No Pucks Lost Between Us by Elise Faber

Author:Elise Faber [Faber, Elise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781637490945
Publisher: Elise Faber

Twenty-Two

Joel

The laughter was loud.

The impromptu celebration of our engagement was underway.

And the boards that my Rosie had put together were being steadily decimated. There was one with vegetables and dips, another with a huge sheet pan of nachos topped with plenty of sour cream and cheese and jalapeños and beans and meat. There was also a kickass dessert board.

Although…no snickerdoodles in sight.

We didn’t need the memory of her mother still out of contact, or still missing, or still on the run—which one of those it actually was still up in the fucking air.

So the desserts were a mix of things my woman liked—white chocolate and fruit and cookie butter mixed with chocolate dipped pretzels and squares of dark chocolate and little bowls positioned in between all of that which were filled with everyone’s favorite candy.

How my woman knew Fox and Dessie’s, Bailey and Axel’s, Ryan and Veronica’s, even my parents’ favorite candy preferences, I didn’t know.

I just knew she did.

Just knew it was another example of her thoughtfulness and that great big heart.

The Stanley Cup playoffs were on in the background, and I didn’t miss the way Axel was scowling every time his gaze went back to the screen.

None of us liked losing.

Especially considering he’d won it all not long before.

That shit stung, but it was also the nature of the beast.

Only one team won it all.

And this year, it wasn’t the Gold.

But the Rush were still in it—at least at the AHL level.

I passed Axel a beer and he smirked up at me, lifting his fist for me to bump it. “Thanks, man.”

The girls cackled as they munched on their snacks, as they lifted their wineglasses to their mouths and hoovered the adult grape juice down like the fucking professionals they were—

Hoovered…well, all except for Bailey.

I glanced down at Axel, finally clocked who he’d been focused on—with the exception of those scowls toward the game on the TV.

Bailey.

He loved his woman, was into her as much as I felt my existence was defined by my Rosie.

But tonight…that focus had been different.

More intense and all-encompassing and—

Fucking hell, man. My boy was growing up.

I leaned in, clapped him on the shoulder. “Congrats.”

Axel glanced up at me, tried to play it cool for exactly one second. “Too fucking smart for your own good, aren’t you?”

I shrugged, glanced at my woman, who winked at me.

Clearly, she’d figured it out too.

Maybe that Mayoral Magic was rubbing off on me.

“Buttercup!” Axel called.

The women stopped hoovering, stopped cackling, wine glasses held aloft—all except for Bailey’s, which was still sitting full on the coffee table.

“Madame Mayor and her sidekick have both figured it out.”

Bailey sighed, shot me and then Rosie, a look. “Seriously?”

“Well, honey,” Dessie interjected, lips turned up. “You’re being obvious.”

“Exactly,” Veronica said lightly, her color the best I’d ever seen it, now that she was several months into remission. Even her hair was growing out. “We talked about playing this smart so you wouldn’t ruin the surprise.” Her mouth curved. “There’s no way you’d nurse one glass of wine.

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