Page 154 of Behind the Net

My dad stands. “Group hug.” He gestures to Hazel a few tables away. “Hazel, honey, you, too. Get over here.”

I laugh, and my dad pulls all of us into a warm embrace.

“Hey, you two.” Jordan’s behind us, gesturing to me and Jamie. She’s holding a Polaroid camera. “Come here. I want to take a photo of you.”

Jamie pulls me against him, and the blinding flash goes off just as he presses a kiss to my temple, making me smile.

The camera spits the photo out, and a minute later, the image of us appears.

The photo is snatched out of my hands. “I’ll take that,” Jordan says before she walks behind the bar and tacks the photo to the wall.

“We look happy,” I tell Jamie, and he smiles at me.

“We are, songbird.”

* * *

That evening, I’m in front of the bathroom sink, getting ready for bed, when my phone pings with an email. I read it, and my heart jumps into my throat.

“Pippa,” Jamie calls from our room. “Are you coming to bed?”

I read the email again, hands shaking.

It’s happening. It’s actually happening.

Footsteps approach and Jamie appears at my side. “What’s wrong?”

I smile up at him, dazed and elated. “Nothing’s wrong. Everything’s amazing.”

A laugh bursts out of me because Jamie is so gorgeous and handsome standing here in just his tight black boxers, and Ivy Matthews has offered me a recording contract with her new record label.

I don’t even recognize my life anymore.

When I show Jamie my phone, a huge smile breaks out on his face.

“Songbird.” He says it the same way he saysI love you.

Emotion wells up in my eyes, and I’m smiling so hard it hurts. “Yeah.”

“You did it.”

“I did it because of you.” A tear spills over. “Because you showed me I could.”

“You always had it in you.” His hands are in my hair as he tilts my face up to him. “Always.”

I sigh as he kisses me, and my heart is so complete. I’m going to write a song about this moment.

“I love you,” I tell him for the tenth time today.

He pulls back to look into my eyes, and his gaze is full of affection. “Pippa, I’ve loved you for a lot longer than I realized.”

In a rush, his hands are on me and I’m over his shoulder as he walks to the bedroom. I laugh upside down and give him a slap on the butt.

He gives me a squeeze. “Let’s go make up for lost time.”

EPILOGUE

PIPPA

---