Epilogue
One year later
Ace
Zach slammed me into the boards, and I grunted. He wasn’t as powerful as West, but he could do serious damage. All for fun meant most of the time we took it easy, but his team was down by one goal and the clock was running out. I shot the puck wildly and, to my dread, West picked it off. He snapped his wrist and Micah didn’t stand a chance.
The buzzer sounded.
West, Zach, Neil, and the rest of their team exploded with glee. Twyla and Tamara could be heard clear across the ice.
So could Derek.
A tie.
A pretty decent way to end the season. We didn’t do shoot-outs, so the game was called. My team had won the season by two games, so that was something. All in fun was great, but I appreciated bragging rights. Come September all bets were off.
West slapped my back as we skated over to the boards. “I think you have the loudest cheering section.”
He wasn’t wrong.
I turned to Zach. “Did I see you driving a Mini Cooper?”
“My sister Anika’s car. She needed my SUV to haul around some class supplies.”
He scratched his nose. “I don’t enjoy doing the pass in the car, but the roads are clear and we’ve had an early spring. Keeping my eye on the forecast, though.”
Zach adored his much-younger sister. West let it slip once that Zach had another sister. She’d died in a car crash over ten years ago. A death Zach never recovered from.
I couldn’t imagine that kind of anguish. My sisters were pains in my ass, but I loved them like crazy, and couldn’t imagine life without them.
In the dressing room we quickly shed our gear and loaded up our bags. I pulled on jeans and a hoodie from the community college. The hoodie Derek gave me for Christmas. To remind me to whom I belonged.
As if I could ever forget.
He’d stepped into my bar just over a year ago, and my life had changed completely.
I stuck my hand in my pocket to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything.
West nudged me. “You sure you want an audience?”
Was I? I’d vacillated between epic and intimate. Finally I settled on A&W on a Sunday morning with the gang. It felt…right. This group had welcomed Derek into their fold, and more than a few times he’d joined the wives and girlfriends for activities. He wasn’t big on gender roles, and his support of me was absolute. Adorable.
Plus, we were celebrating the end of the trial in Vancouver. Guilty. The whole lot of them. I worried Derek might use that victory to parlay an entry back into the Vancouver business community, but he made it clear he loved teaching and he wasn’t looking back. No, he kept looking forward.
“I think so.”
West grinned. Then it dipped a bit. As it always did. He didn’t think anyone saw, but I did. He was meant for permanence and a relationship. His ill-conceived marriage to Sylvia was long in the rearview mirror but he still ached. Whether for her, or someone else, I didn’t know.
Catherine smacked me upside the head. “Don’t overthink it. Go with your instinct. If it doesn’t feel right, wait until it does. Derek’s not going anywhere.”
She had a good point.
En masse we trudged to the waiting group. Tamara was there first to throw herself at Micah. “I love you, even if you let that goal sneak past you.”
She punched West on the shoulder. “Nice shot.”
He shrugged. “Lucky shot.”
But it hadn’t been. West was fucking talented. A shame he hadn’t made it to the NHL, but if that meant we got to own him here in Merritt, then we were the lucky ones. Twyla pounced on Neil and I caught a wistful expression in Zach’s face. West had intimated there were a few women but nothing stuck. Our two most attractive men were also our two bachelors.
Derek stepped around the group and approached me. I cocked my head at his look of discomfort. Had someone said something to him? Was he okay? I placed my bag on the ground and was about to reach for him when he dropped to one knee.
Oh, holy hell.
“I just…”
He cleared his throat. “It’s been a year and I can’t see myself living without you.”
He swept his hand to indicate the group. “They’re your family, and I wanted them to be here for this. I mean, your mom and your sisters are your family as well, and of course I wish they were here too, and maybe—"
“Oh for fuck’s sake, just ask him.”
Tamara’s voice wasn’t unkind, but she laced it with frustration.
“Yeah, uh, okay.”
He held out a ring. “Will you marry me? Be mine?”
Words escaped me, but I dug into my pocket and pulled out the ring I’d intended to give him later. His eyes lit and his grin was wry.
“Great minds.”
His words, my sentiment.
I held out my hand, and he took it, allowing me to haul him up. He wrapped his arms around my neck and pulled me down for a kiss. A hard kiss. A demanding kiss. An I want everything kiss.
Hoots and hollers erupted from our friends.
Derek pulled back with a huge grin on his face. He held out the ring, and I presented my left hand. The fit was a little tight over the knuckle, but I didn’t intend to ever take it off.
I held his hand and, to my infinite relief, the ring fit. I brought his hand to my lips and pressed a reverential kiss to the ring. “Forever.”
He blinked several times. “Yeah, forever.”
I cleared my throat. “Now, will you finally move in with me? Benjamin wishes you didn’t have to go home so often.”
I’d been dropping hints for more than six months, but he always had one excuse or another. All flimsy, as far as I was concerned.
“He signed the papers yesterday. The house goes on the market tomorrow.”
Catherine grinned.
As she was the top realtor in town, hardly a surprise Derek chose her. She’d get him a good price, and he’d have a comfortable nest egg. Since I owned my place and the bar outright, we were in good shape.
Of course, if he had nothing but the clothes on his back, I’d take him just as fast.
Tamara broke the moment by launching herself into Derek’s arms and West slapped me on the back. Twyla hugged Derek as, in turn, Zach, Neil, Micah, and the rest of the team shook my hand or patted me on the back. Catherine—gruff Catherine—gave me a hug and an extra-hard squeeze.
“Don’t fuck this up.”
I chuckled. “I don’t intend to.”
After the gang had offered all the congratulations, I gave up my ultimate secret. “Elissa is manning the kitchen and Upton is manning the bar, so everyone’s invited back to my place.”
West encompassed the group in a sweeping gesture. “I’m assuming you mean Ace’s Place and not your house.”
Shit.
“Uh, yeah, you would be correct.”
As lovely as my house was, it couldn’t hold twenty-five people. Summers when we were in the backyard? Sure. Dead of winter? Not a chance.
Derek tucked himself into my side and pressed a kiss to my cheek. “I know I say this every day, but I really love you. Moving here was the best decision I have ever made.”
“Well, right up there with giving me your key card.”
West hooted. Yeah, pretty much everyone knew the story by now. How our hook-up at Ace’s Place had become our forever.
Forever.
I couldn’t be happier.