Page 107 of Pipe Dreams
And the untouched glass of wine Hans had poured her sat there on the table like a beacon. She felt eyes on her.
“Maybe Lauren isn’t in the mood to drink tonight,” Mike said lightly.
“Is that how you want to play it?” Elsa asked. She set down her fork. “When did you plan to tell me?”
“Uh-oh,” Mike muttered under his breath.
“When Iwassure,” Lauren sputtered. “It isn’t personal.”
“Just do me one favor?” Elsa stabbed a cherry tomato in her pasta salad as if trying to spear it in the heart. “If the baby was an accident, don’t ever let it know, okay? Don’t let it hear its grandparents tell their neighbors that its daddy got its mother knocked up at eighteen. Don’t let the wives in the clubhouse whisper about how young they had you. And don’t end up apologizing to your kid for cheating on each other, okay? Because the baby willnotwant to hear that she was the source of all your woe.”
Elsa jammed the tomato in her mouth and stood up from the table. Then she made her exit with a regal posture which she maintained all the way up the stairs.
There was stunned silence at the table then. Nobody even chewed.
Mike was the first to shake it off. He looked up at the ceiling. “Thanks a crap ton, Shelly. Nice timing!”
“What?” Lauren said, trying to make sense of it.
He shook his head. “I’ll go talk to her. No—I’ll finish my steak.ThenI’ll go talk to her. Her day has been full of revelations. She just needs a break.” He took Lauren’s hand under the table, then addressed Hans. “So, we’re having a baby or two.”
“Probably,” Lauren corrected. “It’s early.”
“Two?” Hans asked.
She jerked her head toward Mike. “That’s his funny little joke. I’ll settle for one healthy one.”
“Congratulations,” the German man said, his smile bashful.
“Thank you. You’re the first person to say that, because I haven’t told a soul.”
“And yet...” Mike pointed at the staircase.
“That was probably my error,” Lauren admitted. “I had her fetch something out of my bag, and I think she saw my vitamins.”
“Good going, slick,” Mike said, squeezing her hand. “And after you swore me to secrecy.”
“I know! I’m sorry.”
He just smiled. “It had to come out at some point.” He let go of her hand to cut another bite of his steak. Then he picked up her glass of wine and took a sip. “You won’t be needing this.”
“Sadly, no. Are you going to have a chat with Elsa? I don’t mind doing it.”
He smiled. “I got it. I’m giving her a few minutes, first. And I’m going to eat my steak. Then I’m going to tell my little girl how much I love her.”
“You’re very calm about this.”
Chewing, he glanced up the staircase. “Not always. But no goalie has ever had a hundred percent save rate.”
“What?”
“It’s just something I tell myself sometimes.” He reached over and gave her knee a squeeze.
Goalies, Lauren smiled to herself.So calm in the hailstorm of life. She tried to imagine what life would be like a year from now. No—two years. There’d be a high chair pulled up to the table. Even if their toddler was throwing peas on the floor and Elsa was having a teenage meltdown, Mike would be smiling at her over the rim of his wineglass, weathering the storm. She felt a rush of love for this man and his easy smile.
“The pasta salad is excellent,” Mike said to Hans.
“Danke.”
