“And you can shoot too?”

“Yup, I’m going to teach you that, too, but first let’s see how fast you are.”

Aiden nodded quickly as he got in position ready to go. “Okay.”

“Ready, set go!”

Aiden took off quick and got around in triple Lucas’ time, which wasn’t half bad! As Lucas smiled widely at him, Aiden tried to catch his breath. “Whoo!” Lucas laughed when Aiden fell back onto the ice, still trying to catch his breath. “I can’t breathe!”

Lucas had skated in that rink a billion times but never once had he felt the way he did when Aiden’s giggles filled the rink.

He felt whole.

************************

After unlacing their skates, Lucas and Aiden headed up the stairs. Lucas hoped the guys that were putting the hardwood floors upstairs were done as they climbed the stairs. Aiden was talking a mile a minute about everything from skating to shooting. He was a good shot, but Lucas already knew that. The kid was meant to hold a hockey stick and skate on ice.

Aiden was Lucas’ boy.

Just like Lucas was James’ boy.

Just thinking of his dad made Lucas smile. James never made it to the NHL but he was meant to. He broke his shoulder in two places at the finals during his sophomore year and couldn’t shoot a puck to save his life after that. Little did he know, Molly was only a few weeks pregnant with Lucas at the time. James always said it was meant to be — he wanted to be a full-time dad, not travel around a lot while leaving his family behind. It felt like the air was knocked out of Lucas when he realized that he was going to be leaving his son behind. That he was going to be everything his dad didn’t want to be. Lucas looked over his shoulder at Aiden and his heart broke. He hadn’t even left yet and it was already hard to think about.

“I love hockey,” Aiden gushed as they climbed the stairs.

“I’m glad you do,” Lucas said calmly, when really he was screaming inside. Even with the horrible thought of leaving Aiden, Lucas was still so happy. Sharing the greatest game ever with his son was a dream come true for him.

“I’m hungry,” Aiden said as they entered the kitchen, not knowing that the statement he just made had made Lucas’ lifetime.

“Good, since we are in the kitchen.”

Aiden’s eyes went wide as he took in the marble kitchen. Lucas liked the elegant feel the kitchen gave off. It made him feel like he was in the Roman Empire or something. Lucas’ eyes roamed over the kitchen like Aiden’s, taking in the marble island, the large fridge, and huge stove. Fallon was right, he did love big things.

Just like her ass.

Just the thought of her ass brought him back to the night before. He could hold her ass in his hands for days and wouldn’t even care about anything else. He loved it that much.

“Do you have peanut butter sandwiches?” Aiden asked.

Lucas smiled. “Yeah, buddy. If you want, you can go look around while I make some.”

Aiden took off.

Lucas chuckled to himself as he pulled out the peanut butter and bread. He felt so normal, so at ease as he made his son a sandwich.

He could do this every day.

All he needed was Fallon to come stumbling into the kitchen in those sexy little shorts and his tee and his life would be complete.

“Hey Lucas,” Aiden called from the other room.

“Yeah?”

“Can you come here?”

Lucas looked behind him and didn’t like the sound of Aiden’s voice. He sounded confused or nervous. Lucas left the kitchen and headed into the hall, where Aiden stood staring up at the wall. Lucas knew what picture he was looking at before he even came to Aiden’s side, looking at the same wall.

“Is that my mom?” Aiden asked with his eyes wide.

Lucas only nodded as he took in the beauty of his past love. She sat on his bed in all her 19-year-old glory. Nothing on, the only thing that covered her breast was her hair, but it was still a little visible on the side. Only Lucas could tell who the beauty was since only her profile showed, but obviously Aiden knew what his mom looked like.

“How old was she?” Aiden asked.

“Nineteen.”

“She has tattoos now,” Aiden stated as he glanced up at the picture. Lucas had no room in his gym shorts at just the thought of ink on Fallon. He had begged her to get tattoos when they were together and she never would. Oh how he wanted to see them. “She has my name and AA’s on the inside of her arms and then something else on her side.”

“Oh,” was all Lucas could get out.

Nothing was said for a minute as man and son gazed up at the picture of the woman they both loved. Lucas felt Aiden’s eyes on him and he looked down at his wide-eyed boy.

“Why do you have a nakie picture of my mom on your wall?”

Lucas’s mouth pulled up at one side. “Because she is beautiful.”

“Oh,” Aiden answered. “Did you like her?”

“Yeah.”

Silence filled the hall as both of them turned back to the picture. “Do you still like her?”

“Yeah,” Lucas answered without even thinking of it and knew that later when Aiden told Fallon, he was going to get an earful. When Aiden didn’t say anything else, Lucas turned and walked away, hoping like hell that Aiden didn’t tell Fallon. Even though he knew Aiden probably would. Lucas went back into the kitchen, thinking that he needed to get lunch on the table and Aiden in there so that maybe he would forget about the naked picture of Fallon.