Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Jules
The Spokane Spuds mascot just took a big shit in Hudson McClain’s suite. No one knows whether to laugh or not, but then McClain bursts out laughing, and the mood lightens.
“Oh god, I’m so sorry about that,” his handler Cody says. “Tater, you know better than that.”
The bulldog travels with the team, and the Spuds are in Cleveland for a game against our team tonight.
“Could you ...?” Cody passes me Tater’s leash and I take it.
Cody takes out dog waste bags, cleans up the mess, and leaves the room with it.
“Come here, Tater,” McClain says.
Tater sniffs him and then McClain gives him back scratches, the dog’s whole back end wagging with happiness.
“You ready to get crushed, big guy?” McClain asks him. “You’ll need to cheer up your team later.”
I’m not all that comfortable in this suite, which McClain invites friends to for games. There’s an A-list actor in here tonight, and a few other famously wealthy people.
A couple in the corner is snuggling, oblivious to everyone else in the room.
I get a pang of longing for Noel. I miss the sex—a lot—but I miss the affection more.
Noel always hugged me so close, and he wasn’t a quick hugger.
He gives other women perfunctory hugs where their chests don’t even touch, but he hugged me wholly, my softer body molding against his rigid one.
I miss the tone of voice he reserved for me. Deep and warm and blissfully content. His hockey voice is all business, and he’s less reserved with his kids and friends, but there’s a special tone I never heard him use with anyone but me.
Deb walks into the suite, scanning it. Her gaze lands on me, her brows arching.
“You got that new package done for the kiss cam promo, right?”
I furrow my brow. “What new package?”
“Don’t joke about this. It’s the daughter of the Max Thompson, the owner of the jewelry store.”
Tater flops onto the floor with a huff, giving zero fucks. Cody walks in and takes the leash from me and I walk over to Deb, my heart hammering nervously.
“Deb, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Her eyes widen. “Morrison said he told you about it this morning. We need that package, Jules. This is Max’s anniversary and his daughter’s fiancée wants to propose at the game tonight. It has to be tonight.”
My stomach drops to the floor. “Who is Morrison? Oh my god, what’s going on?”
Deb buries her face in her hands. “This can’t be happening.”
I’m on the verge of tears. I didn’t get a message, and I don’t have a video package prepared. Or even started.
Hudson turns around, his brow furrowed.
“What’s going on, Deb?”
She forces a smile, but her expression telegraphs a powerful urge to throw up. “Nothing. We’re good.”
I follow her out of the suite, feeling ill myself. “Deb, I am so sorry. I swear I didn’t get a message. I’ll fix this.”
She considers for a few seconds, her expression pained.
“We’ll have to pivot. Let’s think. What could we do that would make up for not having a video package with photos of their relationship and an interview with Max’s future son-in-law talking about how amazing his daughter is?”
I’m getting fired. Thompson Jewelry is our second biggest ad account. I can’t believe this is happening.
“Who’s Morrison?” I ask Deb. “I didn’t get any message.”
She puts up a palm. “We’ll deal with that later. It’s damage control time, Jules. Think.”
“Okay. Um ... when is the proposal? I could start grabbing stuff from their socials and throw something together. I can work fast.”
She shakes her head. “I don’t think there’s time. Max’s daughter thinks she’s doing a ceremonial puck drop with her father, but the fiancé is going to be waiting on bended knee on center ice.”
“Wow. Okay.”
“We were going to play the package on all the screens and then he’d propose.”
My mind spins frantically. “Shit. How am I just finding out about this? Okay, um ... I can make them a spectacular package to post on their socials. I’ll film the proposal.
I’ll gather any and all photos and videos of their relationship.
I’ll interview their friends and family.
I’ll give them something amazing to share. ”
Deb pinches her brows together. “I guess that’ll have to work.”
I check the battery life on my phone. It’s good. My hand goes to my bag, patting it to make sure my backup power bank is there. I can’t fuck up filming this proposal.
“I need our video people filming this, too. Not just my phone camera.”
“They will be.”
I start walking, thoughts racing through my head rapid-fire. “A song. Did we ask him if they have a song we can play when she says yes?”
“I’ll check on that.”
“What time is it? How long do I have?”
“Not much. I’ve been looking for you for more than twenty minutes. I never expected you to be in Hudson’s suite.”
“Yeah, some VIP’s granddaughter wanted to meet me because of my beauty page. Why didn’t you text me?”
“I did. Did it not go through?”
“No. Fuck! Why is this happening?” I rub my temple. “Okay. Focus, Jules.”
Deb puts a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll get through this.”
“I’m so sorry, Deb. I didn’t get the message.”
“Let’s worry about that later. We have to get down there in time or things will get even worse.”
We hurry over to the elevator, an usher nodding at us with permission to pass him and step on.
“Please don’t fire me.”
Deb’s expression softens with sympathy. “You’re not getting fired. We’ll figure this out.”
“I let you down.”
“If you didn’t get the message, it was Morrison who let all of us down.”
“Who the hell is Morrison?”
The elevator doors slide open. Deb gives me a quick glance as we step out. “An intern.”
“An intern.” I scoff. “I’m on the edge of sanity because of an intern.”
We power walk through the tunnel and Deb flashes her badge, gaining us access to the walkway the players take to get from their locker room to the ice. I wrap my hand around my phone, ready to pull it out as soon as we stop walking.
“Okay, it’s happening faster than I thought,” Deb says.
She’s blocking my view, and I start to panic. “Is she out there? Is he out there?”
I grab my phone and frantically tap the screen.
“Actually, I’m going to need that,” Deb says.
I look up at her, confused. She takes my phone out of my hand and moves out of the way.
There’s a red carpet on the ice, a man standing at the end of it at center ice. But it’s not Max Thompson’s future son-in-law. It’s Noel, and the fans are going wild.
“Deb ...” I murmur, feeling dizzy.
She beams at me. “Go, Jules.”
Her hand presses against my lower back, urging me to step out onto the red carpet. I gape at her.
Is this real? It feels like a dream. I’ve been through the full spectrum of human emotions in the past five minutes.
Noel’s gaze is locked onto me. He looks cool and collected, as always, dressed in a dark suit with a blue tie, his hands loosely clasped in front of him.
The noise level seems to triple when I walk onto the carpet and people in the stands can see me. Noel reaches a hand out, encouraging me to come take it.
This can’t be happening. Someone must have slipped some mushrooms into my drink earlier and I’m hallucinating all this. I can’t be on the ice right now, alone with Noel and thousands of screaming fans.
When I reach him and he takes my hand, a surge of warmth passes through me.
“Hey.” He smiles and squeezes my hand, and a nervous laugh bursts out of me.
“Hey.”
“I couldn’t think of a better place to tell you I love you.”
My brows jump with surprise. “You do? Because I do too. Love you, I mean. Not me.”
He smiles and leans closer to me. “I didn’t know I could be as happy as I am when I’m with you, and I wanted to keep that just for us. But I was wrong. I’m proud of you. Proud you’re mine. Hopefully you still want to be?”
My vision blurs with tears, and I nod. “Of course I do.”
He takes half a step back and gets down on one knee. The crowd roars, and my jaw drops. Everything stops as he takes my hand, his expression earnest as he looks up at me.
“I want you to be my wife.” His voice is raw with emotion. “It can be in one year, or ten years. However long you want. This ring has a rare red diamond, because finding a woman like you is rare, and I can’t believe I’m lucky enough that you love me back. So will you marry me?”
Happiness blooms through every part of me, making me feel like my feet aren’t even on the ground. I nod, managing to choke out the word “yes”, and Noel’s shoulders fall with relief.
The cheering of the crowd drowns everything else out as he stands and sweeps me into an embrace, my feet leaving the carpet.
I must be in shock. Deb executed that to perfection. Noel was waiting for me, and he planned a beautiful proposal. I have an engagement ring on my finger.
He sets me down and I murmur, “I can’t believe this.”
Noel cups my cheeks in his hands and kisses me, the crowd cheering madly.
“I love you, beautiful. I have to win a game right now, but wait for me when it’s over.”
I laugh lightly. “You think I’m just going home when it’s over? After that?”
“You’re coming home with me. But first ... he points at a lower bowl section. Blair and the boys are there. There’s a seat for you so you can watch the game with them.”
Fresh tears flood my eyes. I see Eli waving at me, grinning. Noel brought my family here, and it means everything to me.
He waves at the crowd, smiling and holding up my hand. I don’t look at the faces of the joyful fans, or at the sparkling, outrageously expensive ring on my finger.
Happiness washes over me as I look at what matters the most. Him.