“Matthew, the walls may be soundproof but the door isn’t.” I hear his mother’s voice from outside the hallway.
I jump up, suddenly awake. I cover myself in the off chance he opens the door, but he just laughs from the bathroom.
“See you two in thirty,” she says while I hope she walks away.
Matthew comes back out, looking at me.
“I hate you,” I tell him, getting up and going into the bathroom. The water is set perfect as always. He gets in right behind me where he shows me that I really don’t hate him. Again.
I dress in jeans and a white camisole with a see-through long-sleeved tan shirt. I pair it with brown flip-flops and Ray-Ban aviator glasses. My makeup is only mascara and lip stick. My hair is braided to the side loosely. Matthew is dressed in his dark denim jeans, a white long-sleeved shirt, and a brown V-neck sweater over it. He plays with his hair in the mirror, his brown suede boots already on.
“Let’s go,” he says, walking past me to the door. “Besides, you look like you're ready to drop to your knees and blow me.”
I walk past him, hitting him in the stomach. “You fucking wish.”
He closes the door and walks to me, draping his arm over my shoulders, pulling me close to him. Once he presses the button, he wraps both arms around me. “Give me a kiss.”
“You mean, can you kiss me, please?” I reword it for him, glaring.
“Give me a kiss,” he says again, my eyes glaring more. “Either you give me one or I take it.” My hands are on his hips. “Okay,” he says, leaning down and taking the kiss he wanted. The only time we stop is when the elevator dings. “See,” he says, pulling my hand into his.
“Oaf,” I say under my breath.
When we get to the lobby, I see his mother and Cooper. “Hey, you two,” Parker says, going to Matthew and giving him a hug. She surprises me by coming and giving me one, too. “Karrie, you look beautiful.”
I smile at her while she turns to Matthew. “Clean the shine off your lips. Cooper saw some press outside.”
“Fuck,” Matthew says, wiping his mouth. “Let’s go before they call more.”
I drop his hand and he looks at me. “I’m about done with this,” he says, walking out after Cooper, who just watched the whole thing.
“Oh, ignore him, he was never very good when you told him no.” She smiles at me and grabs my arm to walk out. “He also hates secrets.”
I nod my head, taking it all in. I get into the truck that Cooper has rented, sitting in the back with Matthew, who is already sitting there, staring out the window at the press. His glasses block out his eyes. His hand goes to grab mine the minute I buckle in.
We don’t say anything to each other as we drive to the rink. “I can’t wait to get back on the ice here,” Cooper says while we drive into the parking lot. “It’s been forever.” He parks the car, jumping out, not waiting for us.
Parker laughs in the front seat. “He’s been up since six-thirty,” she says, getting out of the car, following him inside.
“Hey, guys,” she greets everyone as she goes to Cooper’s side. “Who are these guys?” she asks Lauren, looking down at what must be her two kids.
“These are my children,” Lauren says, smiling at her. “This is Gabe, who, believe or not, never stops talking.” She hugs him sideways. “And this is my girl, Rachel.”
“She’s a beauty.” Parker smiles at them.
“We need to talk tonight,” Matthew tells me while his mother and Lauren exchange small talk.
Rachel leaves Lauren’s side to go tap Matthew’s leg. He stops talking to me and smiles at her before squatting down in front of her.
“Hey there, princess.” The way his voice goes soft for her makes my heart burst and my stomach flutter. I’m sure my ovaries just exploded.
“Will you be my boyfriend?” Rachel asks him while Lauren gasps out loud and Austin, who has joined the conversation now, groans beside her.
“Um,” Matthew mumbles.
“Rachel, what are you doing?” Lauren questions, going to her.
“Well, Auntie Kay has Noah as her boyfriend, and you have asshat.”
Cooper bursts out laughing. She looks at Austin and smiles.
“Sorry, Asstin. So I want one, too, and I want him.” Rachel points her thumb at Matthew, who is in stitches.
“I would really, really like to be your boyfriend, but Karrie is my girlfriend, and it wouldn’t be fair to her.” He looks up at me.
“Oh, that’s totally okay. I give him to you,” I tell Rachel. “No take backs, either.”
Cooper and Parker are now laughing even harder.
Matthew stands up and glares at me. “I’ll show you no take backs later.” His tone is fierce, but I look at him and then down at my nails. “Can’t. I’m busy.”
“You’re busy, huh?” he mocks me. “Really? With no phone, no car, no purse, no wallet?” He smiles at me. My hands go into a fist.
“Matthew,” Parker whispers. “You didn’t.”
“He must have lost the handcuffs,” Cooper chimes in. “Okay, why don’t we go get ready to skate?”
“How about the girls go out for cupcakes and coffee?” Lauren asks us.
“Is Noah coming?” Cooper asks about their other friend while walking to the rooms in the back.
“I would love to go for coffee,” I tell them. “You guys can be my getaway.”
“You can run, but know that I’ll always catch your ass and drag you back,” Matthew warns with a wink, then turns, and jogs into the back.
“That man is a…” I stutter. “He’s a…he’s a…”
“He’s an asshat,” Rachel helps me out, smiling at her mom and then Parker and me, making everyone laugh.
“Okay, babe.” Austin kisses Lauren. “Come back, and for the love of God, whatever you do, make sure you bring Karrie back with you.”
Lauren looks at me. I’m sure I resemble those cartoon characters that are about to blow steam out of their ears. Before I actually yell out my frustration, Parker comes up to me. “Honey, I’m so, so sorry.” With that, we all head out to go have chocolate cupcakes and coffee.
We walk into the little café that looks like you’ve died and gone to heaven. The whole room is filled with cupcakes. There are little tables in baby blue and pink all over the room. It’s almost empty. We walk up to the display case, or at least one of them because there are three other display cases around the store.
“I want sprinkles,” Rachel says to her mother while I look over the different ones.
“I’ll take three lattes with a dozen cupcakes,” Parker says to the girl behind the counter. “Karrie, honey, what flavor do you like?”
“Red velvet with the cream cheese frosting and apple pie crumble cupcake also.” I hear a groan behind me and turn to Lauren.
“I hate you,” she tells me and I put my hand to my chest. “Skinny, young, you can eat what you want and not gain a pound. If I ate two cupcakes, I’d have to diet for about four months before the fat was gone.”
I laugh at her while she decides to get the peanut butter cupcake with banana frosting.
“I’ll just double my spin classes.”
Parker laughs at her and orders a chocolate cupcake with white chocolate frosting. Then she orders two sprinkle ones for Rachel and a big glass of milk.
We carry the cupcakes and the coffee to a table in the corner. I sit in the corner with Rachel sitting next to me on her knees while she claps her hands together in joy of having not one but two cupcakes.
I smile at her and turn back to Parker, who is smiling at me. We sit discussing last night and what a great turnout it was. I find out that Lauren and Austin work together, or did. She quit yesterday so they could date.
“So tell me, Karrie, how did you meet Matthew?” Lauren takes a sip of coffee and asks me.
“We actually met in a hotel gym.” I fold my arms on the table in front of me, leaning in a bit. “Then I found out I was hired to be his chaperone.”
I think back at how it started.
“Really?” Lauren says.
“Yes, the day after I met him he moved in with me.” I take a sip of the coffee. “Then proceeded to give me his shopping list.” I laugh while Parker holds her forehead, hiding her eyes while she shakes her head and laughs to herself. “Then he basically bulldozed into every waking moment of my life.”
“Mommy, I got to potty,” Rachel says, getting up, Lauren following her.
“You love him,” Parker says, leaning on the table as well. “I can see it in your eyes when you talk about him.”
I open my mouth and then close it.
“Now don’t get me wrong. I see that he gets on your last nerve, and he can push you to the brink of the edge and you are a second from jumping off, but,” she tilts her head, “you always step back because deep inside you love him.”
“I,” I say, “I,” stutter again.
“He took his father leaving really hard. I could see him struggling with it. He would pretend everything was okay, but deep down I knew it was brewing, it was eating at him.” She wipes a tear from her cheek that slips out. “When Cooper came into the picture, he let go, and slowly, ever so slowly, the weight got lifted off his shoulders and he could be a kid again.”
She takes a big breath. “Then he moved out to LA and it was like he was a kid straight out of his cage.” She shakes her head. “I wanted to drive down there and ring his neck, but Cooper told me he had to fall on his own. So I listened to my husband, for once.” Another tear falls. “He went to rock bottom. Came home with his tail between his legs. I wanted to kill them both. I know he’s a grown man, but he’s still my baby.” She reaches across the table to hold my arm. “Seeing him with you, seeing you with him. Seeing the way you look at him, the way he looks at you. I know he’s good now.”
“I don’t know if I love him,” I whisper.
“Yes, you do. You wouldn’t let him get away with half the shit he does if you didn’t.”
“He found out I was going to Mexico on our five day break and he tied me to the bed,” I tell her. “He took my phone, keys, and purse so I wouldn't leave him.”
She smiles at me. “You are a woman, a smart woman. If you want to get away from him, we both know that you would.” She shrugs. “Well, unless you were tied to the bed, but...” She looks away then back at me. “Don’t hurt him.” She blinks away the tears that are pooling in her eyes.
“I love him,” I tell her, finally telling someone besides myself. “I don’t know when it happened, but he got into my heart and I can’t imagine a time without him.”
“Good. Now.” She points to Lauren and Rachel coming back. “Let’s go back to the hotel and get a massage or something. He owes me big.” She gets up, walking toward Lauren.
We walk out of the shop with her arm intertwined into mine.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Matthew
We spend three hours doing drills and practicing stick handling. We play a game of two on two, and I love every single second of it.
I show Gabe little tricks, and I have to give it to him; he soaks in every word, following up my instructions to a T and getting into it right away, hungry for more. When we call it a day, he actually groans and moans.
Craig is there when we skate off the ice. “That boy, with a little bit of coaching, could be out of this world. He’s a natural.” He looks at Gabe. “I got one more left in me.” He looks from Gabe to Austin while I smile, thinking that this kid will be better than all of us.
“What does that mean?” Gabe asks, taking off his helmet and spitting out his mouth guard.
I walk to the dressing room, checking my phone while they continue talking. I see that Mom texted me a picture of her and Karrie at the spa. I smile when I think that she will be all relaxed for me tonight.
Gabe finishes before us and goes back to help Craig clean the ice on the Zamboni.
“Kid has the itch,” Cooper says, unwrapping the tape from his legs. “Where is the father in all this?” Cooper knows all about being a stepfather.
“He’s around.” Austin shrugs. “He cheated on her with the kid’s teacher. Found out she’s Camilla the Cunt.”
“Holy shit, no way!” Cooper shouts. “You think you’re ready for this?” Austin has never been around kids, so his answer should be interesting.
“I know that with her comes them. They’re a package deal. The kids are easy. It’s the ex I’m not sure I can deal with.” He suddenly looks unsure. “He broke up with Camilla, so now he’s free. What’s to say he won’t try to get her back? They don’t just have a past, they have kids. Can I even compete with that?”
Cooper throws his ball of tape in the garbage. “Oh, I know what you mean. When I met Parker, her ex was always away. The minute he spotted us together, all of a sudden he had second thoughts.” He looks at me to see if I’m listening. I’m listening, and I just nod my head and agree with him. “But I knew that the minute I found out she had kids, I didn’t give a shit. I wanted her, all of her.”
“How do you compete, though?”
“You don’t. You be you,” I add from his side. “As long as Gabe sees that you treat his mom well, you make her laugh, and she isn’t sad anymore, well, that’s all you really need to do.” I smile at Cooper, thinking back to how he drove Mom crazy at the beginning, but he wore her down.
We get dressed, each of us grabbing our bags to head out. “Okay, buddy, let’s go,” Austin tells Gabe as he walks out in front of him.
“Shit,” I say, “they took the car.”
“It’s okay. I have Lauren’s, and I can drive you guys back to the hotel.” Austin opens the trunk. “It really is a bus.” He winks at Gabe, and he just smiles and drinks the chocolate milk he got from Craig.
The minute he turns on the ignition, the sounds of “Let it Go” fill the car, and Cooper and I both groan. “I take it you guys know this song?” Austin asks us.
“Why is it playing?” I yell from the back, putting my hands over my ears.
“Because it’s jammed inside the player and Mom didn’t have it checked out yet,” Gabe explains, his head moving to the beat of the music. “Dad used to do all that.”
Cooper and Austin exchange a look before we drive off.
We get back to our hotel, and a couple of fans notice us and come up to ask us to take pictures. We sign a couple of autographs and head inside. “You want to have a beer before you go up?” Cooper asks me and I nod.
We sit side by side at the bar, both of us throwing peanuts in our mouth while we watch the SportsCenter playing. They show bits from the last game, including my penalty shot. “You are getting your legs back,” Cooper says to me, taking a sip of his beer while I drink my bottle of water.
“It just feels right,” I say. “It’s almost like I’m centered. Like I’m comfortable in my own skin.”
“You found it,” he says, looking at the television then at me. “Your missing piece.”
“What do you mean?” I ask him, confused.
“You were searching for your place. Looking for your place. Looking to find what was yours. You were missing the piece. You found it. Karrie, she is your piece. Your center. She is what calms you. It’s what happened with your mom. I was never complete, always rushing, always pushing, always fidgeting. Till I found her. My piece. I knew from the moment she was mine that I could take on the world. That I could have the biggest mountains to climb and I would be able to do it, because she would hold my hand while I did it.” He smiles thinking about Mom.
I nod, thinking about it.
“I feel peace.” I play with my water bottle paper while I continue, “I was angry for so long. I was fucking pissed.” I don’t wait for him to answer. “But the minute I met her, it’s like a calmness came over me. I mean, she does this thing, where she talks to herself, but it’s the funniest thing. I can have the shittiest game ever, but the minute I touch her or even stand near her, I’m okay. I just settle.” I shake my head. “Sh
e’s it. Now the next thing is finally getting her to tell people.”
“Matthew,” he says, “your mother fought me on this to the bitter end. Except I didn’t give a shit. I was over everything, but this is your new break, this is your—”
I put my hand up to stop him.
“I know. Trust me, I know, which is why I’m not pushing it. But what if you couldn’t hold Mom’s hand in public? What if you want to reach over and hug her and you couldn’t? What if you just want to smile at her without looking around to see if someone is watching?”
“I would go crazy. I would pull out billboards all over the fucking country declaring my love for her. I can’t even stand to think about not being able to call her mine in front of anyone.”
“I’m going to play it the way she wants. But I’m only going on so much longer.”
He nods. “I’m here when you need me. You know that.” He slaps my shoulder. “Just, son, you have to ease up a little. You tied her to a bed.” He smiles.
I shrug my shoulders. “I would do it all over again.” I’m about to continue when Cooper’s phone starts ringing.
I don’t know who is on the phone but his eyebrows pinch together. “There has to be a mistake,” he says to whoever is on the phone. “I doubt the twins would actually steal the boy’s clothes and bury them in the sand.” He shakes his head while I look down thinking that’s exactly what my sisters would do. “We can be there in about five hours,” he says, checking his watch. “Okay, thank you.”
“Jesus,” he says out loud, “the girls just took this boy’s clothes while they were in swim class and buried them in the sand.”
I put my lips together to try not to laugh at him, but snickers come out.
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