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“Definitely.”
He smiles widely as he climbs up onto the table. “Hey everyone!” He shouts, making everybody stop what they’re doing and turn to him.
“Rivers, what the fuck are you doing?” One of his teammates asks through a laugh.
“I have an announcement to make.” He looks down at me and winks. “This coming April, I’m going to be a father.”
The whole place erupts into cheers. Holden climbs down and stands next to me as people come over to congratulate us. They seem just as excited as we are, though most of them hope it’s a boy. Apparently, the world doesn’t have enough hockey prodigies. Holden responds by telling them a girl would be just as badass of a player as a boy would.
I watch him as he talks to everyone about the baby, and it’s then that I realize – he lights up the same way with this as he does when talking about his hockey career. The reality of that makes me fall for him just a little bit more.
Later that night, when we get back to the hotel, there is only one thing left to do. Holden’s phone rests in front of us on the bed. The twitter app is open and the post is just waiting to be sent. He gives me one last chance to stop him, but I don’t take it. He grins happily as he presses post.
Happy to announce that my family is growing.
My fiancé, @KayleighJacobs, and I are having a baby.
THE WEEK FOLLOWING THE game in New York, Holden and I fly back to Maine. The secret is finally out and I no longer need to hide my belly. It’s refreshing to not constantly have to wonder if what I’m wearing makes it too obvious.
“How was it?” Dawson questions, knowing how nervous I was to tell everyone.
I tilt my head to each side. “Overall, pretty good. My mom was hesitant at first, but she came around rather quickly.”
“Yeah, all thanks to my irresistible charm.” Holden boasts.
“I think it was more because of our reassurance, but sure babe, we can go with that.”
Everyone laughs and Holden playfully sticks his tongue out at me. I wink at him in return.
“You’re having a baby with a man-child.” Sky remarks.
“Hey!” Holden protests.
He looks at me to defend him, but I shrug. “I mean, she’s not wrong.”
His jaw drops. He pulls me into his lap and tickles my sides, not giving in as I thrash around in his arms.
IT SEEMS LIKE NO matter what we do, time will not slow down. Only a couple days after we arrive, it’s time for Holden to go back to Boston for hockey. Reluctantly, he leaves me at home so I can study for final exams while he travels the east coast. As much as I wanted to go with him, I need to be able to pass and it’s difficult to focus when you’re always moving from place to place. I’ve almost lost my computer four times in the past two months.
Bree stays with me in the apartment. Being as she’s been living here while we’ve been away, I don’t even think to send her back to the dorms. The feeling of being alone in this place has always been too much for me to handle anyway. However, with how rarely I’m here, everyone ends up using my apartment as a hang out.
Skylar is quizzing me for one of my classes while everyone else is playing cards against humanity. I groan as their loud laughter interrupts me once again. I don’t know whether it’s my raging hormones or the stress of needing to do well, but I end up glaring at all of them.
“Do you have to be so loud?”
Caleb seems taken back for a second but then smiles. “Do you have to be so tense?”
I roll my eyes. “What are you even doing? Don’t you have finals too?”
He nods and then shrugs. “I’m just not killing myself over them. You need to give your brain a break sometimes.”
Maybe he’s right. I’ve been studying nonstop for the past two days. It’s at the point now where my head hurts and I feel like nothing I’m taking in is actually sticking. I sigh and close my laptop.
“Okay, what did you have in mind?”
The triumphant look on Caleb’s face is priceless as he grips my wrist and pulls me over to the couch. Sky comes too, sitting on her husband’s lap. It makes me miss Holden, seeing Bree with Riley and Dawson with Skylar. Luckily for me though, both Caleb and Jason are still single so I’m not the only one without someone to cuddle with.
“Let’s play truth or dare.” Caleb suggests.
