Page 141 of The Home Game

He had the settlement conference, which went absolutely nowhere. The Swansons wanted full custody and refused to settle, so there was nothing to be done but take the case to trial, which wouldn’t happen for months. Possibly not until early next year.

Thankfully, Judy’s positive reports about how the kids were doing in Antoni’s care meant that the kids would remain under his guardianship until the custody trial took place.

It was a small silver lining in the midst of it all.

Thankfully, Antoni was too busy to dwell on his worries about the future.

He taught, graded papers, did laundry, took care of the kids, and wondered how he’d ever done it without Matty.

Because Matty was suddenly busy as hell and exhausted all the time.

Matty had warned him what it would be like once training camp hit but it still took Antoni by surprise.

Antoni was exhausted from shouldering more of the load of the household while Matty left earlier in the mornings and came back later in the afternoons.

The laundry had begun to pile up and Antoni was a little behind on grading and he kept getting to bed later and later every night.

There were moments of sweetness in the chaotic energy of the beginning of the hockey season though.

Several days in a row Antoni came home to find Matty sacked out on the couch, Reese napping on his chest while Antoni’s parents kept an eye on the middle two kids as they did their homework and Alexis worked in her room.

The sight of Matty and Reese sharing a nap made Antoni pause and smile, pulling out his phone to take a pic of the cuteness.

With Matty’s permission, Antoni had started posting a little bit more on social media about their daily lives. He didn’t love sharing the kids’ faces and tried to avoid it as much as possible, though with all of the fan photos out there of their post-wedding celebrations, there was no avoiding the exposure completely.

He’d become mutual social media friends with all of the team members—minus Dom, who never posted anything that wasn’t hockey-related—along with the SAPS.

He took little snapshots of Matty cooking them dinner or pushing River on the swings. He got some shots of Matty showing Alexis and Eli how to hold their sticks and a memorable video of Matty celebrating with Eli after their first goal in the net in the basement.

Antoni tried not to overdo it and make it look suspicious, but the more he kept an eye out for adorable moments, the more of them he found.

With as busy and tired as Matty was because of training camp, there wasn’t much time for watching Northdale Heights in the evenings or reading together. But they did manage it one night and Antoni took a few shots of their feet tangled together on the ottoman in front of the big-screen TV.

But even with the pressure increasing, it was still wonderful to crawl in bed beside an already snoring Matty and feel him sleepily turn over and gather him close.

The pace of sex during their “honeymoon” weekend certainly didn’t continue. Antoni supposed it was no different than it was for most busy parents but Antoni was grateful when they were able to sneak in morning handjobs in the shower or quick and dirty blowjobs whenever they could steal a few minutes alone.

One Saturday morning, they both woke early, tired, but not tired enough to fall back asleep. Antoni had just gotten his hand into Matty’s shorts, hoping to coax him into fucking him before they got up for the day, but as Matty rolled over to grab for the lube, the doorknob rattled.

The kids were up and that meant they needed to be too.

All of them had been invited to a team event at Dustin and Charlie’s place. Antoni hadn’t realized how close they lived—in the same neighborhood!—so they walked there.

The party was some sort of joint team bonding and celebration of Antoni and Matty’s wedding. Antoni had been surprised when they’d been told to bring swimsuits. The temperatures were getting cooler at night—really beginning to feel like autumn was approaching—but it all made sense when they arrived.

Dustin and Charlie’s pool was indoors and heated.

Matty’s teammates and their spouses or partners and family were there and when everyone greeted them warmly, Antoni relaxed and tried to enjoy the party. It was a casual event, with burgers on the grill along with a ton of other delicious food, and the whole basement area was a blast for the kids.

Eli immediately made a beeline for the ping-pong table, and Antoni was just about to tell them that he would play in a little bit if Eli wanted, when August stepped in, offering to play a few rounds.

With a nod and smile, Antoni shot him a grateful look and put arm floaties on River so she could enjoy the pool.

Alexis was pretty decent at the golf simulator, challenging Jonah and Colton to go up against her. Antoni laughed, proud of her confidence.

Reese got cooed over and passed around from person to person until he got fussy and overstimulated.

After that, Antoni took him back, letting Reese nap on his chest as he lay on the lounger near the pool, watching River happily splashing around with some of the littler kids in the shallow end while some of the parents kept an eye on them.

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