“Wait.Wait,” Timmy interrupts before I have a chance to answer. “As in,theRasmus Westerholm? The Swedish hunk of man meat who was traded here? The same Rasmus Westerholm that plays for your dad’s team?”
“Yeah, that Rasmus,” I hold in my chuckle.
Marianne’s lips part in shock, but Timmy howls with laughter. “Oh, you did not casually drop that bomb on us and act like it’s nothing. Haisley, babe, what the actual fuck?”
I groan, dropping my face into my hands. “I know, okay? It’s a lot to process.”
Marianne blinks a few times. “But how? Were you secretly dating him?”
“I wasn’t dating him,” I admit. “We met at the Halloween party.One thing led to another and…” I gesture vaguely to my stomach.
Timmy is still grinning, probably thinking he just won the gossip lottery. “So let me get this straight. You had a one-night stand with a hockey player after you swore you would never do that ever again. A verywell-knownhockey player. Then that same player gets traded to the team your family owns, and you’re secretly having his baby? Babe, this is literally the plot of a spicy romance novel taken straight out of Rose’s bookshelf.”
Rose smacks his arm. “Timmy. Behave.”
“What? I’m saying what we’re all thinking.”
Marianne shakes herself out of her shock and focuses on me again. “How’s he handling it? Rasmus, I mean.”
My chest warms at the thought of him, the way he reacted when I first told him, the way he’s been there for me since. “Honestly? He’s been great. I was scared to tell him at first, but he’s all in and wants to be involved. We went to the ultrasound together a week ago…” I stop, thinking back to his reaction. “And it was everything I hoped for. You should’ve seen how excited Rasmus was.”
Rose studies me closely. “And you? How do you feel about him?”
The question makes my stomach flip in a whole different way. Because I don’t know how to sum up my feelings. How do I explain the way Rasmus makes me feel? How do I explain the strange push-and-pull between us, the way we started as a one time only thing but now are connected for life by the baby?
“I like him,” I say. “He’s kind and thoughtful, and I think we’re figuring this out together.”
Marianne smiles. “That’s all that matters.”
Timmy lets out a dramatic sigh, resting his chin on his hand. “And here I thought we were catching up over lunch. Turns out, we’re living in a full-on soap opera.”
I shake my head, laughing despite myself. “I told you it was a lot. And it doesn’t help I’m having a bad case of bangxiety.”
“Bang…what?” Rose asks.
“Sexual tension. I want to bang my baby daddy.”
All my friends laugh, and Timmy raises his glass. “To Haisley, her baby daddy, and their future little hockey baby.”
Marianne and Rose follow suit, clinking their glasses against his. I roll my eyes but can’t stop the smile that spreads across my face as I lift my glass.
“To the future little hockey baby.”
Marianne sets her glass down and leans in. “Are you and Rasmus together now? Or is this more of a future co-parenting thing?”
“That’s a good question,” I admit. “We haven’t really defined anything yet. Right now, we’re taking it one day at a time. He’s been amazing and supportive, and we’ve talked about co-parenting once the baby’s here. We want to do this right. Both for them, and for ourselves.”
Timmy raises an eyebrow. “But you want to bang him?”
“Desperately,” I groan, hiding my face while they all laugh again. “Look, it’s messy, okay? But maybe it doesn’t have to be. Maybe we’ll figure it out.”
Rose watches me closely. “Do you want more than co-parenting?”
I chew on the inside of my cheek. “I don’t know yet. I mean, sometimes it feels like we’re already something more. He checks in multiple times every day. And when he looked at the ultrasound screen…” I trail off, swallowing the sudden lump in my throat. “It wasn’t just excitement. It was something deeper. He loves our baby so much. It made me think how lucky I am to share this journey with him.”
Marianne reaches over and squeezes my hand. “Sounds like he’s showing up in all the right ways.”
“Yeah.” I smile faintly. “He surely is.”
