Page 35

EPILOGUE

Sarah - 10 Years Later

I shut the refrigerator with my hip just as a gaggle of kids run past me. “No running in the kitchen, please! And take it outside.”

It’s a very busy week in the Jones household. My husband played his final game last week and is set to announce his retirement this weekend. Along with that we’re celebrating our oldest, Jagger, as he turns six today. So our house is overrun with kids, pets, parents from his hockey team, and Riley’s teammates along with their partners.

I pinch myself when I wake up and realize that this is the life I live now.

My husband, who’s only gotten more attractive with age, strolls into the kitchen with our daughter Avery perched on his shoulders. My eyes track him like a sniper and he’s my only target.

“Down girl,” Emily says in my ear, noticing where my attention has landed .

At thirty-nine, I feel like I’ve lived a fuller life than most. After Riley and I got engaged all those years ago, we put off wedding planning as he was about to head into training for his third season with Columbus. And I was working with more athletes as their publicist. A year went by and we still had yet to hire a wedding planner.

“Do you have a white dress?” Riley asked one night after dinner as we’re sitting on the couch. I was perfectly content sitting next to him with my legs in his lap, but my touchy-feely boy couldn’t stand not having me closer. So he dragged me onto his lap where I’ve been for the last ten minutes fiddling with the strings from his hoodie.

“Have you seen my closet?”

“Right. Silly me. Well, how about tomorrow we go down to the courthouse and just get married.”

“Really?” I asked hopefully.

He holds me steady as he leans back on the couch. “Yes. Neither of us really want a big wedding. And I’ve been ready to call you ‘my wife’ since I put a ring on your finger. Let’s stop avoiding the inevitable.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” I cheer and throw my arms around him.

“Damn. And I thought that word was only reserved for when my tongue is in your pussy.”

I pinch him on his side and his laughter is one that’s rare, but freely let loose around me, sets free a swarm of butterflies in my stomach. “Stop that.”

True to his word, we got married on a Wednesday at the courthouse in Columbus. Momma, Pops, and my Dad were our witnesses as we committed to and tied our lives to each other. Of course, the girls were livid when they saw we got married, so they took it upon themselves to throw us a kick-ass reception. Which is what we always wanted.

“There’s my girl,” Riley announces when he sees me in the kitchen. He picks Avery up off his shoulders and places her on the floor. As soon as she’s on her feet, she’s off to find Kamryn’s kids.

“Hi, baby.” I greet him when he joins me at the kitchen island.

Despite us living in this gigantic house since before Jagger was born, I’m still getting used to all of this space. Sometimes I miss my townhouse and his condo where everything was steps away. Riley takes my hand and pulls me into the open walk-in pantry and pushes me up against the wall, devouring my mouth while our kids, and friends and family are just outside.

“I missed you.” He tells me when we come up for air. His lips have taken on my lipgloss and I wipe them off on my jeans.

My hands slide around to rest in the back pockets of his jeans. “You just saw me this morning. Matter of fact, you saw a whole lot of me this morning.”

Having two kids hasn’t lessened the drive between us. Nope. It’s only forced us to get more creative about where we have sex. Having Jagger walk in on us when he was three was enough for us.

“You act like that was enough for me.” Riley says and presses his body to mine. His eyes roam over my body before landing back on my eyes. He has that look that I know means something.

“What…why are you looking at me like that?” I ask him and twine my fingers through his, swinging them side to side.

“I found a breeder,” he tells me and looks like the boy I met a decade ago.

“You did?”

It’s something we talked about and I know we should head to the shelter to adopt. But since losing Sasha and Pixie due to age, my husband has been lost. Losing them was hard for me, but Riley took it harder. We agreed to wait until he retired to look into breeders. But we weren’t exactly sure when he would announce his retirement.

“Yeah,” his excitement makes me want to jump up and down. “They have a cat that’s about to give birth any day now. I thought after next week, we could go and look?”

“You know I can’t say no to you when you get all little boy, sad face.”

He steps forward, backing me up to the shelves. “Oh, yeah? Well I’ll–”

A knock on the pantry door has us jumping. “Jagger is ready for cake!” Kamryn yells and Riley drops his head on my shoulder.

“He is so your son.” I tell Riley and kiss him on the neck before pushing him back from me. He swats me on the butt as I pass him and head to the refrigerator again to get our little boy’s cake.

Riley helps me place the candles and light them and we look up to see Jagger sitting, rather impatiently, at the table. His feet are swinging beneath him and he hasn’t stopped smiling since he woke up.

“Happy birthday to you…” we all begin as Riley brings the cake around and sits it in front of him. My husband and I stand on either side of Jagger while the singing is loud and out of tune, but it’s oh, so perfect.

Jagger blows out his candles when the song finishes and Riley and I can’t resist kissing him on the cheeks. He looks so much like Riley, just with my hair color. He has my attitude, God help us all, but his kindness is what makes him the best son anyone could ask for.

A long time ago, I stopped wishing for something like this to happen for me. But I had a boy knock down every single wall I built and instead he rebuilt those walls with him inside. Ten years with the love of my life has gone by in the blink of an eye and I wouldn’t change this life we built for anything else.

Riley

“Are you ready for this?” Clay my agent asks before we step onto the makeshift stage.

I look over at my family and smile at all that I’m gaining by stepping away from the game. At thirty-four, my body is done. And with two kids, I want to enjoy them without hurting all of the time.

“Yeah. I’m ready for this.”

I step onto the stage alone, my teammates stand off to one side and my family stands off to the other side. I look at Sarah and see the woman I fell in love with ten years ago, giving me the same reassuring smile that she gave me at that hotel bar before I schmoozed the big wigs.

We’ve come a long way. From the boy who loved freely and the girl who refused to love at all, we have created a life that I always dreamed about.

“Hi, little skater,” I coo to my wife’s swollen belly as I lay on the bed. He picks the right moment to move and kick at my lips resting against Sarah’s belly. “You want out, huh?”

“Don’t rush him. We still have two months,” my beautiful wife says.

We celebrate four years being married soon and it’s kind of a race to see which comes first: our son’s arrival or celebrating another year of marriage. These last years with Sarah have been nothing short of adventurous. During the off-season we’ve traveled while still keeping up with her job. And when it’s hockey season, we go back and forth from Columbus and Cincinnati like a well-oiled machine. One day we’ll settle down in one city, but for now, we’re enjoying life where we can.

“How’re you feeling, Blue?” I ask and move up the bed to sit next to her. Sasha is curled on the other side of Sarah with Pixie on one of the beds by the window.

She runs her hands over her stomach and sighs contentedly. “The normal aches. He moves a lot when he hears your voice.”

I place my hand on top of hers and link our fingers together. Leaning over, I place a kiss on Sarah’s lips. I was unprepared for how having a baby would change us—change her. With me being in season, it’s been hard to miss the milestones she’s had and I’ve kicked myself for missing appointments that couldn’t be moved due to road games. But she’s been a rock through this journey.

“What’s on your mind, honey?” Sarah asks and runs her hand through my hair.

I sneak a kiss on her wrist and sit back against the headboard. “I’m thinking about a lot of things. Mainly us and how long I want to play.”

“You and I are forever, so that’s settled,” she chuckles with me. “Are you thinking about retiring? Because you have a handful of years left, babe. And you are in your prime.”

“Maybe I’m just tired and full of guilt for missing things when it comes to you and the baby.”

“Riley Theodore Jones do not beat yourself up for this. We knew this was a possibility when you knocked me up on your birthday,” she teases.

I smirk and look at the product of my birthday growing. “And I’d do it again. ”

“Okay, caveman. We’re going to be okay. You, me, the girls, and our little boy.”

“I know. Just something I’ve been feeling.”

The sound of cameras clicking and flashes going off when I take my spot behind the podium threaten to blind me, but I focus on a dark spot in the back of the room and address the room. “Thank you all for coming. I know everything was up in the air after our last game.” The guys cheer and hold up the Stanley Cup. Yeah, we won the final and most important game of our careers. If any athlete decides when the right time is to make that life-altering move, it’s after a championship win. “It’s hard to know when to make the right decision to walk away or keep going. And there is no better or easier way to say this, but I’m officially announcing my retirement. I’ve given over twenty years to this game and ten years playing for my hometown. Who can say that they’ve committed to something for longer than an hour?” The crowd laughs and I use that as another second to gather my thoughts.

“This game was something I started with my dad, so walking away from something that he was an important part of, I’ll never be able to thank him. But I know he’s watching with a smile on his face. Thank you, to Coach Anderson for taking a chance on a rookie, on me. I’ve gained an incredible mentor and even more, a friend. Thank you, to the teammates who became like brothers. And as an only child that was all I ever wanted and you all made these last eleven years more memorable than I could have ever hoped for. Thank you, to Momma and Pops for shuffling me to my practices and cheering me on at my games. I don’t know where I would be or who I would be if it weren’t for you two. I want to give a special thank you to my wife. For the last ten years you have been by my side, cheering me on and helping me ice my aching body. You saw through the mask that I presented to everyone. You became my favorite cheerleader and just having you by my side through this insane sport I did, I’ll never be able to tell you how grateful I am that you were there every step of the way. To my kids, who made the homecoming that much more special, thank you. And I want to give a final thank you to the fans. For standing by us through the good and bad. You all made stepping out onto the ice every game day one I’ll never forget. While I’m hanging up my skates for the final time, hockey will never leave me. Thank you.”

I turn to my wife and kids. Sarah with her teary expression and our kids with faces of joy. Then I turn to my team, who’ve been there with me through it all. And as I walk off the stage with my family by my side, I realize I’m still gaining more than anyone could hope for.

Later that night as Sarah and I crawl into bed, we just stare at each other. A million words pass between us but nothing comes out. Nothing needs to be said.

“I love you. And I’m so proud of you,” she says and slides over into my arms.

I kiss her on the forehead and tuck her closer to my body. We still hate when any inch of space is between us, which makes our kids scrunch their faces up in disgust, which in turn makes us want to show more affection towards each other. “Thank you for making this last decade one I will never forget. I’m so glad you let it be me to love you.”