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Chapter 43 - The One Before the End

"Have you talked to Emily about the texts you got?" Lia sat down next to me.

"No." I leaned over the aisle. Emily was sat at the front of the bus where we usually sat. "I will, but not until after the game or something. Besides, they weren't bad or anything."

"No, but your ex told you she still loves you."

"What!" Katie and Beth's face appeared over the seats in front of us. "Jordan?" Katie asked.

"No," I shook my head. "I haven't talked to Jordan since she texted me happy birthday."

"And why are we afraid to tell your wife?" Beth asked.

"Well, I'm not. There's just not been a good time to talk to her about it." I shrugged. "We're in a weird place right now."

"Is the sex not good?" Beth laughed.

"You guys have a serious problem." I rolled my eyes. "Look, I love you guys, but I'm not going to say what our problems are."

"We're here for you. For you both." Beth smiled and sat back down.

"Yeah, we love you. You're our shoulder to lean on, so don't be afraid to lean on us, Cap." Katie patted my head before sitting down.

"Hey," Lia put her hand on my thigh, tearing my eyes off my wife's eyes. "Go sit with her."

I nodded. "Okay, yeah." I got up and made my way to the front. Emily's face was down to her iPad. "Hey,"

She looked up. "Hi."

"Can I sit?"

"Of course." She moved her bag. "Don't be awkward." She laughed.

"Right." She put her iPad down. I took her hand and held it. "Can we talk about...the thing?"

"The baby thing?" I nodded. "Sure."

"We don't have to have another baby for a while. I would love to have another baby at some point. Maybe in a few years, we can go see a doctor and see the risks that could come with my pregnancy."

"Do you want to get pregnant?"

"I would for us."

I played with her wedding ring, my focus stayed on that and nothing else.

"Le, look at me. Please." I lifted my head. "I...I love what we have already."

"Okay."

"Leah—"

"No, it's okay. I love our family the way it is." Emily sighed. "I um, I got texts from an ex the other day. I ignored them, but I told Wally about it."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know. I didn't know how you'd respond. Are you upset?"

"I'm only upset because you didn't think you could tell me. But no. Are we really going to drop the whole conversation surrounding another baby?"

"You don't want one, so yes."

"You're so stubborn." She turned her iPad back on. "I've got things to do. You can stay if you want." I only nodded.

The bus ride was silent from there. When we were at Brighton's stadium, Emily was off before I could say a word to her.

I followed Katie in and changed for warmups. I was in game mode and I had to forget about the weird tiff we had found ourselves in.