Risking the Shot (Stick Side #4) - Amy Aislin Page 0,76
hold my hand through the whole stupid course. He’s the guy you want to look over written words.”
Right. Dean had published a non-fiction book. Tay had seen it on the coffee table in the family room: No Guts, No Glory by Alex Dean. Of course, he was the better choice for looking over Tay’s stuff. Tay’s sleep-deprived brain was throwing him for a loop. What day was it even?
Grey kicked a leg out behind him again, but his lips were smiling. “You can stop laughing now.”
Wrapping a muscular arm around Grey’s shoulders from behind, Dean kissed the top of his husband’s head in silent apology. “I’m happy to read your comic, Tay. You can tell me more about it while we eat. But first, go get ready.”
Tay flew upstairs to change and grab his gear, grinning the whole way.
It was snowing as Dakota walked Andy home from preschool, the sort of large, thick flakes that drifted lazily from the sky. Already, kids were building snowmen and snow forts in their front yards.
Andy kicked the snow in his path, giggling madly, his little gloved hand in Dakota’s.
“How was school today?”
“We went to the park, Daddy, an’ I went down the slide with Hayden and Ava.”
“Was it snowing when you went to the park?”
Andy shook his head. It hadn’t been snowing when Dakota had met Tay for coffee after lunch either, but when he’d left work at four, it had been coming down pretty heavily. It was supposed to be above zero tomorrow, though; hopefully this was the last snowfall of the year. Maybe he wouldn’t even have to shovel. He could just let it melt.
Now there was a novel idea.
“We had grilled cheeses an’ soup for lunch,” Andy was saying. “An’ crackers with butter. An’ then we did puzzles, but only little ones. Not like the castle.”
“The castle you’re doing with Tay?”
“Mm-hmm.” He crouched to pick up a small fistful of snow. “I put a piece in Tay’s backpack. D’you think he found it?”
“When did you do that?”
“When we went to the zoo.”
“You’ll have to ask him.”
“’Kay.” A pause, then, “Can I do that now?”
Dakota chuckled. “How about when we get home?” He figured a certain someone wasn’t too far behind them.
“Okay, but I wanna do the video on your phone.”
“Sure.” Sucking in a deep breath of cold air, Dakota said, “You like Tay, right?”
“Mm-hmm. He’s nice. An’ he talks to me like you do.”
His brow scrunched. “What does that mean?”
“He doesn’t make stupid baby noises like Mom.”
Ah. Tay spoke to Andy like he was a mini adult then. Yeah, Dakota had noticed that too. He took Andy’s thoughts and opinions seriously and didn’t dismiss him just because of his young age.
It was amazing that Andy remembered anything about his mom at this point; it’d been months since they’d seen each other. Fiona hadn’t even tried to schedule another dinner after the one she’d had to cancel last month, and Andy hadn’t asked about her. Not that Dakota had initiated anything either. She wanted to be hands-off; he was taking her at her word.
“You’d be okay with seeing Tay more often, then?”
“Yeah.” Throwing his fistful of snow into the air, Andy stood under it and tried to catch clumps in his mouth. “’Cause he’s my friend. Can we have a sleepover, Dad? Like I do with Uncle Calder?”
If it wasn’t so cold, Dakota’s heart would’ve melted. “I think Tay would like that, but why don’t you ask him?”
“Imma ask when we video call.”
“Okay.” God. Andy kept sidetracking him, and he still hadn’t said what he’d been gearing himself up to all day. “The thing is, you will be seeing more of Tay.”
“I will? Is he moving in?”
“Uh.” Dakota coughed. “No.” He hadn’t thought that far ahead. The farthest he’d gotten was September, when Tay would be back in hockey mode, which would suck after spending the whole summer together. However, even there he was getting ahead of himself.
But he couldn’t help it. What he felt for Tay had him planning for the future. Was that such a bad thing? No. It was fast, though. But at this point, he couldn’t have put the reins on if he wanted to.
And he didn’t want to.
Okay, focus.
“You know how your Uncle Owen and Uncle Kas are boyfriends?”
“Uh-huh.” Andy bounced from one foot to the other.
“Do you know what that means?”
“Means they have a house together an’ live in the same bedroom an’ make kissy faces.”
“Right.” Sometimes the simple logic of a child made so