Page 48 of Claiming Her Cougar (Shifting Pines #2)
LIAM
“We’re approved! We officially own a hockey franchise!” Teagan is giddy on the FaceTime call with me and Jake.
“When is the Paranormal Hockey League making their announcement of the formation of the League and the inaugural teams?” Jake asks.
“February fourteenth,” she says.
Valentine’s Day. I can work with that. It’s only two weeks away.
If everything goes according to plan, it’ll be perfect.
If it doesn’t…well, I’ll have a hockey team as the focus of all my time and attention.
We officially closed on the pier, so pulling permits and renovating has started.
The few remaining tenants were agreeable to having their leases bought out, and any of their employees that were interested and qualified were offered jobs at Devil’s Den, so it’s worked out that we can move full steam ahead with an empty property.
It’s an eighteen-month timeline before the PHL starts their preseason games.
It will be tight, but it’s doable. We will do this.
We spend the following few hours discussing the next steps and working through our lists. A lot of things have been in progress secretly for months. We’re excited to make them public. I can’t wait to share them with Mallory. Hopefully, she wants to listen.
* * *
I check my watch. It’s only just past seven in the morning, so no one should be in the building this early to see me make my special delivery.
I hope this works. I sit at Daphne’s desk to pen the note.
I should have prepared it at home, but I returned from the Philly airport a couple hours ago, and I’m exhausted.
I read through the note one more time.
Dear Mallory, Happy Valentine’s Day. I could have gotten you a card, but I think this may make more of a statement.
I’m sorry for being an idiot. I wanted to protect you, and all I did was hurt you, and I’m sorry.
I will never do it again. I hope after you see what is in the envelope, you’ll agree to be my girlfriend.
If you want to give this thing, and me, another chance, please be at the Leeds Ballroom at Devil’s Den at 10:00 a.m. Enjoy the kiss.
I have more if you want them. Yours, Liam.
I put the sealed white envelope containing a copy of my letter of resignation from Morgan Development on Mallory’s keyboard and place the note I wrote on Daphne’s yellow legal pad on top.
I use tape from Mallory’s funky plastic unicorn tape dispenser to tape a Hershey’s Kiss to it under my signature.
Today is the announcement of the formation of the Paranormal Hockey League and our team’s inclusion as one of the inaugural members. One way or another, my future starts today. I hope it’s everything I’ve been dreaming of.
* * *
“You okay, dude?” Jake asks.
We’re in the ballroom at Devil’s Den, and the press conference announcing the PHL and our team is about to start.
Reporters train their video cameras and recorders on the dais with the video screen behind it.
The league will be announced via video, and then we’ll field questions about our local team.
“Yeah,” I say, “just anxious. Hope this goes smoothly.”
I look around the room. Mallory isn’t here yet, and it’s almost ten.
Everything else is in place, ready for the announcement.
The banner that will unfurl with the team's name and logo is hanging above the screen. My family’s standing in the back with Teagan’s parents and all of Jake’s crazy family.
Other than his Uncle Enzo, who we swore to secrecy, Jake hasn’t told any of his family about our plans.
His sisters would post it on Facebook and Instagram before Teagan took a breath.
Teagan looks to us to confirm we’re ready, and we nod. She walks to the podium and welcomes the crowd.
“Thank you for joining us this morning. We hope you’re as excited as we are for a new opportunity for Atlantic City.”
The video screen comes to life. Brian Benn, the PHL Commissioner, makes the announcement of the league, calling it an important first step in professional sports. It’s an important first step for a lot of things. Yada, yada, yada.
Mallory still isn’t here. I guess that’s it.
She doesn’t want this. She doesn’t want me.
Can’t say that I blame her. She sees me as someone who would use her and casually toss her away.
She doesn’t know I was ripping out my own heart in order to protect her reputation and make sure she got the chance she deserved to show all that she’s capable of.
I’m going to have to try to keep on existing without her.
Don’t know how I’ll survive with my heart outside my chest. Because it no longer belongs to me.
It’s been Mallory’s from the moment we met all those months ago.
The video ends to murmurs throughout the room, and we take our place with smiles for the crowd. Mine is forced.
Teagan resumes her place at the microphone. “The PMW Group, consisting of myself, Liam Morgan…”
I incline my head and raise my hand in a lame-ass wave.
“And Jake Whitman,” she continues, as Jake waves, “is proud to announce that we have been chosen to own one of the first teams of the Paranormal Hockey League. Collectively, we have a deep-seated love for the game of hockey and are looking forward to bringing professional hockey back to South Jersey. Ladies and gentlemen, I’m thrilled to present the Atlantic City Devil Birds! ”
The banner unfurls and shows the team’s name in a funky gothic font and our team’s logo—an angry-looking seagull holding a broken hockey stick in its beak.
I can hear Uncle Enzo proudly say, “That’s me!
” Jake and I share a laughing glance. Enzo has been dying to tell someone ever since the photoshoot we did with him holding a mini hockey stick.
We’re using an illustrated version of the photo, but anyone who knows Enzo knows it’s him, with the ferocious gleam in his eyes and the slightly crooked beak.
Enzo was a boxer in his youth, and both his human nose and his seagull beak show the damage.
Questions start, and Teagan and Jake handle them. I look over the crowd again just to torture myself, and my heart stops.
Mallory’s here. Her smile is huge, and even across the room, I can see her eyes shining with tears.
She waves and mouths, “Sorry! Crazy traffic!”
I smile back. Hell, there’s no holding back the smile on my face now. Daphne follows my line of sight and sees Mallory. She practically skips on her way to hug her and lead her over to the family where my parents welcome her with hugs of their own.
A reporter from one of the Philadelphia channels stands to ask a question. “Devil Birds is a unique name. I assume it plays in part to the Jersey Devil legacy Teagan Penhall is part of, and the prevalence and reputation of seagulls here at the Jersey Shore. Who came up with it?”
I step forward. “You got it exactly right, Jim. My girlfriend came up with the name, and as soon as we heard it, we knew it was perfect for the team. She didn’t know she was naming a hockey team. She was teasing Jake, but sometimes things are unexpectedly perfect.”
Finally being able to claim Mallory as my girlfriend is one of those unexpectedly perfect things.
We field a few more questions and hand out the media packages to wrap up the press conference.
I walk over to where Mallory’s standing with my family.
I ignore everyone’s congratulations and do what I’ve been longing to do for weeks.
I wrap Mallory in my arms and kiss her as if my life depends on it. Because it does.
I’m sure there are hoots and catcalls and other obnoxiousness in response to our very public display of affection, but I don’t care, and from the way Mallory’s kissing me back, she doesn’t care either.
When we finally come up for air, Mallory pulls back. “You’re really resigning from Morgan Development? We aren’t going to work together any longer?”
“It’s time for something new. I’m hoping it’s with you.”
Mallory’s happy nod tells me what I need to know.
I try to clear the lump in my throat. “You’ve officially been my girlfriend for about four minutes. Is it too soon to tell you I love you?”
No one ever told me that someone could sob with happiness, but apparently Mallory Carter can.
She grasps my face and kisses it all over while laughing.
I laugh in return. “So not too soon?” I ask.
“I love you too, Liam!”
There’s a squeal of happiness to my left. I guess that proclamation got Mom’s attention. If I know her and Aunt Holly, they’re going to start trying to plan our wedding.
I’m okay with that.