Page 69 of Faking It with my Hockey Crush

Emma

A bunch of caterers begin removing panels from one side of the tent, and I’m starting to get confused.

“What’s going on? Where’s Ryan?”

Thomas slides up beside me, and with a knowing smile, he says, “He just had to step out.”

“And this?” I gesture to the marquee tent that’s now completely open on one side.

“I don’t know,” Thomas says, clearly lying and not trying to hide it. “Let’s go look, shall we?”

Our guests have been instructed to gather at the large space that looks out over the garden, and leading me by my elbow, Thomas guides me to the front.

At first, nothing happens, and then music begins to play. I can’t quite catch the first few bars, but then I recognize the song. “Can’t Stop the Feeling” by Justin Timberlake.

A second later, bright colored lights splash onto the frozen lake, and I gasp and squeal, along with everybody else. Ryan and all his teammates are on the ice. They’re dressed in identical black suits, white shirts, and black ties.

In complete synchronicity, they start to dance, their arms flicking, bodies moving, skating in circles with the beat…

While everyone is cheering and whooping, I’m jumping up and down on the crisp snow beneath my feet, my heart exploding outof my chest.The guys move as one, not faltering once, hitting every note perfectly on the beat.

All of us are now dancing with them, but nowhere near as well. When the chorus hits, the guys jump high in the air, land on the beat, and groove it to perfection.

At this point, the whole team crouches to the ice and stops, eliciting a whoop from us all. Then they carry on, hitting their routine as good as old Justin himself. When the guitar bridge hits, Ryan dance-walks to the edge of the lake and beckons me out to him.

I shake my head, but with a gentle push from Thomas, I go to him. The beat is still going, and the guys behind him still dance. When I’m at the edge of the lake, Ryan takes me by the hands.

“Do you trust me?” he pants, his hot breath floating in clouds of condensation.

I nod in giddy trepidation.

“Okay. Hold on tight.”

Wrapping his arms around my waist, he lifts me up and skates back onto the ice to a roaring cheer from our guests behind us. My arms are wrapped around his neck, and his arms grip around my waist, and then he gently spins me. I’m laughing, my stomach is doing somersaults, and my legs hang freely beneath me.

The music goes on and on as we spin gently round and round, and in that moment, I know my life will be one adventure after another. When the music stops, the lights cut out, and Ryan brings us to a halt. The guests go nuts, but the sound fades into the background as Ryan lowers his head and softly kisses me.

Then above all the noise behind us, he whispers, “You’re the best thing to ever happen to me, Emma. I’m going to love you until the end of time.”

26

Epilogue

Ryan

Two Years Later…

When I married Emma, I didn’t think there was anything that could top that moment or feeling of happiness. I was wrong.

Ten months after our wedding day, we welcomed our beautiful baby daughter, Lily, into the world. Emma worked so hard in the birth, and though it was hard for me to watch her being in so much pain and not being able to do a darn thing about it, I couldn’t have been prouder of her.

After eighteen hours of labor, we were presented with our gorgeous little girl, and the first thing we noticed about her was the shock of red hair.

“Oh, I’m in trouble,” I said, smiling down at my exhausted wife.

“You can bet your butt you are. One redhead is bad enough. Two?” She grinned. “I’m telling you, you’re done for.”

As it happens, Lily was an angel from the moment we brought her home. She slept through the night, did all the things she was supposed to do at the times she was supposed to do them, and has brought Emma and me more joy and laughter than we could ever have imagined.

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