Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 69794 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69794 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
I snapped back to attention, only now realizing that I’d been staring so hard at Magnolia in the ice bath across the room from me that people were starting to notice.
I looked over at Eddie and grinned. “Sort of.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re just as bad as Weaver.”
Weaver, her husband, and a fellow member of the Dixie Wardens MC, was one of my good friends. Eddie had her husband wrapped around her little finger, and without a doubt always would.
“I’m being a sad sack,” I admitted. “I’m pissed as hell that we didn’t win. By a stupid ref mistake, which likely pulled us out of the running to get to the playoffs. I’m also pissed that in two weeks, my sister will be back, and she’ll drag this place into hell again. I’m also mad that I put all this work into this facility, and all she’s going to do is come back and fuck it up.”
“We haven’t lost…”
My brows rose. “We’re going to.”
She shrugged. “There’s still a chance.”
Ice water sloshed, and I forced myself not to look across the room and watch Magnolia get out of the ice bath half-clothed.
Today was a short practice, as it typically was on days following games. After the short practices that they generally used to work out their muscle soreness, they saw the necessary support staff for any aches, pains, or the like. Then they watched film.
They were due to watch film with Eddie in the next thirty minutes.
“There might be,” I agreed. “But it’d have to be some miracle beyond miracles.”
She patted my hand. “No matter what, you’re done after this.”
“Done?”
I looked over at Nettie, Eddie’s sister, and our star forward who’d played fantastically yesterday.
You’d never know that she had a baby just a few months ago.
She looked strong and healthy, badass and so damn fierce that I was in awe of her sometimes.
I was also jealous as hell of her and Boone’s relationship.
At forty-two, I was more than ready to settle down.
I wanted the kids, the house, the perfect life that everyone always dreamed of.
For twenty years while I was in the military, I’d seen all my buddies pair off right and left. Some of their relationships lasted. Some didn’t.
But the ones that didn’t had caused me to be very cautious about marrying until I could fully be at home where they didn’t have to worry about me twenty-four-seven.
But when I came home, I’d gotten caught up in life.
And it’d just never happened to me.
Maybe I was destined to be forever alone? I didn’t know.
What I did know was that it made my heart ache to see Boone and Nettie together, living the life that I wanted to live.
Though if anyone deserved that life, it was them.
They’d had an uphill battle to fight since the day that they met, thanks to Boone’s mother.
“Could I get you to do me a favor?”
I focused back in on Nettie. “Sure.”
“Could you take Margie out to meet Boone? He was able to get off work early, and he wants to spend some time with her.”
“Sure,” I said. “When’s he coming?”
“Now, I think.” She squeezed my bicep. “Thank you.”
I jerked my chin at her as she walked across the room to the locker room and disappeared inside.
Eddie watched her go and said, “Give my niece my love.”
“Sure,” I said to her back as she left.
It wouldn’t be a hardship.
Boone and Nettie had created one of the cutest kids in the world.
I did, however, have a soft spot for another little girl.
That little girl popped her head up the moment that I walked into the room.
She was at a table drawing, as she usually was.
There was no loud music or harsh lighting in the room that the team had created to be the nursery.
It’d taken me zero time after meeting Iris to realize that she was special.
I’d known she was special thanks to my own baby brother.
Lysander had been born different.
At first, we’d thought that it was due to his deafness—a condition that he’d inherited from my father.
But after he’d gotten older, it’d come to everyone’s attention that it wasn’t only his deafness that made him special.
After several doctors’ appointments after Lysander had one too many freakouts, it was discovered that he was autistic.
He couldn’t handle crowds or bright lights. He had a hard time relating to people. He was insanely smart and overcame every single thing that was thrown at him from his deafness to his inability to assimilate into society.
Needless to say, Lysander had made it possible for me to spot special people like him.
Iris was one of those special people.
Since there were only three other children that were needing daycare, it wasn’t too much of a hardship to keep things quiet in her space.
Though Iris could talk, she preferred not to.
Most of her communication came by way of sign, and since I knew sign language better than English at times, it was a no-brainer to talk to her when I saw her.