Page 54

TREV

A year and a half later

“Oh, hey! He does clean up!”

I turned around to see Mike, Don, and Jake, my old friends from back home, walking into the room where I’d been getting ready. “Hey, guys! And what do you mean I clean up? I wear bespoke suits all the damn time!”

“Yeah,” Don said, “but you don’t usually go this fancy.”

He had a point. While I wore suits regularly, tuxes were reserved for very special occasions. The League awards banquet. The team’s casino night.

My wedding.

As I exchanged hugs and handshakes with my friends, I asked, “How does Cam look?”

“Pfft.” Mike smacked my arm. “You know we don’t do spoilers.”

“Oh come on. Does he look good?”

In unison, they all rolled their eyes.

“Dude.” Jake shook his head. “It doesn’t matter what we think. Cam could rock up in sweatpants and a jersey from your biggest rival, and you’d still think he looked hot.”

My face burned. “I mean… maybe not a rival’s jersey, but?—”

“Bullshit,” they all said.

Eh, okay. They once again had a point.

“Anyway,” Jake said. “We just wanted to stop in and say congrats before everything got rolling.”

“Thanks,” I said with a smile. “I still can’t believe we’re getting married.”

“I can’t believe it took you this long,” Don said.

“No shit,” Mike said. “We always knew you two would end up together.”

That brought me up short. “You… You did?”

“Well, yeah.” Beside him, Don shrugged. “We all did.”

“Really?”

“Uh, yeah?” Jake said. “You guys were inseparable in high school. When you started dating, we were all like, ‘okay, yeah, Cam and Trev, that makes sense.’”

Mike nodded. “Yep. Now that you guys got rid of the dickbags you were with, I mean—no shit, you’re together. Who else would you have ended up with?”

I eyed all three of them. “None of you guys ended up with anyone from high school.”

“No,” Don acknowledged, “and I can barely remember some of my high school girlfriends’ names. You two, though? You were it. You always were.”

Jake and Mike nodded.

My mouth went a little dry, and my throat got tight. Truth be told, I was pretty sure I’d subconsciously known it too. It was just mind-blowing to realize that three of our closest friends from back then—our straight friends, no less—had clocked us as the real thing even when we were stupid kids.

“Well,” I finally croaked. “We got here eventually.”

“Yeah, you did.” Mike clapped my shoulder. “Congrats, man.”

They each hugged me one more time, and then left to join the rest of our guests.

Alone in the room, I faced myself in the mirror again and fussed with my bowtie for the millionth time.

My friends’ words kept rolling around in my head.

It had taken Cam and me a while to get here, and we’d taken some unfortunate detours over time, but we’d made it.

And maybe those detours had been necessary to get us here.

We’d needed to grow up. If I hadn’t married Bryan, I wouldn’t have Zach and Zane.

If Cam hadn’t needed a job when I’d needed a nanny, we wouldn’t have been thrown into the same house with our simmering attraction.

Maybe we still would’ve made it here if things had happened differently.

Maybe we needed all those bumps and switchbacks.

All I knew was that we were here, and there was no other man I wanted but him.

Of course our relationship wasn’t all sunshine and roses, and we could argue and snipe as much as anyone, but it was perfect for me.

I loved him. I loved coming home to him.

I loved watching him bonding with my twins.

I loved the boring evenings we spent watching TV in our sweats.

I couldn’t have asked for anything better.

The past year and a half had been good for both of us individually, too.

I’d re-signed with the Pittsburgh Rebels for four more years.

Though I hadn’t made any noise about wanting Chats gone, I wasn’t sad in the least when he was traded to San Jose.

I still didn’t know if Eric had decided Chats was too toxic to keep, or if San Jose had wanted him in exchange for the dynamite goalie we’d acquired.

I didn’t ask. Either way, he was no longer on my team or even in my division or conference.

And we had a kickass goalie, so… seemed like a win all around for me!

Getting Cam in touch with our team’s fitness managers had worked out very well.

They’d been super impressed with him, and they hadn’t been bothered by his disclosure about why he’d been fired from his previous gym.

This was especially true after one of them had called the gym to verify the information, and she found out that Cam’s ex had been fired as well.

Turned out he’d been caught on camera harassing both male and female gym goers.

Oh, and he’d tried to badger a younger trainer who’d just been hired into sucking him off in his office, only to find out that younger trainer was the son of the gym’s owner.

In fact, the person our trainer spoke to said they’d been trying to get in touch with Cam to hire him back now that they’d discovered he’d been fired over false allegations from a predator. They were out of luck, though—the Rebels were offering Cam significantly more money to come work for them.

“Well,” the person had apparently said, “tell him we wish him the best of luck, and our door is always open if he comes back to Portland.”

Cam was relieved to hear that, but he didn’t seem interested in going back to the West Coast any time soon.

Not just because we were together, either—the job had been a perfect fit for him.

He was now training several of my teammates, plus numerous prospects and youth hockey players, and literally half of my teammates’ spouses and partners.

He was thriving, all his clients loved him—even if they did complain sometimes that he worked them hard—and he was making money hand over fist.

It worked out well for childcare, too. His schedule was mostly during the boys’ school hours, and his evening and weekend clients were usually when I was home or Bryan had custody.

And speaking of Bryan, things had evened out with him, too.

Ever since we’d had our come-to-Jesus conversation, the dynamic between us had shifted a lot .

He’d mellowed considerably, especially the more he’d realized how much Chats was adding to our antagonistic relationship.

It didn’t hurt that the two of them had broken up shortly after that, either.

Without Chats in the picture to add to the tension, we were finding some much more comfortable footing than we’d had before.

Bryan still hadn’t confirmed or denied if his relationship with Chats had overlapped with ours, but given the change in his attitude after they’d split up, I was pretty sure I had my answer.

I left it alone, though; we were making progress, and that felt like a wound that didn’t need reopening.

We weren’t best friends or anything, but we were cordial, and he’d also worked out a fairly comfortable dynamic with Cam.

The family counselor he’d suggested had been seriously helpful, and we’d gone both together and separately.

The boys joined us for some sessions. So did Cam.

Bryan’s new boyfriend, Rick, had also started coming once it became clear that he was sticking around and Bryan wanted him to meet the boys.

Our family had spent a lot of hours in that office (and I’d spent a lot of hours doing televisits when I was on the road), and it had paid off in spades. During custody swaps, we’d sometimes even linger to talk beyond coordinating things with the twins.

It helped a lot that Bryan had also started going to a therapist on his own.

I wasn’t privy to what they’d talked about, but I could see the shift in Bryan over time.

Some of that was probably from being away from Chats.

Some of it, though, seemed more introspective.

More like he was making a genuine effort to work on himself.

That was especially apparent when he’d pulled me aside one night for a long heart-to-heart.

He’d apologized for the things he’d done that had been the catalyst for our divorce.

I had too—though I hadn’t been the one to cheat, I’d learned through our counseling that I’d neglected other issues in our relationship.

Bryan openly accepted the blame for cheating, but we both owned our parts in our marriage unraveling.

After that, I’d confided in Cam that maybe it was time for me to get a therapist too.

My first appointment was a couple of weeks later, and it had helped a lot.

My sessions with him made a huge difference with my relationship with Bryan, my confidence as a father, and even my otherwise rock-solid relationship with Cam.

Why the hell didn’t I start going to him sooner?

Bryan had also apologized to Cam for the obnoxious things he’d said, and they were getting along better than I’d ever imagined they would.

They could communicate about the kids’ schedules, homework, sports, and any issues without the slightest tension.

When they’d had a disagreement a few months ago over who should handle driving to and from a doctor’s appointment scheduled for our custody swap time, they’d sorted it out before I’d ever known there was a problem.

Bryan had even gone to a cake-decorating class with Cam and the boys one night when I’d had to cancel due to a media obligation; by all accounts, everyone had had a good time.

I think that was better for the boys, too. Though we’d all endeavored to keep the animosity out of their sight, even while Chats had still been in the picture, they weren’t stupid. They could pick up on the uncomfortable vibe whenever we were in the same room.

Now that that vibe was gone, and we could all act like adults around each other, the boys were more relaxed too.

I felt guilty about that. I hated that we hadn’t been able to put our differences aside for so long, and that they’d felt it. But I was glad things were looking up now. Hopefully over time, we could all make it up to them.

Just before last season’s training camp, Bryan admitted he missed going to games, so I’d hooked him and Rick up with season tickets.

A few games in, Cam had invited them up to the partners’ and spouses’ box so they could be with the kids and Bryan’s friends.

Cam had, of course, consulted with the others to make sure that was all right.

Bryan and Rick didn’t join them for every game, but once in a while they did, and everyone got along fine. The kids loved it, too.

I had no desire to return to being with Bryan.

I was blissfully happy with Cam, and Bryan was finding his own joy with Rick.

But now we could share things like Christmas morning, the twin’s birthday, and school events.

Neither of us had to miss out on important moments in our sons’ lives.

Well, no more than hockey demanded, anyway.

I think that was what I was most grateful for through all of this—that I’d found enough peace with my ex-husband to reclaim what precious moments I wasn’t already missing because of my job.

And now, a year and a half after we’d found our way back to each other, Cam and I were doing this. We were tying the knot.

Nothing left to do but get my ass out there and say my vows.

I held my own gaze in the mirror, took a deep breath, and let it out.

This was it. We were doing this. Zach and Zane were excited to take part in our ceremony, and they were undoubtedly already seated with Bryan.

All our friends and family were here, along with teammates past and present (minus Chats).

Nothing left to do now but go join the man I loved so we could walk up to the altar together.

The butterflies were as calm as they’d ever be, so I stepped out of the room.

When I came down the stairs to the foyer outside the banquet hall where the ceremony would be held, there was only one person standing outside the closed doors.

And I halted.

And I stared.

Seeing Cam in that tux took me back to both our winter formal dance and that home opener after he’d first come to Pittsburgh.

Back to those moments when I’d fallen in love with him all over again.

We wore white tuxes this time, not black, but the look was still the same.

His short, sandy blond hair was perfectly styled, and he had a rose boutonnière that matched mine.

Back then, when I’d seen him standing on his parents’ front porch in that tux, we’d both been confused about who we were. Today, I knew exactly who I was, and I knew exactly who I loved, and seeing him like this almost had me breaking down in tears before our wedding even started.

Cam grinned up at me. “You ready for this?”

I laughed and tried to be as subtle as possible about wiping my eyes as I closed the last bit of distance between us. “I think I’ve been ready for this since before we could drink.”

His laugh was a little damp around the edges, too, and when I stopped in front of him, he had tears in his eyes.

I chuckled and made a more conspicuous gesture of wiping at mine. “So it’s not just me?”

“No.” He sniffed. “No, it’s not just you.”

Our eyes met, and we both laughed. Then I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him in tight.

“I’m so glad we got here,” I whispered.

“Me too.” He paused. “Otherwise we’d have lost our deposit and?—”

I burst out laughing and playfully shoved him back. “Oh my God.”

He snickered, but his eyes were still wet and full of the same love and disbelief I was feeling.

We were doing this. We were really, really doing this.

Sobering, I touched his face, brushing away a tear with my thumb. “You ready?”

He smiled and pushed himself up to kiss me softly. “When you are.”

We held each other’s gazes for a moment. Then we shared one last, soft kiss as boyfriends.

And started up the aisle to start our life as husbands.