Page 118 of Fake Out Hearts

BECCA: Close enough.

ME: So… is that a yes?

BECCA: It is.

ME: Thanks, I appreciate it. And I’ll make it up to you.

BECCA: With interest.

I laugh and drop my phone in my pocket. “Alright, we’re good for this weekend,” I tell Sawyer, who drops his head in relief.

“Thank you. You’re a lifesaver, for real.”

“We’ll see if you still feel that way after this weekend,” I say, and the whole locker room laughs.

Sawyer greets us at the door to his house Friday night. He’s dressed well in a button-up shirt and jeans, and I raise an eyebrow at him.

“Hot date, huh?” I ask.

He chuckles, shaking his head. “Yeah, right. I’m just meeting up with a couple of old college buddies. I haven’t gotten out of the house in a while except for games and practices, and Noah’s been ragging on me about it. Says I need to have a life outside of fatherhood and hockey.”

“Right.”

I grimace, regretting my comment about the date. It’s pretty much common knowledge among the team that Sawyer has pretty much been off the market since his divorce from his ex-wife Miriam—not because he’s still hung up on her or anything, but just because the split sort of destroyed his belief in long-term relationships.

I can relate to that. Or at least, I used to be able to. These days… everything feels different.

“Thank you again for doing this,” Sawyer tells us, ushering us inside. “I really appreciate it.”

“It’s no problem.” Becca smiles at him. “Really.”

He leads us into the living room, where Jake is sitting on the couch in pajamas watching cartoons. I don’t get to see the kid very often, so it always blows my mind how much he looks likehis dad, even at the young age of six. He spins around on the couch to look at us, fixing us with the same gray eyes that Sawyer has.

“Hi,” he greets us tentatively and waves a little hand. His dark hair is tousled, making it look like he just crawled out of bed, but more likely he just had a bath.

“Hi, Jake, it’s nice to meet you.” Becca walks over to the couch and offers him a hand to shake as she introduces herself.

“Hi, Becca. You’re really pretty,” he says, shaking her hand tentatively.

Sawyer laughs. “Watch it, buddy, or you’ll have Uncle Theo to compete with.”

“And we all know how seriously I take competition,” I say and wink at Jake playfully, but he doesn’t seem to get that it’s a joke. His brows furrow in confusion, and I sigh. It’s a good thing Becca is here, because she already seems like a natural with kids. I don’t have the first clue how to handle them.

She sits down on the couch beside him. “What are you watching? It looks really cute.”

“Bluey,” Jake answers. “It’s about a dog and her family.”

“Oh, I think I’ve seen this before.”

Jake lights up, turning to face her. “Really? Who’s your favorite character?”

She pauses to think for a second. “Hm, I’m not sure of her name, but I really like Bluey’s little sister.”

“You mean Bingo?”

“Bingo,” Becca answers as a joke, and Jake giggles. Okay, so at least he getsherhumor. And at least he seems to like Becca. This would be a very long night if he didn’t warm up to either of us.

“Seems like we’re off to a good start,” Sawyer says quietly to me, then checks his phone for the time. “Shit, I really need to get going before I’m late. Thanks again. There are some leftoversfrom last night in the fridge you can heat up for dinner, and feel free to help yourselves to them too, but don’t let Jake eat any of those microwave meals no matter how much he begs. He loves them, but I’m trying to limit them.”

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