Zach threw his head back and laughed. “I think I’m gonna like the candy tax.”
Lucy and Piper looked up, saying something to the older man who had just dropped candy in their bags. As they waved good-bye and ran down the sidewalk toward us, I stopped them. “What were you saying to that man?”
“Oh!’ Lucy shrugged. “He asked if that was Brody Murphy on the sidewalk and we told him yes, that we have two dads and Brody is one of them.” She grinned.
“You told him that?” I blurted out.
“Yeah, lots of people asked about Brody and we told all of them that he was one of our two dads.” Piper said proudly. “Come on, Lucy!” They linked hands and sprinted off for the next house.
Brody, Zach, and I stood frozen on the sidewalk with our mouths open.
“Did she just tell people—” Zach stopped halfway through his sentence and looked at Brody and me.
“I believe she did.” Brody laughed hard. Zach and I followed suit.
“Oh my God,” I said as my laughter died down. “I’m so sorry. People are going to think you and Zach are…”
He grinned and shook his head, chuckling. “Andy’s going to have a good time explaining this one to the tabloids on Monday.”
8 months later…
Today is June 24th.
Two months ago today, my team was knocked out of the play-offs by the fucking Chicago Blackhawks, once again. Despite my rough start to the season, I ended it with more wins and more saves than any other season in my career.
Yesterday, Andy called and told me he had a contract offer for me, but he wouldn’t tell me from what team. I had no idea if I was still going to be Minnesota Wild’s goalie next year or a Florida Panther. He didn’t want to tell me over the phone, so I was going into his office to meet with him.
Today is also Kacie’s birthday. She’s turning twenty-five years old. She’s the most mature and selfless twenty-five-year-old on the planet. When I scroll through Facebook, most of the girls I went to high school with are still pretending to be drunk airheads to impress a guy or posting stupid selfies of themselves in their bathrooms. Kacie has been a single mom for years, though she doesn’t call herself that anymore. Between me and Zach, who has been spending more and more time with the girls lately, she’s anything but alone. She passed her exams with flying colors and has been working in the labor and delivery unit of Roger’s Memorial Hospital since shortly after she graduated. She works three twelve-hour shifts a week, and while that’s been a huge adjustment for us, we’ve gotten good at going with the flow.
And thank God for that because I had no idea what was going to happen at this meeting with Andy. He told me to come by at nine o’clock. I looked at my phone.
9:12 a.m.
I was stalling. I really didn’t want to hear that the Wild was letting me go, and the last thing in the whole world I wanted to do was give Kacie that news on her birthday. But we’d promised each other: no more withholding information. And we hadn’t. Not so much as a blip on the radar in the eight months since our Hell Week, as she called it.
Before I rolled out of bed and dragged myself to Andy’s office, I shot my girl a text.
MORNING, JENSEN.
Diesel hopped up and curled into my side, giving me another excuse not to get out of bed yet.
K: GOOD MORNING TO YOU, MURPHY.
LISTEN, I WAS THINKING… I’VE GOT A LOT OF ERRANDS TO RUN AROUND HERE. I’M PROBABLY GONNA COME UP TOMORROW INSTEAD OF TODAY, OKAY?
I laughed out loud in my bedroom. “Holy shit, D. She’s going to be so pissed.” A second later, my phone beeped.
K: REALLY? TODAY? YOU HAVE TO RUN ERRANDS TODAY?
YEAH. I’D LIKE TO GET THEM OVER WITH. WHY? DID YOU HAVE SOMETHING GOING ON?
K: UMMMM…
I couldn’t let her suffer anymore.
JUST KIDDING. I’M COMING UP. OF COURSE I WOULDN’T MISS MY GIRL’S BIRTHDAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABY.
K: YOU JERK! I THOUGHT YOU REALLY FORGOT!
NOT ONLY DID I NOT FORGET, I ALREADY PLANNED OUT OUR EVENING AND ASKED YOUR MOM TO BABYSIT.
I didn’t like lying to her, but I had been working too long on her surprise and I wanted her to think we were going out tonight after we all took her to dinner.
K: YOU DID? WHERE ARE WE GOING?
CAN’T TELL YOU THAT. IT’S A SURPRISE.
K: WHAT SHOULD I WEAR?
YOU STILL HAVE THAT BLUE DRESS THAT YOU WORE TO THE CHARITY BANQUET LAST YEAR?
K: NO, BUT I CAN BORROW IT FROM LAUREN AGAIN. WE’RE GOING SOMEWHERE THAT FORMAL, HUH?
NOPE. WE’RE GOING SOMEWHERE TOTALLY CASUAL, YOU JUST LOOK SMOKING HOT IN THAT DRESS.
K: YOU’RE A PAIN IN THE ASS.
THE BIGGEST. I’LL BE UP IN A FEW HOURS.
K: OKAY. CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU. I LOVE YOU.
I LOVE YOU, MORE.
“Well, look who decided to show up.” Ellie smiled at me as the elevator doors opened. “And only an hour and a half late.”
“Sorry.” I grinned back. “Is he in there?”