Page 56 of The Golden Goalie

She finally stops. “So, what’s the plan for my stubborn girl?”

“I don’t know yet, but there will be a plan,” I tell her honestly.

“You’re not scared of dealing with her?” she asks.

“Scared? Of Amber?” I laugh. “I’m terrified of her.” She cracks a smile at that. “But I’m not scared of going head-to-head with her.”

She studies me. “Given your profession, I can’t say that I’m surprised.”

I walk over to her and pick up her hand, like I would my own mother’s. “We’ll take good care of her, even if we have to force her.”

“Okay.”

I glance down the hallway towards where I know she’s sleeping. “Maybe just don’t stand up to her on your own, though. Wait for backup.”

She laughs. “Smart man.”

I grin at her. “I’ll check on her later.”

She stands up and pats my cheek, reaching high to be able to do so. “You’re a good man. Thank you for being there for our girl.”

Our girl.Her words do something to me, and I feel lighter than I have in days. “You’re welcome.” I head back out to my truck, my plan to go get sleep forgotten. I head over to Aiden’s. I need to blow off steam and he has the perfect workout area to do that in. After calling him and getting the okay, I drive to Aiden’ and Bri’s place.

Aiden meets me at the door. “You good?”

“Yeah, Man. I just need to blow off some steam.” He steps back and lets me pass. Since I know the way, I walk past him and head downstairs. Unsurprisingly, he joins me a few minutes later. Neither of us say anything as we get into our workout. With the music pounding and sweat flying, the pressure building inside me finally begins to ease. Sebastian joins us after a bit.Gunner even makes an appearance. Though neither of them say anything, I know that Aiden texted them. I feel grateful, knowing I’m not alone in all this.

When I’m finally depleted, I finally start stretching and cooling down. “You good?” Seb asks from the floor next to me where he’s stretching.

“Yeah. Aiden tell you about Amber?”

“Yeah, but I was asking aboutyou,”he returns.

“And how are you doing when Stephanie is really sick?” I ask.

He grimaces. “Yeah. Okay, I get it. What can we do?”

I shake my head. “Nothing. I’m going to figure it out.”

“Wrong answer,” Gunner says, dropping next to us.

“We’re a team,” Seb reminds me. “If one of us is in pain, we all are. Now what can we do to help?”

I breathe deeply. “I’m not sure yet. She needs more rest, more water, needs to eat more, reduce her stress, work less...it’s a lot and she’s not exactly easy to convince to do any of those things.”

“I feel your pain,” Seb says, and I can imagine he does. Stephanie isn’t exactly easy-going either.

“But I’m going to figure it out.”

“And when you do, you’ll let us know so we can help,” Seb reminds me.

“Right,” I agree. I stand to my feet suddenly exhausted. “Thanks, Guys.”

Aiden and Gunner nod. “Get some sleep,Dad,” Sebastian says with a grin.

I turn a hard look on Aiden. “Really?”

Aiden shrugs. “You were the one that put it out there.”

---