Page 4

CHAPTER 4

A Family that Works

KELLEN

I open Bri’s front door without knocking, a habit I should probably break at some point.

“Morning,” I call into the foyer of the four-bedroom house next door to mine. The house that technically belongs to me, but it’s helped Ava’s mother to have someplace nice to live, and I get to see my daughter more often. It’s a win-win.

“Daddy!” Ava calls from the kitchen. A second later, she’s sprinting around the corner and throwing herself at me, wrapping her limbs tightly around my leg.

“Hi, sweetie.” I peel her off and lift her into my arms so I can kiss her cheek. “I love your outfit.”

“Thanks! I picked it out myself!” Ava’s wearing a bright pink tutu, a purple t-shirt depicting three dogs wearing Christmas sweaters, and rainbow socks enveloped with bright yellow crocs. Top her ensemble off with two crooked ponytails that I’m betting she insisted on doing herself and you have my daughter’s typical look.

“Kellen.” Bri follows Ava from the kitchen and stands with her fists on her hips, legs wide in a fighting stance.

“Hello, Bri.” I know the argument she’s about to have with me. It’s the same one we have every few months.

“Why did you transfer half my rent back to my account?”

I sigh. “Because. You don’t need to be paying rent here at all, and definitely not that much. I make many, many multiples of what you do, remember?” Ava tugs at the neckline of my t-shirt with one hand and pulls my face toward hers with the other.

All I want in life is to take care of Ava and our family, which includes Bri. NHL players get paid shit-tons of money. What’s the point if not to help the people you love?

“You don’t let me forget it.” Bri crosses her arms.

“Daddy,” Ava whispers close to my face. “We’re eating pancakes.”

“Can I have some?” I turn to her.

“Nope.” She shakes her head. “All for me.”

“The amount I sent you is the going rate for a house like this in Fort Collins.” Bri sighs and drops her arms. “I don’t need your charity.”

I know better than to argue further with Bri, so I bite my tongue and instead tickle Ava in the side until she squirms out of my arms and sprints back to the kitchen.

When Bri showed up at my door six years ago with a pregnant belly claiming I was the father, I was horrified and disbelieving.

Bri had been the pretty but nerdy girl in high school who played the flute in band, with messy hair and glasses. I was all hockey, all the time, so I never even tried to date her back then, but I had a crush on her from afar. I lost track of Bri after high school, but apparently, she’d gotten her associates degree from a small community college and was sucked into our hometown of Pueblo by her loser boyfriend.

Six months before she showed up at my door, I’d run into Bri at a bar in Fort Collins. She told me she was in town for a bachelorette party weekend, three hours from Pueblo. She’d broken up with her boyfriend a month earlier. We had one night together, then she went back home without even leaving her number.

And when she found out she was pregnant, and the doctors told her the estimated due date… she knew it was mine, not her ex’s.

Bri didn’t have one baby item with her when she arrived. Her parents weren’t willing to help. That town is full of useless, deadbeat, lying parents, which I know all too well.

How could I turn her away?

“Daddy! Come sit!”

I shrug and slide past Bri into her kitchen. We never tried to be together after that, and neither of us wanted to. These days, Bri is family. And when Ava had serious health issues a few years after she was born, we got through it together while she was treated at the fantastic children’s hospital in Denver.

“What’s up today, pumpkin?”

“I have kindergarten. Again! Then soccer practice. Are you picking me up?” Ava pours about a gallon of syrup on her pancakes before murdering one with a fork and taking a too-big bite. I subtly slide a banana closer to her.

“Sorry baby, I’ll be at hockey practice till late. Grace will grab you from school and take you to practice, okay?”

“Daddy, we still don’t have a soccer coach since Bella’s dad stopped helping. Are you sure you can’t do it?”

“I wish I could, but I can’t be there for most of the practices and some of the games. I’m sorry.” If there was a way I could do this for my daughter, I would. Not because the kids need me in particular to be their coach, but because it’d be another way to show her she’s my top priority. But I just can’t. Not with my schedule.

“Aw.” Ava sticks out her bottom lip.

“Hey, I have a funny story for you.”

“What, Daddy?” Ava pours more syrup on the last two bites of her pancake. My blood sugar spikes just watching her. “Want some pancake?”

“Definitely not. I’ll eat at the arena. And pancakes soaked in maple syrup will not be an option.” Sometimes I wish I could eat like my daughter, but my hockey career depends on me taking care of my body. “Ava. There was a dog on the ice yesterday.”

“A dog??” Ava gasps with delight, fork halfway to her mouth. “What kind of dog?”

“I don’t know. It had a scrunched-up face.”

“Was it a pug? I love pugs!” She shoves the dripping bite of pancake in her mouth.

“I don’t think so.”

“A bulldog? A Boston terrier?” I should probably stop her from talking with her mouth full, but she’s too cute. I’m sure I’ll regret that rationale at some point.

“Maybe? How do you even know all these dog breeds?” I chuckle.

“I got a book from the library! Was it a big dog? A small dog?”

“Um, I’d say small.”

“She’s obsessed with this dog breed book,” Bri says. “I’ll have her bring it to your house.”

“What was the dog doing there?” Ava’s eyes are open comically wide as she absorbs every word I say.

“Well, it was running away from its owner and got into the rink, slipping and sliding everywhere. And then—ready for this?—it peed on the ice.”

Ava cackles wildly.

“Gross. Whose dog was it?” Bri asks from the kitchen sink.

“Atticus’s sister.”

Lucy’s face pops into my mind, a vivid image of curly red hair, light freckles, and pink cheeks.

Ava groans. “Daddy, why can’t I get a dog?”

“Because I travel too much. ”

“Mommy doesn’t travel.” Ava sits back in her chair and crosses her arms.

“Not this again, Ava.” Bri shakes her head. “What was Atticus’s sister doing with a dog on the ice?”

I stand and head over to the coffee machine, grabbing a clean mug and helping myself to the fresh pot.

“She’s working for the team for the season. PR stuff.” What’d she say? Something about how if I need anything to do with PR, she’s my girl? I hold back a chuckle at the memory of the conversation.

“Daddy, what was the dog’s name?”

“That’s another funny story.”

“Why?”

“Because she—Lucy—didn’t even know its name.”

“What? That’s weird. She sounds weird.” But Ava’s grinning from ear-to-ear.

Bri hands me a container of pumpkin spice creamer. I make a face but pour it into the coffee anyway. I won’t tell the nutritionist.

“It was either Zeus, or Waffles, or Max.”

“I like Waffles!”

I lean against the counter, sipping from the steaming mug.

“Why are you smiling like that?” Bri narrows her eyes at me.

“I’m smiling?”

“Yeah. It’s weird.”

“So now I can’t smile?” I press my lips together.

“I want to meet Waffles!” Ava stands and jumps up and down.

“Well, maybe I can arrange that.”

And then maybe I can see Lucy again. Not that I have any real interest in that woman. Or any woman, these days.

But Lucy was… well, interesting. She was kind of babbling and flushed and not at all what I expected from Atticus’s sister.

And she was hot. Hot mess hot.

“Yay! I love Atticus!!”

“Ava, honey, go grab your backpack so you can pack your lunch and water bottle, okay?” Bri waves our daughter out of the room, and I gather up Ava’s breakfast dishes and walk them over to the sink.

“Did you decide to apply for that role?” I run the lake of maple syrup off Ava’s plate.

“Yeah.” Bri leans against the counter. “I filled out the internal application yesterday. And if I get it, it’ll be a significant pay increase, so no more sending back rent.”

Bri works at the University of Colorado in an administrative job and is ambitious to do more.

“Fingers crossed.”

“It is what it is.” Bri waves me off, but I know how serious she is about this. “Don’t you have to get to the gym or something?”

“Actually, yeah.” I check my phone. “Have a to-go cup?”

Bri’s already pulling a Yeti out of her cabinet.

“This is yours anyway. I grabbed it last time I was over your house.”

I kiss Ava and wave at Bri.

Maybe our situation is a bit weird, but everything is good here in Fort Collins. I have a job I love, Bri’s happy at work, Ava’s settled, and we’re close to her trusted doctors.

I don’t want anything to change. I like being single, stable, and a provider for my family. I’m not interested in dating or a relationship, and I don’t have time for one-night stands. I’ve got too much going on. Ava’s depending on me.

And when I did try dating someone last year, it was a disaster. Lesson learned.

I slide into my car and close my eyes for a second.

I need to keep my spot on the team. That means convincing Paul that nothing happened between me and his wife, and that nothing will.

These rumors could be disastrous for my career. I don’t want to get traded. I don’t want to leave Fort Collins or Colorado.

The problem is, I have no clue how to fix the mess I’ve gotten myself into.