Page 21 of One Good Puck
I can’t help but grin at her teasing tone.
“You wouldn’t believe the stains I’ve had with Emma. Juice. Ketchup. Marker ink. Chalk. Muddy water.”
“Okay, but if your top ends up being ruined, I want you to tell me so I can replace it. I’m serious.”
Her smile turns warm. “Okay.”
That’s when I notice just how adorable Abby looks in the morning. Her long blonde hair is messy as it falls around her shoulders, and her eyes are puffy with sleep.
I clear my throat and force myself to look away while I set my bottle of protein shake on the counter, just so I stop staring at her.
“I should probably change out of this,” she says.
I don’t look at her when she walks off. I down the rest of my protein shake, then grab eggs, bacon, and English muffins from thefridge.
I’m poaching eggs on the stove top and frying up some bacon when Abby comes back down to the kitchen, this time in a hoodie.
“Wow. You’re hungry in the mornings,” she says.
“This is for you and Emma.”
When I look up, her mouth is half-open, like she’s surprised.
“Cooking breakfast for you is the least I can do for throwing my protein shake all over you the second you woke up.”
She chuckles. “Thank you.”
I nod at one of the stools on the kitchen island. “You should sit. Breakfast is almost ready.”
She starts to turn, but her gaze catches on a picture pinned to the fridge. It’s an old family photo of me and Nicole holding Sophie between us when she was a baby.
“That’s so beautiful,” Abby says.
“It’s my favorite photo of the three of us. I have it framed in my office at work too.”
A soft smile appears on Abby’s face. “Your wife was stunning. Sophie looks just like her.”
Warmth gathers in my chest. “Lucky kid took after her mom in the looks department.”
Abby chuckles. “How did you two meet?”
“A photoshoot. When I was a hockey player, my publicist got me this random gig for a fashion magazine, and she was the model I was posing with. When we wrapped, I asked her out for a drink. The rest is history.”
Abby’s smile widens. “That’s so cute. Do you have the photo you two took together?”
I nod. “I framed it and gave it to her as a gift for our first Valentine’s day. It’s in my office now upstairs.”
“That’s so romantic.”
I rub the back of my neck. “I’m kinda relieved to hear you say that. I always wondered if it’s weird that I still display photos of her when she’s been gone for so long.”
Abby shakes her head. “No way. She’s your wife. You love her and want to remember her forever.”
“Yeah, exactly.” My chest tightens at how she seems to understand how I feel—how easy it is to talk to her about so many things.
Chapter 10
Gavin
