My father now gets up and looks at MC and Michael. “Are you two ready to go?” He holds his helmet under his arm when they nod and get up, walking toward the ice. “You look good,” he says, and I walk to him and give him a hug. “Looks good on you.”

“Thanks, Dad,” I say, and he walks toward the ice now. “You guys said you were coming in tonight.”

“Yeah,” Viktor says, opening his eyes now. “Then the chain texting started.”

“Then plans started being made,” Evan says. “And poof, we’re packing up a day early. Now we are in a strange house, and baby Zoey is over it. She didn’t get to sleep until five.”

“Four thirty,” Viktor says. “Then again at six.”

“What are you talking about?” Evan says. “She’s two months old, so that’s her thing.”

“How does a little thing have such deep lungs?” Viktor asks, and the guys laugh now. I sit on the bench and start getting ready.

“It’s only starting,” Evan says. “Wait until teething.”

“Fucking horrible,” Max says. “I swear I almost went bald on both sides of my head.”

“So what’s the story?” Matthew says, looking at me. “He yours?”

I just look at him. “Yeah, pretty much.”

“Holy shit,” Max says the same time Viktor holds out a hand for Evan to pay him money.

“I never thought I would see the day,” Matthew says. “You with a kid.”

“I used to babysit all the time,” I tell them, putting on my skates.

“Yeah, to get the girls to come over and help you,” Max says.

“Shut up,” I tell them.

“How serious is this?” Viktor asks me.

“Very,” I tell them even though we haven’t had any conversations about it.

“She living with you?” Matthew asks me.

“Yeah,” I say, and then I look up while he smirks and crosses his arms over his chest.

“You going to let her leave?” Max then asks.

“Nope,” I say, and now Evan and Max moan.

“He’s a fucking crazy like Matthew,” Max says, shaking his head.

“No one is crazy like Matthew,” Evan says.

“I bet you double or nothing,” Viktor says. “He’s a touch worse.” He points at me.

I’m about to answer him when Michael comes into the room. “Dad, my leg hurts,” he says to him, and I look at him. He’s the same age as Dylan.

“Where?” he asks him.

“Where Alex hit me with the stick,” he says, and Max shakes his head.

“You’ll be fine,” he says. “Go sit on the bench for a bit.”

“What was that?” I ask Max.

“Alex was not happy when she was told it was boys only,” Max says. “She took the hockey stick and slashed Michael with it.”

“Oh my God,” Evan says, putting his hand over his mouth to stop the laughing.