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We make our way through the course, Marlee insisting on narrating like a bad sports commentator—"And Ledger Dayne approaches the dreaded Windmill of Doom! Can he conquer the spinning blades of destiny?"—while she steadily kicks my ass.

When she sinks a hole-in-one on the volcano-themed tenth hole, I throw my arms up in the air. “What the fuck? I’m clearly playing with a mini-golf assassin. Should I be afraid?”

She smirks. “No. But I’m thinking it might not be a bad idea for you to take notes.”

After the eighteenth hole—she wins by the way—I grab us each a slushie.

Blue raspberry for her, cherry lime for me.

Marlee finds a seat on a bench overlooking the course and when I take the seat next to her, she’s giggling as she watches two kids comically try to herd a rogue ball back onto the green.

“Thank you,” she says when I hand her slushie to her. “How did you know blue raspberry was my favorite?”

“Lucky guess.”

We take a few initial sips, both of us watching the kids play. “Did we look that silly?” she asks, gesturing to one of them now chasing his ball that bounced off the green and is sliding into a sand pit next to a fake crocodile pond.

“What? Pshh. Speak for yourself, Remington,” I tease. “I looked like a damn pro out there.”

After another lengthy slushie sip, I nudge her knee with mine hoping the few moments of silence between us doesn’t mean she wants to avoid conversation. “Feeling any less… spirally?”

She takes another sip. “A little.”

I cock my head. “And?”

She hesitates then looks at me through her sunglasses. “I guess I’m just…scared. Not just about whether or not I’m pregnant. But…”

She trails off and stirs her slushie with her straw.

“But what? What are you scared about, Mar? Want to share with the class?”

“I think I’m scared about what this might be turning into. With you and…and me. You know?”

Fuck.

Did I read this all wrong?

Did our time together last week not mean what I thought it did?

She doesn’t want this?

She didn’t enjoy the sex?

It meant nothing to her?

Double fuck.

She doesn’t want me.

“It’s okay, Mar,” I respond as confidently as possible even though my chest is tingly and I suddenly don’t feel great. “We don’t uh…we don’t have to turn into anything.”

She shakes her head with a look of panic. “Who said I didn’t want it to turn into something?”

Wait.

What?

“Do you?” I can’t see her eyes through her shades but I stare into them anyway. “Do you want it to turn into something?”

“I…” She blows out a breath like she’s been holding that secret in for ages. “I like you, Ledger.”

Thank you, Jesus.

She really had me scared there.

“Spoiler alert, sweetheart, I’ve liked you for a hell of a lot longer.”

“What if I’m getting too attached though?

” she asks. “You didn’t sign up for this, Ledge.

You generously agreed to be a sperm donor for me and then you went and said all the nice words and you hugged me when I needed it and you bought me all the chocolate and you made me chant with Betty White and then the other night you…

you treated me better than any man has ever treated me.

How you’re not happily married with a family of your own right now is beyond me because… hell, Ledger. You’re a catch.”

I feel it too, sweetheart.

I feel every fucking moment with you.

I feel it in my bones.

“I feel like I should apologize or something here, Mar, but also I don’t want to apologize for a damn thing because I’m glad you feel the way you do.”

“You do?”

I have to chuckle at her hopeful tone. “Marlee, I’ve had a crush on you since day one.

I think I told you that as I was sinking myself inside you last week.

I know I may have said some questionable things that night—none of them were untrue by the way—but hell yes, I like you.

” I gently lift her sunglasses so I can see her beautiful sparkling blue eyes.

“You’re the reason I’m still single and not happily married with a family of my own. ”

She shakes her head. “But…I…”

“I’ve been waiting for you, Marlee.”

Dumbfounded, she sits back against the bench mulling over her thoughts, circling her straw through her slushie. “Well, do you think it’s happening too fast? I mean, what happens if we do this? What happens if we start something together and I do get pregnant and then it all just…falls apart?”

“What would make you think things will fall apart?”

Her shoulders drop and she glances away toward the setting sun. “Because that’s how all my relationships end. Or have ended, I guess. In the past, I mean. They all collapse at some point.”

Slurping my slushie, I consider her words even though I know what I’m going to say next.

“Maybe all those relationships were meant to happen, Marlee. Maybe they were all meant to teach you something along the way, or help you grow as a person so when you finally end up with me, it changes the course of the rest of your life.”

The corners of her mouth lift and a weight inside my chest lightens. “You think you’re that life-changing, huh?”

“Where you’re concerned? I know I am, Marlee.”

She’s the one thing in my life that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt will be the best decision I ever made.

It’s not finally calming down for my family.

It’s not wanting to take my adoptive family’s last name.

It’s not even hockey.

It’s her.

Falling for Marlee and waiting for her is the best decision I will ever make.

I know it.

“We’re here,” I tell her. “You and me. Red and blue tongues, questionable course safety hazards, and weird pirate statues.”

She laughs but I continue. “Maybe we’re not doing this whole thing in the most conventional of ways, but we’re doing it together, remember?

” I graze my knuckles just under her chin, bringing her face toward me.

“You’re not alone in this, Mar. No matter what happens.

I promised you that you would never be alone if you didn’t want to be, and I meant it. ”

She sips her slushie and then leans her head on my shoulder.

“Thank you,” she murmurs.

“For what?”

“For pulling me out of my own head.”

I press a kiss to the top of hers and then pull her lips to mine, a gentle swipe of my tongue giving me a sweet taste of her blue raspberry slushie. “Anytime, babe. But next time, I get to win mini golf.”

She huffs a silent laugh when I lean over and take an actual sip from her straw and I can tell she’s hiding her grin. “You can try.”