(Five years later)
“Alright.No,Iunderstand.I hope you feel better. Thank you.” I hung up and released a breath.
“Harp,” I called from the living room. My wife just started getting ready minutes ago after I convinced her everything was going to be fine and she had nothing to worry about. What ended up being a twenty-minute argument I won—only for the babysitter to cancel.
“Come here buddy.” I lifted Sebastian off the playmat and whispered. “You want to go to high school reunion with mommy and daddy?”
My two-year-old gave me a dirty look and shook his head.
I chuckled and held him close. “Yeah, neither do I to be quite frank, but I really want this for mommy,” I whispered. “She didn’t have the best send off the last time all these people got together so I want to make sure tonight is perfect for her. Like it should have been ten years ago.”
I heard her footsteps and she pulled the bedroom door open, stepping out. “Did you call me?”
I turned, my mouth dropping as I took in my already beautiful wife in a stunning red dress, matching red lips and her golden hair blown out to even silky waves falling just over her shoulders.
“You look beautiful,” I breathed. Even Seb was drooling, looking at his mother.
She cocked her head. “You were with me when I bought this dress. Remember? I wanted black, you insisted on this one.”
It was true. I was not about to let Harper face the entire senior class again in an absent color.
I set our son down on the mat and walked over to her. “Thank you for agreeing to go. It’s important to me.”
“I still don’t understand why. Everyone already knows I’m married to the second captain of the Brooklyn Blades.” She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me then pulled back and rubbed the smudge on my lips. “And now there’s proof.”
I glanced at Seb. “Well, we’re about to have even more proof because Tanya cancelled.”
She beamed and I held up my hand. “Not so fast. I’m finding back up.”
There was a knock on our door before it was pushed open.
Harper rolled her eyes. “Oh hey Troy, won’t you come in.” She brushed a hand over my chest. “Let me know, I’ll go reapply. Be right back.”
I reached for my phone while Troy grabbed Sebastian from my hands, his grin wide. “Hey dude, you miss me? When you gonna start calling me daddy?” he joked.
Like mother, like son, Sebastian had no problem telling us apart.
I shook my head and dialed Ryan, who in addition to being my teammate, had become one of my best friends over the last few years. He and his wife Alice owed us a few babysitting favors.
We had a nanny, but she didn’t travel often with us. Harper and I bought a house upstate to be closer to her dad after we were married, but we kept my apartment in Brooklyn to stay in the city for most of the hockey season. Which worked out well for Harper since it was busy season for her too, having been published by nearly every sports magazine and newspaper in New York.
I hung up when it went to voicemail.
“What’s wrong?” Troy asked.
“Sitter cancelled.”
My brother bounced Seb on his lap and raised a brow toward the bedroom. “Awesome, I’ll stay with him tonight.”
I scoffed. “Yeah, that’s happening.”
Harper came back out in heels, her head tilted as she worked an earring.
“Why not? I can take care of my nephew. How hard can it be, you feed him, burp him, bounce him up and down and tell him to go to sleep.”
“No, we’ll find someone,” Harper assured. “Hey why don’t I try Nic?” she said to me and then reached for her cell phone.
Troy stayed silent while we tried a few more people. I watched him with a light smirk on my face, pure fondness and affection like I’d never known from my brother emanating as he held my little boy.
