“If you are hungry, we can get something at the game.” I look in the rear-view mirror and see him nod. I tried to move slowly with Jaxon, but the only problem with that was his father. He was on the road for over five days, and when he got home, I was waiting for him, thinking we would have dinner together, and I would leave. Well, he did not take that very well. In fact, he didn’t take that well at all. He put Jaxon to bed and then locked all the doors, arming the alarm with a code. “If you leave, you’ll wake Jaxon.” The next morning, Jaxon didn’t even bat an eye that I was still there. He just asked who was cooking breakfast. I want to say that it has been all smooth sailing, but it hasn’t. The only good thing is Murielle signed the divorce papers. That is where the good thing ends with her. She calls Manning daily to bitch at him. He listens for five seconds, and when it doesn’t involve Jaxon, he hangs up.
“Is Caleb coming?” he asks, and I nod. “Yes. We are going to go by the glass and get some pucks.”
I smile at him, hiding the nerves running through my body. Tonight, I’ll be going to the hockey game officially as his guest. The secret that we are dating is no more. The night after the dinner party with the six of us, I woke up to the picture all over social media. My mother even called me.
I follow the instructions Manning gave me and pull into the secret underground parking. It really isn’t a secret when I see that fans are there snapping pictures. “Okay, buddy, tell me where to go?” I ask, and he guides me to Manning’s place. “Okay, let’s go,” I say, getting out of the SUV and waiting for him. “You tell me where to go.”
I’m almost at the door when I hear my name being called and look over to see Layla walking over to us. “Hey there,” she says, and she kisses my cheek. “Hi, buddy, did you grow?” she asks him, and he just smiles, then looks at me. “Are you ready?”
“As ready as one can be,” I answer her honestly as we walk in. I look around and see people are starting to trickle in. I walk down the corridor and stop when we get to a picture of Manning on the wall. He is looking at the play at hand, and it has his number with his name. I swear I smile like a fucking fool. That is my man, and I almost want to reach out and touch it. “It’s crazy, right?” I look over at Layla. “That he’s just Manning at home, and then we come here, and he’s a superstar.”
She shakes her head. “It can be an eye-opener, that is for sure.” We walk up some stairs, and you have to show your tickets to get on that floor. I open my purse to get them out, but I don’t need to because Manning is there in his workout gear talking to someone.
“Dad.” Jaxon calls his name, and he looks from the guy to us. He sees Jaxon, and then his smile gets even bigger when he sees me. He walks over and tells the man scanning tickets something, and he just nods his head.
“Hey,” I say when I get closer to him, and I smile. I look up at him, and he bends to give me a kiss.
“Hi,” he says, and every single time feels like the first time I saw him. I sometimes just sit there and look at him. “You made it.”
“I did,” I say. “Thanks to Jaxon, who made sure I knew where I was going.” I smile down at Jaxon.
“Nico,” Manning says to the guy who he was talking to, who is now joking with Layla. “I’d like you to meet Evelyn.” He puts his hand around my shoulder. “Evelyn, this is my boss.”
Nico smirks when he says that and puts out his hand. “Nice to meet you,” he says and then looks down at Jaxon. “How is my future superstar?”
“Good,” he says and then looks up at Manning. “Can I go in and get a snack?” Manning nods, and he walks into one of the doors. This floor looks like a hotel with carpet on the floor and brown wooden doors with numbers on them.
“I have to go down,” Manning says. “I’ll see you later.”
“Okay,” I say, looking at him, and he bends to kiss me again. “Break a leg.”
“I’ll see you later,” he says one more time and jogs down the corridor, and I walk into the room where I saw Layla enter.
“Evelyn.” I hear Jaxon call my name. “Can we go down to the glass?” I grab his hand and turn to walk out of the room when I see Tim and Caleb coming in.