“Okay.” I mask my disappointment. “But you’ll let me be part of the next part? Dinner at my loft, maybe?”
She smiles, reaching for my hand again. “Yeah. I’d like that. I think they would too. Just give me a little time to get through the hard part first.” She looks down at our intertwined fingers, then back up at me, her gaze full of something unspoken. “I don’t want to mess it up. It’s such an important moment and I want them to feel the same excitement I do. But I have to be careful about how to approach the subject.”
“Then take all the time you need.”
“How about your family?” she asks, her voice teasing, trying to lighten the mood. “When are you telling them?”
“Want to call them right now?”
“You sure I should join you? It seems like such a huge, important moment.”
“In case you’ve already forgotten,” I say, my voice steady, “you’re the mother of my baby. Of course I want you there when I share the biggest news of our lives.”
Her smile softens. “Now I feel awful for asking you not to join when I tell my family.”
“We both know it’s different with your dad being my GM.”
“Still. Maybe we should see them together after all. Let’s see how we feel once the time is closer.”
“Up to you.” I reach for my phone. “Let me text Manu and see if they’re around. It’s the weekend, so he might have a game or other plans.”
My cousin and aunt look surprised when the FaceTime call connects, and they spot Haisley sitting next to me.
“Rasmus, mijo, who is this beauty?” Marisol exclaims in Spanish, leaning closer to the camera. Her smile is wide and mischievous. “Don’t tell me you finally have a girlfriend.”
Manu snorts. “That would be a miracle.”
Before I can answer, Haisley replies to them in our shared second language. “Hi, I’m Haisley. It’s really nice to meet you both.”
“And she speaks beautiful Spanish!” Marisol grins, impressed.
“I do,” Haisley says proudly. “My mother’s side of the family is from Barcelona and my stepmom is Colombian. I grew up speaking both English and Spanish.”
Marisol beams at the camera. “A bilingual beauty. Rasmus, you better lock this one down.”
I groan, feeling heat rise to my cheeks, while my cousin laughs next to his mom. “Tía…”
“Hush, let me talk to her,” she says, waving me off. “So, Haisley—what a pretty name—how did you meet my bullheaded nephew?”
“Well, we met at a Halloween party last year, but lost contact. Then he was traded to the team my family runs, and we were reunited.”
“Wait, what’s your last name, Preciosa?”
“It’s Lavigne.”
“So, your father is the GM of the team, correct?”
Haisley only nods, pink returning to her cheeks.
“¡Dios mío! Out of all the women in the world, you had to fix your eyes on her, mijo?” My aunt gives me a pointed look. “I sometimes can’t believe you and your ways.”
Manu howls with laughter in the background, slapping his knee like he just witnessed the punchline of a killer joke.
“Tía,come on,” I mutter, rubbing the back of my neck. “It’s not as if I planned it.”
“But youdidplan to sleep with the boss’s daughter?” Marisol raises a perfectly plucked brow.
Haisley’s cheeks turn a deeper shade of pink, but she doesn’t look away. “In our defense, we didn’t know each other’s last names that night.”
