Page 45 of Hutch (Minnesota Raptors #2)

Hutch

My phone chirps again with a photo of Hutch surrounded by stacks of papers.

I highly doubt he’s had to do stacks and stacks of paper from emails.

Tomorrow might be a different story. I know they’re both hopeful to get on the ice, but HR is going to eat up a lot of their time.

They may not make it to practice which will be a letdown for them both, but once all the paperwork and onboarding is done, they’ll be able to get on the ice with their new team on Tuesday.

“Something smells good!” Dylan comes over and inhales the scent of the chicken gravy I’m making. “Why did no one tell me you were cooking?”

“Because I’m making dinner for Hutch and his mom.”

“We can’t have any?” Dylan looks both scandalized and horrified at the same time. It’s quite comical.

“If there are leftovers, then yes, you can have some.”

“Is Collin going to be here?” he asks suspiciously.

“Of course. He’s Hutch’s brother from another mother.”

“Dammit. There will no food left over.”

Jenny smacks his stomach as she goes by on her way to the fridge. “You can take me out to eat. We’ll find someplace that has fried chicken.”

“You and I both know we ain’t gonna find anywhere that taste like Daisy’s home cooked food. Girl needs to change her major to a culinary degree or something.”

Everyone tells me that, but I want to help families of addicts cope with the pain and anxiety from having a loved one choose drugs over them.

I know what it’s like and how hard it is to deal with when you have no one to talk to.

I love Nana, but she never really wanted to talk to me or Robbie about the damage Mom caused us.

She ignored it and that’s not right. I want others to have someone they can talk to.

“Come on. Let’s get you out of the house before you beg to stay and eat.” Jenny takes his hand and drags him toward the front door.

Shaking my head, I go back to the dining room and set the table for all of us.

Kathleen is bringing her new boyfriend as well.

Hutch didn’t say much about him last night when he called, but he was preoccupied with dozens of emails from the Raptors.

I hope he and Collin got through them so they can relax and enjoy supper without stressing about finishing work.

On a bright note, my brother called me this morning.

He apologized for not calling on my birthday, but today was the first day he was allowed to use a phone.

I’m just grateful to hear from him because it means he’s alive.

That’s all that matters to me. It was nice to hear his voice.

He said he had a surprise for me when he comes home next month.

He sounded super excited so I can’t wait to see what it is.

And he’ll be here for Christmas which is amazing.

I hope we can get all this crap with Joe cleared up before he gets here. I just want a nice family Christmas.

It’s not long before I hear Collin shouting my name. The boy is loud. I go back to the main room where Hutch is eyeballing the room and its then I remember he is going to put up cameras. He’s scoping the place out to see where the best spots are.

“Hi, Mrs. Hutchinson.” I paste a smile on my face, trying to ignore thoughts of Joe and why cameras are going up in and around the house.

“Sorry I couldn’t make dinner yesterday, but I’m glad you let me cook for you tonight.

” I go over and take her and her friend’s jacket to hang up in the hall closet.

“Oh, no worries, Daisy. And as I said, please call me Kathleen.” Her gaze is full of genuine warmth. I was a little afraid she’d be mad I didn’t come to dinner. “Jonathan tells me you are a wonderful cook.”

“I don’t know about all that. I just cook the way my nana taught me and my brother to cook.”

“Your brother can cook too?”

I nod. “Nana said we had to learn to feed ourselves in case we married someone who burned water in the kitchen.”

“That would be Jonathan. He set the microwave on fire trying to heat water.”

“No need to be telling stories like that,” Hutch hurries to say. “Just be grateful I stopped trying to cook.”

“Now, Collin on the other hand, can cook. He makes the most wonderful meals.”

“I’ve had him help me in the kitchen before.” Not to the extent of making full meals but I trust him a bit more than even Jenny after watching him with a knife.

“I smell food.” Collin heads right for the kitchen. I have everything in the oven on the lowest heat possible to keep things warm, but not let it dry out.

“I guess that’s our cue he’s not going to let us sit and talk for a while,” Mrs. Hutchinson says wryly. “Daisy, honey, let me introduce you to Thomas Peters. Tom, this is Jonathan’s girlfriend, Daisy.”

Hutch’s head whips around to see if I’m going to correct his mother.

I’m not. I gave it a lot of thought last night and I came to the conclusion that if everyone already thinks I’m his girlfriend, there’s no use in denying it.

He thinks of me as his and if I keep pushing, I’m doing the one thing he asked me not to do—to shut him out.

And I feel like his girlfriend. There’s no denying that.

I care very deeply for him despite knowing better.

His persistence won out over my stubbornness.

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you. I hope the boys didn’t grill you too harshly yesterday.”

“Nothing I wasn’t expecting.” He shakes my hand and has a nice smile. I hope he turns out as nice as he appears to be. I highly doubt Hutch’s mother would put up with shit from any man. She raised her son right, which means she knows how she herself wants to be treated.

Hutch comes over and slides an arm around me, pulling me close. “Thanks for the early dinner. We’re gonna hit the gym right after to burn off all this fried food ahead of tomorrow’s practice.”

“You still think you’re going to get to play tomorrow?”

He nods. “I’m the glass half full kind of guy.”

“My money is on mostly paperwork tomorrow,” his mother says as she wanders toward the kitchen. “Collin, close that oven door. You’ll let the food get cold!”

“Yes, ma’am.” He lets the door slam shut and Kathleen cringes.

“I swear he has manners.”

“It’s fine. There’s nothing in there that’ll fall from the vibration.”

“What’s for dessert?” Collin goes snooping in the fridge.

“Blackberry cobbler.”

“Ohhh, cobbler. I love cobbler.”

“Let me start transferring food to the serving bowls and we’ll eat so Collin doesn’t pass out from hunger.”

“Bestie looking out for her bro.”

“You okay?” Hutch whispers into my ear.

“Yes. Much better today than yesterday.”

“You didn’t correct, Mom.”

“No, I didn’t.” I detach myself and go into the kitchen, leaving him frowning after me.

It doesn’t take long to get the food into serving dishes and onto the dining table. Thomas brought wine, but Collin, Hutch, and myself stick to water. Kathleen doesn’t drink anything either, stating she’ll drive home if Thomas wants a glass of wine with supper.

“You two excited for tomorrow?” Thomas asks once we’re seated and eating.

“Yeah. It’s surreal. I wish Uncle Dallas was here to see it. All the hard work he did to help me alongside of Mom finally paid off.”

“Your uncle would be very proud of you,” Kathleen says, a fond smile gracing her lips. “That man swore up and down you’d land on the home team and he was right.”

“Daisy, the boys were right about your cooking.” Thomas picks up another piece of fried chicken to add to his plate. “This is delicious.”

“It’s my nana’s recipe. The trick is always to soak it overnight in spiced buttermilk.”

“Buttermilk?” Hutch looks at the chicken in his hand like it’s offended him. “Buttermilk is some nasty shit.”

“Language!” Kathleen reprimands her son.

“Sorry, Mom.”

“Does it taste like buttermilk?” I ask him.

“Well, no…”

“Then why are you complaining? You soak it to make sure it stays juicy through the frying process.”

“I don’t care what its soaked in as long as it tastes like this.” Collin grins, chicken stuck in his teeth. He’s such a goofy goober, but he grows on a person.

“You’d think they were raised in barns.” Kathleen glares at Collin.

“Sorry, Mama Kat.” He flashes his chicken filled pearly whites at her.

“I’m going to disown you.”

“Nah, you won’t. You love me.”

She shakes her head and turns her attention to me.

“Daisy, Jonathan has been telling us about your ex and the problems he’s causing.

I spoke with a friend of mine who’s a detective and he urged me to have you file a restraining order.

He says that’s how they can legally do something if he continues to harass you. ”

Not what I wanted to talk about tonight.

“I agreed to file one. I emailed all the things the attorney wanted today to put the petition together.”

“Good. I can’t have my future daughter-in-law worried about her safety.”

“Mom,” Hutch warns.

“What? I only speak the truth. I expect grandchildren within five years.”

“Mom!”

She winks at me and I realize she’s only trying to rile him up. She’s not serious. At least not much. Despite the twinkle in her eye, I can see speculation there as well.

“Now back to this ex. My home is open to you day or night, honey. If you get scared, you come to my house, and I’ll call my detective friend to put a police unit outside the house. When I heard the way the police handled your situation before, I wanted to go slap some people.”

“Nana did slap a few people.” I remember being barely conscious, but I not only saw her slap the sheriff, I heard it.

I think everyone in the hall heard it to.

She might have been old, sick, and frail, but harm one of her loved ones and you’ve stirred up a hornet’s nest. She even threatened to go the state police in Charleston since the sheriff wanted me to not press charges.

I’ve never seen her so mad. It took me days to talk her out of that and to just leave it alone.

“Good for her.”

Collin looks around. “Anyone else want the rest of the mashed potatoes and gravy?”

“There’s enough there for everyone to have seconds if they want it,” I point out.

“There’s enough for me…”

Thomas eyeballs the dish and Collin dares him to touch it with his glare.

I pick it up and hand it to Thomas. “Get as much as you like. I’m not really hungry and the boys don’t need to load up on so many heavy carbs.”

“Then why did you make it?” Collin grouches.

“Because you love them. Doesn’t mean you need to be stingy.”

He grumbles but doesn’t say anything I can make out.

“Thanks for the offer, but I wouldn’t want to put you out. I’m fine here behind several locked doors and a security system. There’s also more than a few athletes that hang out. If I need help, I can usually just yell down the stairs and at least five people will come running.”

“The offer is there regardless.”

“Thank you.”

The rest of dinner is filled with small talk with Hutch and Collin finally starting to talk about how nervous they are for tomorrow. By the time everyone has pushed away empty dessert plates, most of the food is gone and they all look like they’re about to fall into a food coma.

“I think we should probably be getting back.” Thomas yawns. “I promised Kat I’d mow the lawn for her.”

Kathleen looks at the mess. “After we help clean up.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. Most of the mess is already cleaned up. Nana taught us to clean as we go so there wouldn’t be many dishes left at the end. I just need to rinse everything and put it in the dishwasher. Y’all head on home.”

Collin burps and starts clearing the table. “Me and Hutch got this, Red. You go sit down and relax. I can at least help clean up.”

“See?” Kathleen beams at him. “I told you my boys had manners.”

Collin sticks his tongue out her causing us all to laugh. He’s such a goof ball.

Kathleen hugs me as I walk her to the door. “I meant what I said. If you need me, just call. Have Jonathan put my number in your phone.”

I nod, not planning on doing that, but best to let her think I will. I would never put his mom in any kind of danger and that’s what Joe is. He’s danger personified because you won’t see him coming. He has everyone fooled.

Hutch closes the door after them and leans against it, looking relieved. “Sorry about all that daughter in law and kids talk. She’s probably only joking.”

“I figured.”

“Did I tell you how beautiful you look?” He pushes off the door and comes over to pull me to him.

I’d actually worn a dress and heels. I’m not a big dress person, but I know how to clean up when I want to. I even blew my hair out so it’s straight as a pin. Add in a little makeup and I look damn good.

“No, but it’s appreciated if you do.”

“You look beautiful, sweetheart.” His lips touch mine and it’s like I can breathe again.

It’s the oddest thing. I knew I missed him, but his kiss brings me a sense of relief and pulls a need from me that I’ve never felt.

I want to get as close to him as I can. I swear it’s like my body want to crawl into his skin and stay there.

“Can I stay here tonight?” he asks once he pulls back, leaving us both breathless.

“I thought you and Collin wanted to go into training facility together?”

“I can pick him up. I’d rather spend the night with you.”

“Then you have to promise to actually sleep.”

He laughs. “We’ll sleep eventually.”

“Fine, you can stay, but I mean it about sleeping. You don’t want to show up half asleep and looking like you haven’t slept in days.”

“My lawyer emailed me the forms for you to sign and then fax back to her. She said she’d file everything with the court first thing in the morning. You’re still okay with filing it?”

I nod. “Yeah. Not that I think it’ll do any good, but I’ll sign it.”

“It’ll make me feel better.”

“That’s really the only reason why I’m agreeing to this.”

He smiles and kisses the tip of my nose. “You didn’t correct Mom about you being my girlfriend.”

“I didn’t want to embarrass you in front of your mother.”

His shoulders droop slightly.

“And I couldn’t lie and say it’s not true now could I?”

He looks down at me, shocked. “Really?”

“Yeah. I guess Collin is right. I was the only hold out so I might as well admit the truth to myself.”

He hugs me so tight I can barely breathe.

“You hear that C? She finally agreed to let me call her my girlfriend!”

“About damn time,” he hollers back. “Now get your ass in here and help me clean up. We still have to go to the gym and work all these carbs and fried foods off.”

Hutch gives me a quick kiss, shoes me over to the couch to sit and joins Collin the kitchen, looking happier than I’ve seen him in a while.

I just wish I didn’t have this heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Something bad is going to ruin all this. I can’t shake that feeling any more than I can stop breathing.

I only hope when trouble arrives, it won’t kill me or anyone I care about.