Chapter 12

Rico

"Amber, will you look at me?" I try to keep the frustration out of my voice. Her eyes reluctantly meet mine, and I breathe a small sigh of relief. I scan her face, taking in the fact that she has a little more color in her cheeks now. Something eases a little in my chest. "You look like you have a little more color."

"Your mom's soup was really good, and I was actually able to keep it down so that's a plus." She's back to not looking at me, and I'm desperate to know what went wrong. I'm reaching for anything. "You never told me why you sought me out after practice." I know immediately it's the wrong thing to say. Her head jerks back, and her eyes shoot to mine for a moment.

"It's nothing," she says, looking back down at her phone.

"It's obviously something if you sought me out. What is it, Amber? You can tell me; I don't bite. I promise." I try to lighten the mood, but I think I just make it worse.

"It's nothing. I'm going to head out and wait for my Uber."

"Amber, you're not going home with a stranger. I'll take you home."

"No, I'm going..." she pauses. "Look." She flashes her phone at me. "They're already here." She heads to the door, and I follow her out the front door. She basically runs down the stairs.

"Thanks, Rico. Have a good night."

I stare in frustration as the car leaves and fades into the darkness. I plop down on the porch step, wondering how it all went so wrong. I'm half-tempted to call Sebastian and ask him what she said to him, to see if he knows what she wanted. But I talk myself out of it; he has a life. I think of how pale and thin she looked tonight and grit my teeth. I want to do something to help, but I don't know what...except. An idea begins to form. It was one of the ideas on one of the three sheets of paper the guys came up with. At the time, I thought it was a stupid idea, but now? I pull out my phone and turn to trusty google. Where do pregnant women shop? It gives me several ideas, and I know where to start. I pull up the Target app. Time to get busy.

An hour or so later, I finally stand up and stretch. Well, the Target employees are going to be busy over the next few days. I head inside and lock the door behind me. I stare around the empty living room a moment before heading into the kitchen. It feels so empty; I wonder if that's because Amber was here and gone. I have a feeling I'd probably better not look into that question too closely. I head to my room to get ready for bed. I stare up at the ceiling for a little while before I finally grab my phone and shoot off a text.

Rico- did you get home okay?

I know I won't sleep until I hear that she's home safely. I stare up at the ceiling as the minutes tick away. I send her another text. Nothing. I even try calling her. After an hour, I finally throw off the covers and throw on a pair of jeans. I don't bother with a shirt as I grab my wallet and head out to my truck. I'll just swing by her house and make sure she got home safely.

It sounded like a really good idea when I was at home. But now? Now, I'm sitting outside their home in my truck, staring at the house like some crazy stalker person. I don't know whether she's home or not. Knowing I'm not going to be able to leave until I know she's safe, I climb out of my truck and head up to the front door and knock. When nobody answers, I knock a little harder, trying to ignore the fear that's building in my chest. I knock again, considerably harder than I did the first two times. Relief floods my veins when I hear the sound of the lock releasing. Then the door opens, and it's not Amber standing there. "Oh, Mrs. Campbell, I'm sorry to bother you. I just wanted to know if Amber was home." Her eyes widen, and I think about how this must all look to her. I've obviously woken her from sleep. I'm standing here in the dark of night, not wearing a shirt, asking for her daughter...her pregnant daughter. I try again. "I'm so sorry to wake you up. You see, Amber was at my house earlier." Her eyes widen even more, and I stop talking. I take a breath. "I just need to see that she got home safely; she's not answering her phone." I wave my phone, like that somehow explains everything.

"Come in," she says, waving me inside. She deserves a medal for dealing with my crazy self.

"So, is she here?" I ask slowly.

"I—I don't know. You say she was with you earlier?" I nod, feeling terrible again that I woke her up. "Let me go check."

I don't realize that I'm holding my breath until she comes back a few moments later. "She's safe and sound asleep in her bed."

It should be enough, and yet..." Do you mind if I check?" I realize that I sound incredibly rude, like I don't trust her. "I just want to, uh, check her phone because she hasn't been answering my messages."

She levels a look at me, and I instantly know where Amber learned it from. "Maybe she doesn't want to."

I cringe, and my heart deflates. "Yeah. Okay. Well, thank you for checking for me." I run a hand over my chest. "I just needed to know she got home safely. She took an Uber home instead of letting me bring her home. Then she wasn't answering her phone, and I just...sort of panicked."

Her face softens, and she nods her chin towards the hallway. "Go look for yourself but be quick about it."

Relief floods me. "Thank you." I go quickly before she changes her mind. I open the door softly to the room Amber's mom vacated moments earlier. My heart stutters. I can see her clearly because the lamp next to her bed is still on. First of all, she wears glasses when she studies. Didn't see that one coming. It's obvious she didn't mean to fall asleep. She's sitting up in bed, her head falling to the side. There's a notebook to the side of her and a book on the floor. My guess is that she was holding it when she dozed off. I glance behind me quicky to make sure her mom's not watching before I walk over to the bed and remove all her study materials. I take the glasses off her nose, surprised when she doesn't wake up. I put them on the nightstand next to her and then step back and study her for a moment. I want to put her under the covers into an actual sleeping position, but I'm worried she'll wake up. I finally decide to just go for it; she can get mad at me if she wakes up. I'll deal with the consequences.

I pull the blankets all the way back and carefully lift her slightly and slide her down the bed, gently easing her down on the pillow. I cover her back up with her comforter, frowning at how small she is. I stare down at her as my heart squeezes in my chest once again. I sigh; I have a feeling this is going to happen whenever I'm around her. I tuck a piece of hair behind her ear and lean forward, placing the tiniest kiss on her forehead before pulling back and forcing myself to leave the room. I close the door softly behind me and take a deep breath before facing her mom. "She didn't wake up," I tell her as soon as I'm back in the living room.

She gives me a small smile. "Both of my girls have that in common—they sleep like the dead."

I smile in return. I'd love to tease Amber about it but know she wouldn't let me. At least not yet. "Thank you for letting me put my fears to rest. I'm sorry again for waking you up." I head to the front door.

"Drive safe," she says before she closes the door. I jog down to my truck and begin the commute across town, but my mind stays on a certain girl long after I make it home and get settled in bed. My mind stays there for the next several days as all the things I ordered start showing up. I realize quickly that the basket I ordered isn't going to be nearly big enough, but does that stop me? Nope. I open everything that comes in, checking and rechecking things. I'm becoming quite an expert on pregnancy and everything a newborn needs, if I do say so myself. I'm really enjoying putting everything together for her. Everything is going along so nicely, until Saturday night.

I hear the front door buzz and head that way, figuring it's an overattentive employee dropping off more boxes. I throw the door open, my smile freezing when I see Sebastian and Aiden. "You forgot, didn't you?" Sebastian asks. "I can't believe you forgot about us."

It hits me then. "It's the first Saturday, isn't it?"

"You get hit too hard at the last game?" Aiden asks in a dry voice as Sebastian pushes past me, his arms laden with food.

"Come right on in," I mutter. I suddenly remember the spare room door is wide open. I make a beeline that way. "Make yourselves at home; I'll be right there."

"What's got you all twisted up?" Sebastian asks. I slow my pace. He's got like a sixth sense; he'll know I'm trying to hide something if I'm too obvious.

"I'm just going to go change real quick."

Sebastian takes in my t-shirt and shorts. "You're going to change. For us?" His eyes narrow. "You're hiding something."

"Nope. I'll be right back." And then I'm walking before he can say anything else or figure anything out. I grab the door to the spare room and begin to pull it closed.

"Not so fast," Sebastian says from right behind me.

I face him as I pull the door behind me. "What are you doing?"

"What are you doing?" he asks with a grin. "What are you hiding?" He gasps like a female and whispers way too loudly and dramatically. "Are you hiding a girl in there?"

"What? No!"

He steps back and puts his hands up, still grinning. "It's just a question, Man. But you got pretty defensive pretty fast, didn't he, Aiden?"

Aiden appears. "What are you hiding?"

I nearly groan out loud. "You guys are worse than toddlers. I'm not hiding anything."

"Then let us look in there," Seb says, pointing at the door with his chin.

"No."

"Why?" Seb asks, still grinning. "You're just proving that you're hiding something."

"Where is everybody?"

I blow out a frustrated breath at the new voice. "Cap, up here. Rico's hiding something from us," Seb calls out.

"No, I'm not. I just don't want you to go in there."

"That's literally the definition of hiding something," Aiden says, smirking.

I glare at him; I'm not in the mood. Gunner joins us, and it's official. The hallway is way too small for all of us. "Okay, everybody downstairs."

"Not until you show us what's in that room," Seb says, crossing his arms over his chest. I shake my head. I know that look. He may fool everybody into thinking that he's a goofball, but I know better. He has an incredible work ethic and drive under his carefree persona; he's also incredibly stubborn when he wants to be. They all are; which makes them incredible teammates on the ice. Off the ice...not so much in a situation like this.

"Let's see," Gunner says.

"Not you too," I groan.

"It's official. Cap wants in," Seb says with a grin.

"Fine," I snap. "But only because I want this idiocy to end." I open the door and step out of the way as all three of them crowd into the small room. Somebody whistles, but other than that, it's silent. Too silent . I head into the fray. I'm going to have to deal with them sooner or later. Might as well get it over with.

"Dude," Sebastian says, turning to look around the room. "You are way in over your head."

I agree in his assessment but keep it to myself. Gunner turns a confused look on me. "I thought you weren't dating her."

"I'm not."

"It looks like you are," Sebastian says with a laugh. "It looks like she's moving in with you, actually."

"I don't know why you guys are giving me such a hard time. This was your idea!"

"Mine?" Seb asks, eyes wide.

"Yeah, from that stupid list."

"I said a basket. A small basket of stuff. This—" he shakes his head and then starts laughing. He puts his hand on my shoulder as a sympathetic smile crosses his face. "You are in deep, my Friend."

"No, I'm not," I argue, though I sense it's useless. Then I face all three of them. "You think it's too much?" I ask, rubbing the back of my neck. The fact that they all start laughing does not bode well for me.