“I know it sounds extreme…”

“It doesn’t sound extreme. It is . Trust me, I know something about keeping secrets.” She was probably thinking about how she’d kept her puppet show a secret for months. “Secrets have expiration dates, Nora. The longer you wait, the messier it gets when it finally spills.”

“I know.” I put my face against the throw pillow and let out a mini scream. “But the fact that it’s his makes things complicated. He has a track record of sleeping around, so we can’t exactly say we were already seeing each other before I started coaching. Miles is in the clear on that front.”

Josie’s expression softened. “Look, I get it. I do. Sometimes you need a little time to figure out the right way to handle things. But this lie? It’s going to blow up in your face eventually.”

“So what am I supposed to do? Announce to the world that I had a yacht threesome that resulted in a pregnancy with one of my players?” I’d probably leave out the threesome part.

“No, of course not.” Josie sighed. “You do what you need to do. Buy yourself some time. But start thinking about an exit strategy from this lie, because the longer it goes on, the harder it’ll be to undo.”

I nodded, grateful for her understanding. “I’m scared, Jo.”

“I know you are. But you’ve never backed down from a challenge before, and you’re not starting now.” She gave me a small smile. “You know I’ve got your back, no matter what. Even when your life choices make mine look sensible by comparison, which is really saying something.”

That pulled a reluctant laugh from me. “Thanks, Jo.”

“Promise me one thing?” Josie’s eyes gleamed with a sparkle that only a little sister’s could have.

“What’s that?”

“Try not to fall in love with them. I don’t think the hockey world is ready for you to start collecting players like Pokémon.”

I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help smiling. “Very funny. Miles is a friend helping out in a crisis, and Dominic...” I trailed off, not even sure how to categorize whatever Dominic was to me. “Dominic is complicated.” I didn’t tell her about Carter still being in the picture; that was a whole other element that I didn’t have the emotional capacity for at the moment.

“Mm-hmm.” Josie’s knowing smirk made me want to hang up. “That’s exactly how it starts. First, they’re complicated, then before you know it, you’re building an Alaska King bed to fit all your boyfriends.”

“I’m hanging up now.”

“Love you too! Call me when you start fantasizing about player number three!” Josie blew an exaggerated kiss at the screen.

I ended the call, tossing my phone aside with a groan. Leave it to my little sister to find the humor in my complete disaster of a life. But underneath the jokes and teasing, I knew she was right about one thing: this secret had an expiration date.

And when it finally came to light, there was no telling what would be left standing in the aftermath.