“I’ll call every day, bud.”

“You promise?” Aiden whispered into Lucas’ shoulder. Fallon took a deep breath in as the tears started to fall. Damn it, she hated the goodbye. This had to be the worst part of being in the hockey world. It was this and the thought of something happening to the hockey player she loved. It drove her insane and when she had left this world so long ago, she swore she would never come back.

So much for that promise.

“I promise. Every day.”

“Okay,” Aiden said as they parted. Lucas smiled and pinched Aiden’s nose before standing up.

“Take care of your momma, okay?” Lucas said, looking deep into Fallon’s eyes. She wiped her face as Aiden smiled widely up at her.

“I will,” Aiden declared and Fallon almost choked on the sob that escaped her lips. She wanted to say that she didn’t need to be taken care of, that she would take care of Aiden, but she couldn’t say anything. She covered her mouth as Lucas looked into her eyes sadly.

“Don’t cry, Fal,” he said. Aiden came over to her, wrapping his arms around her as he leaned his head against her stomach.

“Just take care of yourself, okay?” she cried as she ran her fingers through Aiden’s hair.

“Always do, always will,” he said and Fallon was sure she stopped breathing. Before she could say anything, even goodbye, Lucas started for the plane. Fallon couldn’t even think of a time he didn’t say that to her before he boarded a plane when they were younger. He never said goodbye to her, he would say those four words and then he would be gone for days, weeks, sometimes months at a time.

“Mommy, Lucas didn’t say bye.” Fallon looked down to see that Aiden had started crying.

“He never does. He used to always tell me that when he says goodbye, that it means for forever, and he would never be gone that long.”

Aiden buried his face into her stomach again and Fallon continued to rub his head with her fingers as she watched Lucas disappear into the plane. “I’m gonna miss him,” Aiden said into her stomach.

Me, too, she thought as she watched the plane door shut.

So much.

Chapter 21

“Fuck you!”

That was the only thing Lucas got out before he was being cussed out in a language he didn’t even know. Lucas was sure the forward from the Flames wasn’t wishing him well as he spat out some of the nastiest-sounding words, but Lucas didn’t care.

Actually, he loved it.

“Back off, ass**le!” another one of the Flames players said when Lucas got into the non-English-speaking dude’s face.

“Fuck you too, and here is a bit of advice. If you are going to play hockey and cuss me out, at least do it in a language I know!”

Lucas glared at the guy one last time, daring him to throw his gloves down, before skating off to the bench where his teammates sat. Lucas jumped over the board and sat down next to a focused Shea Adler.

“Who does that?” Lucas asked as he squirted some Gatorade in his mouth.

“He was speaking French,” Shea said, his face actually breaking out in a smile. It was rare, because Shea Adler didn’t smile during a game; well he did when he scored, or when Elli was there. When Elli was there, he was grinning for the whole arena.

Newlyweds.

“Again, who cusses someone out in French? We play in the NHL, not the…what is it called, French hockey league?”

Shea laughed. “You are dumb, dude.”

“Just saying,” Lucas laughed, taking in deep, labored breaths. The Flames were playing hard, and they were having a great season, but they weren’t a match for the Assassins. The Assassins were winning by two and it was only the start of the game.

“Good game so far,” Shea said. “One more.”

Lucas’ face broke out into a grin because all he had to do was score one more goal for a hat trick. He hadn’t gotten one this year — hell in the last three years — so he was more than ready. He had been playing fantastic since leaving the States. He had gotten two goals when they won against the Oilers the night before, and it was looking like another win tonight. Yeah, he was killing it and Lucas knew the reason for his fantastic playing.

Aiden.

Lucas had never felt so whole in his life until that little boy came into it. Talking to Aiden every day, seeing his little face grin over the screen of their iPads, had brought so much happiness into Lucas’ life that Lucas felt like he was on top of the world. It had been so long since he had felt so loved and so happy. It felt as if a large hole was in his heart when he lost his dad, and then the hole had gotten bigger when Fallon left him. He never thought that hole would close up, but it did. All it took was one smile from his little guy and he was whole. All he needed was Fallon, and maybe a Stanley Cup, then his life would be complete.

“Yup, one more goal and I got my first hat trick in years. I’m ready.”

Shea nodded as he smiled over at Lucas. “You can get it done, too. We still have a lot of hockey to play.”

“Yup, let’s do this.”

Coach Bacter called out their line and the guys jumped over the boards, skating out to play the last two periods and all Lucas hoped for was that Hat Trick.

Lucas stood in the middle of the locker room as the guys threw their hats at him. He couldn’t help the large grin that was on his face as different ball caps hit him in the face. He couldn’t believe it, and he couldn’t wait to call Aiden.