Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 95393 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95393 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 477(@200wpm)___ 382(@250wpm)___ 318(@300wpm)
The kids come barreling back in after that, both of them holding two black pucks in their hands. “Look what Christopher gave me,” Luna crows.
“Justin said to make him sign it.” Rain looks up at Justin, who has his hand on her shoulder.
I don’t say anything else because the door opens, and I see more of Justin’s family enter the room. Everyone is very nice to me, and not one person looks at me with the sadness or pity that people usually have in their eyes. That is the worst. Justin comes over after a couple of minutes and hands me a glass of white wine. “Caroline said to go sit down and enjoy the game.”
I look over and see she is sitting down with the girl while they tell her stories, but then the roar of the crowd is almost deafening. “Guess they are taking the ice.” I turn and look at the girls, who run to the front of the chairs looking over the glass. I make my way through the crowd of people to sit down on the chair right behind them. Caroline joins me a couple of minutes later and then Keely sits next to her.
The minute his number is announced, you can feel the thunder of the crowd under your feet. Keely stands up and holds up her phone, taking a video of him. The smile fills her face as a video plays on the Jumbotron. I watch his face fill the screen and then hear the kids cheer with their hands over their head as they call his name, “Uncle Chrissy!” Luna looks over at me and points at the screen, like I can’t see his blue eyes that look like they are staring right at me and not at the twenty-four thousand people standing for him.
The spotlight goes to the door of the bench, and then he’s there, walking like he’s on a runway, before he slides onto the ice. He looks left and right with his hand in the air, saying hi to everyone. I clap my hands along with everyone else, and then I stand, looking over at Keely, who has hearts in her eyes. My stomach burns a touch, and I put my hand to it as the game starts. I cannot be jealous of this woman, my head screams.
For the whole game, the kids are either playing in the kids’ suite right next door or watching the game. I look over and see Justin holding Luna sometimes before she squirms away. By the end of the third period, I’m getting up to leave when Rain comes over. “Can we wait to say hi to Christopher?”
“Honey, it’s late,” I say softly. “Plus, we don’t know if he’ll come right out.”
“But—” she says, and I hold up a hand.
“We can stay for twenty minutes.” I show her my watch. “When it says ten fifty-eight, we have to leave.”
“Okay.” She nods at me while Luna crawls into my lap and sits here, exhaustion written all over her face. My foot goes up and down as I wait nervously, and when it turns to ten fifty-eight, I look over at Rain, who is fighting sleep.
“Baby,” I call softly, “we can call him tomorrow and see if he’s busy.”
“Okay,” she mumbles, getting up, but at this point, Luna is dead asleep on me. I turn her around and hold her under her bum.
“We’re going to head out,” I tell Justin, who stands with his brother Matthew.
“Let me help you to the car,” he offers, and I shake my head.
“No, we’re good. The kids wanted to see Christopher, but their glass carriage is quickly turning into a pumpkin.”
“We are going to see you tomorrow, right?” Matthew says to me. “Family lunch.” Every time Christopher’s whole family is in town, they have a Sunday family lunch. I’ve been to mostly all of them.
“Oh,” I say, looking down at Rain, “I have to check.”
“You sure you don’t need help?” Justin looks worried.
“I’ve got them,” I tell him, and he just nods and kisses my cheek. “I hope I see you tomorrow.”
I say goodbye to Caroline, who kisses Luna on her cheek softly and then hugs Rain. “It was nice meeting you.” I smile at Keely. The whole night she has been very friendly and super sweet, so hating her has been knocked off the table.
I walk out of the suite, heading down to the garage. The arena is almost empty with just a couple of people walking around. I take the escalator down to the parking lot. The doors leading to the offices and the locker room are closed as I head down the hallway toward my parked car.
I’m opening the back door of the SUV, and I’m about to put Luna in when I hear my name being called. Looking over my shoulder, I see Christopher rushing out wearing a black suit with a white button-down shirt without his tie. “Hey,” he says, jogging over to us. “My father just texted me that you were out here all by yourself.”