Page 17

Chapter Seventeen

“M ate, I love Powderfinger as much as the rest of the world, but if I have to listen to that song one more time…” Andy left the rest unspoken and I nodded, throwing my phone into my bag. It wasn’t his fault I was a miserable fucking bastard, nor the rest of the team.

I knew the first training session of the pre-season was supposed to be massive energy. The boys all stoked to be back for another year, desperate to be selected for the first match, living off the high of their break and renewed to get back into it.

But I was miserable, exhausted and angry.

Something most of the team weren’t used to in me.

Since leaving Willow Bay two days ago, I hadn’t heard from Winter.

Not even once.

I thought, hoped , when she woke and noticed I was gone, she would call me. Beg me to come back. Or even just send me a message to say hi. But I had no contact. And I didn’t have the emotional capacity to reach out after I’d stripped myself bare. All cards on the table, finally telling her how I felt, only for it not to be enough.

I wasn’t enough.

With that sobering thought, I threw what was left of my belongings into my locker and headed for the bathrooms to regroup before we hit the paddock. I bypassed the main set, knowing it would be filled with raucous laughter, retellings of trips overseas plus stories from a couple of the newer boys getting married or engaged. Not wanting to dampen the mood anymore than I already was, I locked myself in the room which housed a shower and a sink.

Fuck knows what it was used for but it was lockable and gave me a few minutes on my own to splash water on my face and get my head clear. At least I had pre-season to focus on. A few months where I didn’t have to think about the subtle hint of strawberry when I snuggled into the crook of her neck or the feel of her hips in my hands and her lips against my own.

Fuck .

Forcefully unlocking the door, I raced out and joined the boys on the field needing the distraction more than ever.

By the end of the session I felt a bit better. Mentally, I’d been able to find my rhythm, no room for thoughts anywhere other than on the next task I was assigned. Most of the time by Jay, who over the break had accepted an offer as Defensive Coach. When I first arrived and saw him with the coaching staff, I wasn’t even the least bit surprised. His knowledge of the game was first-class and I was honoured to learn from him, even if he did push me harder than the rest today.

“You look trim,” Jay said as a cold splash of water hit my back courtesy of the bottle in his hand.

“Thanks, Coach,” I said with a smirk. The first time my lips had even felt like lifting in the last two days.

“Oooh. I like the sound of that.” He mocked and my lips lifted a little higher.

“You good, man?” He moved in closer, standing in front of me so the sun was no longer in my eyes. Sitting on the ground, I undid my laces and took my boots off. Always the first thing I did after finishing a session.“Because you look like shit.”

“Honestly. No.”

“I’m not going to pry. But you know where my office is if you need to come chat to Coach Jay.” His words held his signature humour, but I knew the sentiment was sincere all the same.

“Thanks, Bro. I’ll be okay.”

When he didn’t reply I glanced up towards him but he was looking over my head.

“I think you might just be right,” he replied with a wink before walking around me, the sun suddenly blinding me again.

Turning to ask what he meant, I was stunned into silence when I saw Andy walking towards me with a very familiar companion. I thrust my hand up, blocking the sun and squinting to make sure I wasn’t seeing things but the way my pulse noticeably quickened told me it wasn’t a mirage.

Winter was here.

My Winter was in Sydney, walking towards me in the middle of the fucking ground with Andy, her hand holding his arm as if she needed help balancing.

What the fuck.

I shot up to my feet, wearing only my training shorts and a thick layer of sweat. My breathing was heavy. No longer from the intensity of our session, but the only person I could currently see.

Her legs were highlighted by those fucking heels I loved so much, her denim skirt short, giving every fucker on the field a gorgeous view of something they had no business looking at.

Her shoulders were pushed back exuding confidence, but the closer she got to me, the more I knew it was all false bravado.

I could see the terror in her eyes and when she stopped less than a metre from me, I also noticed the sheets of paper she was holding were visibly shaking.

“Good luck,” Andy said to her and my eyes shot to him where he was wearing a shit-eating grin and wiggling his eyebrows at me. She thanked him as he stepped away yelling at the rest of my ogling teammates to hit the showers.

Her chest was rising and falling rapidly, a look of pure fear in her eyes. Taking a step forward she raised her hand, keeping me frozen.

“After you left,” she paused, taking a deep breath as if those words alone pained her, “I realised I never read you the Epilogue of son and Summer’s story.” She closed her eyes briefly, taking another deep breath.

Win was nervous in new places at the best of times, but this was different. She was terrified.

Opening her eyes, she lifted each foot one at a time. “Sorry, I didn’t really consider walking on grass in high heels. I’m sinking.” She admitted with a small smile.

“Anyway. Given you helped me so much in making sure my novel was perfect, I knew I had to read it to you. So here’s a little ditty ’bout son and Summer …” She didn’t sing the lyrics, but I heard the tune all the same. It was our song after all.

I watched her, not wanting to interrupt in case she stopped, ran away or disappeared before my very eyes. Lifting the paper in front of her, she flashed me the smallest smile before she began to read.

Summer was frozen. Everything she thought she knew about the man before her, long forgotten. Her earlier assumptions challenged when he stood before her, declaring his love in an act she never could have envisioned.

The rain had splattered his skin, the backdrop of a tumultuous sea spread out behind him as he told her what she had always hoped, but never thought she would hear.

He loved her.

son loved Summer.

“You’re my North Star,” he’d said. The intensity of the memory alone reigniting a spark deep in her belly.

“I love you,” he’d admitted.

And she’d stood there. Feeling every single thing he was brave enough to admit, but caged by insecurity and fear which prevented the same words leaving her own mouth.

Because more than anything, Summer was terrified of the unknown.

She paused to look up into my eyes as she dropped the papers and spoke from memory or heart or both.

And admitting she loved him too – and she did love him – scared her. Leaving everything she had ever known was near debilitating because Summer knew nothing if not predictability.

But what scared her more than that, was losing .

“I’m sorry,” she said to him now as tears filled her eyes and her hand wiped across her face to catch them. Hoping the words, coming two days later, weren’t too late.

Winter mimicked Summer’s actions, wiping her own tears and I bit my lip to avoid correcting her calling him .

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I loved you too. Because I do. I always have. I thought I couldn’t ever leave Willow Bay. I thought I would miss the beauty of the sunrises over the beach where we spent so many mornings searching for shells. I thought I would miss the grassy roads which led into town – the same path we rode our bikes to and from school hundreds of times. I thought I would miss the nights spent searching for stars, our laughter so deep it ended with a stitch in my side. I thought I would miss the sounds of the cicadas at the beginning of November each year because it meant you were coming home. But it was none of those things I would miss. It was you, .

“You are in the concrete of every single one of my memories. It wasn’t Willow Bay that made me comfortable. It was you. And I will find those things wherever you are because I love you.”

She paused, a small smile on her face which was now covered with tears.

She was here. Regardless of all of the fear it would have evoked, she came.

Because she loved me too.

I stepped towards her, using the pads of my thumbs to swipe her cheeks clear of her emotions.

“I didn’t know son and Summer lived in Willow Bay?” I said and she huffed a small laugh.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you every time I thought about it but I will tell you everyday for the rest of my life. If you’ll have me.”

My hands framed her face, lifting her chin slightly so I could stare into those gorgeous brown eyes.The same brown eyes I’d dreamed about for longer than I could remember.

“You came here. For me,” I whispered and she nodded. “Thank fucking god,” I added before taking her mouth with my own. She melted against me, her hands wrapping around my back tightly. And having her, like this, felt like finally coming home.

It wasn’t until the cheering of the boys got louder that I pulled my mouth from her own.

“Why do you taste like that lethal orange poison?”

“I needed some liquid courage,” she winced and I laughed to the sounds of more hollering. We turned to see the team all lined along the sideline, not having followed the orders of their captain, who was also watching with a troupe of females who I also recognised.

Oh for fuck sake.Did every person I’d ever met need to be here?

“Oh my god,” Winter said as Arna, Marlee, Eva and Felicity came walking towards us.

“Oh, not a chance,” I huffed, yanking Win by the hand and heading for the other side of the ground. There was no way she would be up to meeting those four, but more so, I needed to be alone with her.

“I can’t run in these heels,” she stammered and I made a quick decision, throwing her over my shoulder and increasing my pace to the sideline as she squealed in shock.

The cheers of the boys grew louder and I smiled, the ache which had been heavy on my chest for the last two days, suddenly disappearing.

She was here and she was mine.