Page 18 of Break

Not that it stopped during the pregnancy but it seemed less frequent.

I will never understand how someone can choose drugs and alcohol over their children, their newborn babies.

Alyssa is glaring at me as she shuts the front door, silently making her way into the dining room, following the scents permeating the air.

“Ignore her, she’s pissed that I tricked her,” Caroline winks at me and punches me in the chest. “Well, let’s eat. I’m starving.”

I frown as I follow her into the room and sit down in my chair, right across from them. “Have you not eaten? Why are you starving?”

Caroline sends me a look and shakes her head. “Marie has more than enough food at her place, she’s trying to feed us every two hours,” she rolls her eyes and digs into her Mexican food. I got us all some tacos, enchiladas, beans, rice, and plenty of chips and salsa. Our favorites. “We had a late lunch but since Marie hasn’t been feeling well, we’ve been helping out more about the house. Forgot to have a snack, that's all.”

I pause my fork and set it down on my plate. “Is she ill?” I feel like standing up and demanding her address. What’s wrong with her? I feel like I’m about to panic and my heart is beating too fast.

Alyssa and Caroline share a look and Caroline clears her throat. “No…”

I glare at my sisters and lean back in my chair, straightening up to my full height. “Spill.”

Alyssa shakes her head and narrows her eyes at her twin. “No. It’s her life and we’re not going to say shit.”

I sigh, dropping the subject, shoveling my food into my mouth and pouring myself a large glass of red wine. Marie left all of her alcohol here, so I’m throwing my own tantrum and drinking it all before she can ask for it.

Serves her right. She used my credit card for her move, so I can drink her favorite wine. “You call me if she needs help, you hear? I’m not abandoning her, ever. If she needs help, you fucking call, because we all know she’s going to drive herself into the ground, ending up in the ER before she ever asks for a hand.”

They both nod and we switch topics to school and work, easy topics. I don’t tell them why I have the weekend off, just that I had some downtime and decided to take it.

We don’t practice every weekend, but since we don’t have another game for a few days and with Williams still raging about our loss against the Sea Lions, he’s running us into the ground until we’re where he wants us at.

I bag up Marie’s food and hand it over to Caroline. “I got Marie’s favorite, too,” I try to smile as nicely as I can as I hand it over. “Give her a hug from me or something, okay?”

They nod and leave after giving me quick hugs and I’m alone again. I busy myself with clearing the table and tossing the empty containers into the trash. I don’t miss doing the dishes, but I miss the meals.

I miss the house being full of my girls. Their fights, their laughter. The comedic relief at the end of a long day, the camaraderie. Love.

I pull out my phone when it starts to vibrate against my thigh and smile when I see Alex’s face on the screen.

“Hey.”

She chuckles lightly and I can hear the smile in her voice. “Hey, how’s your weekend going?”

I sit down on the couch and recline back, lightly adjusting my sore balls. “It’s going, I have two home games this week, been busy with practice. When are you coming back?”

“I’m flying back tomorrow.” She begins riddling off how boring and awful her week was working with her mother. All of the meetings, phone calls, and emails. I chuckle under my breath and hold back from saying ‘well, welcome to being an adult’.

As much as I like this woman and want to touch her, taste her, and obviously be with her, she hasn’t really worked a day in her life unless her mother demands it from her every now and then. When I talked to Logan about her, he called her a trophy wife. But I wouldn’t classify her as that. She travels around and helps out her mom with her companies. She at least knows where money comes from.

“I’ll take an Uber to your house or something if you can’t pick me up from the airport. Can you help me move in tomorrow?”

I furrow my brows as I pull the phone away from my face, checking the date. “I thought you didn’t want to move in for a few more weeks since you knew you needed to travel, is everything okay?”

She sighs and I hear a door close. “Of course! I just want to finally start our relationship together, you know? My mom even had me looking at engagement rings this week,” she giggles and I frown. Severely.

“Engagement rings? Why?”

She groans, I can almost hear the pout in her voice. “What do you mean why? Isn’t that why I’m moving in? So we can get married eventually?”

I snort and laugh out loud. “Um. No, not anytime soon. I wanted to make sure that you were happy and safe while you stayed here in Minnesota. Sure we’re dating, or ‘exclusive’, but… no. No engagement. We just got together. I know that I like you and want a chance at whatever this is, but I’m… no.”

“We’ll see,” she murmurs and clears her throat. “Anyway, I’ll need some help moving my things over, preferably tomorrow.”

---