“What’s up?”
“Here.” She set a cardboard box on the island. “This just came for you.”
“For me?” I furrowed my brows, confused. “I didn’t order anything.”
“Look who it’s from.” She winked at me.
I looked at the upper left corner of the shipping tag. There was no address; it simply said #30.
A grin broke out across my face as I looked up at my mom. “What did he do now?”
“When it comes to him, anything is possible.” She laughed.
God, I missed him. It had only been three days since we’d last seen each other, but it was killing me. I ripped the tape off the box and slowly opened it, revealing a card and three shirt boxes. I opened the envelope, set the tickets on the table, and unfolded the piece of paper inside.
“What is it?” Piper poked her head up over the other side of the island.
“It’s from Brody. One for each of us.” I smiled at her.
“Open it! Open it!” Lucy appeared next to Piper.
“Here. One for you and one for you.” I handed each of them a box. They ripped the hunter green ribbon off of them and tossed it to the ground. Their little hands pried the white cardboard boxes open and they pulled out matching kid-sized Minnesota Wild jerseys.
“They look just like Brody’s!” Lucy squealed.
“Wow. Very cool! Those will be fun to wear to the game tonight, huh?” I watched their little faces study their jerseys.
“Oh my goodness.” Mom covered her mouth with her hand. “Kacie, look at the backs.”
I walked over and took the jerseys from the girls as they looked up at me, confused. Both jerseys had the name Murphy stitched across the top and the number fifteen sewn onto them.
“Fifteen?” I frowned and looked at Mom.
She shook her head back and forth, beaming at the overload of cuteness. “Kacie, fifteen plus fifteen…”
My heart swelled at yet another gesture from Brody. He had this way of constantly letting me know he was thinking about me, about us, even when we weren’t together. The best part about him was that he was accidentally romantic. He did these things, gave these simple little gifts, just to put a smile on my face. They meant so much more than he would ever know.
“What’s fifteen plus fifteen, Mommy?” Piper asked.
“Thirty, baby. Fifteen plus fifteen equals thirty.”
“Like Brody!” Lucy jumped up and down, hugging her present.
STILL MEETING US THERE?
I waited for Darla to respond to my text.
D: HELL YES. TRYING TO PICK OUT A SHIRT THAT SHOWS THE GIRLS OFF REAL GOOD.
I laughed and dropped my phone in my purse. Alexa was supposed to go to the game with me, but she got a last-minute funeral order at the flower shop, too large for her assistant to handle. Since Brody gave me four tickets and I didn’t want the extra one to go to waste, I asked Darla to go with me. After she handled a quick shift switch at the hospital, we were all set. I told her she’d have to drive herself there and back since the girls and I were spending the night at Brody’s, but she didn’t seem to mind.
“How much longer?” Lucy whined.
“Just a little bit. Hold your horses.” I grinned at them in the rearview mirror, looking all adorable in their matching jerseys. All three of us, actually. That’s what was in my box too—my very own Murphy #30 jersey. I had two others in my closet at home, but those were technically Brody’s. I’d confiscated them because they smelled like him and I liked to sleep in them.
A little while later, we pulled into the special parking section of the stadium. I rolled my window down and handed the attendant the special parking pass Brody had included with the tickets.
“Right this way, Miss Jensen. Mr. Murphy requested that we give you his spot.”
Of course he did.
He stepped back and waved his arm toward an empty space right up against the building.
The girls and I hopped out of the Jeep and excitedly walked around front of the car where we met up with Darla.
“Girls!” she called out when she saw us, running over and scooping them up in one big armful. They both groaned as she squeezed the living daylights out of them. “How exciting is this?” She gave me a quick embrace too.
“It’s very exciting,” I said. “I’ve never been to a professional hockey game before.”
“Me either.” She grinned as we walked inside.
I showed the usher our tickets and he looked up at me with wide eyes.
“Follow me, ma’am.” He walked us to our seats, which were up against the glass, right behind the Minnesota Wild’s goal.
“Holy shit! Oh, sorry.” Darla looked down at Lucy and Piper who were staring up at her with wide eyes. “I meant shoot. These seats are amazing!”