Page 132 of If All Else Sails
The words settle lightly on my shoulders, a soft shawl of reassurance.Everything.Wyatt wants everything. The idea thrills me. It also terrifies me, but it thrills me more.
“You didn’t think I was ready for everything?” I pull back until our eyes meet.
Wyatt drops his hands from my face to my shoulders, lightly kneading muscles I didn’t know were sore. “Are you?” he asks. “Ready for everything with me, Rookie?”
I’m set to say yes, but there’s a mild catch in my throat. “I think I’m ready for everything...slowly. But I need some reassurance. I need some concrete ideas of what this will look like. How to be a girlfriend—your girlfriend—and what long distance looks like and—”
“I don’t want you to be my girlfriend for long,” he says.
“Oh.” My stomach drops. “Well, I guess that answers that.”
His eyes widen and his fingers squeeze my shoulders. “No! Foot-in-mouth disease again. What Imeanis, I don’t want you to be my girlfriend for long because I want more. I want you to be my fiancée, then my wife.” At the look on my face, he laughs softly. “See? I’m scaring you with my everything.”
“You already know you want that with me?”
“I’ve been wanting that for years. I’m just waiting for you to catch up. And if that’s slowly, it’s slowly. If it’s next month, it’s next month.”
“Next month?” I practically shriek the words.
“Just as a hypothetical,” he assures me, but I get the impression he also means it. “And as for the distance, it may not be that long if your brother works his magic. That’s why he called.”
“What’s why he called?”
And then my eyes glaze over just a little as Wyatt talks animatedly about a trade deadline and contracts and throws out names of other players who made big moves like Eichel and Tkachuk.
Feeling almost dizzy from all the information, I ask, “Are they friends with Liz Frank?”
He grins. “Probably not. The point, though, is that I mightnot be in Boston next season. If your brother is as good as he says he is, I’ll be in DC.”
Wyatt will be in DC.For a moment, a bubble of happiness eases the tightness in my chest. An hour away—or four, depending on the nightmare Northern Virginia traffic.
Then I groan and drop my forehead to Wyatt’s chest. “You mean the fate of whether or not we’ll be hundreds of miles from each other depends on my brother?”
“Yep.”
“Please tell me he’s as good at his job as he always says he is.”
“We’ll see. But it might take a few days.”
Once again, I lean back to meet Wyatt’s gaze. “You’re really thinking about moving cities and teams? For me?” I suddenly feel totally embarrassed. “Oh—right. It’s closer to your mom.”
“I’m moving for you. With the added bonus of being closer to my family. Especially if I want to repair things with Peter.”
Wyatt doesn’t mention his dad, and I wonder if it’s too late there, or if maybe that’s a longer-term plan. I’m not about to push now. Especially when I’d rather think about Wyatt being closer tome. Having Wyatt just up the road from Fredericksburg is better than all the way in Boston. I could even catch a train. I’ve done it before to see Jacob.
“Wait—so did you already have this plan in place?” I ask.
“It’s something I’ve considered for a long time, but there wasn’t any urgency.” He pauses. “Not until now.”
Wyatt’s eyes darken, revealing a different kind of urgency. One echoed in the searing kiss he gives me while waves still lap at our feet. And then they cascade over our ankles and calves as the tide rolls in. When we finally pull back, breathless, we’re the only ones on the beach, and the sky has darkened to a soft, velvety purple.
“I don’t want to overwhelm you,” Wyatt says, trailing a finger along my jaw. “And I think I very easily could.”
“Maybe I want to be overwhelmed,” I whisper.
His eyes meet mine. “Then know that I love you, Josie. And I don’t expect you to say—”
“I can’t promise to overwhelm you back. I don’t think I’m the overwhelming type.” He frowns and starts to argue. I shake my head and smooth my thumb over the furrow in his brow. “But I think I can shake you up. Make you smile every so often.”
