Page 99 of Relief Pitcher

“And, Cooper, to watch you let my brother in after you would’ve had every right to close yourself off to the world has been incredible. You’ve shown an immense amount of courage to not only love again but to choose my brother of all people. I heard somewhere there’s a thin line between courage and foolishness. You’re the one that will have to put up with Tyler for the rest of your lives.”

Coop squeezed my hands. “It’ll be my pleasure.”

“Aww!” Danita sniffled.

“The grooms have their own vows for each other.”

Coop cleared his throat. “I’ve known you were someone special since that first moment I saw you in that piece of crap rain jacket, and you were more worried about your cheese than your car. When you admitted your secret love for Hallmark movies, I knew I was in trouble. Every time I tried to talk myself out of feeling big things for you, I failed.”

Coop reached out and wiped the tear falling down my face. “And I’ve never been happier to fail at something. You make me a better man. You push me to invest in the things I love and invest in myself. You make space for my past alongside our future.”

I nearly choked from trying to hold back the sobs.

“But I need to come clean about something before we begin our marriage.”

My stomach swooped. It couldn’t be bad. He wouldn’t mention something heavy at our wedding, right?

“That first weekend? I lied about the chainsaw not working. I’m an arborist and a wood artist. Obviously, I have chainsaws and backup parts. I was angling for you to stay longer.”

I smiled so wide it nearly hurt. “Thank you for confessing your crimes. I forgive you for trying to get into my pants. I would’ve done the same if I were you.”

I basked in the laughter of my loved ones.

“I love you, Tyler McNeill, and can’t wait to be your husband.”

I leaned in to kiss him, and Seth stuck his notebook in front of my face. “You’re not married yet.”

“Prude.”

Seth grinned. He was having way too much fun with all the power.

“Guess that means it’s my turn. For the record, I love you too, Cooper Martin. I’m pretty sure everyone here would agree they never expected me to settle down with anyone. Half the people here are probably still processing that this is even happening right now.”

“Yup,” Austin said.

Others nodded when I looked out at the group. Tears fell down Ethan’s and Austin’s faces. Dammit, that set me off again.

I turned back to my husband-to-be. “But meeting you was like landing on a collision course. There was no way I could’ve walked away from you. I’d planned to, but then I kept coming up with reasons to text you. Then the texting turned to softball practice and hanging out after practice, then—cover your ears, Ma—turned into more. I kept thinking I was in control and our chemistry would fizzle. That we’d get our fill of each other and move on. I’m so glad I was wrong.”

Coop’s eyes glistened as a tear slid down his cheek. I wiped it away with my thumb before returning my hand to his. “I’ll never get enough of you. You embrace me and all my quirks, my sense of humor, which I think is fantastic but have been crudely informed not everyone agrees. You accept my mistakes and never judge me for them. You make me want to be a better person. You let me in, and you show me love.”

I squeezed my eyes closed.

“I want to spend the rest of my life showing you how much I love you. Gotta lock you down before someone else does, you know?” I smiled at his laughter. “Meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned from all this, it’s don’t listen to Dom. If I had, I never would’ve gone to the coast and met the love of my life.”

“I can’t believe you held on to that remark for over two years,” Dom grumbled.

Seth turned to Coop, who nodded. Coop dropped my hands, moved over to the sheet, and lifted it to reveal a wooden heart sitting on one of our round plant tables.

“I impulsively kept a piece of wood from the tree that kicked off our weekend together. I wasn’t sure why at the time, but when things got serious between us, the reason became clear.” He handed me one of his carving tools. “I thought we could add our initials to it, then I’ll add it to the tree. A marriage of our wood.”

Cooper winced, and I used every ounce of self-control I possessed not to make a remark.

“Definitely could’ve phrased that better.”

“You said it, not me.” I beamed at him.

There was no stopping the tears at that point. Coop wrapped me in his arms until I could pull myself together. Carving into our wood was the perfect gesture. We stood shoulder-to-shoulder as we added our initials and the date. My hand shook the entire time.

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