Page 43

August

SAWYER

“W here exactly are you planning to put it?”

I look across at Collins as she smirks back. “We don’t need to find a new place for it. It’s already built and ready to go,” I say, answering my center’s question.

Jack sits back in his chair, his platinum wedding ring shining beneath the restaurant lighting. It’s the best kind of surreal to see him happily hitched. And never in the history of ever have I witnessed a wedding like it. Jack sure wasn’t kidding when he claimed his stepdad was a wedding planner enthusiast. We made the playoffs this season—which was an incredible achievement—but if Coach Morgan’s career in ice hockey doesn’t work out in the future, he sure as shit has a backup option.

“So, you’re taking over an existing business?” Jack asks Collins, who’s sitting beside him.

She nods, crunching down on a breadstick. “And you’ll never guess which one.”

From her other side, Kendra gasps, snapping Archer from his daydream—one I don’t think he’s left since we were seated at the table at least twenty minutes ago. “Wait. Oh. OH. No, you did not do what I think you did?!”

Collins points the remainder of the breadstick at her friend, winking. “You bet your damn fine soccer ass I did.”

Jack holds up a hand. “Can we please stop talking in code? Because I’m confused as fuck.” He winces and looks at Ezra, who’s tucking into a plate of wings because he couldn’t wait for everyone else to get their entrée, like a regular person.

“It’s fine,” he says with a mouthful. “Everyone at school swears constantly anyway.”

I choose not to hear that and focus back on my center and recently confirmed assistant captain. “Smooth Running, Jack. Collins just bought the business as part of her expansion plans.”

Folding his arms across his chest, he looks at her. “For real? Wow, that’s impressive. Only seven months running your own business and already branching out.”

My girlfriend flushes. Taking compliments has never been her strong point, but over the past ten months, she’s gotten used to it. She’s perfection, and my mouth can’t help but spill everything I’m thinking.

When she left Smooth Running, their business plummeted. Which was unsurprising, given that the quality of work went downhill and so did their customer base. Her followers switched to The Gear Change—the name Collins eventually settled on for her garage. True to her word, she’s keeping all current employees as part of the takeover. Apart from Cameron since he was shown the door the second the former owner found out exactly what he couldn’t do. Which was everything.

“Well, I, for one, am so damn proud of you.” Jenna reaches across and takes Collins’s hand in hers. “Really and genuinely, you are living the dream.” She looks around the table. “I guess we all are. Turning our passions into careers. And me? I’m newly free and single.”

She smiles, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. I can tell she’s still torn up that things didn’t work out with Lee.

Ezra raises his soda. “I’ll drink to that.”

We all stare at each other before falling into hysterical laughter and clinking glasses one at a time. The only person not joining in? My goalie.

“Hey, earth to Archer.” Jack thuds his foot on the floor, trying to gain our goalie’s attention, his head currently buried in his phone.

Archer flicks his eyes to Collins. There’s a genuine warmth in them, though it isn’t the only emotion I can detect.

“It’s honestly really great, Collins. You deserve it.”

I keep my attention on Archer as he goes back to his phone while the rest of the table falls into conversation. I would ask him what’s up, but I get the feeling if I did, he wouldn’t tell me. Not right now anyway.

“Dad?” Ezra leans into me as I take a sip of beer.

“Yes, son?” I ask, stealing a wing from his plate.

He narrows his eyes at me, although I know it’s not in response to me swiping his food.

“When are you planning to do it? Because I’m nervous.”

I bite into the wing, already regretting it since my appetite has been off all day.

He isn’t the only one feeling anxious .

“When do you think would be best?” I ask.

He casts his eyes around the table, just as Darcy dives in through the door. Hair windswept and looking like she just ran a few blocks, she mouths an apology at me and pulls out the remaining chair—directly next to Archer.

Looking across at Collins, wearing a trademark all-black dress, I realize there will never be a better time to ask this girl to be my wife. I’ve agonized over it for months, wondering how many years would be appropriate to wait before I popped the question.

I don’t want to wait though, and I get the feeling she doesn’t either. The past seven months of living with her have been, hands down, the best of my life.

My son has bloomed into a twelve-year-old with the world at his feet and a clear idea of what he wants to be when he’s older—“just like Collins.”

He idolizes the woman sitting opposite me, and honestly, so do I.

Everyone around the table is expecting me to ask at any second, and I can feel the ring as it burns a hole in the pocket of my jeans.

“Now,” Ezra whispers to me. “I think you should ask her right now.”

I can feel my heartbeat in my ears as I rise to my feet and round the table. Archer sets his phone down and casts a quick glance at Darcy.

The table falls silent, other than Collins, who continues to talk to Kendra about her plans for Smooth Running.

Let’s make some more plans together, Baby Girl.

Maybe she thought I was heading for the restroom—I don’t know. All I can be sure of is, she has zero idea I’m standing behind her right now, holding a black box open in my shaky palm, a black opal sitting in the center, waiting for me to slide it onto her ring finger.

If she’ll have me.

Collins continues talking when Kendra places a palm over the top of her hand, and she stops in her tracks, slowly turning in her seat to face me.

“Oh, holy Jesus, shit.” Her hands fly to her mouth, and the table collapses into more laughter, me included.

I take a seat at the empty table behind us since I booked out the entire restaurant to give us added privacy. “Come sit,” I say, tapping my thigh invitingly.

All our friends are here, watching, but all she can do is keep her eyes fixed on mine, and it’s everything I ever hoped for—to eventually have the full attention of the girl who, a while back, would barely give me a second glance.

She does as I asked, seating herself across my lap and wrapping her arms around my neck. Her amber perfume is a symbol of home.

She stares down at the ring, her hand reaching up to touch it.

“Uh-uh. I have this huge speech for you first,” I say.

Her eyes search mine, big pools of brown that will forever ground and excite me, all at the same time. “What if I told you that I’ve already made my decision?”

I cup her face with my free hand, pulling her ear down to my mouth. “Then I’d say this proposal is on-brand for the woman I’m desperate to be my wife. Spend a life with me, Baby Girl. Since our friends are here to bear witness—and so you can’t run away”—I chuckle softly—“give me your forever, and I promise you I’ll never stop chasing. Because I won’t, Collins. You’re the kind of woman who deserves to feel the deepest kind of love, just like you show me and Ezra. And I promise you I’ll forever give you that feeling—with my eyes, mouth, hands, heart and …” I trail off and laugh softly, Collins doing the same.

I lean to the side and drop my hand from her face, flipping it at Ezra and asking him to join us.

The kid’s in front of us in two seconds flat, eyes wide and full of hope. Sure, I could’ve asked Collins in private and away from everyone, but the truth is, I wouldn’t even be here, with the woman of my dreams, if it wasn’t for my boy or the people watching on.

“So, what do you say, Miss Mackenzie? Will you let me give you our name and call you my wife?”

She takes Ezra’s hand in hers, squeezing it gently, and the tears begin to flow. “Goddamn.” She sniffs. “I wish I’d worn waterproof liner. Yes, Sawyer. I’ve said no to you way too many times, and this time, it’s a hundred percent—not even a hesitation—yes.”

She looks between us as I pull the ring from the box and slip the opal onto her left finger. “I guess you could say my life has pivoted in the best way possible. I love you both—forever.”

* * *

The house is quiet when I creep downstairs, being careful not to wake Collins or Ezra as I make my way to the kitchen and pull open the fridge door for a bottle of water.

Just like our home at past midnight, my life feels calm—a far cry from where it was twelve months ago. That said, I can’t sleep, and I’ve chalked it up to excitement. I just got engaged to my girl, and now, all I can think about is how I want to arrange the wedding day.

If Coach thinks he’s getting his hands on the plans, he can think again. This day is one I want to remember—from the second we set the date all the way through to exchanging vows.

Unscrewing the cap on my water, I take a pull and set the bottle down. Reaching into the pocket of my shorts, I pull out my phone, the screen the only source of light in an otherwise dark room.

It’s been a long while since I scrolled through photos of Sophie. Not because I want to forget her or will ever not think about her, but mainly because I don’t need to so much—I see her in Ezra. In his smile and addictive laughter.

The irony is, in finding Collins, I also got a piece of my wife back. She lives on in my son and his sunny personality—which he once had but somehow lost along the way. Collins brought that back, and even though I’ve told her a thousand times, it’ll never be enough. I’m not even sure if I’ll ever find the right words to properly convey how much she means to me and how deep my love runs for her.

I swipe to another photo just as it disappears, only to be replaced with an incoming call.

Archer.

Knowing it’s unusual for him to be calling so late, I press Accept, and I’m immediately hit with blaring music and a million voices.

“I can’t hear you,” I whisper-hiss. It’d be pointless to yell since the only people who would hear me are the ones peacefully sleeping upstairs.

“It’s Arch …”

It’s all I can decipher as his voice booms down the phone, the background noise slowly getting quieter.

“I know it’s you, genius. You’re saved in my Contacts and, funnily enough, under your name. Get to somewhere quiet and tell me what’s going on,” I say, bracing an elbow on the counter.

The raucousness completely fades, and I wait for him to speak.

“Archer, what the fuck is going on?” I repeat.

I knew he wasn’t right earlier tonight.

He blows out a steady breath. “You have to promise you won’t go nuclear on my ass.”

I close my eyes and will this to be a dream. Not a-fucking-gain .

“I promise,” I reply, although I’m not convinced I won’t.

There are a few more beats of silence, and then I can’t stand the tension any longer.

“Archer!” I announce.

“Oh fuck, man. I think …” He blows out one last deep breath. “I think I fucked up again. Only this time, it was over Darcy.”

THE END