Page 10 of Learn Your Lesson

The Pickles side of that argument clearly hadn’t seen me at my lowest.

I watched the clip, seeing the error immediately. He’d cleared the puck up the middle only to lose control and have the opponent take it the other way and score.

In other words — a turnover.

He wasn’t back checking hard enough, and I told him as much, coaching him through the scenario and giving him some drill homework.

It took nearly thirty minutes to get him off the line, and as soon as I did, my phone rang again.

This time, it was Maven — fiancée to Vince Tanev, one of our right wingers and, in an interesting twist of events, a good friend of mine.

Well, as good of a friend as I let into my life, anyway.

“What?” I answered.

“Don’twhatme, you prick.”

The difference in how she responded to my greeting compared to Carter wasn’t lost on me. Maven King was feisty. I liked that about her.

“I heard another nanny bit the dust today,” she said. “Was just calling to see if you needed me. I have a lot going on with the foundation right now, but I should be able to move things around to help.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose on a long sigh, feeling like an asshole — which was nothing new.

“Thank you,” I said. “I might take you up on that. Let me try to figure something out, but if I can’t…”

“I’ve got you,” she said. “You can take her to school in the morning before pre-game skate?”

“Yeah.”

“Give me a call after and let me know if you need me to pick her up. I could bring her to the game with me, too.”

I nodded. “Thanks, Mave.”

My head was pounding by the time I ended the call, and I made my way back inside to find the kitchen spotless and a note from Chef on the counter.

Pre-game pasta is in the fridge. See you in a couple days, turkey.

I dragged my sore ass upstairs, nearly forgetting Miss Knott was still here until I heard her voice coming from Ava’s room.

I frowned, the words familiar as I crept closer, and when I made it to the door, I paused at the sight of her sitting against Ava’s headboard reading one of her favorite bedtime books.

My daughter was already sound asleep, one arm around her Ospreys stuffed animal fish, her mouth half-open and a little drool coming out.

Chloe startled when she saw me, glancing down at Ava with a soft smile before she carefully slid off the bed, replaced the book on Ava’s shelf, and tiptoed toward me. I waited until she was out of the room before I took her place, bending to kiss Ava’s forehead and turn on her night light.

I met Chloe in the hallway, and she waited until we were away from Ava’s room before speaking in a whisper.

“I hope you don’t mind, but after she showed me her room, she was already yawning. I ran a bath for her, checked on her a couple times, and laid out some pajamas for when she was finished. She brushed her teeth without me asking, and then asked if I’d read to her.”

I couldn’t articulate why, but there was a thick knot in my throat.

This.

Thiswas what I had been looking for, what I needed. Someone who had common fucking sense. Someone who knew how to handle kids — no, not just any kid.Mykid.

Someone who could figure out what needed to be done without asking me for a fucking play by play.

“How attached are you to your job?”