Something So Right (19 page)

“So all that stuff that you are engaged isn’t true? The blonde hanging all over you in
my
mom’s arena isn’t true?” That sentence makes Parker throw my hands down and glare at me.

“She walked into my fucking arena and brought that shit to my work space,” she hisses. Before I have a chance to answer, Matthew does it for me.

“Adam kicked her skanky ass to the curb.”

I know his mother said to watch his mouth, but I have no choice but to laugh out loud. He looks up at me and something clicks.

“Parker, why don’t you go wash your face so Allison doesn’t see you like this? I’ve got to have a talk with Matthew.”

She looks at me, not sure what to say. I know that all she wants is to protect her kids, but this boy is turning into a man. She needs to give him that.

“Ummm, okay, but you, mister, better watch your mouth.” She points to Matthew. “And you make sure he watches his mouth.” She turns to walk away, but I can’t let her go that fast. Grabbing her hand, I pull her to me, looking into her green eyes that are almost gray with the sun. I almost lost her. I kiss her mouth. Just a touch, but it’s enough to know that later we still need to finish this conversation.

I wait for the door to close shut before turning my eyes back on Matthew.

“I don’t know what you heard, but I want you to hear the truth from me. Did I date her? Yes. Yes, I did. Did I love her? Nope, not even a bit. Were we together while she was here? Not even for a second. I’m here, Matthew, and I’m not going anywhere. I love your mother. I love her so much I couldn’t breathe without her. I love her so much I’m not going anywhere. I’m here in front of you laying my cards on the table. That woman in there has me wrapped around her beautiful little fingers. I want a forever with her. I want your permission to give her that. I promise you this. I will never ever hurt her. At least not on purpose. Never on purpose. Man to man, you have to know that I’m not going anywhere.”

Matthew crosses his hands over his chest. “When my dad left, she tried not to make us see her upset. She tried to hide that she was hurt, but at night when all the lights were out and she thought I was sleeping I used to hear her sob. I used to hear her sob till I fell asleep. Hoping that I would fall asleep fast so I wouldn’t have to hear her. She is the best mom anyone can ever ask for. My dad didn’t deserve her. He was never there for her. I didn’t see it before because I was young. But she always bent to make him happy, and she always shielded us so we wouldn’t get that feeling that we were his second thought.” With that, his hands fall down to his sides. He just laid out all his secrets to me, all because he loves his mother more than anyone can think.

“I’m sorry that all of you had to go through that. I’m sorry that she was hurt.” I start to say with Matthew shaking his head.

“It’s not your fault we got hurt, it’s not your fault she cried. But this,” he says, twirling his hand around, “this is your fault. You bringing it to her home, that’s your fault. I don’t like it. I really, really hope you aren’t fucking her over.”

I don’t say anything. I just shake my head, trying to make him see that I’m not his father. But before I say anything, Allison comes outside, slamming the door, making the windows rattle.

“Matthew, can you make me pancakes?” She stands slanted with her hands on her tiny hips.

“Allison, what did Mom say?” He turns to walk to her, picking her up. She looks down and whispers something to him that I can’t hear. Whatever it is makes him lean down and blow bubbles onto her, setting her off on a giggling fit.

“Let’s go inside and see what Mom really wants to eat for dinner.” He looks over at me. “Cooper, you coming?” I know he doesn’t trust me. I know he’s still leery of me, but it’s an olive branch, and I’m going to grab onto it and never let it go.

Cooper

The dishes have been cleared off the table. A dim light from the kitchen illuminates the way to the couch where we are sitting watching
Frozen
again. Thoughts are running through my mind of accidentally scratching the DVD.

Just as I’ve already thought of the crime, a little blond head falls into my lap, her bouncy curls covering half of her face. I smooth my hand over her hair, watching her cute little pout while she slides deeper into her slumber.

Looking over, I see that her mom has also curled up her head, resting on the arm of the couch. She looks thinner. With her eyes closed, she looks peaceful. If she is anything like me, she barely slept in the last four days. Just being here, next to her, it’s like I’m home. It’s crazy how one person can bring you that much peace.

I look up just as Matthew comes back downstairs, looking at the TV and then at us.

“I can’t wait till another movie comes out, then I’m going to bury that movie in the backyard after I break it in pieces, just in case,” he says while going into the kitchen to get himself something to drink.

Coming back, he looks at me. “So are you spending the night or are you sneaking out early?” This kid is too smart for his own good.

“I’m spending the night. The whole night. I’ve been away from her for four days. I’m not doing it again. Now that you know how I feel about your mom, I hope that this is okay?” I’m asking his permission, but yes or no, I’m not leaving. I’ll sleep in my car before I leave.

“Okay. You want me to carry Allison up?” he asks, always willing to take care of his sister.

“No, I’m good, I’m going to carry her up first and then come back and get your mom.”

He says nothing more, just nods and turns to walk upstairs. Getting up and carrying Allison upstairs, I place her softly in her bed, covering her up, and kissing her on her forehead. I’ve fallen in love with her mother, and this little girl that has captured my heart as much as her mom.

After she is tucked in and is sleeping like a starfish, I go in search of my other girl. Creeping down the stairs quietly as to not wake her up, I gently pick her up. I want to just sit with her in my arms. I want to smell her. It’s weird how before I didn’t have the need to always think of someone else besides myself, and now all I think about is her before me.

When I finally make my way to her room, I pull the covers down, placing her under it. Turning around, I go downstairs, making sure everything is closed and stopping at Matthew’s door. Knocking once, I open and let him know we are heading to bed. He doesn’t answer and just nods.

Making my way to the bed, all I see is her small body curled up in a ball. She hasn’t moved since I placed her in the bed. Getting under the covers, I reach out for her, pulling her close to me. No way am I sleeping without touching her.

Once I have her in my arms, she curves into me and adjusts herself to me, throwing her legs over mine. I release the breath I had been holding in since I pulled her into me. With my arms around her, I close my eyes and let the past four sleepless nights catch up to me, bringing me down into a deep sleep.

When I open my eyes, I blink twice to adjust my eyes to the light seeping in. I don’t think I moved positions the whole night. We are exactly in the same place we were last night. The only thing is Parker is up because she is making soft circles on my chest. She must feel me looking at her because she looks up at me.

“Morning.” I squeeze her closer to me, bringing her almost on top of me.

“I haven’t slept well the past few days. I guess it caught up to me because the last thing I remember is watching
Frozen
.” She pulls herself completely on top of me, making me reach down to grab her ass with both hands, squeezing. She places both arms across my chest, planting her chin on her hand. “I thought I’d never wake up with you again. Every morning I woke up I would look over at Meghan and ask if it really happened.” She blinks at me.

I remove my hands from her and sit up in bed with the headboard at my back, making her sit in my lap straddling me.

“I couldn’t function. It’s as if I was going on autopilot. I was barely surviving. Tom kicked me off the ice twice and cancelled all my activities. So, I had to sit in that fucking house thinking. Thinking I would never get to hold you again. I may have to replace a couple of walls and a door when my four-month lease is up.”

She touches my face for the first time in four days, running her finger over my stubble that I’ve let grow out. It’s like she’s tracing my face for memory.

“That lease is almost up. I think I know someone who you can call. I train his son, so I’ll get his number for you.” She hasn’t made eye contact with me. She is just following her finger while she touches me.

I pull her chin up so I can look in her eyes. “We have to start looking for a house. I already contacted a realtor. Actually, the same realtor Tom used. He said he would have some houses to show us sometime next week.”

Her eyes now go big, not sure she heard me.

“A house? Why are you buying a house? Here? That’s a little silly, don’t you think?”

“Well, since this is going to be my hometown, I thought maybe you would want to get something a little bigger. I mean, I’m okay here, but it is a little bit small for the four of us.”

She starts to stutter, not sure what to say, but I don’t give her a chance to think.

“I asked him to find us a bigger home, with more land, something with a pool because we both know Allison is like a fish. I also wanted a two-car garage. Definitely more than three bedrooms. I was also thinking of a basement gym area. Oh, and a bigger kitchen. When you were gone, I remembered how much I loved cooking with you, so I also asked him for a huge kitchen. Preferably in the middle of the house. Kind of like center ice.”

“You’re moving here?” she whispers.

I laugh because out of all that the only thing that sticks out is that I’m moving here.

“Well, the arena is an hour from here. Not exactly the five-minute drive from my condo, but this is even better. It’s not that bad. I mean, we have forty-one home games a year. The rest are on the road, but it’s usually turn around or there are big stretches sometimes where we go on the road for a week. But we can work on that later.” My hands are now on her legs, holding them, my thumbs rubbing.

“You’re buying a house and moving here? To live here? Why?” Her brows pinch together.

“Babe, don’t know if you are aware of this, but I love you. I almost fucking lost you because of fucking stupidity. It smacked me in the face how much you mean to me. How much I’ve grown to want to wake up with you. How much I look forward to us just sitting down drinking coffee together. You have kids and a business. You can’t just up and move. I can. But more importantly, I want to. I want you here. Or wherever we find a house. I want you there when I get up or get in or come home. I just want you.” And before I can say anything else she leans into me and kisses me full on the lips. Not a soft peck, not a soft kiss. An all-consuming kiss. A kiss I feel right down to my soul, her tongue sliding alongside mine, commanding it to go deeper. My arms move up her back, one staying around her waist, the other making its way into her hair, tilting her head to the side to make her chest get closer to me.

It’s like no other kiss before. It’s a different kiss than before. She pulls away from me. I see the razor burn on her chin. “I love you,” she says while she places her forehead against mine. “I really love you. I was scared. I wasn’t looking for this. I just wanted to get laid,” she says, giggling this time. “But it changed. You changed it. You just wouldn’t take no for an answer. You would be all up in my face each and every time. I realized I was in love with you the minute Barbie opened the door. The pain in my chest,” she whispers, “I felt it to my bones. That night while I sat on the couch in the cabin looking out into the darkness I admitted it. I had come full circle to only end up in the same place as I did before.” And just before I’m about to interrupt her, she places a finger on my lips. “It was different. I can’t explain it. It was just like I disconnected with myself and all I could think about were the last couple of weeks, and I couldn’t see how I could have been duped. But Meghan, she was there, putting these things in my head that nothing is what it looks like, and she actually told me to give you the chance to explain. I wanted to call you, I wanted to hear your voice, but I broke my phone. It’s actually shattered. I think there are pieces left in my truck.” She laughs softly.

I’m about to take her into a kiss again, when right then I hear someone walk in, almost in a half sleep daze. Rubbing her eyes while dragging her rabbit, she walks to the side of the bed.

“Cooper, we had a sleepober? Can we habe pancakes?” she asks while trying to climb into bed with us, and in that moment, I’ve never felt more complete.

Pancakes with chocolate chips,” I agree, dragging her next to us, placing her sitting in front of her mother, hugging them both.

Parker

It’s been two weeks since Cooper decided that he’s moving here. When I say decided, that is a nice way of putting what we went through.

After making pancakes with Allison while I drank my coffee at the breakfast nook, he told her about the day he had planned. He had many ‘castles’ for us to see. At that point, I wanted to rip his eyeballs out for him telling her.

She was all too happy to go in search of Elsa and Anna’s true-life castle. So I glared at him from across the table while they both went on about what things they should have in this said castle.

Matthew didn’t even look up from his plate. Doesn’t mean he wasn’t taking in the conversation.

So, after cleaning the kitchen, Cooper left to go to his house. According to him, he had to pack his shit for the rest of the week. I didn’t know what to expect. I mean, was he here for a week? Was he staying here till he finished? It was all up in the air. My mind was going a hundred miles an hour when Matthew came into the kitchen.

“So he’s moving here? What does that mean? Are we moving in with him?” He stood in front of me, his hands in his pockets. When did he get so big?