Page 75 of Love You Too

“What’s this?” She turns it over to see the seal of the hotel where I was staying in Miami. Inside is one piece of hotel stationery, which she takes in her hands and unfolds.

“You said I should write a letter. I did.”

After reading the words on the paper, she holds it up to me. I see my scratchy pen scrawl from that night, reading, “Do you want to know why I bought a place in Napa?”

“Okay, I’ll bite. Why did you buy a place in Napa?

“Flip the page over.”

She does so and reads aloud. “Because I knew you lived there. And when I became a free agent, the first team—the only team—I looked at was the Otters. Because I hoped it would bring me back to you. In ten years, I’ve never stopped loving you.”

Shock registers in the clear blue of her eyes. “You’re serious?”

I nod. “Ten years. So you can think you hijacked my plans with a baby or whatever, but I’m telling you that you were my plan all along. You are the only plan worth dreaming about.”

I pull in a deep breath of air and hold it in my lungs before letting any last bit of resistance drain from me. There was never anything to think about, no chance I was ever leaving, so I might as well tell her the rest.

“You came back.” She says the words slowly, like she’s getting used to them.

I nod. “I guess I don’t want a one-note life that’s focused only on hockey. I guess I was hoping for a complication.”

She barks out a laugh. “Well, you sure as heck found one. Two, actually.” She points to her belly.

We’ve been sitting on opposite sides of a concrete table under an umbrella, but I move from my bench to her side and tuck in close to her. I want to be closer to her when I tell her how I feel. I don’t want a chance she won’t hear me.

“Best decision I ever made. Bar none.”

She looks up at me, those clear blue eyes that see everything and still find joy in wondering how the world works. “Bar none?”

I shake my head. “Best decision. Ever.”

She tips her head against my shoulder, dusting my cheek with the loose tendrils of hair that have fled her ponytail. This is my happy place. I run a finger beneath her chin and turn her face up to mine. I want to see the serene blue of her eyes, and I want to kiss her lips.

I’m gentle at first, tentative because I want to make sure she really wants this. Wants me. She responds, gripping my face in her hands and pulling me tighter against her lips. I delve deeper, swirling my tongue against hers and sucking on her bottom lip until she gasps.

Leaning back, Trix puts her hand over her heart and looks at me with wide-eyed amazement. “I am never going to get enough of you,” she says.

I shake my head. “Same. Not ever. I’m so sorry I made you doubt me.”

We sit in silence for a while, and I pull her tight against my side. No one else is here. Our only company is three empty tables with red umbrellas. Trix lays her head on my shoulder again and I stroke her hair.

“Thank you for coming back,” she says.

“It was fine. Team doesn’t need to fly out until the morning.” I start thinking about the logistics of getting to the next away game if I miss getting back on the jet later. But I’ll deal with that once I get Trix home.

She reaches for my chin and turns my face toward hers, bringing me back to the present.

“No,” she clarifies. “Not tonight. Thank you for coming back to me.”

CHAPTER 34

Ren

Two WeeksLater

I never likehearing the odds makers predict our chances of winning a hockey game before we’ve even warmed up on the ice. It gets in my head, and even when we’re playing great, I can’t stop thinking about whether we’re “supposed to” win or not. To avoid hearing predictions, I stay off social media and avoid sports news in the days before games. Usually that works, but there’s always the chance of overhearing something accidentally.

Today, I’d like some odds.

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