Epilogue
Anna
“I know what you’re up to,” I say to Travis as we walk up the porch steps to his house.
“You do?”
I nod. “This is a surprise party for me, isn’t it?”
He stops at the top of the stairs and looks at me, his expression unreadable. My grumpy goalie boyfriend has a hell of a poker face.
“Yeah. It is,” he says.
My face splits into a grin. “I knew it!”
He sighs. “Just try to act surprised, okay? Nick and Poppy have been planning this all month. They really went all out for you.”
Warmth courses through my chest. “I will.”
I start to step forward, but he grabs my hand and holds me in place.
“I have my own surprise for you too,” he says.
A giddy feeling swoops through me. “What is it?”
His mouth slants up in a sexy-as-sin half-smile. “You’ll see.”
“Wait, you’re not gonna tell me?”
He shakes his head. “Nope.”
He heads for the door, but I yank on his arm, trying and failing to pull him back. He’s too big and muscular.
“You’re being such a tease,” I say.
He just shrugs.
“What if I refused to go to the party if you don’t tell me what my surprise is?”
He turns around at my borderline bratty tone. Intrigue flashes in his eyes.
“You’re going to the party. I’ll throw you over my shoulder and haul you in there if I have to.”
I bite back a smile at the growl in his tone. Yeah, he sounds annoyed, but I can tell by the flicker of heat in his gaze that he likes it. He loves it when I’m a little bratty and feisty. I love it when he’s bossy and possessive.
He kisses my cheek and the hinge of my jaw. I gasp. “If you’re a good girl, you’ll get your surprise.”
I let out a shaky breath. “Fine.”
He leans back, a smug expression on his face. Then he opens the front door to his place. It’s pitch black inside.
He flips on the light.
“Surprise!”
A crowd of people jumps up from behind the couch and coffee table, and from the kitchen.
I gasp when I see the banner hanging from the ceiling.
Congrats, Anna!
I notice the color of the banner is cardinal red and the text is white. Stanford colors. That warmth inside of me burrows deeper.
My brother and Poppy walk up to us.
“My sister got into Stanford Medical School!” Nick hollers. Everyone in the house cheers.
I hug him. “This is amazing. Thanks, you guys.”
“We’re proud of you, sis,” he says.
“So, so proud,” Poppy says as she hugs me.
Red and white balloons scatter across the house. I spot a massive sheet cake on the table across the room with the words “Congratulations, Anna” in pretty cursive writing.
“You got me a cake?” I’m smiling so hard.
“Of course we got you a cake,” Nick says. “Your boyfriend ordered it.”
Travis walks up to me and wraps his arm around my waist. “Cake was a non-negotiable for my sugar-addicted girlfriend.”
I turn to him, grinning so hard my cheeks hurt.
Everyone comes up to congratulate me. Nick pops open a bottle of champagne, pours it into plastic cups, and hands them out to everyone at the party. There must be fifty people here.
“Once you’re a doctor, I expect free medical care from you for the rest of my life,” Nick says.
My head falls back as I laugh. I hug my parents and talk to them for a bit before going over to say hi to my biology major friends.
Ryker and Madeline walk into the house. He holds baby Willow in his arms. I run over to them and hug them.
“Thanks so much for coming, you guys,” I say.
“We wouldn’t miss this,” Madeline says.
“We’re really damn proud of you, Anna Banana,” Ryker says.
I chuckle when he calls me my childhood nickname. Then I gently grab Willow’s chunky fist and give her a kiss on the cheek. She smiles and squeals.
“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe how big she is already,” I say.
Madeline laughs. “Me either. I feel like all I do is feed her.”
“She’s still got that monster appetite?” I ask.
“Oh, yeah,” Madeline says. She smiles at Ryker. “She takes after her daddy in that department.”
Ryker gazes adoringly at his daughter. “She’s gotta build her strength. She’s gonna play hockey someday.”
Madeline rolls her eyes good-naturedly. I get pulled away to take pictures with Poppy and some of my other friends. When I see Travis’s mom, Ivy, walk in, I run over to her and hug her. She and Travis visit, and I head over to say hi to my friends from the research project.
After a half hour of chatting, drinking, and taking pictures, I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn and see Travis holding a small plate with a slice of cake.
“You need to eat,” he says.
I bite back a smile as I grab the plate from him. He leads me over to the couch. We both sit down, and I take a big bite of cake.
I moan. “Oh, this is so good.”
I take another bite and glance around the room. Joy washes over me. Everyone I love and care about is here, celebrating me.
Travis hands me a glass of water. “Drink.”
My tummy dips as I take a sip. He’s always looking after me. Always taking care of me.
Even though both of us have crazy busy schedules, we make time for our relationship. When he’s busy training or traveling for an away game, or I’m busy studying or working in the lab for Professor Sullivan’s research project, we text each other constantly.
On the weekends, I stay at his place, or he stays at mine, so we can spend as much time together as possible.
I think about how I used to think I didn’t have time for a relationship. But I do. Because if it’s the right relationship with the right person, you make time. Even if it’s just a few minutes together, it’s worth it.
I spot Travis’s teammate, Blake, talking to Briar on the other side of the room.
“Blake is so smitten,” I say with a laugh.
Travis nods. “He really is.”
Leo walks over to them, holding hands with his girlfriend.
“I can’t believe those two ended up together,” I say.
Travis raises his eyebrow at me. “You could say the same thing about us.”
I chuckle. “Fair.”
He clears his throat. “We should start looking for places to live in the Bay Area.”
I stop chewing. “Huh?”
He wipes a spot of frosting from my lip, then licks his thumb. “We need to find an apartment before you start medical school next fall.”
I can’t help the giddy grin that splits my face. “You wanna live together?”
“Yeah. We’re both gonna be busy next year. You’ll be studying and in class a lot. I’ll be training and traveling with the Seagulls constantly. I wanna live with you so I can be with you as much as I can.”
My heart bounces around in my chest. I’ve been working up the nerve to talk to him about possibly moving in together when we graduate from Hollis, but I always chickened out. I didn’t want to pressure him.
But he’s as eager as I am.
“I want to live with you too,” I say. “I wanna see you every morning and every night.”
He cups my cheek with his hand, a warm look in his blue-gray eyes. He presses a soft kiss to my lips before leaning away.
When he pulls back, I spot something on his forearm. My eyes go wide.
I grab his arm and push up the sleeve of his shirt.
I blink at the new tattoo he’s sporting, in utter disbelief. “Travis, what is this?”
The edge of his mouth twitches, like he’s fighting a smile. “What does it look like?”
“It looks like you got a tattoo on the inside of your forearm of the molecular structure of glucose.”
“That’s exactly what I did,” he says.
I stare at the black ink on his skin, mesmerized by the lines and dots.
“Sugar,” I whisper. I look up at him. My heart feels too big for my chest.
His mouth curves up in a soft smile. “Surprise.”
I shake my head and let out a giddy-sounding laugh. “You got sugar tattooed on your arm. For me.”
He presses a kiss to my forehead. “Yup.”
Emotion bubbles up in my chest at how unapologetically romantic this is. He got a tattoo of my favorite thing in the whole world. Something he used to hate. He loves it now though.
My heart beats faster. I grab his face and kiss him.
“This is the most thoughtful, sweetest thing ever,” I say.
“I’m happy you like it, sweet thing.”
“I love it.”
I can’t stop staring at it. I run my finger over his skin, admiring the tattoo. How simple it is. How it says so much. How most people wouldn’t know what it means, but to us, it means everything.
“Now I have to get something of yours tattooed on me,” I say.
“You don’t need to do that.”
“I want to.”
His handsome smile grows. “What are you thinking of?”
I instantly know what tattoo I want. And I know exactly where on my body I’m going to get it.
“It’s a surprise.”
Thank you so much for reading Grumpy Mother Pucker