CHAPTER FOUR

Matty had just finished lunch and was slouched in his chair, hat pulled low over his eyes as he let the hot sun beat into his bones and tried not to nap right there on Dustin's patio.

The guys who remained at the table were in good spirits, laughing and joking around, but Matty felt drowsy from the big meal and the sun and lack of sleep.

Lately, he'd woken up worrying about Antoni and the kids more times than he could count.

Matty's phone vibrated on the table next to his plate and when he grabbed for it, nearly knocking over his water glass, Dom shot him a sidelong glance. He didn't say anything though, just returned to telling some story about … Matty had no idea what it was about. He hadn't been paying much attention.

Heart beating double-time, Matty pulled up the text, blinking at the screen, suddenly alert when the words from the unknown number registered.

I can't believe I'm doing this but are you around? I need your help after all.

Matty tilted his head. Antoni? He typed fast, big fingers feeling even clumsier than usual.

It could be someone else, Matty supposed, but that was the first person to come to mind. The person he hoped it was from.

Yeah, it's Antoni. Sorry. Forgot you don't have my number.

Shit. Antoni had messaged him! He needed help!

Despite the worry about what Antoni's emergency was, Matty's chest warmed, glad he'd finally reached out.

Matty stood, his chair scraping on the stone and halting the conversation around the table, his teammates staring at him.

"Everything okay?" Dustin asked.

"Yeah. Gotta take this," Matty said vaguely, waving his phone.

"Sure."

Colton and Jordan gave him confused looks and Dom narrowed his eyes, but nobody stopped Matty as he made a beeline for Dustin's house, already dialing Antoni's number. He slipped through the wide doors into the walk-out basement, shivering at the chill from the air-conditioning.

"Antoni?" he said when the call connected. But he was met with silence. "Uh, Antoni? It's Matty. Are you there?"

"Oh, uh, hi," Antoni said, clearing his throat. "You surprised me by calling. I figured you'd text back."

"Just thought if it was an emergency talking on the phone might be faster. What's going on? Are the kids okay?"

"Uh, yeah, kids are fine but it's been kind of an awful day. My van is dead. Like … won't even turn over, dead."

"Oh no," Matty said, concerned. "Do you need me to come take a look at it? Might be your battery or something easy."

"Uh, well, the security officer here at the school already tried giving me a jump. No luck. There's a tow truck on the way now but what I could really use is a ride. I'm supposed to be picking the kids up at my parents' house in a bit and my mom has a doctor's appointment so I really don't want to be late and—"

"Say no more," Matty said, already fishing his keys out of his pocket. "Where are you?"

"Thornhill Academy. It's over on—"

"Yep, yep," Matty said, jogging to his SUV. "I know where it is. I'll be there as fast as I can."

"Really? You don't mind?"

"Buddy, I offered to let your family move in with me. Trust me, I'm happy to give you a ride."

Antoni laughed softly. "Yeah, okay, I guess that's a dumb question now that I think about it. I've just never met anyone who—who is that generous."

"Well, now you have," Matty said cheerfully. "See you in a few."

"I'll let Clancy, the security guard, know to allow you through the gates. Black Jeep, right?"

"Mmm, no, I have my SUV today. It's blue."

Antoni drew in a deep breath and Matty winced, wondering if it was rude to remind the guy whose van had just broken down that he had multiple working vehicles.

"I'll let Clancy know."

"See you soon."

When Matty cruised up to Antoni's dilapidated van, the window already down, Antoni lifted an eyebrow.

"Uhh, hey. That was fast."

"I hit the lights just right," Matty said with a wink and a grin. He'd actually blown through two yellow lights and one that was red, but who was counting? "Hop in."

"Um, I've gotta wait for the tow truck. Should be any minute but I hope you don't mind waiting for a few."

"Nope. I've got nowhere I need to be today. Do we need to get anything from the van?"

"Oh fuck. Yeah, I almost forgot." He shook his head. "Shit, I'm a mess. Sorry."

Antoni did look sweaty and kind of frazzled but he didn't really look like a mess to Matty. He was dressed more casually than he had been the other day, in snug jeans and a sweaty green T-shirt that molded to his torso. Matty wondered what he wore on school days.

"It's all good," Matty assured Antoni, hopping out of his SUV to help. "What needs to come with us?"

"Um, Reese's car seat and the booster seats for River and Eli for sure. I can show you how to—"

"Reese is your littlest?" Matty asked, already unbuckling the car seat.

"Uh. Yeah. He's six months old."

"Aww, I love that age," Matty said as he transferred the seat to his SUV. He carefully strapped it in, just like he did when he watched his goaltender's kids. "They're really starting to notice the world around them."

"Yeah, it's good," Antoni said, sounding a little dazed. "You, uh, look like you know what you're doing there."

"I babysit for the team kids sometimes," Matty said, grabbing one of the booster seats. "My goaltender, Anton Makarov, and his wife, Elena, have five."

"You watch five children all by yourself?" Antoni asked, sounding amazed.

"Sometimes. But sometimes a couple of the guys and I watch them together when Macky and Elena need a date night."

By then, Matty had the third seat buckled into his SUV. He turned to face Antoni. "Anything else?"

"Uhh." Antoni grabbed a laptop bag and a tote. "Just these, I think?"

"Cool." Matty held out his hands until Antoni passed the bags over.

"Thanks." A tow truck cruised slowly into the parking lot and Antoni waved at it. "I'll be ready to go as soon as I take care of the towing stuff."

"Sounds good." Matty climbed into the SUV. It was still running, the air cool, but Matty kept his window down in case Antoni needed something.

When Antoni listed the garage to take the van to, the tow truck driver frowned. "I'm gonna have to charge extra for that."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Antoni said. "Why?"

"It's a flat fee within the city limits," the driver said. "Anything outside of that is going to be an extra $75."

Antoni swore loudly and colorfully and Matty would have been impressed if Antoni hadn't looked so distressed.

"C'mon, man," Antoni pled. "It's just outside the city limits. It's my buddy's place and I'm fucking broke. Can you cut me a little bit of a deal?"

The guy shook his head. "Sorry, man, Ontario law."

Antoni let out another string of colorful swear words that would have done a hockey player proud.

"Hey," Matty said, sticking his head out the window. "I could cover the difference—"

But Antoni shook his head. "No, I've got this." There was a stubborn set to his jaw that made Matty sure he wouldn't budge.

Matty sighed and sat back, watching with a worried frown as the guy swiped Antoni's card and it was declined. Matty itched to say something, to offer again, but he bit his tongue.

"Shit," Antoni said, fumbling with his wallet. "Wait, try this one." He handed over a different card and Matty's chest ached because he remembered those days when he was juggling cards like that, desperately hoping he could scrape together enough to make the payments and not end up further in debt.

By the time the transaction was done, Antoni's face was bright red and Matty was pretty sure it wasn't all because of the late-summer heat. Antoni thanked the guy tersely, then got in Matty's SUV, slamming the door behind him.

"Fuck! I didn't mean to do that," he said, shooting a guilty glance at Matty. "Sorry."

"No worries," Matty said easily. "Always happens when the window's down. Where to?"

He pushed a button and the window slid up silently.

"Uh, my parents' place." Antoni glanced at the time on the dashboard. "We should make it just in time. Sorry that took longer than I expected, I just …"

He didn't finish and Matty pulled away from the tow truck driver, who was loading up the van. "It's all good. Your parents live in my neighborhood, right?"

"Yep. That's—that's kinda why I called. I hoped it wouldn't be too out of the way for you."

"Nah, I was just having lunch with the boys after practice."

"The … hockey boys?" Antoni shot him a sidelong glance and buckled his seatbelt.

Matty laughed. "Yeah. Some of my teammates and a couple of guys who are from Toronto and haven't headed back to their teams yet."

Antoni shrugged. "I know nothing about how hockey stuff works at all. I don't even know when the season starts."

"Officially? Mid-October. But guys start trickling back into town toward the end of August or early September. Training camp is mid-September."

"Wait, so you're practicing before training camp?" Antoni sounded confused as he pushed his damp hair off his forehead.

Matty grinned. "Yup. So, guys used to take the summer off and actually train and get in shape at camp. But now, some players don't really take any time off. They skate all summer. I like to take a little time to just rest and then I get into it in like July. And there's a lot of guys in the area who train with me. We work with skills coaches and do camps and stuff. Training camp is just about figuring out who has chemistry and what the lineup might look like."

"So your whole life is more or less hockey, huh?"

"Uhh, pretty much," Matty admitted. "I mean, I like to golf and work out and go out on the boat too. I always hoped to have a family, which would have kind of shifted stuff, but … you know, didn't work out for me."

"Ahh."

"What were you doing at the school today?" Matty said, glad to change the subject. "Classes haven't started yet, right?"

"No. Not yet. I'm just prepping my classroom."

"Cool. Tell me about it?"

He shrugged. "Nothing major. Just a few posters, arranging chairs the way I like them, getting all of the books sorted and organized. Stuff like that."

"Sounds like fun." They were stopped at a light so Matty glanced over.

"Usually it is," Antoni said with a sigh. "I looked forward to it last year. This year, I was too busy worrying about the house thing."

"No luck yet?" Matty asked sympathetically, biting back the urge to remind Antoni that there was a really easy solution for him.

"No." Antoni rubbed his hands over his face. "Not at all. I'm at my wits' end."

"Mmm," Matty managed because he was not going to make this awkward. He wasn't. "How long have you been a teacher?"

"Just a couple of years. I got hired after I finished my Master's degree."

"So where to now?" Matty asked as they approached the neighborhood. Antoni had been kinda vague about where exactly his parents lived.

"Oh, um, left up here," Antoni said and it didn't take them long to arrive.

Their house was only a few streets over from Matty's place. Beautiful and well-maintained but definitely smaller than Matty's.

"Follow me," Antoni said. He strode up the sidewalk and Matty obediently followed, excited that he was going to meet the kids.

"Hey!" Antoni called out as he opened the door. "I'm here. Sorry I'm running a little late. The van broke down and I had to get a tow."

A middle-aged woman with dark hair that was threaded through with silver stepped into the hallway. "Oh no. Where did you break down? How did you get here? You could have called us for a ride, you know—"

She froze, peering at Matty. "Oh, uhhh …"

"Hey, Mom." Antoni kissed her cheek. "The van broke down at school. And this is Matty. My, uh, friend Matty."

Matty smiled. Yeah, friends was good. Matty liked Antoni calling him that. It was perfectly normal for Matty to help out a friend. He did it all the time.

"Well, thank you for helping out, Matty," Antoni's mom said with a warm smile. "We really appreciate it."

"Yeah, of course," Matty said, holding out a hand. "Nice to meet you, um …"

Shit, he didn't actually know her name.

"Elizabeta," she supplied, shaking his hand. "But you can call me Eliza."

"Nice to meet you, Eliza."

"I hate to be rude," she said with a frown. "But I have to leave for an appointment soon. Let me make sure the kids are all ready to go."

When she was gone, Antoni turned to Matty with an apologetic smile. "Give us a minute, if you don't mind? It'll take some time to get them wrangled. Kids travel with a lot of stuff. Probably just as well you had the SUV today."

"Sure, no prob." Matty smiled, though the reminder stung a little.

He'd bought the vehicle hoping he'd be driving his own kids around. Today he'd only done it because it was supposed to storm and he didn't like driving the Jeep in the rain.

The skies were sure clear now though, so maybe he'd been worrying for nothing.

Matty added, "I'm not in a hurry so take all the time you need. It's not like I live far from here."

But Antoni froze. "Fuck. I planned this all wrong. I'm going to make you go out of your way to get to my place before you come back here."

Matty shrugged. "Yeah. No biggie though. It's still like fifteen-twenty minutes, tops."

Antoni grimaced. "Oh God, I'm so dumb. You're gonna have to make an extra trip and …"

"Hey," Matty said softly. "It's cool. Really. I've got zero plans for the rest of the day."

"You sure you don't mind?" Antoni looked conflicted.

"I don't," Matty promised, reaching out to touch his shoulder. "Not even a little bit."

Jeez. For a smart guy, Antoni sure wasn't getting it.

"Well, I have some good news. We timed the nap right," Eliza said, carrying a sleepy-looking infant. "Reese just woke up."

Oh he was cute. "May I?" Matty asked, reaching for him.

Eliza shot a quizzical look at Antoni.

"I promise I'm fully qualified," Matty reassured them, grinning. "I had training and everything."

When they both gave him blank looks, he said, "Uh, I volunteer at the children's hospital. I'm a baby cuddler in the NICU."

"Oh." Antoni's mouth lifted at the corners, his shoulders relaxing a little. "I guess you are qualified to hold Reese then."

Matty absolutely beamed as Antoni's mom passed Reese over.

"Hi there," he said in a delighted voice to Reese. "Oh look at you! You had a good nap, didn't you, little guy. You look so happy. Your hair is a little wild though. Here, let me fix that."

Matty smoothed a giant hand over the fluff of blondish hair on Reese's head. "There, all better."

Reese made a happy little babbling sound, shoving his fist into his mouth as he stared at Matty with wide, curious eyes.

Antoni sighed, relieved.

Reese was a pretty easygoing baby anyway but Antoni had never seen him look so calm around a stranger. Of course, it helped that Antoni and his mom were right there but it probably also had to do with the way Matty cradled Reese's body against his broad chest, biceps popping as he steadied Reese with one big hand.

Oh lord. The way Matty held Reese … he was so careful. Careful but confident. Like he knew exactly what he was doing.

Shit! That shouldn't be so attractive but it really was. And the happy, excited faces Matty kept making at Reese, it was like he'd been given the best gift ever.

Antoni's mom lifted her eyebrows, shooting Antoni a significant glance as if to say "we're going to talk about this later" before she excused herself.

"I'll uh, help get the other kids ready if you can manage Reese," Antoni said, face feeling a little warm at being caught shamelessly ogling.

"Oh, yeah, I've got this," Matty said confidently. "Reese and I will be right here entertaining each other."

He shot Antoni a smile, then made another silly face at Reese.

Reese, who already seemed completely charmed by Matty, grabbed at his beard, and laughed.

"Uhh, okay," Antoni said, tearing himself away.

"What on earth is Matt Carlson doing in our entryway?" Antoni's mom hissed when they were out of earshot.

Antoni blinked. "You know who he is?"

"Of course I do! Everyone in Toronto—oh, Antoni," his mom said with a little laugh. "You didn't?"

"I …" Antoni sighed. "You know I've never really watched sports and it's not like I can afford to now." Nor did he have any real interest in it. Although he'd maybe googled Matty the other day.

He'd nearly fainted at the sight of Matty's last contract. No wonder he owned a house like that.

Eliza laughed softly. "Oh, my. How'd he take you not recognizing him?"

Antoni shrugged. "Said he was relieved to talk to someone who didn't want to complain about how bad the season was last year."

"Well, there you go." Her eyes danced with amusement. "I had a feeling that might be the case or I would have said something to him. How'd you meet, anyway?"

"He lives in the neighborhood." Antoni said vaguely. "Ran into him when I was house hunting."

"This neighborhood? Huh, I didn't realize that."

"Yeah, um, his place is two streets over. Anyway, what do we need to get together? You need to leave soon, right?"

"Shit. Yes. Let me get your father and then I'll make sure Eli and River are set. You can wrangle Alexis."

Antoni groaned under his breath. "Rough day?"

His mom gave him a sympathetic look. "She's … in a mood."

"Okay," Antoni said, bracing himself. "I've got this."

He found the fourteen-year-old parked on his parents' couch, doing something on her tablet. "Hey," Antoni said, leaning against the doorframe. "You ready to head out? Uh, your Aunt Eliza and Uncle Enzo are leaving soon."

"Be there in a minute," she mumbled, not even looking up.

Alexis had been spikey lately. And of course that was to be expected. The grief counselor she saw once a week had said it was perfectly normal, part of the grieving process and part of being a teenager.

But it was hard for Antoni to know how to connect with her when she acted like she barely tolerated him.

They'd been close when she was younger and he was just "Uncle Antoni"—her parents' closest friend. But she'd pulled away the moment she learned she was coming to live with him.

Antoni understood, but it still hurt. And he felt lost as to how to help her.

With a stifled sigh, Antoni wandered away and found his mom in the guest room, helping River clean up toys.

"Hey, River. Looks like you had a fun day," he said.

River smiled, but didn't say anything. She so rarely did.

Before her parents' death, she'd been struggling a little with her speech. They'd ruled out hearing loss and neurological disorders, and most of the typical cognitive delays.

Speech therapy had been helping until her parents' death when she'd stopped speaking almost completely. Antoni had panicked, thinking he'd done something wrong, but the experts had assured him it wasn't uncommon.

She was doing a little better now but he still took her to speech therapy twice a week and tried to spend as much time as possible reading to her and just talking to her, even when she didn't answer him back.

"Did you have fun with trains today?" he asked, kneeling on the carpet beside her.

She nodded, still smiling, putting another piece of track in the bin.

"It looks like it. You're doing a great job cleaning up too," he said. When the toys were put away, he held out a hand. "We're going to go home now. You want to come get your shoes on?"

"See Mama?" she asked, blinking hopefully.

Antoni's eyes stung with tears. "No, sweetheart. Mama won't be there. Just Uncle Antoni and Alexis and Eli and Reese. And, uh, my friend Matty. Matty's going to drive us home, okay?"

She nodded and took his hand, letting him pull her to her feet.

Antoni still wasn't entirely sure how much she understood about her parents being gone. At that age it was so hard. Alexis, Eli, they knew their parents were never coming back. Reese was too small to really understand anything. Grieving wouldn't happen for him until much, much later.

And that would be grieving that he'd never known them.

But River … oh, she only knew that her parents weren't there, but she kept hoping that would change. That they'd come back.

When Antoni led River to the entryway, she took one look at Matty and ducked behind Antoni's leg, clinging to his hand tightly.

Matty was holding Reese and talking to Eli, smiling and laughing at something they said. While he looked anything but threatening to Antoni now, it hit Antoni again just how fucking big Matty was.

How intimidating he probably looked to River, towering over her with his big muscles and tattoos.

"Hey," Antoni said softly to River. "Want me to pick you up?"

She nodded and he scooped her into his arms.

Matty must have realized what was going on because he moved slowly as he approached them.

"Hi, you must be River." His voice was softer than Antoni imagined was possible.

She buried her head against Antoni's neck and he patted her back soothingly.

"Hey, that's okay if you don't want to look at me. I know I'm kinda funny-looking," Matty said gently. "I like your piggy tails though."

Antoni smiled. He was not good with hair but he'd finally figured out how to gather River's fine blonde curls into little pigtails that stuck out from each side of her head. They were more or less even these days.

River giggled against Antoni's neck.

Matty looked relieved.

With that introduction over, Antoni glanced over at Eli, who had just finished tying their shoes. "Hey, kiddo. How was your day?"

"Good!" Eli said. "Aunt Eliza taught us how to make popsicles! We made strawberry banana. And we played in the sprinklers!"

"Yum. That sounds perfect for a hot day," Antoni said. "Are you all ready to head home?"

"Yep!" Eli shrugged on their backpack. "Ready!"

"Alexis!" Antoni called. "Are you coming?"

A moment later she appeared in the entryway, stopping in her tracks, her eyes widened.

"Oh my God," she said breathlessly. "You're Matt Carlson."

"Hi." Matty waved, grinning as Reese poked him in the cheek. "You're Alexis?"

"Uhh, yeah. How do you know who I am?"

"Your dad mentioned your name."

Her expression immediately closed off.

"He's not my fucking dad!" she snarled. She pushed past them and stomped out the front door, slamming it behind her.

"Oh no." Matty looked stricken. "I didn't mean—"

"Hey, it's okay," Antoni said, stifling a sigh. "I know you didn't mean it."

"But I just made a mess of things, huh?" Matty cuddled Reese closer, looking conflicted.

Antoni winced. "She'll … get over it."

"I am so sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"Hey, I know that." Antoni patted Matty's arm, feeling the need to reassure him. He looked genuinely distressed. "It'll be okay, big guy. We go through this all the time. It's not the first time it's happened and it probably won't be the last."

"Was that Alexis stomping out?" Antoni's dad said as he arrived in the entryway, his mom trailing behind her.

"Yeah." Matty looked miserable. "I accidentally called Antoni her dad."

"Ahh." He nodded and held out a hand. "Enzo Bianchi. You're Matt Carlson."

"Yep." Matty shifted Reese to his left hand so he could shake.

Enzo looked between him and Matty. "So, how long have you two been dating?"