Page 3 of Salvaging My Heart
“Uncle Leif!” Nick yelled, pulling out of Aaron’s arms, causing him to overbalance as he pivoted to see the man. Oh! My! God! The avenging uncle bearing down on him, wearing a military uniform, hat pulled down low had to be the hottest thing he’d seen in ages. He had to be at least six feet, wide shoulders, tight waist and his thighs looked like they were straining his uniform. Yes, please, can I take him home?
“Nick!” The man dropped to one knee, grabbing up his nephew. “Shh, it’s okay. I’m here now.”
“But Mom and Mimi are hurt.” Aaron overheard Nick say as he stood up. He was the coach for heaven’s sake. He shouldn’t be sitting on his ass.
“They’re going to be okay. It’ll be a bit before they come home but I’ll be here and we’ll go visit them. Maybe you can help me pick something to bring them to make them smile?” the uncle asked.
“I can do that, Uncle Leif.” He watched the boy wipe his face on his shirt. Good thing he was the kicker so there wasn’t much dirt on him.
“Nick, why don’t you go grab your water?” Aaron suggested to give him a minute and watched him run off. “Um, I’m Aaron Templeton.” He offered his hand to Nick’s uncle.
“Leif Hansen, Nick’s uncle,” he said as he shook Aaron’s hand. “I’ll be here for a few weeks.”
“Nice to meet you. Glad you can be here for Nick. He was upset through practice,” Aaron told Leif. “Guess his mom and grandmother got hurt? Sorry, I overheard Nick.”
He watched Leif’s shoulders droop a little before something internal must have kicked in and he straightened. “Yeah, Kim and Mom were in a car accident. Deer versus car. Neither won.”
“Sorry to hear that. Please let me know if you need anything,” he offered as Nick ran back up.
“Got it.” Nick barreled into his uncle. “Coach said we can wear our shirts to school tomorrow. You’re coming to the game, right?” Aaron could tell that Nick needed a bit of reassurance.
“Wouldn’t miss it. You and me for a few weeks. You’ll have to tell me what you like to eat. How about we get pizza tonight?” Leif looked over at Aaron. The look in his eyes made Aaron’s pulse beat faster. “See you at the game?”
“I’ll be the one with a clipboard on the sidelines,” Aaron replied as he watched them walk away. Hmm, maybe he was the uncle’s type. Who was he kidding? No way had he caught the handsome man’s attention, no matter what he thought he saw.
Aaron turned back to the field. He gathered the balls into the net bag, grabbed the first aid kit and headed to his truck. There was an episode ofHalloween Warswaiting on his TV for him.
CHAPTER THREE
Leif sat at the kitchen table, staring into his coffee cup on Saturday morning. What. The. Fuck. He’d thought Kim had been fucking with him when he’d gotten back to her room after seeing his mother and she’d handed him eleven pages of notes. One for each day of the week. One for Boy Scouts. One for soccer and one for football. Then a list of things she deemed “necessary” for her to stay comfortably in the hospital. Apparently, Nick kept her and Mom hopping. He’d only been following the schedule for a day, and he was tired. How did they do it and hold down jobs?
“Uncle Leif?” Nick’s voice came down the hall and he sounded tired. I feel you, buddy, I certainly do. The duplex that Kim and his mom owned had a hallway front to back that shared a wall with the living room/kitchen open opposite the wall with the bedrooms on the second floor. They were going to have to figure out where Kim was going to sleep when she got out of the hospital. There was no way she was going to be able to navigate the stairs for at least another month.
“In here,” Leif answered, moving toward the kitchen proper. Time to feed the growing boy. By the way he’d been eating, there had to be a growth spurt coming since Leif did not remember eating this much as a kid. Hell, he wasn’t sure he ate that much these days. “Ready for some breakfast?”
Nick stumbled into the kitchen with his eyes almost closed. He definitely took after Kim with not being a morning person but lord help everyone once he woke up. “Please?” Nick said as he walked up to Leif and threw his arms around Leif’s waist. “Love you.” He pulled back and went over to the table and sat.
“Love you too. Now, pancakes? Eggs? Cereal?” Leif opened the fridge and looked over the emptiness. He shut the door and reached for his “Saturday” sheet. Reading it over he saw that, yup, today was grocery shopping. “Guess we’re grocery shopping today. Anything special you want to get?”
“Granola bars and gummy bears,” Nick mumbled, his head almost laying against the tabletop. Poor kid. He needed to go back to bed.
“Hey, Squirrel. Why don’t you go back to bed for a few hours then we’ll go shopping,” Leif suggested, giving the boy the choice.
“Um, I’ve got soccer practice then the football game today,” he corrected Leif. Another look at the sheet had Leif shaking his head. Nick needed sleep, not a practice and a game. In two different sports.
“I think you need some sleep,” Leif told him. What the hell was Kim thinking with this schedule?
Leif watched as Nick sat up straight and opened his eyes. “I’ve got responsibilities, Uncle Leif. I promised I’d be there.”
His little squirrel sounded so grown up. What happened to the little thing that couldn’t settle when you held him? Nick used to squirm against Leif’s chest until he got just where he wanted to be then crashed out. Leif loved sitting quietly holding him as a baby. Looking at his nephew now filled him with a sense of pride. Kim had done an amazing job on her own. Leif was glad he hadn’t tracked down the sperm donor and beat sense into him when Kim had told him that she’d been ghosted. The fucker. Nick was definitely better without bio-daddy but damn was the man missing out. Maybe Leif was too with being gone all the time.
“Okay, Squirrel. Let’s get dressed and stop at the diner for breakfast before your practice. Where’re your bags?” If he’d learned anything in the past day, it was that Kim had this boy organized. A separate bag for each activity with everything Nick could possibly need.
“They’re both on the storage bench,” Nick answered, and Leif could just hear the ‘duh’ that he didn’t say.
“Go brush your teeth, throw on clothes and we’ll scoot.” Leif took a deep breath and let it out slowly. So much for a quiet Saturday. Time to move his ass before his nephew kicked him in it.
Aaron climbed out of his truck and quickly reached for his beanie with “Go Falcons” across the front. It was on the chilly side today especially for October. He’d need to watch the players and make sure no one got too cold. Grabbing the net bag and first aid kit from the back, then his travel mug and clipboard, Aaron turned to cross the field, already thinking about the other team’s offense.
