Chapter Twenty-Five

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.