Page 57 of One Good Puck (Denver Bashers #5)

Abby

“ H ave you heard from Alan yet?” I ask Gavin as we cuddle together on his couch.

He hugs me tighter and kisses my temple. “Not yet.”

I gaze through the floor-to-ceiling windows on the other side of the living room. The soft glow of early morning peeks above the snow-covered Rocky Mountains in the distance.

When we woke up this morning, Gavin told me about how the Bashers general manager threatened to fire him if he left the game to look for Emma last night.

I was stunned. I couldn’t believe he could be so harsh.

But Gavin explained that’s the kind of guy Alan is—only focused on winning, no matter what.

Gavin said he expected to hear from Alan sometime today to get the official word that he’s been let go. Sophie called earlier to check up on us, and he mentioned it to her, but she’s the only other person who knows.

I cup my hand over his stubbled cheek and gaze into his crystal blue eyes. “Could I maybe call Alan and tell him what a jerk he’s being?”

The corner of Gavin’s mouth hooks up. He kisses me. “You don’t need to do that, sweetness.”

Soft footsteps echo from across the house. We look over and see Emma walking toward us from her bedroom.

“Good morning, honey.” I hug her, then scoop her up and sit her next to me on the couch. I swipe her messy hair out of her face and kiss her cheek that’s puffy from sleep.

“How are you feeling, kiddo?” Gavin asks.

Emma blinks sleepily and shrugs. “Tired. And hungry.”

“Well, I can fix the hungry part. How about some chocolate chip pancakes? Those were Sophie’s favorite as a kid.”

Emma flashes a sleepy smile and nods. Gavin hops up and heads to the kitchen while Emma and I stay on the couch and watch her favorite morning cartoons on TV.

Emma looks up at me. “Mom?”

“Yeah, honey?”

“That man who took me last night said he was my dad. Is that true?”

I take in the innocent, curious look in her eyes. I was going to tell her about her dad last night, but she fell asleep.

A knot forms in my stomach. I avoided talking to Emma about her dad her entire life. I answered the questions she had about him when she was younger, but I kept things pretty simple. I told her that her dad left us. She was sad about it, but didn’t ask again.

Part of me was relieved. So many kids blame themselves when their parent abandons them, even though it’s not their fault. I didn’t want her to feel like she did anything wrong, so I didn’t bring him up.

But I have to now. She deserves to know the truth .

I start to undo the messy ponytail in her hair, nervous about how I’m going to navigate this conversation.

“Yes, honey. That man is your dad.”

She frowns like she’s confused. “How come I’ve never seen him before?”

My heart aches at what I’m about to tell her. “Because he left us when you were a baby. Do you remember asking me about this when you were younger?”

She shakes her head. Her brow furrows. “Why did he leave?”

“Because he wasn’t a very good dad, honey.”

There’s more to the story. The fights and resentment and hurt feelings. The realization that my partner wasn’t the good guy I thought he was.

But I don’t want to get into all that with her. She’s too young to understand all of that. So I make things as simple as I can while still being honest with her.

She blinks, and a bit of the confusion in her expression fades away. “Was he mean to you?”

“Yeah, sometimes.”

She nods, like she’s starting to understand.

“Were you sad when he left?”

“I was at first. But then I realized how much better things were without him. He was mean, and we argued a lot. After he left, it was just me and you, and life was a lot better. You were the cutest, sweetest, most perfect baby in the whole world. And I was so happy that I could focus on just you.”

“How come he was so mean last night? How come he tried to take me away from you?”

I’m quiet for a moment as I think about how I want to explain this to her. “Some people don’t know how to express the big feelings they have. You remember when we talked about big feelings, right?”

“Yeah. Like when I get mad or sad or cry really hard and you tell me it’s okay as long as I don’t say mean things or hurt anyone.”

“Exactly. It’s okay to feel all those things. What’s not okay is to hurt people. But some people have a hard time with that. Like your dad.”

She nods, then goes back to watching her cartoon.

After a minute, she turns to me again. “He’s not going to try and take me again, is he?”

I kiss the top of her head. “Never. You’re safe. I promise.”

She looks at Gavin cooking in the kitchen, his back to us. “Gavin doesn’t get mad or hurt people. Except he got mad at my dad for taking me and pushed him against the wall. That’s okay, right? It’s okay to get mad at someone if they’re hurting you or doing something bad, isn’t it?”

My heart aches at how innocent she is. “That’s exactly right, honey.”

“I like that Gavin is nice and doesn’t get mad or hurt people.”

I smile. “I like that too.”

She doesn’t ask any more questions about her dad while we watch TV.

She’ll probably have more questions at some point.

And I’m sure when she’s older, we’ll have this conversation again.

And that’s okay. I’ll talk about her dad as much or as little as she wants.

I want to be an open book for her. I want her to always feel like she can come to me about anything.

Gavin walks over with two plates of pancakes. He hands one to me and one to Emma .

She beams when she sees the chocolate chip smiley face on the short stack of pancakes.

“That’s so cool,” Emma says when she looks up at Gavin.

“Glad you like it, kiddo.”

My heart flutters in my chest seeing Gavin go out of his way to make Emma happy.

He sits next to me on the couch. “How did I get so lucky to get you?” I say, smiling at him.

He kisses me. “I’m the lucky one.”

I take a bite of pancake and moan. “This is really yummy.”

“My special recipe. One of the few things I can cook well.”

I hold up my fork and offer him a bite.

“This is my new favorite thing,” I say. “Cartoons and chocolate chip pancakes in our pajamas.”

“We’ll make our little tradition,” Gavin says.

Emotion bubbles up inside of me, and for a moment, I feel so overwhelmed, I could cry.

“You okay?” Gavin asks.

I look up from my plate and look at him. “More than okay. For the longest time, I thought it would just be Emma and me forever. And I was happy with that. But then you came along. And you changed everything for the better.”

Emotion flashes in his crystal blue eyes. He looks at Emma, who’s engrossed in her cartoons and pancakes and not paying attention to us.

Then he looks at me and drops a kiss to my lips. “Thank you for letting me into your life,” he says softly.

That warm feeling encases my whole heart. I never thought I could feel this happy.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rings .

“I’ll get it.” When I open the door, I’m greeted by Sophie, Xander, Del, Blomdahl, Sam, Theo, Camden, and Ryker.

“Hey, guys,” I say, surprised.

“Sorry to show up unannounced like this,” Sophie says. She hesitates. “I, um, might have let it slip to Xander that Alan was going to fire my dad.”

“And I might have told the guys on the team,” Xander says.

“We’re here to support Coach,” Del says. All the guys nod along.

I smile, heartened that so many of them showed up for Gavin.

“Come on in,” I say.

They all step inside and follow me to the living room.

“Gavin, you have visitors.”

His eyes go wide when he sees everyone standing with me.

He stands up from the couch. Emma hops up and waves at the guys. “Hi!” she says brightly.

They all say hi to her.

I walk over to her and wipe the chocolate from her mouth. “Honey, why don’t you go brush your teeth and wash your face?”

Emma walks to her bathroom.

“What are you guys doing here?” Gavin asks.

“We heard that Alan wants to fire you for leaving the game last night to save Emma,” Xander says.

“But we’re not going to let him do that,” Del says.

Gavin frowns like he’s confused.

“We support what you did, Coach,” Sam says.

“Yeah. It’s messed up that Alan wants to get rid of you for doing the right thing,” Blomdahl says .

Camden nods. “I don’t have kids, but if my nephew went missing, I’d drop everything to look for him too.”

“If Alan tries to get rid of you, we’re going to put up a fight,” Theo says. Ryker nods along.

For a long moment, Gavin just looks at them, clearly stunned.

“You guys don’t have to do this,” he says.

“We know we don’t have to,” Ryker says.

“You’re the leader of this team, Coach,” Xander says. “We don’t want to play for anyone but you. And we’re going to tell Alan that.”

All the guys nod. Gavin’s eyes go glassy, but then he blinks quickly and clears his throat.

He’s quiet for a second, then clears his throat. “Thank you.”

Sophie walks over and hugs him. “Sorry I spilled the beans.”

“It’s okay, honey. I’m glad you did.” He looks at the guys. “It means a lot to have your support.”

Gavin’s phone rings. He frowns when he looks at the screen.

“Is that Alan?” Sophie asks.

He shakes his head. “No. It’s Greg Macer. The team owner.”

He answers. “Hello?…Fine. You?…Okay, sure….I’m on my way.”

He hangs up and lets out a heavy sigh. “Greg asked to meet with me immediately.”

Everyone is quiet. The guys look confused.

“Did he say why?” Sophie asks.

Gavin scrubs a hand over his stubbled jaw. “Nope.” He lets out a heavy sigh. “I’ll find out soon enough though.”