Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

SLOAN

C hristmas Eve Eve…

Rule number two: Don’t Fall For The Hot Hockey Goalie You’re Snowed In With…

“I can’t believe you're picking him up in this snow,” Annie mumbled next to me.

“I can’t believe you insisted on coming along,” I countered and turned up the volume on the radio so she’d stop questioning me about all the things I knew about Jacob.

“It was either me, or Ethan. I figured you’d rather have me. He’s been insufferable since he found out I’m pregnant. Plus, he sent you fancy gingerbread cookies. Maybe he has more.” She sniffed. “And you rarely share anything about your dating life. Color me happily curious and wanting to see the two of you together.”

I snorted. “So what you’re really saying is you escaped with me not because you’re worried about me driving, but because your husband won’t let you out of his sight for the past two weeks. And you want to steal my favorite cookies if he has more to give me.” Outside the front windshield, the snow fell, thick and fluffy, but the forecast had called for a winter storm to roll through in the next few hours. Most of the flights had been delayed or cancelled but so far, the roads were ok, at least close to the airport. For now.

“He’s mad I didn’t tell him until I was a few more weeks along, but I didn’t want to disappoint him if anything was wrong.”

Last year, Annie miscarried early in her first pregnancy, and it had devastated the two of them.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell Hannah or me,” I muttered with a smile. I’d wondered why Annie had started wearing loose clothing. Looking back, she’d been barely sipping, or fake sipping, wine at Thanksgiving.

My sister-in-law shrugged. “I didn’t want Hannah to worry, or you. New relationship and all. Plus the other stuff you’ll have to deal with.”

I pulled up in front of arrivals, and searched for Jacob. “What other stuff?”

“I can’t believe you’re taking this so well,” she said. “Mary, made mom, Hannah, and I stay quiet about the whole thing. She said he was keeping it close to his chest until things were settled and all, but I really thought you’d be kinda frea-”

But I wasn’t listening to a word she said. The man I dreamed of and probably shouldn’t stood out in the snow. Oh, lumbersanck for Christmas. “Oh! There he is!”

Jacob lumbered through the snow, flakes dusting his red hair and catching in his neatly trimmed beard. I jumped out of the car and went to the back of the SUV but before I knew it, he swept me up in his arms and spun me around. “Hey you,” I said, breathless, as he set me on my feet. “Happy to see me?”