Page 91 of Mr. Swoony

“One person congratulated me on my pregnancy.” Jade rolls her eyes.

“Are you serious?” Eloise looks as though she can’t believe someone would do that.

If she only knew.

“It’s evil, I tell you.” Jade glances at Henry. “You’re worth it, don’t get me wrong, but I can’t say I won’t be happy when you retire, and I don’t have to deal with those women.”

“Just tell me when it gets too much. You know where I stand on the issue,” Henry says.

I believe that if Jade wanted him to, Henry would retire tomorrow. He has everything he’s ever wanted now. Sure, he’d miss the game, we all will when the time comes, but I think Henry will ease into retirement easier than the rest of us.

I grab Eloise’s hand because the thought of her having to go through what they are scares the crap out of me. At this point, everything is going so well between us. I don’t want anything to mess it up.

“Do you ever say anything back?” Eloise asks.

“No,” Kyleigh and Jade answer at the same time.

“It’s not worth it. They come back harder and more vicious.” Kyleigh gets up from her chair, but leans over Rowan, pinching his cheeks. “You’re just lucky you’re so damn adorable.”

He grabs her and swings her into his lap. I inwardly roll my eyes, but I understand it now because I’d love for Eloise to be in my lap right now.

“Conor better watch himself.” Kyleigh takes a pull from Rowan’s beer, pointing the top of the bottle at me. “I have a feeling he might not hold back when it comes to you, Eloise.”

“I can handle myself,” she says, looking at me.

“Come here,” I mumble and tug her arm lightly.

Eloise obliges and stands. I pat my lap, and she happily sits down, wrapping her arm around my neck. I just want her close to me during this shitty conversation about the hazards of my job.

“Oh, looky here. Am I the only one who sees empty seats around?” Kyleigh says, ribbing me because I’m always on her for sitting on my friend’s lap.

I flip her off behind Eloise’s back.

We all sit and talk bullshit about everything but hockey. Tweetie tells us a funny story about when he was with the Florida Fury at a team building event, and Kane and Jana Burrows were secretly a couple. Jade and Henry tell a story about college, and we all share stupid shit we did as kids.

Eloise lays her head on my shoulder, and I kiss her forehead. “Let’s go to bed.”

“Okay.”

She climbs off my lap, and I stand. “See you guys tomorrow, we’re going to bed.”

We say our good nights to everyone.

“Can you walk me up to the bathroom quick?” Eloise asks.

“You can go in the woods,” I say, but she shakes her head.

After grabbing our flashlight, we trek up the short hill to the white building.

“Okay, stay here.” She pushes open the door, tiptoeing in. The automatic light turns on, meaning no one else is in there.

I hear the stall door shut and the shuffling of clothes.

“Pretend you don’t hear me. This isn’t how I imagined this going,” she calls.

“Just so you’re aware, I do know you pee.” I chuckle.

“Knowing and hearing are two different things.”

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