Page 189 of Rewind It Back

“I asked team management to not make the announcement until next week. I’ve been planning to tell you like this. Listening to our important moments together. On your birthday. On the roof. Only, I didn’t know it’d work out so perfectly that we’d end up back onthisroof.”

She puts her hands on either side of my face, holding my attention as if it weren’t already on her.

“Rio, playing for Boston is your childhood dream.”

I shake my head. “You’remy childhood dream.”

Her lips part without words.

“Some dreams have changed, but others have remained the same.” I brush her hair behind her ear. “I love the city we live in. I love my team. I love my friends. And I love you. We lost six years, Hallie, and I’m not missing another day of you again.”

Her brows crease with worry. “If it’s about me staying in Chicago, I don’t have to. I can come with you. I don’t want you to give up the chance to play for your hometown team for me.”

“Playing for Chicago feels like I’m playing for my hometown because itismy home now.You’remy home. Being loved by you for the rest of my life is the only dream of mine that’s never wavered. There’s no doubt in my mind that I’m already exactly where I want to be.”

She lets the idea settle in before the beaming smile slowly lifts on her lips. “You’re staying.”

“I’m staying, baby. But I’ve got to say, if we ever do decide to move, we need to pick a warmer place to live if we’re going to keep sitting on the roof in fucking March. It’s freezing right now, and I know the roof of our home in Chicago is just as cold.”

She laughs, her head falling back, until my words sink in, and her eyes cautiously make their way back to mine. “Ourhome?”

“Our home.” Sliding my palms up her thighs, I pull her tighter against me. “I thought you would’ve realized it the first time you came over. Hallie, the irony of hiring you to design the house is that you’re the person I bought it for.”

Those eyes start to gloss over again, and she shakes her head. “I thought there was no way, at first. I noticed the white walls and the four bedrooms. The proximity to the city while still being in a neighborhood, but I thought there was no way you would have remembered that.”

“I remember everything about us.”

“When I learned you still had the mixtapes and I saw the tattoo, I thought maybe it could be.”

“The house has always been yours, Hallie.Ours.It was just waiting for you to come make it a home.”

She laughs this small disbelieving sound, but still she’s emotional. It’s sweet and beautiful and vulnerable. So much more vulnerable than she was when we first ran into each other again a handful of months ago. It’s my soft girl I grew up falling in love with.

Watching her allow herself to feel what she needs to feel seems so much bigger than her simply shedding a few tears.

Hallie leans in and kisses me, whispering against my lips, “How lucky am I to have been loved by you for fifteen years now?”

“What do you say we get to work on making that number so high we start losing track?”

She smiles against my mouth. “I think we can do that.”

“Happy birthday, baby.”

“Thank you for making it my favorite one yet.”

Epilogue

Rio

Two Months Later

“Hey, guys. Come on in.” Opening the front door, I let a group of my teammates into my house to join the party. “Food is in the kitchen and drinks are in the coolers out back. Help yourselves.”

As I greet each of them, they look around the place. Other than Zanders, none of my teammates have been here since renovations began and this new home has become unrecognizable from the hockey frat house they’re used to.

Every time someone new walks in the door, I get to enjoy watching their reactions to my girl’s work. Hallie turned blank white walls into the most beautiful home I’ve ever seen. It’s warm, inviting, and comfortable. It’s a family home now, as it was always meant to be.

Before I leave the entryway, I grab a planter from the front porch to use as a doorstop because I’ve answered the door too many times today. And this housewarming party is more of an open-door, everyone-is-welcome kind of thing anyway.

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