Keeping Score

I could tell she didn’t want to go. She probably wanted to set up a sleeping bag and sleep next to him to make sure he wasn’t scared. He was fine. The kid was stronger than she gave him credit for. I knew. I was this kid.

“Ok. But if you need me, Hunter. I’m in the bedroom next to yours and Kane will be on the couch.”

I rolled my eyes. Like fuck I was sleeping on my own couch. I knew she was trying to set some kind of moral example for the kid, but he’d be asleep in ten minutes. By morning my ass would be on the couch. Tonight that woman was mine and in my bed.

“Thank you, M-miss … c-can I call you Julie now?”

She gasped. “Oh my God. Really?”

He nodded. “Is it ok?”

She pulled him into a hug. “Yes. Yes, of course. Julie. Call me that, honey.”

I was pretty sure I saw her eyes misted over. She turned quickly and ran out of the room.

“Did I do something wrong?” Hunter asked.

“Nah. I think you did something very right.” I sat in the empty space next to him. The bed creaked under my weight.

“Thanks for inviting me to the game today.”

“Sure.” The game ball was next to him. He hadn’t let it out of his sight. It sat next to him at dinner. I remembered doing the exact same thing. This kid and I had so much in common.

I wanted to tell him about my conversation with Savannah. I wanted him to know I was trying my damndest to get him. To give him a family. And maybe that included Julie too.

“You’re going to win the next one too, right?”

“No one wants the Sharks to win more than I do.”

“But you’re supposed to play on Christmas Day aren’t you?”

I scratched the back of my head. Where was the kid going with this? I felt like he was a tiny interrogator holding a flashlight in my eyes. He was good at it too.

“That’s the plan.”

“Oh.” He took handfuls of the comforter and balled them up in his small hands.

“You worried about something, Hunter?”

“No.”

“Hmm. You sure?”

“I just want to sleep.”

I reached over to turn off the light. “If you need anything we’re here.”

He turned on his side. I touched the top of his hair lightly before closing the door behind me.

Julie sat on the couch, clutching a glass of red wine. She stared into the small flames crackling in the fireplace. The loft was big a man cave, but with this beautiful woman on my couch, the fire, the kid tucked in, I felt like I was living in a damn white-picket fence movie. It felt like a home.

“He’ll be out in five minutes.” I grabbed a goblet and poured a full glass. “That is one tired kid.”

“He loved watching you play. The whole thing.” Her feet were tucked under her. “He was mesmerized by everything.”

“What about you? Was that your first Sharks game?”

She nodded. “It was sort of amazing watching you out there.”