Epilogue
AUGUST
TOMMY
Jack
I need updates.
*Sawyer changed the name of the group to: Jack Morgan Is Intolerable.*
Jack
What a way to speak about your captain.
Sawyer
Former captain. I retired, remember?
Archer
Are you in the Caribbean yet?
Sawyer
Nope. Just about to leave for the airport.
Jack
Jetting off where he wants, when he wants.
Sawyer
You bet I am. I’ve waited a long time for this.
Jack
I can’t believe you’re officially retired from the game. Are you sure you haven’t got another season in those legs?
Sawyer
With the way I’m having to keep up with Ezra’s motocross obsession, I barely have any time—or energy—left to spare.
Me
But what a way to round off a career—winning the playoffs and lifting the Cup. It doesn’t get any better than that.
Actually, no, it really does.
Archer
Speaking of … why are you texting us and not balls deep in Jenna?
Me
Sawyer, you were right. I regret being added into this group chat, and I’m not sure how to get out of it now.
Sawyer
There is no way out. I’ve seen supermax penitentiaries easier to break out of than this group chat.
Jack
Quit whinging and tell me if you asked Jenna yet.
Me
If I had, then you’d know.
Archer
If you want my best advice, then you’ll run away together and get married in secret. It’s way easier.
Jack
Easier when you’re scared shitless of being taken out by her brother. Tommy has more class than that. He doesn’t bang teammates’ sisters.
Me
Did you read that, boys? Cap here thinks I have class.
Archer
Economy class.
Me
Wait until I’m back on the ice this season. You’ll wonder how you ever kept a shutout in game seven.
Emmett
Because he had me in the starting line. *flexes muscles*
Me
You weren’t bad for an old man, I guess.
P.S. Welcome to the group chat of doom, Emmett. A place where hockey players are forced to socialize for an eternity. And on occasion, look at pictures of Archer’s naked chest.
Emmett
I get enough of that shit in the locker room. I’m only here for the gossip.
Sawyer
Well, three of us are married with children. And the other is about to get engaged, if he would get off his phone. There isn’t much gossip going down in here. Trust me.
Emmett
Damn. And here I am, newly single and hoping to spice up my life. Maybe I should join the rookies’ group chat.
Jack
Don’t listen to Sawyer. Allllll the gossip goes down in here. I might be a new dad to a princess. But that doesn’t mean I can’t keep up with what’s going down.
Archer
Actually, that reminds me. I booked us for that dad-and-daughter event you want to go to next week. I said you’d bring scones.
Jack
That works perfectly. Esme and I are baking this afternoon, so I’ll add cherry scones to the menu.
Sawyer
Esme is a month old …
Jack
And?
Me
And she can barely support her own head, let alone whip up a mixture.
Jack
She’s supervising Daddy.
*Selfie of Jack crouched behind Esme’s bassinet. A mass of bright blonde hair and big blue eyes staring at the camera.*
Archer
I’m off to find your sister. I need to get her pregnant again.
*Jack has removed Archer from the group chat.*
“I swear, you boys are worse than women.”
Jenna’s shadow looms over me from behind, and I pocket my phone and lean back on one elbow.
“Jack’s the ringleader. I’ve been roped in against my will.”
She looks doubtful, and I pull at the hem of her oversize white T-shirt. “Come sit with me.”
It’s a warm seventy-nine degrees in Brooklyn Bridge Park today, and I remove my backward cap, placing it on Jenna’s head.
“How did practice go?”
She takes a seat on the plaid blanket next to me, but not in the position I wanted.
“Nah,” I tell her, pointing between my spread thighs. “Come sit here.”
She rolls her eyes and comes to sit between my legs. I rest my chin on her shoulder and feel the afternoon breeze that whips through her freshly showered hair. Her familiar scent fills my nose. Reminding me of home.
A minute, maybe two, passes between us before she turns her head to look at me. “Do you still have the picture we took when we came here to skate?”
I smile. “I actually saved it as my phone’s background this morning, just after you left my bed to go and kick ass on the field.”
She chuckles, and I wrap my arms around her waist.
“Can we take another? I feel like we should take one under Brooklyn Bridge each year,” she suggests.
Pulling out my phone, I seal my mouth over hers and snap the picture.
“When you talk about taking a photo every year, it almost sounds like you might want to be around me for a while longer.” My trembling fingers tuck a piece of stray hair behind her ear. “Do you think you could stand me for years to come?”
She scrunches up her nose. “Yeah, that’s a fair point actually. Holt told me I should remain cautious of you.”
I pull back, shocked. “Are you serious?”
Throwing her head back onto my shoulder, she laughs toward the clear blue sky.
Despite recovering from multiple broken bones and a head injury, I think this has been the best summer of my life.
Sure, I didn’t get to be on the ice when we won the Cup; instead, I went one better than that—I was a real part of a team.
And I had my mom and girlfriend by my side throughout my rehabilitation.
I know there’s still some way to go before I’ll be game fit again, but that doesn’t matter.
That’s just time and dedication, and nothing about that scares me.
“No!” She continues giggling to herself. “Holt is probably more in love with you than I am.”
My mouth is back over hers as she turns in my arms and straddles me.
“This is a family picnic spot, Miss Miller. And you’re threatening to make me hard in public.”
She throws her arms over my shoulders, running her fingertips through my hair. Just like the first time Jenna touched me, all my senses are alive with anticipation. I know a lot of people talk about how true love fills their heart with happiness. Jenna Miller started mine beating.
She turns back around so she’s sitting between my thighs again, and we both look out over the water, enjoying the relative silence since the park is pretty peaceful for a sunny day.
“I once told this tattoo artist that I wasn’t like other people.” I dip one hand into my jeans pocket, sensing this is the moment I’ve been waiting for.
“You aren’t like other people, Tommy. I’ve never met anyone like you before.”
With one hand, I reach around her waist and interlace our fingers.
“The thing is, Hellion, when I said that back then, it was because I didn’t want to be like other people.
I wanted to be different for the sake of being unique.
I wanted to be a lone wolf because that was the safest option for me to take.
I thought that was me being brave and infallible when, actually”—I turn the diamond ring around in my palm—“it wasn’t what I wanted at all. ”
Jenna twists her neck to study me carefully. “And now you’re happier?”
I bob my head from side-to-side, pretending like my life isn’t fully perfect with her in it.
I never heard from Alex—or his loan sharks—after I closed my apartment door on him.
I guess that not all bridges are meant to be repaired, and I’m good with the peace that thought brings me, along with his permanent absence from my life. “Getting there, I think.”
If she can’t feel the fast thump of my heart as it beats against my ribs, then I’ll be surprised.
Jenna has no clue I’m about to propose to her.
The only people who do know are our friends, her brother, and my mom.
And I only told the boys last night, for fear that Jack would never shut up, asking when I would pop the question.
Now all I’ll have to deal with is a coach trying to organize the shit out of our day if she says yes.
Jesus, please say yes.
“What’s missing?” she asks. “A vacation to Italy so we can gorge on amazing food and drink wine in Lake Garda?”
I bob my head again, a wry smile pulling at my lips. “You’re half correct with your guess.”
She releases a long sigh. “I think we should head there in your bye week in February. Just say fuck it and board a flight. The soccer season will be over, and it’ll be the only chance we get.”
“That sounds like the best idea you’ve ever had.”
Still holding the ring, I release her left hand and slowly slide the ring onto the tip of her engagement finger.
A small gasp leaves her lips when she feels what I’m doing.
“But how about instead of just going on vacation to Lake Garda”—I push the ring down to her knuckle and stop, pleased when I realize it’s going to fit perfectly—“I make you my wife while we’re there? Just you and me and any friends and family you want to invite.”
“Tommy …” She looks down at our hands.
I know she can’t see the ring I picked out yet because my fingers are blocking the view.
With my free hand, I pull my cap from her head and set it on the blanket beside us.
“Marry me, Jenna. Let me be the man to wrap his arms around your waist each night. Let me fill your life with all the love and happiness you’ve ever dreamed of because there is no one on this earth who deserves it more than you.
I believe in love and friendship and good people because of you, and I never want to stop exploring the very depths of your heart and soul in the hopes that, one day, I’ll be half the person you are. ”
I hover the ring on her knuckle, waiting for a response.
When the first tear falls and runs a track down my hand, a memory unlocks from the time I spent in the hospital. I know these are her tears of joy and not sadness, and I let it trickle over my skin.
“I never thought I’d say this …” She sniffles, turning her head to look at me.
I press my forehead against hers, closing my eyes as I do. “Never say what, Jenna?”
“I’m so happy you punched my brother and made me hate you.”
We both release a laugh, our breaths mingling when I cover her wet lips with my own.
“Hating you only made me more intrigued with the person you were, and that fueled my need to know more, no matter how many times I convinced myself that I should run.”
She looks down at our hands, and I uncover the ring. It’s a marquise cut stone, set on a simple white gold band. It’s elegant, classy, and stylish, just like the girl I’m desperate to marry.
“But I never ran because you wouldn’t let me. And for that, I say thank you.”
She pushes the ring past her knuckle, and a happy sob breaks free from her chest. “Yes, Tommy. I’ll marry you.”
Flopping back on the blanket, I bring her down with me, and she turns in my arms, giggling as I roll us over until I’m on top of her.
She casts her eyes at the ring and then around the park. “There could be families around, remember?”
I smooth the pad of my thumb over her beauty spot. “I promise to keep it PG, Mrs. Williams.”
“Okay,” she whispers. “Be a good boy for me now. And after that, I want you to take me back home and remind me just how bad you can be.”
THE END
Emmett’s story is coming in January 2026.