Page 49 of Dirty Puck

After finishing dinner, we refrigerated the leftovers for Char to have during the week and got down to cleaning up the dishes. Unfortunately, this meant our weekend was coming to a close. We gathered up our bags because I had work tomorrow that I couldn’t miss.

“I hate that you have to leave so soon.” Char wiped at her eyes.

“We’ll be back if you want us around,” I replied in hopes of cheering her up some.

“Want you around?Yes, I want you around.”

“In that case, give me a hug.” I stepped into Char and she held me tightly in that motherly ‘I’mgoing to miss you’ way. God, I loved it. She’d only just met us but was going to miss us.

She squatted down to Benny’s level. “Bye, Benny. I can’t wait until you come back to visit me.”

On his own, without any prompting, he stepped close to her and touched her hand. That was a huge first step for him. He’d only just met her and already felt comfortable enough to touch her. My eyes got a little foggy seeing that.

Then after Char hugged Claudia, Reece stepped in to hughis mom, kissing the side of her head before taking a step back, signaling to us all that it was time to go.

“Love you, Ma,” he said and with how sad and thick those words came out, it was clear that he hated leaving her, which prompted me to do something unexpected. I dropped my hand to his lower back, the way he’d done for me, rubbing up and down as we walked out to the SUV.

I let Claudia help Benny into the car seat while I stayed with Reece loading our bags, giving him the time to be okay with us leaving.

When he climbed into the driver’s seat, I walked to my side, continuing to follow his lead. Char stood out on her stoop, waving us off. I waved back but rolled down my window, calling out, “Thank you again. We’ll be back.”

I didn’t realize how right that statement was until Reece reached over to squeeze my knee. But the thing was, I meant it more because I truly enjoyed Char’s company than because of this thing we were playing at. She was like a kinder, softer female version of Reece.

The way we’d started, I never imagined liking him so much, or really that I’d care for him at all, but here we were.

He drove us to the airport with about an hour to check in. Like on the way down, I turned the TSA stop into a game for Benny. The male agent snapped at us. Benny buried his face against my legs. Before Reece could get angry and cause a scene, another agent, a woman, played peekaboo with my son.

“Thank you,” I said as we moved on.

“This can be scary for some kids,” she replied and it felt good to see good people still existed in the world.

We found our seats near our gate and I set Benny up with my phone to watch a movie from my iTunes library. One that he’d watched a hundred times before.

I wanted to talk to Reece about how he was feeling havingto leave his mom, but he sat down on the other side of my boy to watch the video and that told me everything.

Rather than push it, I just started talking with Claudia about how much I’d enjoyed the tiramisu at dinner.

Since I no longer needed to fit into a thong, I wanted dessert on our menu once a week. We all deserved a sweet treat now and then. Plus, I liked the idea of Sunday dinner and this gave me my excuse to implement it. Something positive to take away from our time with Reece. I liked that.

Speaking of Reece, he paid the extra for us to sit together on the flight. He got a few head turns. Maybe because of the Copperheads, but probably because of how unbelievably rugged and handsome he was—the epitome of sexy, especially when so effortlessly paying attention to a preschooler. Ovaries go boom. A woman didn’t have to want children to experience this phenomenon. It wasn’t about Benny. It was about recognizing that the tender way he interacted with my son mirrored how he treated the women in his life. A rough and tumble goalie on the ice, but a teddy bear, okay, a gruff teddy bear, off it.

People looked when Baker Reece walked into a room, but good to our arrangement, he never even winked at another woman, and not for lack of them trying. That impressed me, given one particular woman, a gorgeous brunette, really wanted his attention. When I got up to use the bathroom before take-off, she sat in my seat. I thought to maybe get an autograph or snap a picture on her phone. Turned out I was wrong. She refused to move when I got back.

Without bringing too much attention on us, he waved over the flight attendant and showed her our tickets saying, “Could you help this woman find her seat? This one is reserved for my girlfriend.”

The flight attendant asked to see the woman’s ticket, but rather than show it, Miss Gorgeous-Thought-She’d-Move-In-On-My-Man-Brunette huffed loudly and pushed up out of my seat.

She threw out a, “Your loss,” at Reece as she walked past him.

“Somehow, I’ll find a way to go on,” he said to me as he tugged me down to sit.

Even though she was the one in the wrong, I appreciated him not embarrassing her.

We taxied down the runway and just like during the first flight, my boy smiled, watching out the window.

When we landed one and a half hours later, I wanted my bed. With Benny in my arms, I carried our bag. Reece got his bag and the car seat. Seeing his truck in the long-term parking felt like a beacon calling me home.

By the time we made it to the apartment, my eyes had been drooping every five minutes for the last few miles and if I yawned any wider, I’d require some serious jaw surgery. Traveling took a lot out of a girl.

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