Heart and Snow (Texas Highlanders Ice Hockey) (14 page)

“I was thinking about how gorgeous you are,” he replied, “and how much I love you.”

“Flatterer.” She laughed.

He pulled his now-flaccid dick from her, and dropped on his back to the mattress. She snuggled up against him, with a soft sigh. He pulled her close, wrapping his arm around her warm body. She laid her head against his chest, right over his heart, which was beating a thousand beats per minute for her.

“Will you still think that when I’m fifty pounds heavier, and swollen and bloated?”

He frowned and glanced down at her. She met his gaze with uncertain eyes. She really thought he’d only love her as long as she was supermodel skinny? “You could gain a hundred pounds and a mustache and I’d still love you.” He paused. “Well, I might ask you to shave.”

They dissolved into laughter. Jo melted close to him as the laughter faded. “I’ve missed this.”

“Yeah,” Cody agreed. “Me too.”

“Everything is going to change, isn’t it?” Jo’s voice was soft and forlorn.

Was it? Well, babies did change things. How much? Well, he didn’t know for sure.

“I don’t know, babe.” Cody said. “It might not be a bad change.” He was figuring that out himself. He’d been so against children. Now that one was growing inside Jo, he found he didn’t so much mind them anymore. In fact, there were already plans brewing in his head.

“You think it’ll be okay?” He didn’t like hearing her so unsure of herself. She’d always been the most confident person he’d ever known. She always knew what she wanted and how to get it.

He tightened his arms around her. “Sure it will. Because we’ll do this together.”

She seemed to relax into him after that. Sleep came easily, and both of them drifted off before they knew it.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Cody sat at the table, drumming the table top with his fingers. His dad wasn’t late yet. Cody had arrived early, but he’d hoped that Jeremy Baker wouldn’t be late to the appointment he had made with him. He pulled out his phone, and opened his text messages. There was one from Jo, a picture. He opened it and was created by a mirror pic, with her unveiling her growing belly to him.

She sent him a picture like this every day, or had since they got back from her parents. It was part of her whole “I’m going to be happy about this!” campaign with the baby. He could tell she was worried, but she’d really started to push herself to learn what she could. She carried around a pregnancy journal, jotting notes every time something happened. She had a stack of parenting and pregnancy books on the coffee table at any given time at home. It was almost obsessive.

A corner of baby stuff had appeared in the house, but so far, just sat in the would-be baby room, pushed to the side. Getting all that stuff out was something completely different. It would be like acknowledging that it was time to grow up. Neither of them had expressed a desire to mess with the baby things yet.

“Is that your wife?”

Cody glanced up as his father slipped into the seat across from him. He nodded. “Yeah, that’s Jo.”

Jeremy Baker didn’t look like a washed up hockey player. Actually, he looked a lot like Cody remembered from his childhood. Maybe a few more gray hairs. A few more wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. Unlike Cody, he had darker blond hair, which now had streaks of gray at the temples and above the ears. What surprised Cody was that Jeremy was wearing a jacket and tie.

“Pretty. Didn’t know you were having a baby.” Calm delivery. Shouldn’t he be angry that Cody hadn’t told him about the baby? But how could he be? He was the one who hadn’t been around for years.

“Yeah,” Cody replied, trying to keep his voice as even as he could. “It’s—The baby’s due in June.”

“Close to the Stanley Cup finals,” Jeremy mused. “Highlanders look on target for a Stanley Cup run. How’s that going to work with a new baby?”

“It’ll work fine,” Cody said through clenched teeth. “Okay, Dad. I’m here. What do you want?”

The waiter came by and took their drink order before Jeremy could answer. Cody debated having a beer, but it was a little early for him. Instead, he got a water and his dad surprised him by ordering the same thing.

“No beer this time?” Cody asked, well aware that it was a jab.

“Nope. I quit.”

“Quit drinking? You?” He couldn’t keep the disbelief out of his voice.

“Yeah, I decided it was time to stop living in my twenties.” Jeremy smiled and nodded toward the phone in Cody’s hand. “You could make that same decision, you know, since you got a little guy on the way.”

“Girl.”

“What?”

“The little guy… is a girl.”

Jeremy’s smile spread across his face. “That’s great. I’d always thought you would have a boy first.”

“Why, because that’s what you wanted?” Cody couldn’t stop the curt snap of his voice.

Jeremy shrugged. “What I want, Cody, is something that you’re not willing to give.”

“And what’s that? More money?”

Jeremy swallowed, looking down at the table for a moment before meeting Cody’s eyes again. “Your forgiveness.”

Cody stared, because that was all he was capable of doing in that moment. Forgiveness? Jeremy Baker wanted forgiveness? From him? His chest ached with emotion, ones he had no intention of letting his father see. The nine-year-old inside him wanted to forgive and forget. But the man he was, that had lived most of his life without his father around, warred with that little boy instinctively.

“What would you need my forgiveness for?”

“You might say it’s part of my healing process.” Jeremy fidgeted in his seat. “Of all the people I did wrong to, with my very public drinking and running around and drug use, you and your mother are the ones that hurt the most.”

Cody clenched his jaw. He wasn’t sure how to deal with this person, the apologizing father before him. It wasn’t anything he’d ever encountered before.

“I know that you’re angry with me, and you have every right to be. I was an asshole father. I’m just asking for understanding that I was in a bad place.”

“You’re asking?” Cody’s voice was laced with vitriol he couldn’t hide. “You’re not in any position to ask me anything.”

“You’re right. I’ve been seeing someone, Cody.”

“Another puck bunny?”

“A therapist.”

Cody let out a disbelieving snort. “A therapist? For what?”

“It’s recent. Like in the last year or so. I needed help to kick the drinking, and the gambling problems.”

This was happening now? His father was telling him he’d changed now? After twenty five years of absence? “Are you serious, or are you just fucking with my head?”

“I’m trying to change things, son,” Jeremy replied. “I’m… I’ve made mistakes, and I’m trying to own it. And… I’m moving back to Fort Glasgow.”

Cody’s head reeled. It was too much, way too much information to be trying to process in that moment. He leaned forward on the table, on his elbow. “Why now?”

“Various reasons. You. My first grandbaby.”

“You didn’t even know about the baby.” Cody steeled himself. “We don’t—”

“I’m also starting a new year round hockey training camp.”

“Really?” Cody frowned. Most retired sports players opened car dealerships, or went on to endorsement deals. His father, the role model dad? He was opening a training camp. “You’re going to work with kids?”

“Yes,” he said. “Don’t look so surprised. I understand I was a shitty father to you, Cody. I own that. But hockey is growing in Texas, and while it might not ever surpass football, I’d like to nurture that growth with the kids that love the sport.”

Nurture and Jeremy Baker did not go hand in hand. This whole thing was blowing Cody’s mind. What the hell did his dad know about kids?

“Dad… I’m not sure that any parent is going to let you teach their child, given your public history.”

“Well, that’s the thing. I’d be okay… if I had some current Highlanders… for endorsement.”

“Oh,” Cody leaned back in his chair, suddenly understanding. “That’s the real reason you wanted to have lunch.”

“I wanted to see you.”

“But you also needed something from me.” Son of a bitch. He should have known.

“I’m not a villain, Cody.”

“You’re no saint, either.”

“Never claimed to be. But I’m not asking for money. I don’t think I’ll need money.”

“What is it you need from me?”

“Not much. A couple of appearances by some of the team. Maybe an ice-breaker at the center once it’s fixed up.”

“You already have a place?”

“I bought the old warehouse on Northern Avenue. It’s got a decent bit of land around it for a parking lot, and it’s actually big enough for two rinks.” His dad leaned forward, words spilling from his mouth. “I figured, start with the hockey training camp in the summer time, build up the funds with full time tuition for the camp. And then we could possibly add some figure skating to the place down the road, you know, to help turn a profit.”

Jeremy had jumped into full planning mode on him, telling him everything he’d set up for this new venture, how he wanted to arrange the warehouse, what kind of equipment he wanted to buy. Cody watched him as he spoke, the excitement in his eyes, and the way he sat up straighter and waved his hands about. His dad was serious about this, he was… happy.

“Dad…” Cody sat up. “Outline what you need on paper, and I’ll talk to Vince and see what I can do.”

He’d never seen that smile on his dad’s face. But if what his dad was saying was true, and this was what he wanted to do, then maybe the man had changed. Maybe Cody could give him a chance.

“I already did,” Jeremy said. He reached down to his bag, and drew out a green folder. “I detailed everything. Expenses, potential income, training schedules, everything. The part I’m asking you about is in the marketing section.”

Cody flipped through the folder. Jesus. There had to be fifty pages here. Dad had certainly done his research. His eyes tracked to the financial section out of curiosity.

“You’re short on your finances.”

“Yeah, well, I’m waiting on possible loans.”

“You don’t have the money?”

His father’s cheeks reddened, and he averted his gaze. “Sadly, I was not very good about saving money when I had it. I have enough to renovate the building, and get the ice situated and all that. I still need the game equipment, and wages for the first year for employees. I figure if I can get the loans, I’ll be good. But right now, I’m okay on funds.”

Cody looked over the plan in his hands, marveling at the detail his father had gone into. He’d never believed that his father would be this thorough with anything, and here he was, with a business plan. There was a slight twinge of jealousy inside him, that Jeremy Baker hadn’t ever been that thorough with him, but he pushed it away.

“Have you thought about investors?”

“I did, but I don’t really want to be beholden to a bunch of desk jockeys. And investors will be looking for the bottom line, which isn’t going to come in the first year. I just… I want to teach hockey.” Jeremy sighed. “I was good, you know. I think I still have some value.”

“How much do you need?” Cody couldn’t believe he was asking the question at all.

“It’s detailed in the loan section there,” Jeremy pointed to the folder. “It’s right around $200,000, if I recall correctly.”

That was a lot of money. The interest alone on two hundred thousand would be monstrous. It would be years before Dad got that whittled down on his own. As he set the folder down on the table, Cody glanced at his father’s eyes, not believing what he was about to do. “What if I could find you an investor that wasn’t a stuffy suit?”

“Like who?”

“Well, like maybe me.” Was he really talking? Were those his words coming out of his mouth? Wasn’t he just saying he didn’t want to loan his father money?

“You? Cody, you didn’t even want to come to lunch with me.”

“I know,” Cody replied. He let out a long breath. “But I’ve learned lately that people deserve second chances, and while I don’t necessarily feel like I can let you into my life again, I’m going to be a father soon, and it’s important that I at least try.”

“You sound like your mother.”

“She taught me well,” Cody replied. “She likes to give second chances too.”

Jeremy nodded. “That she does. So… you’d do this? A partnership with your old man? Because that’s what it would be. I’m not taking a loan from my kid.”

Cody nodded. “Yeah. My girl is going to need a place to ice skate when she gets older.”

“For hockey or figure skating?”

“Whatever she wants,” Cody replied. “Jo had some crazy notion about soccer practices.”

Jeremy laughed, loud and boisterous. “Not in this family.”

“That’s what I said.” Cody’s lips turned upward slowly into a smile.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Week Twenty-Four

Jo grunted something unladylike as she squeezed her body between the sales racks. They were heading into the home stretch soon, the dreaded third trimester every guy who’d had children warned Cody about.

But Cody just wanted to run his hand over her belly again, but he knew she’d slap him away if he did. Not because she didn’t want him to touch her, but the baby was extremely sensitive. She’d kick as soon as his palm touched her belly and would go for hours.

It was strange, but he felt like the baby already had her personality established, and she still had another three months before she was due to make her appearance.

“What do you think about this?” Jo held up a little pink onesie with a big cupcake on the front that said
Daddy’s Girl
. She smiled. “It’s cute, isn’t it?”

He knew he made a face, because she rolled her eyes. “Fine.”

“Honey, it’s not that I don’t love it. I just… no girl of mine is going to wear baked goods on her chest.”

She shoved it back on the rack, huffing indignantly. “You have no taste.” Her glance wandered toward the furniture section across the aisle, baby blues sparkling with whatever power pregnant women had when it came to babies. “We should look at a crib, right?”

“You tell me. I’m still over here in Guy Clueless Land when it comes to babies.”