“Brody… is… uh…” she stammered, looking back and forth from them to me, not sure where to go next.
“It’s kind of hard to explain, guys, and we’ll be able to tell you a lot more when you’re older. The main thing to remember is I love your mom and I love you two a whole lot. If you want to tell people I’m your dad, that’s fine by me. Hopefully one day, I will be.” I reached over and squeezed Kacie’s hand as her face relaxed just a little.
“Okay. Can we go play with those ugly Barbies you brought in from the garage?” Lucy asked.
“Uh, sure,” Kacie answered, still reeling.
Lucy and Piper hopped off the stools and disappeared down the hall. Kacie watched to make sure they were out of earshot and spun around to me with tears in her eyes. “Holy shit.”
“You okay?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know. I always knew that question was coming, but I thought they’d ask where their dad was, not if you were their dad. Oh my God, I froze.” She covered her face with her hands and shook it back and forth.
“You did great.” I got up and stood behind her, massaging her tense shoulders.
“Brody, I didn’t even answer them. You did. If you hadn’t been here—”
“But I was here, and even if I hadn’t been, you would have said something perfect.” I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and squeezed tight. “You’re a fantastic mom, Kacie. Cut yourself some slack.”
She let out a huge sigh and relaxed in my arms. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
Spinning on her stool to face me, she looked me straight in the eye. “Thank you for being here today. Thank you for always saying the perfect thing. Thank you for teaching me to relax and not take life too seriously. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for being you.”
I studied her face for a second, taking in how insanely in love with that woman I really was. I loved everything about her.
Her captivating green eyes.
Her kissable lips and the way she chewed on them when she was nervous.
The freckles that sprinkled across her adorable nose.
Even the scar on the corner of her left eye that she got from a bike-riding accident as a kid.
What overwhelmed me about her was that this outside superficial stuff was just that. It was an added bonus. What made Kacie truly special to me was what was inside of her. I loved her for the way she loved me. I loved her for the way she loved her girls. I loved her for the mother she would one day be to my kids, which were somewhere deep inside of her, waiting to be created.
“It’s raining out.”
She pulled back and narrowed her eyes at me, confused by my response.
I cocked my head toward the front door. “Puddles. Ya wanna?”
A huge grin formed on her face as she realized what I was asking. She hopped off the stool and looked down the hall. “Lucy! Piper! Let’s go outside!”
“Kacie!” my mom called from the kitchen.
I threw the last of my overnight things in my duffel bag and went to see what she needed.
“What’s up?”
“Here.” She set a cardboard box on the island. “This just came for you.”
“For me?” I furrowed my brows, confused. “I didn’t order anything.”
“Look who it’s from.” She winked at me.
I looked at the upper left corner of the shipping tag. There was no address; it simply said #30.
A grin broke out across my face as I looked up at my mom. “What did he do now?”
“When it comes to him, anything is possible.” She laughed.
God, I missed him. It had only been three days since we’d last seen each other, but it was killing me. I ripped the tape off the box and slowly opened it, revealing a card and three shirt boxes. I opened the envelope, set the tickets on the table, and unfolded the piece of paper inside.
“What is it?” Piper poked her head up over the other side of the island.
“It’s from Brody. One for each of us.” I smiled at her.
“Open it! Open it!” Lucy appeared next to Piper.
“Here. One for you and one for you.” I handed each of them a box. They ripped the hunter green ribbon off of them and tossed it to the ground. Their little hands pried the white cardboard boxes open and they pulled out matching kid-sized Minnesota Wild jerseys.
“They look just like Brody’s!” Lucy squealed.
“Wow. Very cool! Those will be fun to wear to the game tonight, huh?” I watched their little faces study their jerseys.
“Oh my goodness.” Mom covered her mouth with her hand. “Kacie, look at the backs.”
I walked over and took the jerseys from the girls as they looked up at me, confused. Both jerseys had the name Murphy stitched across the top and the number fifteen sewn onto them.
“Fifteen?” I frowned and looked at Mom.
She shook her head back and forth, beaming at the overload of cuteness. “Kacie, fifteen plus fifteen…”
My heart swelled at yet another gesture from Brody. He had this way of constantly letting me know he was thinking about me, about us, even when we weren’t together. The best part about him was that he was accidentally romantic. He did these things, gave these simple little gifts, just to put a smile on my face. They meant so much more than he would ever know.
“What’s fifteen plus fifteen, Mommy?” Piper asked.
“Thirty, baby. Fifteen plus fifteen equals thirty.”
“Like Brody!” Lucy jumped up and down, hugging her present.
STILL MEETING US THERE?
I waited for Darla to respond to my text.
D: HELL YES. TRYING TO PICK OUT A SHIRT THAT SHOWS THE GIRLS OFF REAL GOOD.
I laughed and dropped my phone in my purse. Alexa was supposed to go to the game with me, but she got a last-minute funeral order at the flower shop, too large for her assistant to handle. Since Brody gave me four tickets and I didn’t want the extra one to go to waste, I asked Darla to go with me. After she handled a quick shift switch at the hospital, we were all set. I told her she’d have to drive herself there and back since the girls and I were spending the night at Brody’s, but she didn’t seem to mind.
“How much longer?” Lucy whined.
“Just a little bit. Hold your horses.” I grinned at them in the rearview mirror, looking all adorable in their matching jerseys. All three of us, actually. That’s what was in my box too—my very own Murphy #30 jersey. I had two others in my closet at home, but those were technically Brody’s. I’d confiscated them because they smelled like him and I liked to sleep in them.
A little while later, we pulled into the special parking section of the stadium. I rolled my window down and handed the attendant the special parking pass Brody had included with the tickets.
“Right this way, Miss Jensen. Mr. Murphy requested that we give you his spot.”
Of course he did.
He stepped back and waved his arm toward an empty space right up against the building.
The girls and I hopped out of the Jeep and excitedly walked around front of the car where we met up with Darla.
“Girls!” she called out when she saw us, running over and scooping them up in one big armful. They both groaned as she squeezed the living daylights out of them. “How exciting is this?” She gave me a quick embrace too.