Page 1 of Learn Your Lesson

Yes, Sir

Will

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

I growled the words, ripping my mask off as I skated past our wide-eyed assistant athletic trainer. She was new to the team, joining us for her first season, and I didn’t mean to make her pale as a ghost with my reaction to the message she’d delivered — but I couldn’t help it.

Grumpy was my natural state of being lately.

And I wasextragrumpy at the moment from being interrupted in the middle of our practice by a trainer telling me my daughter was here.

Ava was my fucking world. Other than hockey, she was all that mattered to me. I looked forward to every minute I got to spend with her.

The issue was that she should have been at home right now with the newest nanny I’d hired — not standing in the penalty box.

I tried and failed to school my breathing the closer I got, both frustrated by a clear sign my latest nanny had bitthe dust, and worried something might have happened to Ava. But she looked content as could be, perched on the seat inside the box, pressing up onto her toes to get a better look at the rink through the glass. She was watching the rest of the team as they ran drills, her mop of dark brown curls falling out of the ponytail I’d tried to wrangle them into earlier that morning.

Like me, my daughter didn’t smile much. It was an unfortunate side-effect to having me as a father and the only steady parental figure in her life.

But right now, her eyes were big and filled with excitement — well, as much excitement as she was capable of showing, anyway. The kid loved hockey just as much as I did, and any time I let her come to the arena, she lit up like I’d taken her to Disney World.

Except this time, I hadn’t let her come. This wasn’t an approved visit.

She was supposed to be at home — playing house or running in the yard or swimming in our pool.

Instead, she was watching pucks fly.

And it wasn’t her nanny standing beside her and making sure she didn’t fall.

It was Chloe Knott — her kindergarten teacher.

She stood out like a sore thumb, not just because the stands were empty, but because that woman wouldn’t be able to blend inanywhereno matter how hard she tried.

Her bright copper wave of hair was lobbed just above her shoulders and parted down the middle, her brown eyes framed with thick, dark lashes that dusted her rosy cheeks every time she blinked. Other than that blush, her skin was like porcelain, pale and smooth like she bathed in sunscreen every morning before leaving the house.

She wore a long black skirt with white polka dots and a white t-shirt with a rainbow on it. Under the rainbow, it saidno rain, no rainbow.Jade green arches dangled from her ears to complete the look, and they shimmered in the stadium lighting the closer I got.

I remembered the relief I’d felt in my chest the first time I’d met her, how she’d warmed at the sight of Ava as if she were her only student. Chloe had bent down to her level, looking her right in the eye and talking to her like an adult. She’d managed to get my daughter to smirk, and I’d felt the weight on my chest dissipate.

It was one thing to have Ava in a half-day of early learning last year, but to have her officially in school had put my emotions through the wringer. I didn’t want her to grow up. I didn’t want to have to face everything that came with school — bullies, friendships breaking down, the struggle of learning.

I wanted her to hold onto her innocence forever, to always stay this young.

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Perry,” Chloe said when I was close enough to hear her. She smiled apologetically, her coral-painted lips curving up just a fraction as she looked at Ava and then at me. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

I could put the pieces together before I even got an explanation.

After the run of bad luck I’d had with nannies over the summer, I’d made sure to let Miss Knott know when I hired a new one. I’d also written consent for Miss Knott to be able to drive Ava to me should anything happen.

She had already been added to my approved list from when she’d tutored Ava in the first semester of the year, as my daughter had struggled with speaking in front of a class of twenty kids. When Ava finally startedfeeling comfortable, she excelled — but I didn’t revoke Miss Knott’s access even now that we were in the second semester, because I had a feeling I’d need her.

The fact that I couldn’t depend on anyone I’d hired to care for Ava thus far made me grind my fucking teeth.

To me, it was simple — if you had a job, you did that job. Properly. End of story.

Apparently, that was asking too much.

When I joined Miss Knot and Ava in the box, I immediately shut the door behind me just in case a puck came flying our way. And even though it didn’t do much to block out the noise of practice, I was instantly aware of how the three of us fit in the tight space.