Braydon

I paused in front of the high-rise condo building, nerves twisting my stomach. Jayna, fortunately unaware of my tension, pushed open the door. I drew in a long breath, and followed her in.

She smiled at me, and that helped settle the nerves. “Nice of Faith to ask us over tonight. With Megan spending so much time with her new guy, she said there’s almost nothing in the fridge at our place.”

We’d just got back from our summer in Montana, and the weather in Toronto was hot and humid. Still, I was excited to be here. I’d take the noise and pollution, because I was about to start training camp with the Toronto Blaze, and unless I really messed up, I would be the backup goalie for the NHL team this year.

Jayna would help me make sure I didn’t mess up.

I reached for her hand, because I could. My roommate, Luke, had gone to see his family in Newfoundland, so our place was totally empty of anything edible. Jayna and I had tossed our bags in the townhouse and showered before hopping in my truck to drive over for dinner with my half-sister Faith. Jayna didn’t know it, but we had something else booked on this visit that didn’t include food.

Jayna headed for the elevator, since she’d been to Faith’s countless times. “Just a minute.” I let her hand go, reluctantly, and detoured to the desk, where I gave my name to the woman behind it. She nodded and passed me a key.

“Anything up?” Jayna asked.

“It’s all good.” I hoped it was going to be better than good.

We stepped in the elevator, and Jayna hit the button for Seb and Faith’s floor. I hit the one for two floors below it.

Jayna cocked her head. “Are we visiting anyone else? One of your teammates live here?”

Except for Faith, most of Jayna’s friends and former teammates lived in the north end of Toronto, close to the arena where the Bonfire, the Toronto women’s professional team played. Until an injury ended Jayna’s career, she’d been a valuable member of that team. Faith’s husband, Seb Hunter, had been playing for the Blaze when they bought this condo, so it was close to the Blaze arena.

“Not exactly.” I was hoping to change that, but it depended on her.

We got out on the floor I’d requested, and I checked the numbers, leading her down the hallway and stopping at the end door. I put the key in and the lock clicked. Shoving the door open, I stepped aside so she could enter.

The layout of the condo was much like Faith and Seb’s. Down a short hallway, there was a large room facing the glass doors that opened to a small balcony overlooking the city. On one side, a gas fireplace and on the other, a kitchen, not huge but bigger than what I’d been sharing with Luke.

Jayna wandered into the empty room. There was a broom leaning in one corner, a roll of packing tape left on the kitchen countertop.

“Nice place.” She said, narrowing her eyes at me.

“Let’s check it out.” I led the way past the fireplace, and down the hallway, opening the door to a small bedroom. It was just as empty as the other rooms.

The next door opened to a medium sized bedroom. Across the hallway, a bathroom.

The door at the end revealed the master bedroom. There was another fireplace. Tall windows with open blinds continued the view over Toronto. The closet doors were ajar, showing lots of space in the walk in. Beside that we could see the en suite bathroom.

Jayna had stopped in the bedroom doorway. “You got something to tell me, Braydon?” With the way she’d raised her eyebrow, I knew she’d figured it out.

“Faith told me this place was available. She sent me the details. We can rent it for now, and there’s an option to buy if everything works out.”

Everything being mostly how my career with the Blaze went.

Jayna crossed her arms. “I can’t afford a place like this.”

I knew she’d worry about that, so I’d prepared my arguments. “You pay the utilities, and I’ll pay the rent. This is an expensive part of the city, but it’s close to both my practice and game arenas, so it’s fair for me to pay more.”

She was frowning. I kept going.

“One of the extra bedrooms can be an office, so if you want to pay what you’d pay for rent, then do that. It should work for your business—the location is central and near transit, so you can get to your clients easily.”

Still frowning. Time to go for the clinching arguments.

“Faith doesn’t want to lose contact with you. If you live here, you’re close. She gets to see you and you’ll still be with your teammates sometimes. Also, I can get to know my sister and my niece without anyone suspecting the real story.”  It was a closely held secret, that Faith and I shared the same father.

Her arms dropped. “You’ve been preparing for this, haven’t you.”

“When Faith sent the link, well, it seemed almost perfect.”

“Almost perfect?”

I stepped to the doorway and pulled her into my arms. “It’s only perfect if you like it.”

Jayna

I let Braydon hold me, while I worked through the tangle of emotions currently jangling inside me.

As always, the disparity between my sport, women’s hockey and his, men’s hockey, was highlighted by money. I could never afford this place with what I’d saved when I was playing. I couldn’t even if I was still on the team. The same for Faith.

That was a frustration, but not something that Braydon was responsible for. On the other hand, I was also not totally happy about being surprised, and that was on him.

But those feelings were offset by the good ones. Braydon had considered that I would be happy having a connection to the Bonfire, even if I wasn’t on the team. That my business, which I was setting up and growing, would be helped here. He hadn’t assumed he’d pay for everything, just because he made more money.

And he hadn’t gone ahead and signed the lease without talking to me.

I pushed him away and soothed his worried expression with a kiss. “Well, let’s check it out, now that I know you want us to live here.”

The place wasn’t crazy luxurious, like Cooper’s place was. The layout was almost identical to Faith’s, and I could imagine making it equally comfortable. There was a huge shower as well as a tub in the ensuite, and lots of closet space. A bathroom in the hall, to serve the two other bedrooms.

We went through the great room and slid back the doors to step out on the balcony. The humidity enveloped us as soon as we were out of the air conditioning. Around us were the sounds of the city.

A real contrast to Montana, which had been cooler and clearer.

I leaned on the railing, looking at the street below. “So, if one bedroom becomes my office, then we have a guest room?” I suggested.

“Guest room or—” Braydon stopped. I looked at him and his eyes went wide, like he realized he might have overstepped.

My hands tightened on the rail. “Or nursery? Is that what you meant?”

He bit his lip. “Well, we said we wanted kids someday.”

We had. Someday. But this, talking about a room that would be a nursery, was making it real. Panic rose in my chest. I needed space, so I turned and hurried into the condo, stopping behind the island in the kitchen.

Braydon followed, because of course he did. “Is the idea of kids freaking you out?”

Pretty obvious that it was. I opened a drawer, as if worried about storage space for pots.

“I want kids, I’m pretty sure. But it’s just hitting me, what it will be like.”

Braydon leaned on the countertop, staying on his side of the island. “What part is freaking you out?”

I closed the door and looked up at him. “Seeing a room that might be a nursery, imagining what it would be like. You, playing hockey. Travelling. Maybe even traded. That means I’m the one who will be here, right here, doing most of the childcare.”

He frowned. “I know your work is important to you. We’ll get a nanny, if I’m still playing, or two. Whatever we need.”

“But I’ll be the one doing the day to day. Supervising the nannies and hiring and firing them. You can’t, if you’re in California with the team.”

His shoulders slumped. “You’re right. We didn’t get into details like that. Maybe we have to wait till I’m done playing. Which might not be that long. There’s no guarantee – I might play like I did in that last game—”

I put my hand on his mouth. “No, you’re going to be great. And I don’t want to wait until you’re old and creaky and can’t chase any rug rats around.”

He waited, watching me intently.

“I chose you, Braydon Mitchell, even though you’re a hockey player. I knew this was part of the deal. Sometimes I’m going to have to work through what all that means, but I will, I promise.”

I dropped my hand, and he smiled at me. “I love you, Jayna Templin. In our home, you’ll never be just my partner. Your Olympic medals will be up over the fireplace, or in the bathroom or—”

My jaw dropped. “In the bathroom?”

He nodded. “Where everyone will see them.”

“In the bathroom?”

He grinned. “If you want. I mean, somewhere else guests might be distracted by conversation or something on TV, but in the bathroom? They’d have nothing to do but stare at them while they wash their hands and whatever.”

“Whatever, huh?”

“Hey, I don’t judge.”

I walked out from behind the island and wrapped my arms around him. “I’ve processed, the kids will be coming before you’re decrepit, and I’ll figure out how to handle nannies. But if we’re going to have a lot of them, we’ll need a bigger place.”

He hugged me tightly. “You’d better get your business going then, so we can afford it.”

I laughed. As if I needed any more reasons to love this man. He didn’t assume he was going to be the only one to take care of our family, when we had one. He didn’t believe he was more important because of his sport.

So glad he was mine. I kissed him, to make sure he knew that.

“Now, when do we start christening the rooms?”