I Want You Back (Want You #1)(25)

I reached for his hand. “You’re still dealing with that?”

“Yeah, well, it’s worse now. Before I’d just drink until I passed out so I could sleep. That’s no longer an option. Now I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, reliving all the shitty things I did during my drinking years and feeling guilty about all the times I blacked out and don’t remember the shitty things I did.” He exhaled. “Maybe it sounds stupid, but I sleep better when Mimi is there. I don’t feel so . . . isolated.”

It squeezed my heart that he’d substituted the word isolated for lonely.

My pride snarked back, Don’t feel sorry for the cheater; he’s always had women lined up around the block and the rink to ensure he was never alone.

For once I ignored my pride. “I used to clean the apartment when I couldn’t sleep and you were out of town.” Wait. Why had I admitted that?

“I’ve never forgotten that I always slept better next to you,” he murmured.

I couldn’t come up with any kind of response to that.

Jax seemed to catch himself. He slipped his hand free and leaned back in his chair. “I’ll pick Mimi up from school tomorrow too, but I’ll drop her here first so she can go home with you and get whatever she needs for the weekend.”

Would I ever get used to Jax taking Mimi on the weekend? Now that he was aware of morning devil child, maybe he could have her during the week sometimes and I could have a full weekend with her. Something to bring up at a later date. “Sounds good.” I stood. “I’d better get back to work.”

He got up and walked me to the door, which was ridiculous given the size of the room.

“Oh, there is one other thing.”

I paused in the hallway. “What?”

“Sunday. Vikings home game and we’re having a Lund family thing in the skybox.”

“Mimi will love that.”

“I want you to come.” He inhaled a deep breath. “Actually I need you to come, Luce. Please.”

Now I was alarmed. “What’s going on?”

“Just say you’ll be there.”

I’d never been to a football game in the new U.S. Bank Stadium, say nothing of getting to sit in a luxury skybox. It’d be a new experience for me, if nothing else. “Okay.” I smirked. “I’d request that your admin send me the details, but since you don’t have an admin . . . ?”

“Ha ha. Rub it in. I’ll give you the ticket and all the passes tomorrow when I bring Mimi by.”

“Cool. And have her call me tonight before she goes to bed.”

“Will do.”



* * *



? ? ?

I’d spent the weekend doing the autumn purge; swapping out my summer wardrobe for my winter wardrobe. Living in an apartment meant limited storage, but thankfully this apartment building had decent-sized storage lockers in the basement, where I could keep out-of-season clothes and seasonal decorations. Since Mimi grew so fast, I took the clothes she’d outgrown to a secondhand clothing store for kids for credit.

Damon had called and asked me on another date. I liked him, but I didn’t feel like dressing up, so I promised I’d let him take me out the following weekend.

Early Sunday afternoon I suited up in the Vikings jersey that had accompanied the packet with my ticket to the game and passes for parking and the skybox. I felt ridiculous wearing a jersey; I’d worn Jaxson’s Blackhawks jersey only a couple of times. I’d never been a sports girl. Even being involved with a professional hockey player hadn’t changed that about me.

I finally made it to the Lund skybox and found myself in a sea of purple jerseys with #88 and the name LUND emblazoned across the backs.

Mimi noticed me first. “Mommy!”

I scooped her up, hating that she was getting too big to comfortably lodge on my hip. “Hey, sweet girl. What’s up?”

“Me and Daddy were the first ones here so we got to go down onto the field and say hi to Jensen! He was in his uniform and everything!”

“That’s pretty exciting.”

“Uh-huh. And then Rowan came over and hugged me and I got to hold her pom-poms! They’re so shiny! Daddy took me to the gift shop and bought me my very own pom-poms, ’cause I’m pretty sure I’m gonna be a Vikings cheerleader now, like Rowan.”

Of course she was. “That would be pretty awesome.”

“Oh, and I saw Calder.” Mimi noticed me looking around, and she placed her hands on my face, forcing my attention back to her. “He’s not up here. He’s in the stands with his grandpa and grandma and Uncle Martin. So I’m the only kid here . . . except for Runner and Trinity’s baby.”

Jax appeared behind Mimi. “It’s funny that she still calls Walker ‘Runner.’”

“Why’s that funny?” Mimi demanded of him.

“Because it’d be like me calling you . . . Youyou instead of Mimi.”

Her nose wrinkled. “Huh?”

“Never mind. Go finish your lunch.”

“Okay.”

She slid down my body and scampered off, leaving me face-to-face with Jax.

Again.

“I’m so happy you’re here.”

I looked away and let my gaze zoom across the others in the skybox. It was all Lund family members. And me. Even when I knew all of them, and they were related to my daughter, it made me super self-conscious that I wasn’t one of them.