Christmas Day was great—andnot because Holly had moved from Julie Andrews to catching up onGame ofThrones.
Although let me point out that watching naked women on TV is a lesson in torture when the woman you’re dying to have sex with issick.
The kind of torture where you have to excuse yourself so you can jack off in the shower or else die from an excruciating case of blue balls. The guys on the show who were being slaughtered? They had it easier. Their deaths were at leastquick.
New Year’s Eve was the best too—especially since Holly had no longer felt as though she was dying from theplague.
So, let’s flash-forward to the beginning ofFebruary…
Oh, you were wondering what happened the next morning after I’d blurted out “I love you” to Holly on ChristmasEve?
Nothing.
Abso-fucking-lutelynothing.
She never mentioned it the next day, so I wasn’t sure if she had heard me when I said it. Or if she’d heard me but didn’t feel the same way so was avoiding thetopic.
I never said it again—possibly because a part of me feared she would tell me she loved me back, but once Noah was born, she’d feel differently about me. Right now her hormones were all over the place—so who knew what she was reallyfeeling?
Okay, truthfully? I was a coward. Too many uncertainties existed when it came to our future together, and that scared the shit out ofme.
And yes, I had meant it when I told her I loved her. Except it hadn’t dawned on me until I’d blurted out the three simple words that I really did love her. I had just been too much of an idiot to realize I’d been falling in love with her for the past fewmonths.
Anyway, back to the here and now—in the dressing room, getting ready for our game against thePenguins.
“Where’s Jyri?” I asked Travis. Jyri was usually the first one here, stretching. The guy near the entrance to the shower area? The one doing the splits? That was our backup goalie,Matti.
Travis shrugged at my question. “No idea. I saw him not long ago, talking to coachFusco.”
“He’s not injured, is he?” That was the only reason I could come up with for why he wasn’t hereyet.
“Not that I know of. He seemed fine during practice thismorning.”
The door opened and Fusco entered with a player who looked vaguely familiar and was in full goaliegear.
Oh, this wasn’tgood.
Not good atall.
My gaze slid to the other two members of HDF. They were thinking thesame.
“All right,” Fusco said. “There’s been a change in the goalie lineup. As of an hour ago, Jyri has been traded to Detroit. Matti will be starting goalie and Jordan has been called up to join us. All right, let’s get out there.” And that was all the time we got to grieve the departure of ourteammate.
To grieve the loss of our most experienced member ofHDF.
I mean, who was more experienced at being a daddy than the father of twin two-year-oldboys?
The game was tough like we had expected. By the end of the third period, we were tied at 2-2. Which meantovertime.
Then this time tomorrow I’d get to see Holly—who was now thirty-eight weekspregnant.
That’s right—for those of you doing the math, she was due in two weeks…give or take a day ortwo.
How was Ifeeling?
Excited—and nervous as hell. Despite all the daddy-to-be coaching I’d received from HDF during the past twenty weeks, I was still terrified I would fire-truck itup.
Hey, don’t laugh at my baby-approved swear word. I was now on a cussingrestriction.
