I swallowed past the well in my throat. No one ever made me feel as sappy as Kate did.
“Okay, well, I’ve taken enough of your time for this visit,” Lisa said, standing. “Thank you very much for the cookies and coffee. We’ll pick back up at the next visit.”
“Are we … doing okay?” Kate asked.
Lisa laughed and patted her hand. “You’re doing great. Don’t worry.” She was a cheery, round woman who reminded me of one of my aunts.
Kate let out a big breath and grinned. “I’ll call next week to set up your next visit.”
“Wonderful,” Lisa said, shaking both our hands before Kate led her to the door. She pressed her back to it when she closed it and grinned from ear to ear.
“I love seeing you so happy,” I said.
“It’s starting to feel real.”
“Want me to practice the breast stimulating thing?” I was joking, but kinda hoping she’d say yes. She rolled her eyes and smiled, walking toward the kitchen.
“What day is it?” I asked, trying to remember. I could never keep them straight since I didn’t get a weekend like people who worked normal hours.
“Tuesday. You’re leaving in the morning after practice to do that fundraising meeting for the foundation. Overnight in LA tomorrow, and then you fly out and meet up with the team in Minnesota. Back home Friday afternoon.”
“Right. Any chance you can come with?” She’d been meeting me on the road at least once a week, and we had epic sex every time. I’d recently realized she was more closed off at home, when we were in our bedroom. Though I’d had the bed replaced after the miscarriage, I’d started to wonder if it was still a place of bad memories for her.
“I wish. I have to go to the doctor tomorrow and I have a foundation meeting.”
“Which doctor?” I wandered into the kitchen, concern piquing my interest.
“The OB/GYN. I had an appointment set for a consultation on getting my tubes tied three weeks ago but I had to cancel it when Kirk got the flu and I had to take his group at work. So I’m finally going.”
“And you still feel sure about it?”
“Absolutely.” She looked up from the papers she’d been flipping through. “You’re still good with it, right?”
I walked over and pulled her close. “Of course. It’s the best decision for us.”
“Ironic that getting my tubes tied is part of our plan for starting a family,” she said with a sad smile.
“Hey.” I tipped her chin up so I could look into her eyes. “A family’s a family. Our kids will be ours no matter whose chute they fly out of.”
She laughed and wrapped her arms around my neck. “You’re right.”
“I have to get to the rink. I’ll pick you up later for dinner.”
I kissed her and headed for the door, glancing back at her on the way. She was looking through our mail with a dreamy smile. Just the sight of her put a stupid-ass grin on my face. I’d have to listen to heavy metal on the way to practice to get my head in the right place, because right now I had no desire to kick ass and take names.
***
LA was a better trip than I’d expected. I caught up with my buddy Scott, a former teammate I didn’t get to see much of anymore. And I locked up a big donation to the foundation, which would allow us to move forward with the hockey program for inner-city kids we wanted to start. I couldn’t wait to get going on it.
But tonight I was stuck in cold as hell Minnesota, and I was fucking tired after playing more ice time in a single game than I ever had before. We’d battled to break a 1-1 tie, and the game finally ended on a fluke goal Luke scored.
I was cabbing it to a downtown restaurant with Luke and Vic now, and I dialed Kate to catch up on the way.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey, are you still up?”
“Yeah. But I’m going to bed soon. Good game.”
“You okay?” I covered my open ear so I could hear her better over the guys. Several seconds of silence made me lower my brows with worry. “Kate?”
“Yeah, I’m okay.”
“What’s going on? You sound like something’s wrong.”
She sighed deeply. “I guess I’m just tired. Can we talk when you get home tomorrow?”
I wanted to say no. Something was off with her and it bothered me that she didn’t want me to know what it was. But I could tell from her voice she really was tired. “Sure, baby. Get some sleep. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
It was almost midnight, and I felt a stab of guilt that she was going to bed alone. This life gave us a lot of opportunities most people never had, but it took away a lot of the normalcy others took for granted. Traveling had been a hell of a lot of fun when I was a rookie, but I didn’t love it anymore. I’d probably love it even less when we adopted a baby. I’d need to hire help for Kate when I wasn’t home.