Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 130307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130307 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
“Chloe?”
I turned toward the voice coming from above and behind me, finding a stunning woman smiling at me from the next row up. She had jet black hair styled in tight curls, her honey-colored eyes glowing against her warm brown skin.
“I’m Maven,” she said, extending her hand for mine.
“Oh! Hi,” I said, standing so I could turn to face her and take her hand. Will had told me about Maven. She was one of his teammates’ fiancée and helped out with Ava from time to time.
“Glad to see you made it in okay,” she said, and then she leaned over the seats to give Ava a hug from behind and a kiss on the cheek. “Hey, you.”
“Hi,” Ava said, but she kept her eyes on the ice, as if Maven was bugging her as much as I had been with my question.
“I’m surprised you’re not down there on the ice,” she said to Ava. Then, to me, she added, “Warmups are about the only time the kids can get their dad’s attention before the game.”
She nodded toward where a player was making faces at a little boy who couldn’t have been more than three years old to illustrate her point, and I smiled.
But Ava just shrugged. “Daddy needs to focus. I’ll see him after.”
Maven shot me an amused smile, her perfectly shaped eyebrow arching a bit. “Okay, as her teacher… is she always this serious?”
“Afraid so,” I mused with a grin of my own at the little angel. “I’m working on her, though.”
“Tough to soften up someone raised by Will Perry, I suppose.” Maven assessed me for a moment. “Well, I’m just a few rows up, if you need anything,” she said, pointing to her seat. When she did, a woman with rich brown skin and straight black hair cut in a sharp bob waved at us. “That’s Livia. She’s my best friend and also the team’s dentist.”
I waved back at her, my head spinning a bit.
The team had its own dentist?
“After the game, I can walk you to the friends and family lounge. That’s where we meet up with the players,” Maven explained.
“That would be lovely. Thank you.”
“Sure thing,” she said with that dazzling smile. “Oh, and… don’t be a stranger, okay? Just the way those guys down there are a family, we’re a team, too,” she said, as if I were a wife or partner to one of the players.
I hoped my skin wasn’t as red as it felt.
One last look at Ava had her chuckling to herself, and then she retreated to her seats. I watched her for a split second with her best friend, the way they so comfortably laughed and clutched each other’s arms like they had a million inside jokes.
It made my stomach ache.
I longed for a friendship like that.
It wasn’t that I hadn’t had the opportunity to make friends. I had a few in college. I had some at the school where I worked now. But for whatever reason, I just never… fit in, I supposed. They were nice to me when I was around. If there was a work event, we could all laugh and chat. But it was surface level. It never went deep.
The closest things I had to best friends were my mom and my grandma. We talked all the time, shared inside jokes, and leaned on each other through the good and the bad. Those women had sacrificed so much for me, from their bodies, energy, and time to what little money they had. They’d even gone into debt to put me through college.
I loved them. And I loved spending time with them.
But I could never talk to them about my deepest thoughts and desires, could never be one-hundred percent honest with them. Because so many of the things I thought about, so many of the things I wanted… well, they would never understand.
When I took my seat again, I let myself get lost in the daze of watching players dash this way and that on the ice. There were dozens of pucks on both sides of the rink, and the teams were skating around in a dizzying pattern taking shots on the open net.
My eyes lost focus, the fatigue from the day and the week catching up to me. Starting up the second semester of the school year always felt harder than the first. After the holidays, kids were restless — and so was the staff. We still had months to go, but it seemed everyone was counting down to summer break.
Add in the fact that I unexpectedly took on a second job, and I felt all kinds of off-kilter.
It wasn’t a job I didn’t feel prepared to take, otherwise I would have said no. I’d nannied for plenty of my parents before and always enjoyed getting to know my students better. I also enjoyed having something to do with my time other than be alone. I liked being at home, liked my crafts and my cats and my peaceful quiet. But in the same breath, I always felt like I was itching for a change in routine.