t that she wanted to be with me, and tell her all I’ve been doing to make it up to her. “But I need to do more. Something bigger that says more because I want this to work and I want her to know that.”
“It sounds like you’ve done a lot already,” she says dryly.
“Why don’t you like us together, Ma?”
“Because if she leaves, we’re back to square one.”
“Exactly my point!”
“I’m confused,” she admits.
“Brayden thinks I should fire her.”
“Are you insane? Didn’t you hear me?”
“Yes, I did. But I need Raelynn to be a part of my family and the next time we get into an argument, I want her to stay primarily because she wants to keep working on us, not because she feels obligated to because it’s her job to stay. If she really wanted to leave, I don’t know if she would have, Ma, because she’d leave Bree without a nanny in the middle of the season.”
Mom is quiet for a minute. “Okay. Say you fire her, then what? What happens with Bree? Is anything actually changing?”
“I’m thinking of a plan, but what happens with Bree partly depends on what Raelynn wants.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
“My gut does.”
I can practically see her rolling her eyes as she says, “Oh, great.”
My gut has only steered me wrong once before, but the more I think about firing Raelynn, the more I relax. This will work. I just know it.
Luukas Lathi is a beast. A crazy, lucky beast. We’ve deemed him Lucky Luke, but just over twenty-four hours later, it’s already shortened to Luck. Why? Well, I’d heard about how he gets bursts where he’s a scoring madman. They appear out of nowhere. Last night, we experienced the start of a burst. Luukas not only got a hat trick, but had two assists. Almost everything he did turned into a magical moment.
And tonight in the second period? Luck throws his hands up to celebrate his fourth goal of the game. He looks smug at this point, too. It’s crazy. We’re definitely rolling with it, though. The crowd is a pissy silent because that puts us with six goals and their team only has two.
What’s funny is I probably have something in common with some of their fans—the fans who have already deemed the game over, though there’s still plenty of hockey to be played. Those fans might leave early, or some might be wishing the clock would hurry up and count down to the final second so the game could end already. I’m with those. I want this game to be over. I want to be home with my princess and my girlfriend. I’ll be able to spend a little time with Jackson before he goes to Henry’s too.
But first, this game must be tackled. Raelynn said she was letting Jackson stay up to watch this one since it’s Friday night. If I don’t score a goal or at least get an assist, Luukas will likely be his new favorite player because he’ll forget all about me.
My opportunity comes when we earn a power play, thanks to a slashing penalty being called on the team in red. We’re all crowding in front of the goalie, the puck going back and forth and being swatted away, but it lands on my stick and I poke, poke, poke until it slides underneath his leg and across the goal line.
I shout and throw my hands up with as much enthusiasm as I know Jackson would do if he saw the goal.
The game keeps up a fast pace, but ends with a seven-two score.
“Whatever you’re doing, eating, drinking, I want to do it too,” Cal declares as we dress after our showers, pointing a finger at Luukas, because yes, we’re still talking about his seven goals the past two nights.
Luukas shrugs. “Sorry. You’d have to be me and you’re not.” Then, he grins with all the cockiness in the world and walks away.
“Okay, now I hate him a little bit,” Cal admits with a laugh.
“There isn’t two of him like there are of you,” Sergey Orlovsky grunts. “We’d be in trouble then.”
Cal makes a show of frowning and looks at Collin, who is frowning. Cal slings an arm around Collin’s shoulders. “Do you hear that, my dear brother? It sounds like he doesn’t like that there’s a Thing One and Two. What the hell, Serge? The Kessy twins are everyone’s favorite Rebels.”
Noah groans and I laugh because on cue, Marc throws his towel at them. “I’m the favorite Rebel. Don’t be delusional to think otherwise. Just ask Rams’s wife.”
“Leave my woman out of this,” Noah snaps.
His comment is ignored and the twins, mainly Cal, argue for as long as Marc will banter back about who the favorite Rebel is. It’s not until we’re on the plane back home that Brayden stands and whistles to shut everyone up. He glares at each of them before saying, “I’m the fucking favorite because I wear the C and everyone loves the captain, now shut the fuck up and talk about something else. You’re all annoying the hell out of me.” He sits down before they can argue with him.