Page 50

Chapter 50

Mikey

It had been two months since Jessie and I made up and said I love you. Things were so good with her. We occasionally ran into Cole, which was unsavory. I was kind of sad that Jessie still got irritated when she saw him. To me, that meant she still cared about him a little bit. She assured me it was just a constant nasty reminder of how much time she wasted with him. That made me feel better.

And anyway, I had a plan.

Her job had gotten so much better since she was promoted and found her replacement. She no longer had to get up at 4:30 since she had someone to share the load with more evenly. We had plans to go to Detroit late in the summer and stay with my family for a week, seeing her family for a week after Guy and Kitty’s wedding. I’d had some phone calls with my family where not much was said, but it was clear we all wanted to work on our relationship. We’d hit the bottom. Maybe we had a chance to go upward.

I was also taking Jessie to Japan in July. I was grateful the Disneyland teacups weren’t the thing she needed to be happy and that fresh sushi and ramen would make her more thrilled.

And yes, I still asked her to marry me every single day. She laughed me off and said the same thing every time: “Maybe someday.”

Most days it was a joke. I knew we hadn’t been together very long, or even known each other. But if she said yes any of the days, I would have gone for it.

I had her sew two little strips of fabric into all my pants pockets. I told her it was to tie my keys in, but really, it was to tie in the ring I got her. I was damn well going to be prepared if she said yes.

One Friday night after the first round of playoffs, she came home to a box on our bed. I wasn’t sure if this was the thing that would make her say yes or if it would upset her to no end, but it felt like a risk worth taking.

She gave a little squeal when she saw it. “Did you get a present, Benny?”

I was just a couple of steps behind her, excited to see her open it. It was kind of a risk, and I realized the whole thing could backfire. “It’s for you.”

She clapped her hands together. “Ooh! Lucky me!”

It wasn’t uncommon for me to get her little gifts and she’d mostly stopped scolding me when I did. Most of the time it was truly small things that would make her smile, like a packet of salt one time because she was griping so much that a dish we got somewhere was undersalted. But I’d put in some work for this one. Jessie untied the ribbon on top and looked over at me with a grin.

“This is a bigger box than usual.” Her silliness disappeared as she opened the box. “Ben.”

She lifted the green velvet inside, holding the blanket out. She was silent, but her hands trembled. She crumpled it to her chest and dropped her head. Her shoulders shook and I feared this was all a terrible idea. She sniffed back a sob and looked back at me. “You remembered.”

I nodded. “I did.”

I put my hands on her shoulders and she leaned into me. She just kept crying. I still wasn’t sure what was going through her head.

“Is it okay?”

She turned around to face me. “I can’t believe you did that.”

I swallowed hard and followed the path of her tear with my finger. “Yeah, I did. Jess, I thought it would be nice. I’m really sorry—”

She pinned herself to me. “I love you. So much, Ben. It’s perfect.”

The vise that had been squeezing my lungs released as I wrapped her up. “You like it?”

She cocked her head to the side, leveling me with a look. “Are you always going to follow me around noticing the things that mean something to me, then doing something about it?”

“I mean, I can’t follow you everywhere, so no. I just like you to feel loved.”

“You didn’t know Madeline, but God, she would have liked you. I’d have had to fight her for you,” she laughed.

“I would have been a little too old for you two at that time,” I pointed out, “and I’m probably a better person at twenty-eight than I was at sixteen.”

She shook her head with a little snort. “You help me keep her memory alive and Ben, it’s... I... thank you.”

“You’re welcome, baby. She was important to you, so she’s important to me.”

She wiped her fingers under her eyes. “We’re supposed to be celebrating you! You made it to round two!”

“We can celebrate that. The lady at the fabric shop just finished this and I couldn’t wait until your birthday to give it to you.”

She ran her hands over the satin edges of the blanket. “I love how heavy it is. It’s almost weighted.” She turned to give me a stern look. “This doesn’t replace my blankie, though.”

I gave a warm laugh. “There’s no replacing Yarn Wad. I’d never.” She rewarded me with a tight hug and a nibble on my neck. “How about you wear one of your sexy little dresses to dinner with me?”

She cracked a grin. “Okay.” She pulled me into a kiss. “Did I ever tell you that you’re the kindest,” she kissed me again, “most thoughtful,” a deeper kiss, “sweetest man alive?”

My stomach was fluttering. I would never get enough of making her happy, of making her feel seen. Yet me being me, I couldn’t leave well enough alone. “A simple ‘thank you, Daddy’ would suffice.”

She laughed, bopping me with the blanket. “You’re such an ass.”

I ran my hands over her bottom. “You sticking with that answer?”

She giggled and bit her lip. “Yep. What are you gonna do about it?”

I hauled her over my shoulder and spanked her butt. “This.”

She squealed and kicked her legs. “Put me down!”

“Not until you agree to go to dinner with me.”

“I already did!”

I slapped her plump little butt again. “No attitude, missy!” I employed a high-pitched voice. “‘Take me to dinner, Daddy. I’ll wear that dress you like.’”

“Take me to dinner, Daddy. I’ll wear your favorite dress.”

I slid her body down my front, catching her at the armpits to kiss her. “That’s more like it.”

Jessie had a devilish smirk as I put her down, that damn dimple that made me crazy popping out. “But I won’t wear the heels.”

She took off running and cackled as I chased after her.

* * *

We were coming to the end of round two of the playoffs. My dad and his girlfriend had come out to watch me play earlier in the series. He and the mom of his other kids had parted ways after the kids went to college. His new girlfriend was pretty nice, though. Dad and I had a good talk about what he expected of me. He didn’t realize the expectations he was putting on me all those years, and felt really bad about it. We weren’t 100% okay, but we were at least talking and working on having a better relationship. I was planning to work through stuff with Mom and Lori when we went to visit in the summer.

It was game six and we could move on that night if we won. I hoped we won that night because we were playing at home, and I’d have loved to be able to celebrate with Jess. She was being a real trooper about coming to my games even on her work nights.

“It’s not every day that your boyfriend is in the playoffs,” she said.

And thankfully, there were no further fights between any wives during away game parties.

I had really big plans for after the game, so I told her not to drive. I wanted to ride home together regardless of the game’s outcome.

The game ended up being a barn burner. Vancouver played surprisingly hard, but we held them down. Obi was unstoppable. Sorrento, Stelle, and Beatty had a killer line, scoring two of our three goals. And for me, there was no sign of choking. I was comfortable, happy, excited to perform, rather than paralyzed by the pressure.

We were tied 3-3 with a minute to go in the third period. I snagged the puck from Vancouver’s forward at center ice and kicked it to Leroy, who had just come in on a shift change. It was just the goalie on our end. This was our chance.

One of Vancouver’s d-men made it between us, but Leroy deked on him and passed it over to me. I went in tight to the slot and cut the puck through the five-hole. The roof could have blown off the place it was so damn loud. So much for Fuck-up Mikey. I’d gone big when it counted. If nothing else good ever happened in my career, I’d have that moment. There were twenty-six seconds to play, and we were able to kill the clock.

Leroy and I exchanged perhaps the longest bro hug ever recorded, then yelled in each other’s faces.

“You’re alright, Mike, you know that?”

That would probably be the closest I’d ever get to a compliment from Leroy, and I’d take it.

The team got to move on to the next round in front of the home crowd.

The home crowd meant Jessie, in her WAG jacket, with her big smile. I had Kitty tell her the post-game celebrations would be at their house to throw Jessie off the scent of what I was about to do. Jessie ran into my arms after the game.

“JOCKEY!!!! YOU WON!”

I spun her around as her legs wrapped around my waist, kissing the living daylights out of her. “We might have won a little bit,” I said with a laugh. “Thanks for coming to see me.”

“Wouldn’t miss you, baby.”

I took her hand and led her to my car. Since she was expecting me to take her to Guy and Kitty’s, she didn’t even flinch that we weren’t going home. She chatted like it was a normal car ride, catching me up on her workday and what she and Kitty and Jeanine talked about during the game. I loved her little assessments of the players from the other team.

“That Segel is a real bruiser, huh? I got annoyed every time he stepped on the ice. Like how dare he,” she said, crossing her arms.

“You think your man couldn’t handle him?”

“No, I know you can. But I wanna handle him, too. Slap his stupid face and send him crying to his mama.”

I cackled. “You and Kitty both get so into insulting the other team. It’s hilarious.”

“Excuse me, I beg to be taken seriously,” she huffed. “Hey, I’m kinda hungry. Can we stop at that In’N’Out by their house?”

I chuckled. Like I’d ever say no to feeding her. “Of course.”

We sat in my car, sharing a double-double with fries and a shake. She insisted on feeding me bites of the burger.

“You must be so tired after being such a big strong man on the ice,” she said, squeezing my thigh. When I first met her, I never would have believed how silly she could be, especially when she was so grouchy with me in the beginning. Turns out, she was just unhappy in life then, and she’s happy with me. She’s a real spitfire now. Her hand got closer to my crotch, fingers stroking over my bulge. “A big winning strong man.”

I grinned at her. “You proud of your Daddy?”

“Sure am,” she said, pulling at my belt. Was she really gonna get frisky in the In’N’Out parking lot? I was definitely interested, but I also wanted to build some anticipation for the big surprise.

“Why don’t you save it for the coat closet at Guy and Kitty’s?”

After we ate, I got back on the road to our destination.

“Hey, didn’t we just pass their house?” she asked.

“They told me to park down the street,” I said, stomach jumping with nerves.

“But there weren’t any cars out front,” she said, turning in her seat to look back at their house.

“Huh. Maybe we’re just the first here.”

I pulled into a driveway of a house at the end of the cul de sac with a sold sign in the front yard.

“Mikey, we can’t park here!” she started, then cut herself off. Her mouth flapped open and shut. “Why are we parking here, Ben?”

I took a key on an old school hotel keychain out of my pocket. “Why don’t you go find out?”

Her lower lip quivered. “Shut up. Stop it. What did you do?” She wrapped her arms around my neck. “Did you buy a house?”

I pulled back to look at her. “I bought us a house.”

She held both my cheeks and kissed me, hard.

“Does that make you happy?”

She nodded, crying. “But what if, what if I hate it? Do you want me to pretend I love it?”

I laughed. Of course she’d think of that. “Then I’ll sell it. You wanna go inside and find out?”

“Uh huh.” She opened her door and waited for me at the hood of the car. She gave me a few quick kisses before dragging me to the front door. She unlocked it, but before she could walk in, I scooped her up.

“Aren’t we supposed to do this?”

“I think only if you’re married,” she said.

“Well, I do keep asking you to marry me,” I pointed out. I put her down inside the threshold and she looked around. She touched her hand to a wooden post by the stairs. Guy and Kitty’s neighborhood was mostly midcentury homes, which I knew Jessie liked. She always talked about the cool features in their house.

“Ben, it’s perfect.”

I beamed. “Go look around, hon. It’s ours.”

She turned back to me, narrowing her eyes. “But aren’t you going to be far from the arena?”

I shrugged. “Stelle makes it work. And you’ll be closer, too. It’s a compromise.”

“But like, you make the money,” she objected.

“It’s not about the money, hon. Never will be. It’s about us making a life together.”

She jumped into my arms again, covering my face with kisses. “I love you so much, Ben Miknevicius.”

“I love you more, Jessalyn Welsh.” I swatted her butt. “Now go look around!”

She pulled me with her, looking in all the rooms. “Is this the master?”

I hugged her from behind. “This is our room, yep.”

She drew a shuddering breath. “Say it again?”

“This is our room, baby.”

She walked across the hall to a smaller room. “And this is another bedroom?”

My hands were shaky, so I steadied them on her hips. “I mean, it could be a nursery.”

She sniveled, her eyes rounding. “You want that?”

I bit my lip, trying to read her expression. “If you do.”

“Yeah. I’ll want that.”

My eyes welled a little, too. “We’ll try to have a baby?”

“I think at some point, we should.” We stared at each other, stunned and grinning like fools. Then she jumped at me again, peppering me with overjoyed kisses.

She started tugging at my clothes, unbuttoning my shirt as I picked her up. “Hold your horses, Sweet Cheeks. You haven’t seen the kitchen yet.”

I carried her in there, and as soon as she could see the vintage green cabinets, she started kicking her feet and pounding on my chest. I put her down and she folded over with a hand over her mouth. “You got me an avocado kitchen?!”

I couldn’t stop smiling. I knew she’d love it. “You want to remodel it?” I teased.

“Are you fucking kidding?! Never, Benny! This thing is frozen in time! Look at it. It’s gorgeous!” She looked back at me with teary eyes. “Do you like this house?”

“Yeah, I love it,” I said. “Especially because you love it so much.”

“But you didn’t just buy it because I like stuff like this, right?”

I came closer to her. “I bought it because,” I kissed her nose, “I love you,” I kissed her forehead, “I’m obsessed with you,” I kissed her neck, “and I want to share a home with you. Not just an apartment. Not a bachelor pad. A home. With you.”

“Thank you,” she whispered. “You didn’t have to.”

“I know. I wanted to.”

“Right, but this isn’t picking up takeout for dinner as a treat.”

“It’s me picking up a house as a treat,” I said, knowing full well she’d hate that.

“You fucking dick,” she growled, climbing up my body to kiss me. “I think you’d better take your clothes off.”

“Ooh, Daddy buying you a house turns you on, huh?”

“Fuck yeah, it does.”

“I think I owe you a fuck on the kitchen counter,” I said. “And here, there’s no one to hear you scream but me. And I’m going to need every single one of those screams.”

I plopped her ass on the counter and grabbed her throat to her contented sigh. We could get to the team afterparty a little late. “You ready to christen every surface in this house?”

“Sure am, Daddy.”