Room for More (13 page)

“Holy crap! Are they going off to college?” I stared down at the mile-long list of school supplies for Lucy and Piper, wondering why the hell they needed fifty #2 pencils—each.

“Welcome to school supply shopping.” Kacie giggled as she walked over and grabbed a cart.

I looked down at the cart and back at her. “I don’t think that’s going to be big enough.”

She grinned and shook her head. “Oh boy. You’re in for a rude awakening. Girls, come on!” Lucy and Piper returned the tiny stuffed animals they were playing with to their bin and bounced over to us.

“They’re six. Why on Earth do they need one hundred pencils?” I mumbled to myself as I followed along behind Kacie. “I’m twenty-seven. I don’t think I’ve used one hundred pencils in my entire life.”

By the time we were on the second half of the list, I was having more fun than the girls, throwing everything not nailed down into the cart.

“Brody, we need regular crayons, not glitter ones.” Lucy frowned as she peeked over the edge of the cart.

“Oh, did I grab glitter?” I grabbed six of the biggest packages of regular crayons they had and tossed them in the cart. Lucy reached in to grab the glitter ones and put them back, but I stopped her. “No. We’ll get those too.” I winked.

Kacie came back from the bathroom with Piper and her eyes got wide once she saw the cart. “Whoa!”

“I know. We’re having fun.” I laughed.

Kacie tugged on my shirt, pulling me away from the girls. “Brody, listen. I appreciate all the fun you’re having with them, but I’m on a budget. I can’t afford all this.”

“You don’t have to. I can buy my girls school supplies.”

“I can’t let you do that.”

“Kacie, have I ever told you what to do with your money?”

She bit her lip and shook her head.

“Then don’t insult me by telling me what to do with mine.” I reached over and kissed the end of her nose. “I’m having a blast. Let me do this.”

Before she had a chance to argue, I turned back to Lucy and Piper. “All right, Twinkies. Where were we?”

We walked around Target until the cart was completely filled with school supplies, new backpacks, and glitter princess heels. They obviously weren’t on the school list, but Lucy’s and Piper’s eyes sparkled when they saw them. That was all I needed to see.

“Your total is $312.41,” said the cashier.

I heard Kacie gasp quietly, but I didn’t bother to look at her as I took my credit card out and swiped it. We started toward the exit when a couple of boys nervously walked up to us.

They looked to be about ten years old and nervous as hell. One of them opened his mouth to talk but shut it before anything came out. The other one nudged him and he started again. “Uh, are you… Brody Murphy?”

I took a step away from Kacie and the girls and put my hands on my knees so I was closer to the boys’ level. “I am. What’s your name?”

“Uh, Cole.”

“And you?” I glanced down at his friend, but he didn’t say anything. His red hair fell in his face as he stared at me, blinking rapidly behind his black-rimmed glasses.

Cole nudged him. “That’s Dylan. Um, can we have your autograph?”

“Of course. What would you like me to sign?”

“Here, take this.” A woman, who I assumed was the mother of one or both of them, walked up and handed me a piece of paper and a pen.

“Thanks.” I took the paper and ripped it in half neatly. “Cole you said?” The kid nodded eagerly.

He grasped the paper in his hand, holding it close to his face as he stared down at it excitedly.

“My man, Dylan.” I turned toward the other boy. “If you want me to give you an autograph, you’re going to have to say hi.”

His eyes were as wide as saucers as he took a deep breath. “Hi,” he said in a barely audible voice.

I laughed and ruffled his hair. “Good enough.”

“Do you have time for a quick picture?” their mom asked.

“Absolutely,” I said.

Both boys turned to face her and I stood in the middle, squatting slightly. “Smile, Dylan,” I said as she clicked the picture.

“So how do you think the Wild will hold up this year? Think you guys will make it to the play-offs? It’s a big year for you personally, huh? I’m sure contract years are stressful,” Dylan blurted out all at once as he turned to me.

“Wow.” I stood up. “For someone who wouldn’t say hi a minute ago, you’re sure chatty now, huh?”

“He’s a sports genius. All he does is read facts and stats.” Cole shrugged. “He knows everything.”

“Good for you, buddy.”

I messed up Dylan’s moppy hair again before excusing myself and walking back over to the girls. I silently prayed to all that was holy that Kacie hadn’t heard the last part of the redheaded chatterbox’s question assault.

“You guys ready to go?” I clapped loudly as I walked up to them.

Kacie gave me a weird smile and my heart sunk. I wasn’t intentionally lying to her about my contract being up this year, I just didn’t want to talk about it now. It weighed on my mind constantly as it was, and knowing that it would be weighing on Kacie’s too would kill me.

“Why did those boys want you to sign something?” Piper asked innocently.

“They wanted my autograph. Do you know what an autograph is?”

She shook her head.

“I do!” Lucy said excitedly. “It’s a piece of paper you write your name on.”

“Exactly,” I said to her. “They just wanted me to sign my name.”

“But why?” Piper still looked confused.

“Girls, Brody plays hockey on TV, so sometimes people see him and ask for his autograph because he’s… famous.” She bit her lip and shrugged as she looked at me, unsure of if she’d explained it okay.

I nodded and Piper seemed happy with Kacie’s explanation.

We were making our way to my truck when Piper spoke up again. “If you’re famous, do you know Selena Gomez?”

“Yeah, can we have her autograph?” Lucy followed.

Kacie looked at me and tried to not to laugh at the ego shot her daughters had just given me. “Sorry.” She shrugged. “Guess you have to be on The Disney Channel and sing pop music to be cool in their book.”

When we got back to Kacie’s, the girls wanted to take their new loot to their room and divide it into piles. What can I say? They have OCD like their mom. Sophia and Fred were in the kitchen having coffee with an older couple that was staying at the inn for a few days, so Kacie and I decided to sneak off to her room. We both collapsed on the bed and intertwined our legs while she rested her head on my chest.

“Who knew school shopping could be so exhausting?” I sighed.

Kacie giggled. “Just wait until you see the list for second grade.”

“I better start saving now,” I joked.

She sat up and looked at me with a pained look in her eyes. “I told you not to buy all that stuff. I could’ve done it. Not everything you threw in the cart, but the necessities.”

“Kacie.” I laughed. “I was just kidding. Trust me, I haven’t even given it a second thought.”

“I know, but… I also know hockey players don’t get paid like football players, and—”

“Calm down. Do I make twenty million a year like other athletes? No. That’s not how hockey is and I’m fine with it; but I do make well into the seven figures and I live like a college student, so it all works out.”

She rolled her eyes. “You do not live like a college student. I’ve been to your condo. It’s beautiful.”

“My mom did all that. If I had decorated it, I’d have patio furniture in my living room. Seriously though, the condo is really all I’ve bought. That condo, my two vehicles, and the farm for my parents. If I retired today, we could live quite comfortably for the rest of our lives. The girls too, and probably
their
girls.”

A sweet smile crossed her lips as her head looked down toward the bed. “I like when you say that.”

“Say what?”

“We, our, stuff like that. Especially when talking about the future.”

“You are my future, Kacie. You’re my present
and
my future and if I could figure out a way to invent a damn time machine, you’d be my past.”

The smile that accented her beautiful mouth just a second before faded. “But what if you have to leave?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, your contract and stuff. What if you get traded?”

“You heard that kid, didn’t you?”

Dylan. Little ginger bastard.

She nodded. “Why didn’t you tell me your contract was up this year?”

“Honestly, I wasn’t going to tell you at all because I don’t want you to worry about that. You take on everyone’s stress as your own, Kacie. You think you have to fix everything, but I didn’t want you to think about that. That’s for me to worry about. I know how I need to perform to keep my spot on this team and I plan on doing that every day. No worries, okay?”

“Give me two minutes, and then I promise I won’t worry anymore.” She pulled her eyebrows together and bit her lip nervously. “But think about it, Brody. What if that happens?”

“What if it does?”

“I can’t move, Brody. My whole life is here in Minnesota.”

“You won’t have to. I told you, I’ve invested well. Actually, Andy’s invested well for me. Before him, my money was in shoeboxes in my bedroom closet. My point is, we’ll make whatever it is work, okay?” I gently brushed the side of her face with the backs of my fingers. “If I have to, I’ll buy a damn plane to make sure we don’t go more than a few days without seeing each other. It’ll all work out. Besides, who says I’m getting traded anyway? They don’t call me ‘The Wall’ for nothing, remember?” I winked at her. “Now get over here and park it on my chest.”

I hooked my finger in the collar of her hoodie and pulled her toward me, leaving her no choice but to fall on top of me. She tucked herself up under my arm with her head back on my chest where it belonged. We lay like that for a long time, neither of us talking but both of us thinking, most likely about the same thing.

What if I
did
get traded?