Page 78 of Offside and Off-Limits
Benny and Hannah fighting at breakfast over who got the last bowl of cereal and who had to settle for toast? No problem.
The fact I couldn’t find a parking space outside the bakery and had to park around the corner and dash down the street through the wind and the rain? It’s like a soft summer breeze, playfully teasing my hair.
After we shared our feelings with one another, Cade stayed with me for the rest of the day, snuggled up beside me on the sofa, talking and kissing and kissing some more. He wouldn’t let me lift a finger to do anything, insisting I relax and recharge, caring for me in a way Dwayne never could.
Cade was there to greet the kids when they came home from school, making them snacks and listening to their stories fromtheir days alongside me. He helped Hannah practice the piano on our rickety old upright, telling us Bess would be jealous but that he’d give her a polish to make up for it when he got home. It made Hannah giggle so hard she almost fell off the piano stool.
He spent a long time talking with Benny about hockey and their favorite topic,The Timekeeper Chronicles. When he saw that Benny had ripped open the packaging of the collectible Cade had given him, I caught the flash of pain that crossed Cade's face—but to his credit, it didn't faze him enough to say anything, and he played make believe with Benny, both of them in their comic book world.
Then, when evening came, I insisted I was well enough to cook dinner, and after much debate, he agreed to help me, and we worked side by side in my kitchen, preparing a meal of mac and cheese as the kids played.
It was like we were a brand-new family, and I’m not going to deny how amazing it felt.
The next day, my energy had improved but not enough to spend an entire day at work on top of my mom duties, so I agreed with Veronica I would work the mornings only for the next couple days and review things on Friday.
Which brings me today, the day I’m back at work full time for the first time this week, my energy steady, ready to deal with what comes next, aka the non-fraternization clause in my employment contract.
Cade and I may have become a couple as of Monday morning—four blissful days ago—and we’ve definitely spent as much time together as was humanly possible in that time, but we’ve not shared our newfound love with anyone else yet. Not even with Keira and Dan, and as far as the kids know, Cade is just the friendly hockey player he’s always been, and nothing more.
Now, I need to come clean to Veronica about this new relationship and hope like heck she can see how genuine we are about one another. Hence the dash into Maple Grounds to gether a coffee and one of the bakery’s fall-themed pumpkin cinnamon rolls that is always a delicious, sweet treat.
“You look like one of those drowned otters down by the creek, Clara Johnson,” Mary-Ellen McCluskey says from her table by the window. “Doesn’t she look like a drowned otter, Suzette?”
Great. The town gossip and one of her minions. Just what I need.
Suzette Donnelly looks me up and down. “She does, Mary-Ellen, only one who seems quite happy about the situation.”
“Do I?” I reply with the same smile I’ve not been able to wipe off my face since Monday morning at approximately 9:47 a.m., aka the moment Cade turned up at my house with concern furrowing his brow.
Not that I’m counting.
Oh, who am I kidding? I’m counting every minute of being in love.
Both Mary-Ellen McCluskey and Suzette Donnelly shoot me a look as though I’ve quite clearly lost my mind. And you know what? They may well be right. Didn’t someone once say that love is a temporary insanity?
“We were just talking about the Drench for Defense at the weekend. What a wonderful event,” Mary-Ellen says.
“And what a handsome group of hockey players in their wet shirts, too,” Suzette adds, her eyes dancing.
“We agreed it was for a good cause, even if it straddled the line of good taste, you understand,” Mary-Ellen adds, referring to the whole wet T-shirt situation. “Come and sit with us, Clara. You can answer a burning question for us.”
“I need to grab a couple coffees to go actually, Mrs. McCluskey,” I tell her.
“You go do that, and we’ll keep this seat nice and warm for you for when you get back.” She pats the seat between her and Suzette, shooting me a knowing smile.
“You got it,” I reply, hoping I can slip out undetected beforeshe gets me in her grasp, shining the sharp light of interrogation in my eyes.
But then she wouldn’t be the Queen of Maple Falls Gossip if she didn’t manage to prize information out of people on the regular.
I make my way to the counter where I order a couple of take-out coffees and the pumpkin cinnamon roll for Veronica from Lola, one of my high school English teacher’s daughters who’s about twenty-one or twenty-two.
“On behalf of the female population of this town, I want to thank you for the Drench for Defense, Clara,” she tells me as she slots the pumpkin cinnamon roll into a paper bag with a pair of tongs. “Not only did me and my friends catch the live event, but we've been watching the videos you posted, too.”
“I'm glad you enjoyed it.”
“Those guys are all so freaking hot, don’t you think? All those muscles upon muscles,” she says in a low voice as though she might get in trouble over expressing the opinion. “I never knew someone could have that many. How did we ever get so lucky to get our own NHL team here in Maple Falls?”
My belly does a little flip as my mind instantly turns to Cade. Although I agree with Lola that he and the rest of the guys looked hot in their wet T-shirts, absolutely nothing beats the look in Cade’s eyes when he smiles at me, so full of love and tenderness and heart.
