Room for More (10 page)

“I can see that.” He raised an eyebrow as his eyes traveled down to my feet and back up to my face. He walked over and planted a kiss on my forehead. “You’re still the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Quickly, I threw some clothes in a duffel bag for the girls and myself, kissed my mom good-bye, and we were out the door.

“Where are you going?” Brody asked as I headed for my Jeep.

“I need to grab Lucy’s and Piper’s booster seats. Hang on.”

“No you don’t. I got it covered.” He grinned.

“You what?”

“I bought some.”

“Booster seats?”

“Yep.
Consumer Reports
said they were the safest and they are super comfortable. Viper tried them out.”

“Wait.” I stopped in my tracks and narrowed my eyes at him. “First, you checked
Consumer Reports
? And second, Viper tried them out?”

“Hell yes I checked
Consumer Reports
. I have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to car seats. And the pictures of Viper are probably on the internet somewhere. He tried to fit his big ass in one to make sure it was comfortable and some lady videoed the whole thing with her phone.” The girls covered their mouths and giggled from the side of Brody’s truck. “I actually had to buy three. Two for the girls plus the one Viper broke.” He rolled his eyes and walked over, opening the door for me.

I climbed up into the truck and turned around. Sure enough, sitting in the backseat were two brand new booster seats and Diesel.

Brody walked around and opened the door on his side and the girls hopped up, settling nicely into their new seats. Every single day that crazy man offered up some innocent text or gesture that made me fall in love with him all over again. Today’s dose came in the form of two booster seats.

The drive from my house to his parents’ was only about an hour. Brody and I held hands quietly and listened to the girls chatter the whole way. They were so excited to see his parents’ farm and swim in the lake. We’d lived on a lake their whole lives, yet they were still thrilled to swim in someone else’s lake. We turned down a dirt road and drove along several miles of farm fencing before making a sharp right down another dirt road.

“That’s the cutest thing ever,” I said as we passed a sign that read
Lazy Acres Farm
hanging off of a post at the corner.

Brody’s lips turned into a crooked smile. “It’s always been my dad’s dream to have a big farm to retire on. He’s wanted to name it that as long as I can remember.”

When Brody told me his parents lived in a farmhouse I pictured a charming hundred-year-old farmhouse that was worn down and decrepit like you would see in the movies. This house was just the opposite. It was a fairly new Victorian farmhouse, painted a cheery light green, adorned with small details to make it look antique. White gingerbread trim accented the corners of the huge front porch and wicker furniture, with red and white gingham-checked cushions, invited you to sit and relax for a while.

I stood on the porch and stared out at the sprawling, immaculately kept property. Every flower was in full bloom, every blade of grass just the perfect length. “This house is amazing!” I muttered incredulously.

“I know. I love it here.”

Lucy and Piper, happy to finally be out of the car, skipped around the front yard with Diesel excitedly chasing after them.

“I thought I heard giggling out here,” JoAnn said pleasantly as she flowed through the front door, letting it slam gently behind her. She wiped her hands on her apron and walked toward us. “I’m so glad you guys could make it.” She reached out and pulled me into a big, warm hug. I gladly squeezed back, feeling instantly connected to her all over again, just as I had at the hospital.

“Hey, Mom,” Brody said when she turned her attention toward him. She reached up and wrapped her arms around him as he lifted her off the ground in a big bear hug.

He set her down and she turned and looked out at Lucy and Piper, who were still running around the yard playing. They’d outlasted Diesel, who was laying at the end of the porch, panting in the shade.

“Girls, come here!” I called out, but they didn’t hear me over their giggles.

“Oh, don’t. Let them play.” JoAnn smiled nostalgically their way. “They never stop, do they?”

“Never.” I sighed with a smile on my face.

“I tried to get Shae to come home this weekend too, but she couldn’t pull herself away from her new boyfriend.”

Brody’s eyes hardened at his mom’s revelation. “She has a new boyfriend?”

“Yep. Ricky May. Apparently he’s
the one
.”

His face softened as he tried not to laugh. “May? His last name is May?”

She nodded.

“Oh my God, he can’t be the one. She can’t marry this guy.”

JoAnn crossed her arms over her chest and took a step back, cocking her hip to the side. “And why is that?”

“His last name is May, Mom. That would make her Shae May.” He held his stomach and fell down onto the wicker couch, laughing hysterically. “I would be bound by sibling law to make fun of her for the rest of our lives.”

“I have a feeling you’re going to do that anyway.” She sighed as Brody reached in his pocket and took out his phone. “What are you doing now?” she asked him.

“Just texting Andy to remind me to run a background check on this clown.”

She laughed and bent down, swatting his shoulder. “Oh, Brody. Stop scaring away her boyfriends.”

He held his hands up defensively in front of him. “I’m not scaring anyone away, just protecting my baby sister.”

JoAnn rolled her eyes and turned toward me. “I was just making lunch. Wanna come help me?”

“I would love to.” I looked back at Lucy and Piper as they squatted down, staring at something on the ground.

“Go ahead, I got them,” Brody said, following my gaze. “Mom, where’s Dad?”

“In his shop, building a picnic table or something.” JoAnn waved for me to follow her into the house. “C’mon, Kacie.”

“Your house is beautiful!” I cooed once we were in the kitchen.

“Thanks. It’s our dream house. Brody built it for us.” JoAnn smiled that proud mama smile that I’d worn myself so many times.

I tilted my head to the side and smiled back at her. “He told me. He talks about you a lot, actually.”

“I’m very lucky.” She motioned for me to sit at the kitchen table. “He’s a great son. Not everyone can say that.”

“Well, I think he’s pretty wonderful too, but I know you had a big hand in that. What was he like as a kid?”

“Oh, goodness.” A small chuckle flew from her mouth as she set a tall pitcher of sweet tea on the counter and grabbed two glasses from the cabinet. “Brody as a child. Let’s see… For starters, he made Dennis the Menace look like an angel.” The ice cubes in the glasses popped and cracked as JoAnn poured the tea over them. “He was bold and adventurous and charming, even at eight years old.” She slid a glass in my direction as she sat down across from me. “He was all dark brown curls and big cheesy grins. I didn’t know a child could smile as much as he did. Hockey has been his life since he was old enough to stand on skates. He wasn’t always a goalie, you know.”

“He wasn’t?”

“Nope. Not until high school, actually. That’s when he decided he didn’t like relying on someone else to make sure the other team didn’t score. He needed the control. Anyway, he made the varsity team as a freshman and asked the coach to put him in as goalie. Coach said no, they had some hotshot senior who had claimed that position, but Brody was persistent. He asked over and over. He was the first one to show up to practice and the last one to leave. One day, about a third of the way through the season, that hotshot got hurt and his coach had no choice but to put Brody in.” She smiled and looked out the back window at something that caught her attention. I followed her gaze just in time to see Diesel and the girls run across the yard with Brody chasing after them. Smiling, she shook her head and continued. “That was Brody’s defining moment. The other team didn’t score once that game. In fact, opposing teams rarely scored on him for the rest of his high school career. College scouts started showing up at his games midway through his sophomore year. He was amazing. Once he was in that goalie box, nothing else existed.”

I’d seen that intensity. Before we started dating, I was bored one night and may have googled him. I’d quickly become mesmerized by the YouTube videos of him on the ice. He was so focused, so intense. It was as though the second his skates hit the ice, he had the ability to shut the rest of the world out and focus on what needed to be done.

“It didn’t come without sacrifice, though. He gave up a lot of his childhood for his love of hockey.”

I frowned at her inquisitively. “Like what?”

“Like high school dances. He never went to one.” Her eyes grew sad thinking back to the experiences her son had missed out on.

“
None
?”

“Nope. Not one homecoming, not one prom. He was even voted Snow King his senior year.”

“Snow King?”

“Yeah, for the winter dance. The girls ask the boys to the Snow Dance and they vote for a senior to be the Snow King. Brody won and he couldn’t even go to the dance because he had a tournament in Milwaukee.”

“What are you two yapping about?” Brody bellowed as he came through the back door.

“About you and your boring childhood.” JoAnn winked at him.

“Boring?” He collapsed on the chair next to me. “How was my childhood boring?”

I turned to face him. “You never went to any dances?
Ever
?”

“Nope. Wouldn’t know how to order a corsage if my life depended on it.” He laughed, stealing a gulp of my iced tea.

“That’s so sad.”

“Not really. Did I miss out on some things? Sure. Has it paid off for me? Hell yes.” He shrugged. “Even if I wasn’t playing hockey now, I was doing what I loved at that time. I’m not really a plan-for-the-future type of guy. I like to live in the moment.”

“You don’t say?” I teased, rolling my eyes.

He reached over and caught my bottom lip in his mouth, leaving me reeling from a quick but passionate kiss. I pushed his chest back gently, embarrassed that his mom was still sitting at the table with us. “Brody!”

JoAnn stood up from the table and went to the oven, removing a pan of freshly made chicken pot pies. “It’s okay.” She laughed. “It’s nice to see Brody showing love to something other than his hockey stick for once.”

Brody cocked an eyebrow and looked back to me as his mom walked away. Leaning in, he whispered, “I’m not the only one who likes to play with my hockey stick.”

I punched him hard in the arm and snapped my head toward his mom, praying she hadn’t heard. He laughed and stood up, walking over to the pantry where he grabbed a loaf of bread.

“What’s that for?” I asked.

“Come on.” He held his hand out to me. “Let’s go grab the Twinkies and feed some ducks.”

“Not too long,” JoAnn called out as we headed out the back door. “Lunch will be ready soon.”

“Oh my God.” I laughed as I opened the wooden door to my dad’s workshop and caught a glimpse of Lucy and Piper. They had on clear safety goggles and their little arms were chugging back and forth as fast as they could go, sanding the bench of the picnic table my dad had finished building.

“What?” He held his hands up defensively. “They wanted to help.”

“There are child labor laws against this sort of thing, Dad,” I teased.

Kacie walked over and greeted my dad.

“Hi, Mr. Murphy. Good to see you again.”

“No, no. None of that. Call me Bob, please.” He bent down and gave her a quick hug. “Good to see you too. And on much better terms this time.”

“Absolutely.” Kacie sighed. She walked up behind the girls and peeked over them to get a better look. “Are you two behaving?”

“Mom! Back up!” Lucy pushed Kacie’s stomach back gently. “Mr. Bob says you can’t be in here without protection. You need goggles.” With that, she marched over to a big bucket near the door and grabbed two pairs of clear goggles out of it. She handed one to Kacie and then one to me. I laughed and watched Kacie slip the arms of the goggles over her ears and look up at me, blinking fast. Kacie made anything and everything sexy.