Page 167 of The Fake Out Flex

I open my mouth to say something else, but the words stall in my throat. But then I think about how much Fraser has opened up to me. How hard he's worked on himself. This incredible thing he's done for me…

I find the courage to ask, "So what does this mean for us?"

"Well, I've got another season, maybe two, left in me. And then after that, I guess I'll move back home, and if I'm reaaally lucky, the most successful coach in the junior league might put me to good use as her assistant coach."

Something he said in my bedroom all those years ago comes back to me "You've always wanted to coach, too."

With a shy grin, he says "I have. But I thought I lacked the people skills."

"You definitely do not lack the people skills." Then my mind processes the other implication of what he just said. "Wait. Does that mean you're going to move back here? To Comfort Bay?"

He nods. "I'd like to, yeah."

"What about eighteen-year-old Fraser who couldn't wait to get out of here?"

"Yeah, well, almost twenty-six-year-old Fraser has found a reason to come back."

"A reason, eh? Do I know her?"

"You do," he says, releasing a warm chuckle. "I don't know what my post-hockey life will be like. All I know is, I want it to be with you."

EPILOGUE

EVIE

Four months later…

"Something fishy is going on here," Beth says, eyeing the ballroom suspiciously.

"Sorry, it's a little hard to take you seriously when you're dressed as Marie Antoinette," I say with a giggle.

"I agree with Beth. I mean, Marie," Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice, aka Hannah, chimes in beside me, sipping on her champagne. "I mean, why would Fraser throw a historical romance themed party? Something doesn't add up here."

"To be perfectly honest, ladies, I share your suspicions. My boyfriend is definitely up to something."

"Sorry, didn't quite catch that," Amiel, who's wearing a medieval-style dress with flowing sleeves and a cinched waist, says with a gleam in her eye, because she totally did catch that.

"Oh, you mean when I said my boyfriend?" I raise my voice. "My boyfriend, my boyfriend, my boyfriend."

The five of us laugh, because yeah, I'm that girl who will never tire of hearing myself say those two words.

Fraser didn't have the entire summer off, but we spent every single day of his free time in the offseason together. I had a lot of extra time on my hands, since, to no one's surprise, I got fired from The Morning Buzz.

But now that I'm the proud owner of the Harbor View Arena and a junior league hockey team, I didn't have any spare time to cry about it.

You know when everything just feels like an uphill battle?

That's what my reporting career felt like. I kept trying to find an audience that wasn't there. People just aren't interested in good news stories, and I've finally—finally—accepted it.

But do you also know the feeling of when life gives you all the green lights, and things feel easy, and everything just falls into place?

That's how it is with the junior hockey league team I own and will start coaching in the fall.

Even though there's been, and will for the foreseeable future be, a never-ending amount of work to do, everything is progressing smoothly.

Starting with the stadium itself.

Initially we thought it might get by with just a cosmetic makeover, but once we looked into it properly, it quickly became apparent it needs a complete overhaul. It's been vacant for so long, and prior to that, years of neglect and poor management have left it in a rundown and dilapidated condition.

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