Page 70 of Clear Shot
Aiden
Being awayfrom my wife for eight days feels like eight months. I can’t wait to see her, touch her, kiss her. Getting away from the devastation that hit South Florida was nice but it also left me feeling a lot of guilt. I think the whole team was dealing with it because we went two and three while we were gone—winning two and losing three. Even Coach Petrov didn’t have a lot to say after the losses, merely reminding us that all we can do is dig deep and find some sort of balance.
I don’t care about balance right now—all I’m thinking about is my wife.
It’s late when we get home and I expect her to be asleep, but I find her sitting up in bed with her laptop.
“Hey, baby.” I lean over to kiss her and she tilts up her face.
“Hi.” Our eyes meet and there’s nothing but joy in hers, which makes me pretty damn happy.
“I’m going to change. I’ll be right back,” I say quickly.
“I’ll be right here.”
Five minutes later I crawl in beside her and peer at the screen of her laptop.
“Still looking at houses?”
“I’ve found a handful that I want to see,” she says. “This one is my favorite.” She opens a link and shows me a slew of pictures.
The house is typical for South Florida, and though it’s not as big as some of the ones I’ve been looking at, it’s got a lot of interesting features. The outdoor kitchen/grill area by the pool is breathtaking, and the bathroom in the primary bedroom resembles something from a spa. The kitchen is gourmet, with a hidden pantry, and the four-car garage would allow us to park all of our vehicles and give me an extra space when I want to putter with my bike.
“I like it,” I say thoughtfully. “It has some beautiful things the other houses don’t have.”
“Exactly. There are four bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms, which is more than we need, and I think we’ll get a lot of use out of the outdoor space.”
“It also says they have brand-new hurricane windows and shutters, which is a bonus considering what just happened.”
“Yes. And look at the built-ins in the closet.” She clicks on a photo.
“I guess we’re going to need to go shopping for some more shoes for you so you can fill that up,” I tease.
She laughs. “Let’s go see it first.”
“Have you been in touch with the realtor?”
“Not yet. I wanted to talk with you first, so we maximize the time we have. You’re busy with hockey, so I don’t want to waste time on houses we don’t both love.”
“That’s very thoughtful. But I’m a typical guy when it comes to stuff like this. Sure, I have opinions but mostly I need a place for my motorcycle, a bedroom big enough for a big bed, and somewhere I can put a big TV. Beyond that, I guess I’d like a bigshower too. The details, though, like colors and set-up and all that shit, don’t matter too much. If you’re happy, I’ll be happy.”
“We both need to be happy,” she says firmly. “Especially since you’re paying for it. It’s too late tonight, but we need to sit down—before we put an offer on anything—and discuss a budget.”
“A budget?” I frown.
“How much you make, how much the house and expenses will cost, and what we need to live on. If I go back to school, which I haven’t decided yet, I won’t be able to contribute anything to the household, so we have to make sure we’re on the same page. It’s important to me.”
The way she says it tells me we have to have that conversation, but it definitely isn’t going to be tonight.
“We’ll have plenty of time to talk about all those things in the morning.” I gently close the laptop.
“Oh?” She puts the laptop down and slides down beneath the sheets. “Does that mean you want to talk about something different right now?”
“We don’t need totalkabout anything.” I cover her mouth with mine.
I’m usually up early,and Hana has been getting up with Joanna to give Sloane a hand, so I decide to go to today’s optional practice. Coach has been taking it easy on us because quite a few of the guys have post-hurricane issues to deal with. No one lost their home—other than me, apparently—but there was lots of damage to windows, roofs, and other outdoor elements.
“I’ll be home no later than one,” I tell Hana before I go, “so you can make the appointments any time after that.”
