Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121764 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 487(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
It was winter now, the air frigid outside the car we were steaming up, and one truth was as clear as the night sky had been in Yellowstone.
Jaxson and I had a love that transcended the seasons.
And there was nothing I was more grateful for than that.
The End
Yes, Sir
Will
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
I growled the words, ripping my mask and helmet off as I skated past our wide-eyed assistant athletic trainer. She was new to the team, joining us for her first season, and I didn’t mean to make her pale as a ghost with my reaction to the message she’d delivered — but I couldn’t help it.
Grumpy was my natural state of being lately.
And I was extra grumpy at the moment from being interrupted in the middle of our practice by a trainer telling me my daughter was here.
Ava was my fucking world. Other than hockey, she was all that mattered to me. I looked forward to every minute I got to spend with her.
The issue was that she should have been at home right now with the newest nanny I’d hired — not standing in the penalty box next to the home bench.
I tried and failed to school my breathing the closer I got to Ava, and Coach McCabe gave me a nod as I passed him to let me know it was fine — but to make it short.
Ava was perched up on the seat inside the box, pressing up onto her toes to get a better look at the rink through the glass. She was watching the rest of the team as they ran drills, her mop of dark brown curls falling out of the ponytail I’d tried to wrangle them into earlier that morning.
Like me, my daughter didn’t smile much. It was an unfortunate side effect to having me as a father and the only steady parental figure in her life.
But right now, her eyes were big and filled with excitement. The kid loved hockey just as much as I did, and any time I let her come to the stadium, she lit up like I’d taken her to Disney World.
Except this time, I hadn’t let her come. She was supposed to be at home — playing house or running in the yard or swimming in our pool.
Instead, she was watching pucks fly.
And it wasn’t her nanny standing beside her and making sure she didn’t fall.
It was Chloe Knott — her kindergarten teacher.
She stood out like a sore thumb, not just because the stands were empty, but because that woman wouldn’t be able to blend in anywhere no matter how hard she tried.
Her bright copper wave of hair was lobbed just above her shoulders and parted down the middle, her brown eyes framed with thick, dark lashes that dusted her rosy cheeks every time she blinked. Other than that blush, her skin was like porcelain, pale and smooth like she bathed in sunscreen every morning before leaving the house.
She wore a long black skirt with white polka dots and a white t-shirt with a rainbow on it. Under the rainbow, it said no rain, no rainbow. Jade green arches dangled from her ears to complete the look, and they shimmered in the stadium lighting the closer I got.
I remembered the way I’d felt the first time I’d met her. It was a mixture of annoyance and relief.
Annoyance, because no one had a right to be that damn bubbly.
And relief, because she’d lit up at the sight of Ava as if she were her only student.
Chloe had bent down to her level on that welcome night, looking my daughter right in the eye and talking to her like an adult. She’d managed to get Ava to smirk, which was a feat, and I’d felt the weight on my chest dissipate.
It was one thing to have Ava in a half-day of early learning last year, but to have her officially in school had put my emotions through the wringer. I didn’t want her to grow up. I wanted her to hold onto her innocence forever, to always stay this young.
Knowing she was in good hands with Miss Knott made me feel at least marginally better about it all.
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Perry,” she said when I was close enough to hear her. She smiled apologetically, looking at Ava and then at me. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
I could put the pieces together before I even got an explanation.
After the run of bad luck I’d had with nannies over the summer, I’d made sure to let Miss Knott know when I hired a new one. I’d also written consent for Miss Knott to be able to drive Ava to me should anything happen. She had already been added to my approved list from when she’d tutored Ava in the first semester of the year, but I didn’t revoke that access even now that we were in the second.