Page 76 of One Kind Goal

Or with Morgan?

He probably shouldn’t assume she’d want to get a place with him, but once the idea popped into his head, Sawyer wanted to make it a reality.

Go slow.

He needed to see how these days together went. Let Morgan complete her buy of the antique shop and plan out her next steps before he inserted himself into her future. He had no doubts, however, that his future had Morgan in it.

Pushing these thoughts to the corners of his mind for now, Sawyer focused on the view, the fact that his daughter was beside him, and that he was in for a night of good hockey. He looked down at his casted arm. It hurt some and he definitely should be pissed about not playing tonight, but too many things were going right in his life right now to summon up the rage. In fact, if he hadn’t broken the damn thing, Carina wouldn’t have called him to see if he wanted to take Nia. He wouldn’t have had the time to hook up with Morgan. He definitely wouldn’t be chilling in Vermont. Perhaps he’d needed a broken arm to get all these other bonuses. Otherwise, he never would have slowed down enough to enjoy such opportunities.

Thanks to the wonders of modern aviation, they arrived in Montreal in way under the two plus hours it would have taken to drive there.

“Having a wife who can fly is quite the benefit,” Sawyer said as he walked beside Austin toward the arena, the girls in front of them.

“So true. Her flying skills are the reason we met.” Austin proceeded to tell him that he’d been doing a movie in Vermont and the script called for a chopper. The producer put out a call for local pilots with their own helicopters and Charlie had entered her name—at the urging of Isabel. Charlie had gotten picked and a happily ever after had followed.

“It’s funny how the Universe makes things happen so that other things can happen, isn’t it?” Sawyer held up his right arm, the top of the cast peeking from his jacket. “I was thinking on the ride I wouldn’t be here right now if I hadn’t broken this.”

“And you wouldn’t be having a great time with your daughter and my sister,” Austin said.

“Exactly.” He motioned to the arena now in front of them. “I should be ripshit that I’m not suiting up and whacking pucks tonight, but I’m not. Not at all.”

“Interesting.” Austin adjusted his baseball hat. In a quiet voice, he said, “I’m sure Anchors fans, however, are indeed ripshit that you’re not playing.”

Sawyer pulled his own baseball hat lower. “Even more reason not to identify myself. They’ll probably want to throw their beers at me.”

They all bustled inside and Sawyer led them to their seats. He’d asked Brett for good-but-not-too-good seats. He didn’t want to run the risk of being discovered by taking their group to the families VIP section. The more he and Austin blended into the sea of regular spectators the better. Sawyer wanted to keep his promise to Carina to stay media free for Nia’s sake. With the Anchors gear they all wore, he hoped they looked like typical fans, out for a night of fun hockey viewing.

Charlie went into the row first, followed by Austin. Morgan, holding Nia’s hand, went in next, and Sawyer took the aisle seat. A moment later, however, Nia climbed onto his lap, so Sawyer moved over a seat to be next to Morgan.

“Perfect,” he said, settling in and kissing Morgan’s cheek.

“Almost,” she said. “We need popcorn for it to be perfect.”

“Popcorn!” Nia shouted.

Laughing, Sawyer flagged a worker and bought two huge tubs of popcorn, one of which they sent down the row to Charlie and Austin, and some drinks. They all munched and chatted until the announcer’s voice came over the speakers to introduce the teams.

Morgan leaned toward him. “Is it weird to be sitting here instead of being down there?” She pointed to the ice.

“A little, but the view here is significantly better.” He wiggled Nia on his lap then gave her a pointed look. “You have no idea how ugly some of those guys are up close.”

“I don’t remember them being all that ugly.”

“What did I say about remarks on their attractiveness levels?” He pressed his left fist into her biceps. “Not allowed.”

“Don’t be jealous.” She grabbed the bill of his hat and pulled it down lower. “You’re still at the top of my list.”

He righted his hat. “List? There’s a list? I want to be the only name.”

“Oh, didn’t I mention that spots one to ten on my list are all you?” She scooped up a handful of popcorn and popped a few kernels into her mouth.

“They better be all me.” He kept his tone playful as was hers, but he didn’t want to think about Morgan finding someone else attractive. He wanted to be it for her. All she ever wanted. All she ever needed.

The game started and Nia started a stream of questions about what was happening on the ice. Sawyer schooled her on everything, loving when Morgan jumped in with additional information, showing how much she was into the sport.

“Did you know all this before you met me?” he asked between periods.

Morgan bit her bottom lip, her lashes going down to hit her slightly pinked cheeks. “No.”