Page 83 of Cross Check Daddies
He grabs two beers off the counter and tosses one to me before plopping onto the couch. “Talk.”
I stare at the label on my bottle. “Brooke’s pregnant.”
“Okay.”
“It might be mine.”
“I know that too.”
I glance up, and he just gives me that even, patient look of his. Like he’s not surprised.
“You knew?”
He shrugs. “You’re not subtle, man. You’ve been off for days. You haven’t shown up to practice on time since Monday. You skipped the review. That’s never you. And then when Jason mentioned Brooke’s name the other day, you looked like you were gonna choke on air.”
I exhale, let my head drop back against the chair. “You ever get so scared that you start convincing yourself it’s better to walk away than risk staying?”
Leo tilts his head and thinks about it. “All the time.”
I let that settle for a second, then I finally say the part I’ve never told anyone. “There was someone. Before.”
He watches me, still and quiet.
“After Daisy’s mom, years later... I was seeing someone casually. It wasn’t supposed to be serious, but we got close. She got pregnant. It was early, maybe twelve weeks, when she lost it. We hadn’t even told anyone yet. She didn’t want to. Said it wasn’t real until we heard a heartbeat.”
Leo’s face softens, but he doesn’t interrupt.
“I was the only one who knew,” I say quietly. “And I carried it like it didn’t matter. I buried myself in work. Coached harder. Yelled more. Whatever I could to not think about the fact that I lost something I hadn’t even let myself hope for.”
Leo nods, his voice calm. “And now Brooke’s pregnant.”
“And I’m trying not to do it again. Trying not to care too much. But it’s too late. I’m in. All the way in. And I don’t even know if the baby’s mine.”
I pause, let the words fall out raw. “I’m older. I don’t make sense for her. I don’t have ten more years on the ice or some legacy tie. I’ll just be the man who didn’t walk away when she needed help. But maybe that’s not enough.”
Leo leans forward, elbows on his knees. “You know how long Maddie and I took to get this right? And half that time, I was fucking it up. But we kept showing up. Because that’s what this kind of thing takes.”
I swallow. “Even when you’re scared?”
He gives a small smile. “Especially when you’re scared.”
I nod, not trusting myself to speak.
He reaches over and slaps my shoulder once. “So, take the time you need. But don’t walk away unless you’re really done. And we both know you’re not.”
He’s right. I’m not.
“I keep thinking... what if I start picturing it? What if I start imagining bedtime routines and baby bottles and being a family,and then the DNA test comes back and I’m not the father? What then?”
“You grieve it,” Leo says simply. “And then you choose whether or not to love the kid anyway.”
I look at him.
“That’s what being a man is,” he continues. “Not biology. Showing up. Choosing it. Over and over again.”
I sink down beside him. “You’ve got your own mess. Ford and Asher. Maddie. How the fuck do you make it work? Especially with pregnancy and the babies after?”
He laughs. “Bad communication at first. A few near breakups. Then therapy. Now? Honesty. Boundaries. Schedules. We mess up all the time. But the reason it works... is because we never stop talking.”
