9. Jake

Caroline is a good patient. She only argues and puts up a fight when I try to get her to eat, but she dutifully takes the medicine and sports drinks I offer her. By afternoon, she is looking a bit better. Thankfully, she had some emergency breast milk in bottles I could feed Walker when he got hungry so I wouldn't have to wake her from her naps.

I'm sitting by the window in our hotel room, eyes distant as cars and the small dots of people far below move from place to place.

Walker is passed out in my arms. I could've put him back in his crib after feeding him, but I remember hearing Andi talk about how important it is for babies to be held. Besides, it's probably good for the little guy to get used to me. It will look suspicious if he cries every time I try to hold him when he's supposedly my kid. We didn't exactly talk about that part, I guess. Maybe Caroline still imagines I'm stepping up to father some other guy's kid in our fake engagement scenario.

I still can't quite believe we're doing this. Part of me expected her to tell me to fuck off after that Peter guy left the kitchen of her BB. I definitely expected to get slapped for kissing her, but damn. I saw her and wanted to kiss her. Now that I've slept on this whole thing, reality is sinking in a little deeper.

We have to plan an actual, real-life wedding. I have to lie to my teammates and tell them it's real. I've got to decide things like where we'll be living after we leave this hotel. Do I stay with her in Frosty Harbor? Do I bring her along with me in a few months when the hockey season starts? Are we going to keep sharing a bedroom like this in private? Or is this just temporary for the trip?

I can think of a million more questions we'll have to answer.

Caroline stirs, sitting up against the headboard and rubbing her eyes. Her hair is always thick and a little wild. Right now, it's so far beyond "wild" that it's hard not to blurt out a laugh. One chunk of it is sticking straight up, and another is stuck to her cheek with sweat. She looks like Ana from the beginning of Frozen–not that I, a grizzled, macho NHL player, have seen that movie enough times to reference it, of course.

She blinks groggily, then looks at me and Walker. It's a few seconds before the lights come on for her.

"Look at you two," she says.

"You sound a little better. How are you feeling?"

"I think the medicine is helping. Thank you, by the way. I didn't mean to stick you in as an emergency babysitter."

"I'm glad I was here to help. What would you have done back in Frosty Harbor, anyway?"

"Probably pretended I was fine and nearly killed myself? Or if worst came to worst, I could've asked someone in town to help. I just hate bothering people with my problems."

I grin. "Sounds about right. I had to cancel our flight back."

Caroline sits up straighter. "Oh, shit. The bed and breakfast. I need to–"

"Already handled it," I say, holding up my palm to relax her. "I called Andi and Jesse this morning while waiting at the hotel desk for your meds. They're making sure the bed and breakfast is in good hands. Grams and Edgar agreed to run things as long as we need. And my sister said she headed over there as soon as I called her to keep watch until they arrived."

Caroline sits back a little, seeming to relax. "Thank you," she breathes. "I'm not used to somebody taking care of things like that for me." She pauses, grinning out of one side of her mouth. "A girl could get used to that."

"So there's one hitch," I say slowly. I'm not sure how she's going to react to this. "I was threading a bit of a needle coming here yesterday. But I had the flight plans all set to be back with you by the afternoon today. And then I could be back in the city tonight. Because I've got a charity event tonight, I can't miss it."

"Sorry," Caroline says, shaking her head slowly. "I'm going to blame it on my sick brain, but I don't understand. What's the hitch? And since when do you do charity stuff?"

"The hitch is I can't take you back to Frosty Harbor until at least after the charity event. That's tomorrow night."

"Oh," she says. "I'll owe Grams and Edgar, but it won't be the first time. That's okay, right? I can stay out of your way while you do your charity stuff. But seriously, what charity stuff? Why have I never heard about this?"

I shrug. "It never came up. The organization is called Pucks for Progress. I started it in my rookie year. Every offseason, I put in some time to bring wealthy donors to grow the program. It's a bit of ass-kissing, a speech, and ensuring I hire somebody to organize the event. It's not much, but I need to be there."

"What is the charity about?" she asks.

"We help young kids who can't afford to get into hockey. It can be expensive, especially when you factor in traveling and camps for the kids who are really serious about it." I shake my head at the memories of hearing my parents talking seriously about money late at night–about how they would come up with money to cover my hockey expenses. "Basically, we make sure kids can go as far as they want. We cover gear, application fees, team fees, travel costs, hotels, and whatever else. Last year, we had our first member graduate to the NHL."

"Wow," Caroline says. "I had no idea you did that."

"I don't do it for recognition. I promised myself I'd give back if I ever made it. That's all."

"Well, I think it's really admirable of you. So, I'm coming, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"You said there's some kind of event tonight? What if I come with you? I could get some practice pretending to be engaged to you in public. And if Peter catches wind of any press from it, he'll be less skeptical. Right?"

"You're not well enough. I don't think that would be a good idea. And I doubt Walker would appreciate getting dragged along to something like that. It'll be noisy and crowded."

"We could ask Andi and Jesse to come here and help us babysit. I know they'd do it."

I grimace. The idea of coming face to face with Jesse and telling him I supposedly got engaged to his sister without running it by him doesn't thrill me. After all, I nearly killed him when I caught him with Andi four years ago. I had to work very grudgingly up to the point where I was willing to give him an unsolicited blessing so that they would stop pretending they weren't dating. He'd have every right to deck me for this.

"We could," I say slowly.

"Here's the thing…" Caroline chews her lip, looking hesitant. "I only leave the bed and breakfast for Jesse's big games. I do events around Frosty Harbor, but I always workthem. And then I threw a newborn baby into the mix, and it just…"

"Getting a night out sounds nice," I say softly. "That makes sense. Yeah. You're right. I'm going to make sure it can happen. You deserve to have a little fun."

"Really?" she asks. She's sitting upright now, hands bunched in the blankets around her.

"Really," I say, trying to ignore how my heart pounds when I look into her big eyes. She's so damn pretty, even with no makeup, bags under her eyes, and a tuft of hair sticking up like a rhino's horn. "But you're going to owe me for this. Big time," I add. I'm mostly joking, but Caroline nods rapidly.

"Done," she says. "Consider yourself owed two tickets for anything you want."

I tap Walker's nose softly. "You heard that, right? Will you be our official witness to this debt, Walker?" He scrunches up his face and grunts, then returns to being motionless. "It's witnessed, then."