Page 73 of Westward

I snorted. “I wouldn’t be surprised. They already have the three kids that they wanted.”

“And then you end up with double. Twins change everything.”

“Congrats, though. Thanks for sending the pics during the break.”

“No problem, man. Hey, Danielle does want you over, though. She has a friend⁠—”

I held up my hand, used to the guys trying to set me up. Usually, it was their wives, but the guys tried their hand too.

“Please, don’t.”

“Yeah, why would he need somebody when he finally got Lizzie back?”

I glared at the younger goalie.

“You and Lizzie?” Thomas asked, practically bouncing on his toes. “It’s about fucking time.”

Others began to come up to me then, and I pushed them all away, pride mixing with annoyance.

“First, she’s Elizabeth to all of you. She’s my Lizzie.”

“Like Pride and Prejudice?” one of the rookies asked. Everyone glared at him, and I beamed.

“If you’re calling me Mr. Darcy, I’ll go with it.”

“Look at you, knowing the literature,” Benny said, smacking the back of my head. “Seriously though, congrats. Is she out here?”

My stomach twisted, and I shook my head. “No. I am trying to figure this all out. She’s a teacher, and can’t just leave the school in a bind, you know?”

“Long distance is hard, but Danielle and I did it when she was finishing school. You can make it work.”

I rubbed my chin, knowing I would need to shave soon. I couldn’t start off with a beard, considering we were going to make it to the damn playoffs. “Yeah. I know.”

“You got a picture?” one of the guys asked who didn’t know about my long history with Elizabeth. While most people didn’t, because I had kept her out of the news for good reason, I’d gotten drunk a couple of times and spilled everything to the closest people on my team.

If I wanted Lizzie out here with me at games, the world was going to get to know her, and we were going to have to find a path.

All that mattered, though, was that she was mine. And we were going to make it work.

“You don’t need to add anything to your spank bank, Hoss,” someone called out.

“You do realize that I can kick all of your asses,” I growled.

“Goalie fight!” another person called out, and then somebody pulled out the picture of their latest girlfriend, and the attention shifted.

“Hey, Carter,” one of the admins said from the doorway. “Samuel wants you in the training room before you get dressed.”

“Do you want him naked?” Jacob asked, teasing.

I rolled my eyes and got my phone. “Okay. Tell Coach I might be late, though,” I told Ben.

“I don’t want to get killed.”

“I’ve got you,” Thomas said. “But I bet if Reynolds just showed pictures of the twins, he could get anything he wanted.”

Reynolds’s eyes lit up. “Do you think?”

I let them and the center of their line, who finally showed up late, chirp at each other, and made my way down the hall to the training room.