Page 132 of Puck Happens

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I was curledup against his left side, listening to the sound of his breathing, feeling everything settle around me. This was right where I was supposed to be. I knew it in my bones. Now that he could handle stairs, it was time for him to move up to Montreal, so he could continue his recovery with me.

I assumed he was asleep, but then I heard him take a weighty breath and I knew instinctively what was coming.

“Liv, I might not be able to make it back,” he said. “You get that?”

I nodded against his chest without saying anything.

“So I’ll be one of those really annoying boyfriends who wants to go to the super market with you, and sit with you while you get your hair done and shit like that.”

“We’ll get side by side pedicures. You’ll love it,” I said, squeezing him in a hug to offer all my support in the only way I could.

“Are you really okay?” I asked, lifting my head to look down at him. “All that stuff you said in Montreal, about if this is how it ends?”

“I always knew that someday there would be an end, but I didn’t spend any time imagining what that would look like. I thought the rest of my life would just fall into place and now I can see how naïve that was.”

“My father would say that means you’re maturing. He was rooting for you, by the way. He thought you loved me.”

“He was right. I need to go back to Seattle. To apologize properly for the way I acted.”

“Let’s worry about that later. We don’t need to worry about anything except you getting better. That’s it.”

“I’m never going to ask you to give up your job, you know that, right?”

“I know. We can make this work.”

I stroked his face and sighed. Sleep was creeping up on me. I’d been running ragged driving back and forth to Portland and still keeping up the schedule at work.

But even with the stress and the schedule and my worry for him, I’d never been so happy.

“Dillon, are you happy?” I was pretty sure he was asleep and I fully expected a snore instead of a response.

But he surprised me and replied. “Liv, I can honestly say, here, now, I’m happier than I’ve ever been.”

“Me too.”

“Good. Now rest up so we can go again. I want that pussy all over my face.”

I smiled. “It’s how romantic you are that really gets to me.”

* * *

EPILOGUE

Eighteen Months Later

Bank Trust Arena

Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals

Liv

“Let’s face it, if the Bruisers win this game tonight, this might mark one of the greatest comebacks we’ve seen in a long time.”

“That’s right, Frank. When Dillon Le Coeur came back, those first few months were tough to watch. A lot of us wondered whether he was ever going to play at his previous level.”

“Well, I’ll go so far as to say, not only has The Heart returned to his former self, I think he’s improved. Is it my imagination, or is he skating faster than O’Rourke?”

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