Page 18 of Moms of Mayhem (Mayhem Hockey Club #1)
Once Jace left with Beckett for the day, I poured my coffee into a to-go tumbler and got in my car, headed to pick up the playpen in Glenwood Springs.
Luckily, rush hour wasn’t exactly the same in mountain towns—the highway was mostly clear, more people headed toward the ski towns east of Linwood than the larger city nestled in the mountains.
Michael taught the morning classes on Tuesdays, so I didn’t have to be at the studio until after noon, but I couldn’t stop glancing at the clock, wondering how this afternoon would go.
The playpen was ready for pickup at the front desk of the store, but I grabbed a cart and headed toward the baby aisle, my mind snagging on how I could make life easier on Stevie.
It had been over a decade since I had a baby, but some things never changed. If I were going to make my studio more accommodating to Stevie, and maybe other moms who needed it too, then I needed a changing table in the bathroom .
I slid the large box off the shelf and onto my cart, then grabbed a basket I could fill with diapers and wipes. A mixture of excitement and nostalgia got to me, and before I knew it, I had a cart full of baby necessities and toys. Everything was so cute and small, it was hard to say no.
I had a tiny pink coat that looked like a teddy bear in my cart and was already mentally planning joint family vacations to the beach.
Jace could make sure her kids didn’t die inside while we read romance novels on the porch with steaming cups of coffee we didn’t have to reheat, and her husband…
shit, I didn’t even know her husband’s name.
With a sigh, I put the coat back, reminding myself that I had known Stevie for approximately six minutes. This wasn’t a friendship yet; it was barely a handshake, and she hadn’t even agreed to come tonight.
No matter how excited I was at the prospect of a new friend in town, I had to reel it in. This was the equivalent of a first date—something I hadn’t done in a long, long time.
My phone dinged in my pocket, and I opened it to a selfie of Beckett and Jace in front of the school, both of them giving the camera thumbs up with a broad smile.
I grinned back at the screen, zooming in on Jace’s face.
His eyes were focused more on Beckett than the camera, but his whole face was alight with happiness.
Tears gathered in the corners of my eyes as I looked at his big smile, something he hadn’t done nearly enough lately.
With a sniff, I wiped at my eyes, then saved the photo before I could overthink it.
Emmy
Thank you
Beckett
Practice after school at the rink tonight
Emmy
I have to miss tonight, but I’ll ask Ty if he can take him for me
Beckett
Hot date? Make sure you wear my hoodie.
I stood in the middle of the aisle, smiling like an idiot at my phone.
Emmy
That seems like a faux pas, right? Wearing another man’s clothes?
Beckett
Nah. Just sends the signal that you’re not as available as he thought.
Emmy
Am I not available, Beckett?
Beckett
You tell me, Peach.
And I can take Jace. I’ll pick him up from school and get him to and from the rink.
The smile on my face disappeared, and I swallowed down the lump in my throat. This thing with Beckett seemed dangerous. My son was smiling like an idiot while staring at him lovingly, and I wasn’t far behind him.
Maybe it was best if I kept my distance from my brother’s best friend—we all knew this was temporary, and Beckett would be gone again soon enough .
Even if he planned to stay in Linwood to recover and help his mom, that didn’t mean I had to see him regularly. I’d never spent much time talking to any of Jace’s coaches before now, so that didn’t matter either.
I could be aloof.
I could separate myself from this.
I could focus on finding friends like Stevie and not on the hot as hell man that was currently weaseling his way into my son’s and my life. Hell, I could even lean on my brother like he kept begging me to if it meant avoiding Beckett.
Emmy
Don’t worry about it. I’ll ask Ty.
Nodding to myself, I pushed the cart toward the register and checked out with far more baby items than I probably needed.
I loaded it all into the trunk with a smile on my face, then headed back to Linwood, firing off a text to Shannon that I’d need help unloading when I got back into town. She sent back an emoji with an arched eyebrow, but I ignored her and cranked up the music, feeling good about today.
“Oh, my God,” Shannon said as we stared at the open trunk full of baby items. “Did you buy the whole store?”
I scrunched my nose, then picked up the little dragon toy on top. “How was I supposed to say no to this, Shannon?”
Holding it in front of my face, I wiggled the toy’s little arms until Shannon rolled her eyes and took it from me. “You’re ridiculous. ”
“Aren’t you the one taking all these classes to be a child therapist?”
“Speech therapist,” Shannon clarified. “And yes, but this is a lot for a woman you don’t even know is going to show up tonight.”
“Positive thoughts.” I tugged the large box with the changing table out of the car, then carried the awkward box into the studio.
“If a man can build a baseball field in the middle of a corn field to coax ghosts of baseball players to join him, then maybe I can lure lonely moms into the studio with a playpen full of toys.”
“You’re talking in weird sports metaphors again,” Shannon said. “I understood none of that.”
“Yes, well, as the little sister to an NHL player and the ex-wife of a sportscaster, Field of Dreams was entry level knowledge required.”
“Oh no, I’ve failed Sports 101. Someone revoke my woman card and replace it with a foam finger.”
I huffed a laugh while readjusting my grip on the box, then pushed my way inside the studio. Michael’s voice sounded above the hip-hop music, so I put the box up against the wall and went back to grab the rest of the items I’d bought.
“Next time you shop for kid’s toys, tell me,” Shannon said when I snapped the trunk closed. “There’s a resale shop in Avon we can go to, and I can look for ones that are stimulating for little brains.”
“Careful.” I grinned at her, holding the door open. “That almost sounded like you care.”
“About little developing minds? Yes. About you? We’re not friends.”
“Right, right. How could I forget? ”
Class ended, and my patrons filtered out, each casting glances at all the baby items littered around the small entryway.
Michael leaned against the wall, staring at me with a raised brow. He wore a New York Sentinels hat over his black close-cropped coils. “What’s all this?”
“Making the studio more accommodating to reach young moms who don’t have childcare.”
“We also don’t have childcare,” Shannon said, arms crossed as she stared at me. “Does your business insurance even cover this?”
“Yes, actually.” I dragged the changing table box down the aisle between the reformers. “I checked on it last night to make sure I wasn’t violating my policy, and we’re all good.”
“Except for the whole who’s going to watch the babies part.”
“I’ve got it covered.” I dropped the box with a loud thump outside the bathroom. Luckily, it was large enough to accommodate the new piece of furniture, so I grabbed the toolbox from my office and sat down on the floor, ready to assemble it.
By got it covered, my plan was multi-faceted.
Shannon was on the schedule until six tonight, and I was secretly counting on the fact that this tough as nails woman actually loved children.
Like, had a hard time walking past a baby on the street without stopping and talking to them, never in a baby voice, always teaching.
Stevie’s little girl was adorable, and I had no doubt Shannon would crack the moment Stevie walked in the door with her.
If all else failed, I was prepared to hold the baby myself for an hour.
Now I just had to hope Stevie actually showed up.
Between setting up the little play area in the studio and teaching classes, the day flew by. Pink light filtered through the front windows as the sun set over the mountains, and I looked at my watch every ten seconds or so while I wrapped up my last class of the day.
“If you enjoyed today’s class, I teach the same level at four on Thursdays, and it fills up fast, so make sure you’re on the list!” I said to my class as they wiped down their equipment, then hurried to the front desk. “Any word from her?”
Shannon shook her head, casting a glance at me. “You going to be okay if she doesn’t show up?”
“What?” I scoffed, trying to play off how disappointed I already was that we hadn’t heard from Stevie at all.
I’d told her to just show up but had been holding out hope that she’d call to confirm.
“Yes. I’m fine. If she doesn’t show up, I’ll go watch Jace practice like I was planning to.
But I’m staying positive. If a team of Jamaican track runners can make it to the Olympics for bobsledding, then I can make a new friend as an adult. ”
“I swear you live to annoy me.”
I pointed a finger at her, barely containing my smile. “ Cool Runnings is as classic as Shania Twain. I’ll allow no Sanka slander.”
Shannon held up her hands, then stepped away from the desk to go through closing activities for the night like she normally would.
I stood at the desk, flipping through my phone. Ty had picked up Jace like I asked, and my son’s little tracking bubble showed he was at the rink like he was supposed to be. Even though I was dying for this to work out with Stevie, I was also curious to know how practice was going.
Ty had agreed to coach with Beckett like I knew he would. I might have fought harder against this idea if I didn’t secretly think it would be great for Ty to pick his head up from all the responsibility he carried for literally everyone in town.