Page 56 of Balance

I’m not letting her go. I can’t.

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I was a chicken shit for the last several hours, I haven’t spoken to Lillian at all since this morning. I close the garage door before I jump out and drop my bags beside the door before heading inside.

I inhale a deep breath, stretch out my sore limbs, and groan under my breath. Damn, either I’m getting old or Williams was just a dick today.

After we did an hour of drills on the ice, we played against each other for another several hours. James and I rocked it, making goal after goal, but once Williams started adding rookies on our teams and shuffling us around, I got a damn good workout.

Those kids are fast and brutal. I haven’t been thrown against the glass like that in years, my fucking ears are still ringing.

I step inside and kick the door shut before I stalk the halls looking for my girls. There’s a pot of simmering sauce on the stove and I test it with a clean spoon before my stomach clenches and lets out wild growls.

How does all of her food taste this damn good? Is she a witch?

Maybe she can just start writing up recipes and selling them instead of going back to teaching, because, damn.

All of my littlest girls rush into the kitchen to give me a hug and kiss, while Lillian stays back, leaning against the wall with a soft smile on her face. I lean down and smile, trying to pay attention to what the girls are yammering on about.

Avery is bouncing on her toes about her gymnastics competition coming up next month, while Nessa is screaming about her being able to write her name, and Tilly is just spinning in circles talking about rainbows.

This is the life. It’s my life.

Not wincing everytime my parents call to ask about my investment portfolio, not the paycheck. The house, the cars.

This. Just the girls smiling, screaming, and laughing about school and rainbows.

I stand up and lean against the island as Lillian guides them through setting the ‘table’, helping Tilly drag her high chair over to the end. I twist around and pull down the plates and glasses, grabbing some napkins and silverware and handing them over.

“We’re having pasta tonight with some homemade garlic bread that Avery and I baked.” Lillian announces as she turns off the stove and starts plating up our dishes. I open up the oven and find the bread in there, steaming and enveloping me in the scent of cheese, garlic, and herbs.

Fuck, I hope there’s enough, because I’m going to eat an entire loaf just by myself. It looks so thick, cheesy, and buttery.

Lillian chuckles and hands me the oven mitts so I can safely pull it out. I set it down on the counter and groan when she plates everything up for me. I can see the vegetables that are loaded in the sauce, the girls will never even know. Not that they've been putting up much of a fuss since Lillian entered our lives.

“Where’s Mackenzie?” I murmur as I sit and shovel a massive bite into my mouth.

Lillian sighs and spins her pasta on her fork, slowly, showing the girls how to eat it. “She’ll be back shortly. She went out around town to hand out resumes. I think she’s going to all of the restaurants to find a waitressing job.”

I frown and sip my water as I think it over. “Let me call Charlie after dinner, maybe we can get her a job at the arena… There's a restaurant that’s open every day, but it’s busiest on game days. She’ll make good money in tips and I’ll put the word out to protect her. Nolan eats there at least three times a week.”

She hums and delicately takes another bite, while here I am, shoving it into my mouth like a beast. “That would be amazing, thank you. I’ll talk to her after she gets home to see if she wants to head there sometime to check it out. I’m surprised she left the house, to be honest. Maybe our night away kicked her butt into gear.”

“Well, she’s welcome to stay however long she wants.”

She turns and tosses me a smile, finally reaching her gray eyes. “Thank you.”

We finish up dinner and I wave her off when she starts to usher the girls down the hall. “I got it. I’ll get them bathed and changed into pajamas. Does anyone have homework tonight?”

Avery shakes her head. “Nope. I did all of mine earlier. Can we watch a movie?”

I smile at her and pick up Tilly before we head towards the bedrooms. “Sure. Or we can have a game night?”

She[10] groans and shoots me a look from over her shoulder. “The last time we tried to play a board game, Nessa and Tilly kept destroying everything and messing up the game… Maybe this weekend I can stay up later and we can play, then?”

I shrug and open up Tilly and Nessa’s door, turning to lean against the door jam before answering. “I have games on Thursday and Friday night, Saturday is the cookout… Maybe you can stay up until nine on Sunday, I just don’t want you to be too tired at school on Monday.”

She rolls her eyes at me before slinking towards her bedroom across the hall. “That’s only half an hour later than my usual ‘bedtime’, it’ll be fine.” She shuts her door and I guide the little ones towards the bathroom so they can have their bath.

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