Pro hockey star, Christian Brooks, has everything he ever needed as a starting forward Right Winger, and a three year old daughter. Or, so he thought.
When Brinley Cameron's newest patient happens to be, a star hockey player, for her favorite team'...
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I close the back, driver side door, locking the SUV. Just as I start walking up the gravel driveway, a gunshot echoes through the air and Charlie covers her ears.
"That was loud." She says, looking at me.
The white, two story farmhouse was all decked out in Christmas decorations. It was clearly a bit old, as the paint was chipping. It had a wrap around porch and two sets of double, glass doors, on the side I was facing.
One of the doors swung open before I could even make it up the steps and Brinley's mom appeared. "Christian! We're so glad you could make it." She says, opening the door wider.
"Thanks for the invite, Mrs. Cameron." I say, stepping onto the porch.
"Oh please, call me Sawyer." She says, her southern accent a little thicker than Brinley's.
"You must be Charlie!" She says and Charlie grins.
"Hi!" She says, waving at her.
"I'm sorry about your aunt." Sawyer says, pulling me into a hug.
"Thank you." I say, smiling thankfully.
My aunt had ended up in the hospital after she fell down the stairs a couple of days ago. When I told Brinley the news, I had been on FaceTime with the whole family in the kitchen.
My mom had decided to spend Christmas with my aunt in the hospital, so she wasn't alone.
Brinley's parents insisted that I come down for Christmas. Brinley and Emery ecstatic about it too. Of course Charlie was immediately on board.
I step further into the all-white house, following Sawyer into the kitchen. I'd only briefly met Brinley's parents at Nora's wedding, and everyone was a bit tipsy. Brinley warned me that I would be receiving a lot of shit for being a Tigers player.
"Charlie, I was just about to start making cookies, if you want to help." Sawyer says, walking towards the kitchen counter.
"Cookies!" Charlie says, wiggling in my arms. I set her down and she walks over to Sawyer.
"The girls are out back, shootin' God knows what." She says, shaking her head. Just then a round of multiple gunshots sound.
"It's loud." Charlie says, covering her ears again.
"I'll turn on some music!" Sawyer says, looking over at her. Sawyer turns around, turning on an iPad before Christmas music starts to play through a speaker.
Brinley wasn't kidding when she said they went full out for Christmas. The whole place was covered in decorations from floor to ceiling.
"You can go out there." She says, nodding towards what looks like a mudroom. "Or you can just watch from the window, like me." She nods to the wall that's filled with windows.
