Chapter Sixteen #2
"So I'm making a different choice now," Jason says. "A public choice, so there's no confusion about my priorities."
He sets his helmet down on the ice and starts removing his jersey.
"I'm quitting the hockey team," he announces, and the arena erupts into shocked chaos. "Because hockey will always be important to me, but it's not the most important thing. The most important thing is proving to the woman I love that she comes first, always, no matter what."
He's down to his equipment padding now, removing pieces and setting them carefully on the ice.
"Violet," Jason says, and hearing my name echo through the arena makes me feel dizzy.
"I know I don't deserve another chance. I know I broke your trust and hurt you and made you think you weren't my priority.
But if you'll let me, I want to spend the rest of my life proving that you're wrong about that. "
I'm crying now, tears streaming down my face while eight thousand people watch me have the most intense emotional experience of my life.
"I love you," Jason continues, now standing in just his base layers and looking impossibly vulnerable under the arena lights.
"I love your brilliant mind and your organizational systems and the way you make everything better just by being part of it.
I love that you see solutions where other people see problems, and I love that you believed in me before I believed in myself. "
He pauses, and I can see Coach Higgins arguing with officials about what's happening, but no one seems to know how to handle this unprecedented situation.
"I'm choosing you," Jason says simply. "Over hockey, over professional opportunities, over everything. I'm choosing us. And if you'll have me, I promise I'll never make you question that choice again."
The arena has gone completely silent except for my crying, which I'm pretty sure is audible in the cheap seats.
"Violet, if you're here, if you can hear this—I'm sorry. For everything. And I love you more than hockey. More than anything."
People around me are looking at me expectantly, and I realize they're waiting for some kind of response. But I can't speak, can't move, can barely breathe. Jason just gave up hockey for me. In front of eight thousand people, he chose me over the thing that's defined his entire identity.
Somehow, I find myself standing up. People start cheering as they realize I'm the Violet he's been talking to, and the crowd noise becomes deafening.
I start making my way toward the stairs, toward the ice level, toward Jason, who's standing in the middle of the rink having just sacrificed his career for me.
Security tries to stop me at the glass, but Coach Higgins—looking simultaneously furious and impressed—waves them off.
"Let her through," he says. "This night's already shot to hell anyway."
I step onto the ice on shaky legs, still crying, still unable to quite believe what just happened.
Jason's standing twenty feet away, looking nervous and hopeful and like he's not sure whether I'm coming to hug him or hit him.
When I get close enough to see the uncertainty in his eyes, I finally find my voice.
"You quit hockey," I say, and it comes out like an accusation.
"I quit hockey," Jason confirms.
"For me."
"For us," he corrects. "Because I finally figured out what actually matters."
"Jason," I start, then realize I have no idea what to say. How do you respond to someone giving up their dreams for you? How do you process a gesture that dramatic and public and completely insane?
"I know it's crazy," Jason says quickly, misreading my silence. "I know it doesn't fix what I did wrong, and I know you might not be able to forgive me anyway. But I needed you to know that when it really came down to choosing, I choose you. Always."
"You're an idiot," I say, which makes him flinch.
"I know—"
"You're an idiot because you didn't need to quit hockey to prove you love me," I continue. "You just needed to be honest with me. To include me in the decision instead of making it alone."
Jason looks confused. "But I wanted to prove that you're more important—"
"Jason," I interrupt, stepping closer to him. "I never wanted you to choose between me and hockey. I wanted you to choose to trust me with the big decisions. I wanted you to choose communication over secrets."
"So... what does that mean?"
I look at this incredible, stupid, wonderful man who just destroyed his hockey career to prove a point I never needed him to prove, and I realize that despite everything, I'm still completely in love with him.
"It means," I say, reaching up to cup his face in my hands, "that I love you too. And it means we're going to have to figure out how to fix this mess you just created." Jason's face breaks into the most beautiful smile I've ever seen.
"We?" he asks hopefully.
"We," I confirm, and then I kiss him in front of eight thousand people who erupt into cheers so loud I can feel them in my bones.
When we break apart, Jason rests his forehead against mine.
"So what happens now?" he asks.
"Now," I say, looking around at the chaos he's created—his discarded equipment, the confused officials, the cheering crowd, "we figure out how to optimize this situation."
"Think there's a solution?"
"There's always a solution," I say confidently. "Now get back on the ice and finish the game.”
His face lights up and I kiss him like it’s the last time.
“Watch me win this game.” And there’s that devilish grin on his face that I’ve learned to love.
“I don’t doubt it,” I say.
As he heads toward the rink, the crowd erupts in cheer and roars. He turns around one last time, winks at me, and just like that, I know our love will overcome anything.