“Yeah, you too. Thanks. Are you guys ready to go? How long did she last?”
“She missed your fight, thank goodness,” Janet answers. “Logan wore her out earlier and kept her occupied during the game.” Something about the way she says it rubs me the wrong way. Why the fuck is it a good thing that she missed my fight? Hockey is physical without it, but…what the hell is she talking about? I flick my eyes to the guys and see a similar confusion.
Sydney takes my hand and squeezes it.
“Right, well, let’s go.” I move over to Logan and take my daughter. He can’t walk and carry her.
“Lo-Lo,” she mumbles.
“Not Lo-Lo,” I correct her quietly as we begin to leave the box.
“Hey, Daddy.” She sounds like she’s starting to wake up, so I rub her back.
“Hey, little Miss. Go back to sleep. Daddy’s taking you home.”
She nuzzles closer to my neck and reaches up to play with my beard. Janet, Chris, and Logan are hanging back behind us, talking about something. Sydney is walking closely next to me.
“Do you have to take them home?” I ask.
“No, but you’re taking us home. They drove us all here, and I figured we could ride with you home.”
Good. I put a sleeping Savannah in her car seat while Sydney says goodbye to her family. She’s quiet on the ride home, which wouldn’t be so unusual if she didn’t keep glancing at me and then looking away when I look at her. I’m too fucking tired for something to be up tonight.
Sydney carries Savannah inside and gets her settled in bed while I go to my room and get ready for bed myself. Twenty minutes later, we’re lying together. That’s a good sign. Maybe nothing is wrong after all. I pull her closer, take a deep breath, and hope we don’t have to be up early in the morning.
“Ian.”
“Sydney.”
“Do you want the bad news tonight or in the morning?”
“Fuck, babe,” I groan. “I don’t want any bad news. I just want to hold you and sleep for at least ten hours. Is that an option?”
“I don’t think so,” she whispers. That tone puts me on high alert. Something is wrong, and exhaustion be damned.
“What’s the bad news, Sydney?” I quietly ask.
She sits up, so I do the same, leaning against the headboard. “First, you need to know that I believe what I’m about to say is absolute bullshit. I don’t want to tell you, but I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow either. It’s really ridiculous, and I’m sure it’ll blow over. I think you—”
I grab her hand and squeeze it. “Babe, spit it out.”
“My mom wonders if you’re abusive.”
“What the fuck?” Where in the hell did that come from? Why would her mom think that?
“Okay, so let me explain,” Sydney hurries to say.
“Yeah, you might want to do that,” I interrupt.
“Everyone knows that I’ve never been able to walk away from you—”
“Because you love me, not because I’m fucking forcing you to stay. What kind of bullshit is this, Sydney? Where the hell would she get that kind of idea from?”
“Ian!” She yanks hard on my beard. “Shut up and listen to me. I told you it was bullshit. Let me explain and keep your voice down.” She waits until she’s sure I’m going to be quiet before she continues. “No one understood why I couldn’t walk away, especially if we weren’t actually going to be together. The only reason I did that one time is…” She lets her voice trail off and moves on, so she doesn’t have to say it. “Mom has never watched a hockey game. She saw you get into that fight and you were pissed, Ian.
“Somehow, that connected the dots for her. She thinks you either say or do something to keep me here and now, she’s worried about me and Savannah, even though I’ve told her that you aren’t. Me saying so only makes me sound like I’m defending you. She tried to get me to go home with them, but I told them no because she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”
“You do realize how fucking crazy that is? Did Logan back you up?”