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“Now you’re laughing at me, Josephina?” I asked in mock-exasperation. “Way to boost a guy’s confidence.”
“I’m sorry, it’s just funny seeing you knocked off your game. Remember when you marched down here being all Mr. I-know-what-you-want-Jettersen?” she said, imitating me with a little grin playing on her face.
I laughed and grabbed her waist, backing her against her door. “See, that’s where you’re wrong. You’ve always knocked me off my game.”
Her eyes danced from my hand back up to my face. “Thought we were on a break.” She reached up and held my jaw. Her eyes narrowed. “Buddy,” she said again.
“Careful,” I growled, grabbing her little wrist away and pinning it above her. I leaned down to whisper, “You’re not my buddy.”
She held my gaze. “What am I then?”
I was enjoying being this close to her way too much. “Hmm… We’re on a break, but we’re not broken.”
Her eyebrow kicked up. “A break implies being broken, Tyler. The definition is–”
“Oh no, not the teacher-voice,” I teased with a grin. I dipped closer to whisper, “Thought I told you I’m in charge when we’re like this? Why don’t we call it a pause instead?”
She slipped her wrist from my grasp and wrapped her hands around my neck. “A pause, huh?”
“Yupp. Can we hit play for a second?” I asked.
She bit her lip and nodded.
I swiftly moved my hat around backwards and was leaning down to kiss her, but then a loud, “Ty-lur!” echoed down the stairwell.
Bittersweetness seeped into those shiny hazel eyes of hers. She lightly patted my chest. “Pause. See you later.”
I held my breath for a second. “Yeah.” I couldn’t quite pull myself away. In a daring move, I gave her a little booty squeeze, because I couldn’t not touch her. “See you later.”
It damn near killed me turning away without kissing her goodnight.
“Oh! And I can watch Stevie!” she said brightly. “It’ll be fun. I’m excited. Maybe we can sit with Claire.”
I breathed out a sigh of relief and smiled my thanks.
36. Josie
That Saturday, Stevie and I sat in the packed stadium near the rest of the players’ families and girlfriends and munched on popcorn while we waited for the game to start. I felt a little self-conscious wearing the jersey Tyler gave me just because it hadn’t crossed my mind until right then what my dad would think about it. But I quickly waved that thought away. My dad probably wouldn’t even notice me sitting here, and even if he did, he’d only see the front of my jersey, not the #17 stitched to the back.
Claire came bounding down the steps wearing an oversized jersey and leggings, double-fisting cocktails. “Hey! So happy you guys made it!” she said with a bright smile. Her pink hair peeked out from under a wool beanie.
I scooched down a seat to make room for her. “Same, it’s been too long since I sat down here in bowl seats for a game.”
“I always forget your dad is the coach,” she said with a laugh. She leaned over me to see Stevie then. “And you must be the famous Stevie? You keeping those loft boys in line?”
Stevie puffed up her chest. “Yupp. I yelled at Garcia to clean his room this morning,” she said with a nod.
“Thatta girl.” Claire gave her a high-five.
The guys came filing onto the ice for warm-ups and the crowd present went wild. The other players’ kids rushed to the glass to get a closer look. Stevie eyed me hesitantly as if asking for permission to join the other kids.
“Why don’t you go down there. Tyler’s probably looking for ya,” I told her with a smile.
She bit her bottom lip to conceal a little grin before scampering down. She was still a bit hesitant about everything, but hopefully that hesitancy would fade if Tyler gave her the consistent unwavering love that I knew he was capable of giving her.
“So, how are you doing with all this? It’s quite the change. You and Tyler still going hot and heavy?” Claire asked as soon as Stevie was out of earshot.
I blew out a sigh. “I’m totally good with it, but Tyler wanted a pause.”
