Page 70 of One Kind Goal

And to Nia.

“Thank you, Carina,” Sawyer said. “Thank you so much. I promise Morgan and I will keep Nia safe. We’ll watch the game, say hey to the guys, and that will be it.”

“Okay. Have fun.”

Sawyer was super impressed with Carina’s loosening of the reins. If this Alan guy was the reason, Sawyer was sending him season passes to Anchors games for the rest of the man’s life.

He quickly called Brett back and said they were in for tonight. By the time he made it over to Morgan and Nia, he was whistling a happy tune.

“Why are you so upbeat?” Morgan asked, a snowball in her gloved hands.

“Oh, I don’t know.” He rocked back on his heels. “Could be because Carina said I could take Nia to an Anchors game tonight and that I could introduce her to my teammates.”

“What?” Morgan dropped the snowball and jumped up and down. “Sawyer! That’s fantastic!” She launched herself at him and he wrapped his arms around her. “So, so wonderful!”

“What is going on over here?” Austin asked as he dusted snow from his jacket only to have Nia pound him with another snowball. He made a move to chase Nia which sent her running in the opposite direction, but then Austin walked over to Sawyer and Morgan instead.

“We’re all going to an Anchors hockey game in Montreal tonight,” Sawyer said. “If you and Charlie are free, that is.”

“Hell, yes, we’re free,” Charlie said as she hopped down from the chopper. “I can fly us there. I run charter flights to an airfield near the arena. I know where to go.”

“Sweet,” Sawyer said.

“This is going to be so much fun!” Morgan clapped her gloved hands then waved Nia over.

When Nia stopped in front of Sawyer, he said, “I added an event to our schedule for tonight. Do you want to know what it is?”

Nia hopped around in her snow boots. “Yes, Daddy! Tell me!”

“Hockey game. Tonight. You get to meet my team.”

Nia dropped to her back in the snow and made angels. “Yaaaay!” Her arms and legs swished wildly through the snow.

“Thanks for including us,” Charlie said.

“Sure. Consider it a thank you for flying us around,” Sawyer said then turned to Austin. “We’ll need to keep a low profile if we can, okay?” He angled his head to Nia who had gotten to her feet and wandered over to the helicopter. “Her mother doesn’t want Nia tangled up in the media.”

“Got it,” Austin said. “Disguise mode will be activated.”

“Thank you.”

“Okay,” Charlie said. “Let’s get this tour going then.”

They all piled into her helicopter and Charlie spent the next hour and a half flying them around the area. She pointed out Brenton Lake, the three big mountains that surrounded Maplehaven, Brenton Sawmill, which was responsible for the town getting its start back in 1798, and a whole host of other local landmarks. Seeing the sparkling, snow-covered mountains, fields, and trees from the sky was breathtaking, and watching Nia press her nose to the windows as she took everything in was wonderful. She asked Charlie a million questions and Charlie answered every one of them.

When they touched down on the ground again, Nia let out a whoop as she ripped off her headphones.

“That was so great! I love flying! I want a helicopter when I grow up!” She twirled on one foot.

“Well, start saving money now,” Charlie said. “These birds ain’t cheap.” She ran a hand along the side of her chopper then spread her arms out as if she were hugging the aircraft. “But they’re worth every penny.”

“And I get to ride in it again tonight!” Another twirl. This one ended with Nia flopping into the snow again.

With thanks to Charlie and Austin and plans to meet back at the chopper later, Sawyer led Morgan and Nia to his SUV. Once they were all inside, he turned to see both Nia and Morgan.

“So what do we do while we wait for game time, ladies?” he asked, absolutely loving this day more and more as it progressed.

“We could chill by the Pine River Cottages pool,” Morgan suggested.