I lift my eyebrows.
“Okay, I probably won’t.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I’ll be right next door. If Lieve needs anything, I’m usually there.”
Okay, wait. NowI’ma little unhappy about someone else looking after Tilly when I’m right there. But I do need time to focus on work. And I’ll still take care of her when Ford’s on the road. “Have you heard from Willa?”
“No. She said she’d reach out around the end of the month.”
“That’s not very specific.”
“I know.” He goes silent as he lifts the steak slices onto a plate.
A terrible thought has invaded my head. “Is there any chance that you and Willa could…” I can’t find the words.
But Ford knows. “No.” He shakes his head.
“How do you know? You two haven’t spent much time together.” Other than enough time to make a baby. Ugh.
“I know because…” He halts, looking fixedly at the pan on the stove. “I just know.”
I tip my head to the side. “Okay.”
22
ANDI
“There’s Daddy!” I hold Tilly at the glass while Ford skates up to us. Mask on top of his head, he grins at us.
“Hey, Tilly girl!” he calls to her. “Your first game!”
She smiles and babbles and bats at the glass. Ford makes faces at her and makes her laugh. It’s so sweet.
She’s wearing a tiny red Storm hoodie over black leggings. Ford wanted to get his name put on the back of it, but Archibald wouldn’t fit across her body. She looks adorable though. I have little headphones for her to wear during the game when it’s really loud.
People around us are smiling and pointing and I don’t blame them because my ovaries are melting from the cuteness.
Ford skates back to his net to face warm-up shots from his teammates. We watch him stop puck after puck. A few get by him but that’s because he’s not trying that hard. Tilly seems fascinated by all the activity on the ice, her gaze following players around. She loves hockey!
After a while we go back up to our seats where the wives and girlfriends all sit. This scares the bejesus out of me.
I was a WAG before. I know what it means when a player invites someone to a game using his seats. Sure, there are women they’re casually seeing that they invite, but not usually. The other Storm WAGs are going to see me here with Tilly and they’re going to come to conclusions that aren’t accurate.
I knew this would happen. When Ford suggested I bring Tilly to a game, I hesitated. I knew people would assume we’re together. When I said that to Ford, he shrugged and said, “So what?”
I take my seat next to Mabel Smits, whose boyfriend and brother both play for the Storm. “Hi!” she greets me. We have met briefly before. “Who’s this pretty girl?” She takes Tilly from me to bounce her on her lap and talk nonsense to her. Tilly has no fear of strangers, and happily beams at Mabel.
While she does that, I find the bottle I packed in the diaper bag, ready to feed Tilly before the game starts.
“So… you and Ford…” Mabel says to me with a gently inquisitive look.
“Me and Ford what?” I smile at her with equal inquisitiveness.
She smirks perceptively but doesn’t push it.
I discovered the hockey Tumblr accounts and all the people who talk about hockey players and their marital or relationship status and rip apart the women who are dating players. And a lot of them are interested in Ford. They’re going to freak out that Ford has a baby when they thought he didn’t even have a girlfriend. Only, I’m not his girlfriend.
But it feels like I am.
