Page 88 of Tempting the Goalie
“You’re so calm,” I say to Aaron.
“I wouldn’t say I’m calm. I’m excited. I can’t wait to make Briar my wife,” he states.
My best friend looks so at peace and happy. I completely understand how he feels. He’s making the woman he loves his forever. I want that too.
The ceremony begins and the wedding party walks down the aisle in pairs. My friends all walk with their girlfriends but since mine isn’t here, I walk on my own. We make it to the head of the aisle. They are getting married on the beach so there’s a breeze brushing off the water. Aaron comes down the aisle with his dad. He stops beside me and I watch him watch Briar coming down the aisle, pushing his mom in a wheelchair. The emotion in his eyes does something to me and suddenly I’m pulled into a fantasy. This isn’t Aaron and Briar’s wedding it’s mine, and Izzy is walking toward me in a white dress. My heart picks up pace and I feel so alive, so impatient, like I can’t wait for her to close the space between us. My fantasy gets interrupted when the pastor asks Aaron for the ring, cue my role in the ceremony. I take the black velvet box out of my front pocket and pass it to him. One of the guys is holding little Atlas in his arms. They are a family. When Aaron kisses his bride, we all cheer and then the wedding party begins, but me, I’m sitting on pins and needles. I want to get back home to Izzy. I know exactly what I need to do.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Isabelle
The doorbell rings as I’m sitting on the large sectional with my brothers—minus Phoenix—Daddy, and Sandy watching an old Bruce Willis movie.
“I’m not getting it,” Asher announces.
“Neither am I,” Becket says.
Everyone is tired after we spent about twelve hours on the ski slopes yesterday. There is a fire crackling in the fireplace, and we are all warm and cozy. The weather outside is brutal with blowing snow and below freezing temperatures.
The doorbell rings again and each one of the Thorne men take a stubborn stance.
“I’ll get it.” Sandy laughs.
“It’s fine. I’ll go get it,” I offer. “I don’t know who it could be at this hour.”
I open the door to Luc, standing in his big black puffer jacket and a toque on his head that looks like it was once blue, but with all the snow attached to it looks white.
“Luc, what are you doing here?” I fly into his arms. The snow on his jacket gets me wet. “Come in.” I release him enough timefor him to enter the foyer and roll in his luggage inside the house.
“It didn’t feel right being in Punta Cana without you. Aaron and Briar got married. I fulfilled my role. I needed to see you,” he says.
He pulls off the toque. “OMG, Luc, I’ve missed you so much.”
“Bean, who’s here?” Daddy calls from the family room.
“It’s Luc,” I shout.
I hear Asher mutter Loverboy and Daddy tells him to hush.
“I know we’ve been going back and forth on what to do and it’s been eating away at us,” he says.
“Do you want to take your boots off and come in? This sounds important,” I say to him.
He eagerly removes his boots and follows me into the house. “I should say hi to your family.”
“Can you do that after? It feels like whatever you came to say is important,” I feel my heart kick up pace. His skin is sun-kissed and it makes his gray eyes pop. But it isn’t only his good looks that have me in a twist. It’s the look in his eyes, a look of admiration mixed with anticipation that has me on edge.
“It is, I left my trip a week early because I needed to be with you.”
I feel my smile spread from cheek to cheek. “I missed you too.”
“I more than missed you, Izzy. You felt missing. I didn’t feel whole. . .it wasn’t. . .right. I want you beside me always. You’re what matters most to me. More than hockey or a Stanley Cup. You’re a part of me, Izzy, you always have been. When I saw Briar walking down the aisle I zoned out, and suddenly it was you, it was us. . .” He blinks. “I don’t know if I’m making any sense.”
“You’re making perfect sense,” I encourage, holding his hands in mine.
“I want it all, Izzy, I want as many kids as you’ll be willing to have, I want to be around you and them always. I don’t want to miss out. I love you so damn much. I don’t care what team I land on. It’s a job. One I’m committed to do my best at. But you’re the best part of me and I love how much you love your family and want to be close to them. So if you want to move to Montreal and go to school there, I will sign with Montreal because my home is wherever you are, and if it’s some other place you want to live, I’m all in. It doesn’t matter where I work as long as I have you by my side.”
I fling my arms out and wrap them around his neck. I kiss him like it’s nobody’s business.
