The Penalty Box - Teagan Kade Page 0,61
not going anywhere.
“Good,” I reply. “MJ keeps us on our toes, though.”
Peyton looks around. “Where is Mia?”
“Crashed out on the drive here.” I smile, thinking of the way our baby girl looked when I checked the rear-view, the sun lighting up her perfect, cherub face. I’ll never get sick of that, of seeing the life Linnea and I created. That first Stanley win was incredible, but I knew nothing of true joy until Mia Jane came along. She’s three now, the absolute apple of my eye. It’s funny, but I can’t imagine life without her, can’t even recall a time when she wasn’t part of our lives even though I know there was this whole period before she existed.
Peyton’s smiling. “Kids, huh? Who would have thunk it? Certainly not me banging every blonde at Crestfall, no care for the future or plans beyond football. Now here we are, a couple of dads, pussy-whipped and broken.”
“Happily broken,” I add.
We watch the kids for a bit and head inside to unpack with the others. The place is enormous. You could set up a hockey team in here.
Come nightfall we rug up and head outside to the large cedar table down by the lakeside. There’s a single light at the end of the pier, a starry blanket above and the kind of air foreign to all of us city folk. It’s good to be back in nature, together for the first time.
It’s coming into witching hour and kids have started to go crazy at the end of the table, led by Amelie, who’s proclaiming we should “definitely” have a food fight. I’ll never get sick of watching Titus trying to wrangle that one into behaving. It’s some kind of beautiful, cosmic karma he got the most spirited of them.
Buster’s sitting patiently beside Linnea at the table, with his tail wagging and tongue hanging loose. From the girl who told me she once hated dogs, it’s still funny to see these two so attached. We picked up Buster after Boston, given we actually have a backyard in Tampa, which he makes the most of destroying. In Linnea’s eyes, though, he can do no wrong.
It’s strange, but I still don’t know what Linnea’s birth name was, nor have I asked. I think she’s happy living in the now. I don’t want to do anything to damage that, to drag her back into the past.
Phoenix emerges from the hill and places down the first dish, Heather on his tail with another, the plates coming and coming until the whole table is filled with the most wonderful smells and aromas, a feast for the eyes and senses. I’d expect nothing less from these two.
Phoenix puts the last dish down and looks up the hill. “Ah, just in time.”
Our father appears with Alissa on his arm. She’s actually dressed for the conditions for once—looks like she’s about to head off on an expedition to Everest.
She stops with my father at the edge of the table and breathes in. “Oh, wow. This looks amazing.”
Phoenix pulls Heather in beside himself, admiring their handiwork. “Take a seat, dig in. We’ve gone for a bit of a rustic, Crestfall kind of vibe tonight.”
If you want a power couple, look no further than Phoenix and Heather. Together they’ve opened over twenty soup kitchens in the state, own and run one of the most awarded restaurants in all America, Empathie, and somehow find time to raise the most well-rounded kid you could ever want.
As soon as Phoenix graduated cooking school, it was on. They found a location and got building. Word spread and soon they needed a bigger premise. I think Dad talking them up to all his NY buddies helped, but it was food, first and foremost, that brought the critics and influencers from around the country.
Their son, Aiden, is around the same age is Evie, the two of them getting along like a house on fire whenever we have one of these family shindigs. Even now they’re down the end of the table trying to feed the smaller kids. Much to Granddad’s delight, Aiden’s got quite the arm on him too, looks set to be another King superstar—if he doesn’t wind up a chef like his dad.
By the time dessert’s done, I plead with Linnea to drag me back to the house and put me to bed. I can barely walk I’m so stuffed, but upstairs, MJ tucked away for the night, she has other ideas.
“When was the last time we had everyone together like this?” she asks.
She’s naked, fresh from the shower and lying on the bed like the perfect creature she is. It’s crazy, but I worried motherhood might change her, take away some of innate spark that made her so fun to be around, and it did, but for the better. Sure, she’s got stretch marks and panda eyes, but she’s all the fiercer for it. I thought it was impossible, but I look at her now with even hungrier eyes. I cannot believe I’ve been so lucky.
I lie at her feet, stroking her calves. “A long, long time. It’s nice, don’t you think?”
“It is, but if every meal’s like that I’m pretty sure we’re going to need a bigger car going home.”
I smile. “My brother, the chef…crazy.”
“Crazy to think you all settled down, you bad boys, you. You so-called Kings of Crestfall.”
“Hey, you’re a King too.”
“And that’s supposed to mean what, exactly?”
“A finer surname you will not find, my dear.”
“What am I saying? I am honored, day and night, every waking hour, to be a King,” she replies sarcastically.
“Babe,” I tell her, “as someone wise once said, being a King is not a pastime, not a choice, but a duty.”
She spreads her legs and takes hold of my head. “Better get to work then, Your Majesty.”
###
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Title Page
COPYRIGHT
VIP SIGN-UP
ALSO BY TEAGAN KADE:
DEDICATION
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
EPILOGUE
EPILOGUE II