Epilogue
Rio
Two Months Later
“Hey, guys. Come on in.” Opening the front door, I let a group of my teammates into my house to join the party. “Food is in the kitchen and drinks are in the coolers out back. Help yourselves.”
As I greet each of them, they look around the place. Other than Zanders, none of my teammates have been here since renovations began and this new home has become unrecognizable from the hockey frat house they’re used to.
Every time someone new walks in the door, I get to enjoy watching their reactions to my girl’s work. Hallie turned blank white walls into the most beautiful home I’ve ever seen. It’s warm, inviting, and comfortable. It’s a family home now, as it was always meant to be.
Before I leave the entryway, I grab a planter from the front porch to use as a doorstop because I’ve answered the door too many times today. And this housewarming party is more of an open-door, everyone-is-welcome kind of thing anyway.
The house is packed, and the backyard is full of our friends, my teammates, and a few neighbors. The renovation got wrapped up about two weeks ago, but between our playoff schedule, Ryan’s playoff schedule, and the Rhodes brothers being in the middle of baseball season, whether they’re playing or coaching, it took some time to land on a date that worked for everyone.
But the house... fuck , the house is stunning.
The renovations were supposed to be done a few weeks earlier, but once we got home from Boston, Hallie and I had some honest conversations about the future we saw in this house. There were no more attempts at roundabout ways to make sure Hallie was designing her dream home. It was straightforward conversations about the kids we hope to have one day, what would work best for us when our families wanted to visit, and what we as a couple wanted our home to be.
The house was already headed into the family-friendly territory with the renovations anyway, but we took a few more weeks to make sure it was right for our future family.
On my way to the backyard, I find Hallie in the kitchen with a few of the other players’ wives and girlfriends, showing them all the features she packed into it.
Leaning my shoulder against the wall, I watch her.
She’s wearing this stunning smile as she gives them a tour of the cabinetry she chose, the new appliances, fixtures, and hardware. When they ask, she tells them all about the countertops and backsplash. About the lighting and the floors. She even shows them the coffee corner but gives me full credit for that.
She’s fucking beaming and I love that. I love that she’s proud of herself, and I love that this house is everything she wanted it to be.
I also love that it’s hers.
She catches me watching out of her periphery and those freckled cheeks turn a sweet shade of rose. Slipping away from the group, she finds her way to me.
“I’m showing off your kitchen.”
I wrap an arm around her waist, pulling her into me. “ Our kitchen, you mean.”
Hallie finally moved in with me after construction wrapped up, and it’s been like a dream waking up with her each day.
It is a dream, I suppose. The one we dreamed of years ago that’s finally come to fruition.
“ Our kitchen.” She tilts her head back, chin on my chest. “Have you talked to your mom yet?”
There’s nothing weary in Hallie’s gaze when she mentions my mom, only pure excitement and love. They’ve been so good since that visit to Boston. My mom treats her as her own, just as she used to, and with Hallie’s own mother no longer in the picture, I can see how much it means to her to have that type of relationship back in her life.
I think the two of them talk on the phone more often than my mom and I do, and when she came to visit last month, my mom spent most of that time with my girlfriend instead of me.
It’s been a massive relief to see the two most important women in my life heal their relationship with each other and get to the place they’re at now. The same place they were six years ago.
“I haven’t talked to her yet,” I tell Hallie, running my hand down her spine. “I’m going to go do that now.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“Do you want to come with me?”
She shakes her head no. “I think that conversation should be between you two, but I want to make sure she knows I’m on board for it.”
My smile blooms as I look down at her. I truly could not love this woman more than I already do.
But I thought that yesterday and the day before. Shit, I thought that a decade ago, and daily, I’m proven wrong. Because each new day, I fall for her a little more.
“I’ll make sure she knows.” Leaning down, I kiss her, right there in our kitchen. In our home. “I love you, baby. Keep showing off the house.”
“I love you too.” With one more quick kiss, Hallie slips out of my hold and rejoins the group.
Music is playing as I walk outside, but it’s not so loud that you can’t have a conversation. I find my mom and my uncle Mikey talking with Ryan, Indy, and their kids.
I sling my arm over my mom’s shoulders as I join, but Navy immediately hurls herself off her dad’s body at me.
She drops her head against my shoulder as Indy and my mom continue their conversation.
“If the taste isn’t coming through, it’s most likely too thin. You need to reduce to a simmer and thicken that up to concentrate the flavor.”
“I think I need to video call you next time,” Indy decides.
“Or you could just ask me,” I cut in. “I’ve perfected my mom’s Bolognese.”
Indy’s eyes shoot to mine. “And why haven’t you volunteered that information before?”
I shrug playfully. “It was kind of nice that you all took care of me all these years. I liked it. But yeah, I’m not bad in the kitchen.”
My mom chuckles. “He’s great in the kitchen, actually.”
“Rio DeLuca,” Indy says with accusation while Ryan just laughs next to her. “You’re going to start cooking for family dinner.”
“I can get on board for that.” I turn to my mom. “Can we talk for a second?”
“Of course.”
Ryan takes his daughter back while the two of us head to a quieter corner of the new back deck.
After Hallie and I got off the roof back in Boston, I went downstairs to talk to my mom. She apologized, and we talked through most everything. She was busy beating herself up over the way she handled my dad’s affair, especially using her hurt to manipulate my feelings.
That was her choice of words, not mine. I never felt manipulated by her. I simply wanted to protect her. I still want to protect her, which is why I was nervous to break the news that I re-signed with Chicago for another six years.
She took it far better than I expected, and didn’t seem all that surprised. But me deciding to stay didn’t mean I was no longer worried about her being alone all the way in Boston.
We lean against the deck railing, facing each other.
“Is everything okay, honey?”
“Yeah, I’m great,” I tell her honestly.
A pleased smile lifts on her lips as she watches me. She knows I’m good, but I want to make sure she is.
“Hallie and I have been talking, and we were wondering what you thought about possibly moving here. To Chicago. I’d be happy to buy you a place, and we’d both love to have you closer.”
My mom’s eyes go impossibly wide, and I think for the first time in her life, this loud woman is speechless.
“I hate that you’re all alone in that house,” I continue. “I hate that you’re alone, period.”
“But I’m not alone.”
Confusion cinches my forehead.
“I have a whole community there. I stay busy, Rio. You don’t need to worry about me. Those families in the neighborhood are like my extended family. You know that.”
“But the house. It’s a lot of upkeep and I worry about that as you get older.”
“Excuse me?”
“I mean, as you stay the exact same age of twenty-nine, just as you have been for my entire life.”
“Thank you.” A smile cracks on her lips before she pulls her eye contact away. “Your uncle Mikey helps me around that house.”
“I know, but it’s not like he’s there all the time.”
She tosses her head from side to side. “He’s there most of the time.”
“What do you mean?”
For a woman who has never been shy a day in her life, my mom is acting real coy right about now. “He and I...”
“You and him, what?”
“He and I”—she straightens her spine, meeting my eye—“have been seeing each other.”
“Mikey?” My voice rises, pointing a finger in his general direction. “You’re referring to my uncle Mikey. As in, my dad’s brother?”
“Oh, don’t sound so appalled.” She brushes me off. “It’s not like I met some random guy and brought him home. I’ve known him practically my whole life. In fact, I met him before I ever met your father. We’ve been friends for a long time, and last year, when he started coming around more... I don’t know. Things changed.”
I let that information sink in. My uncle and my dad haven’t had the closest relationship, so Mikey wasn’t around unless it was a holiday or a birthday. But he’s a good man. For most of my life I wondered why the two of them didn’t get along until I learned that my dad wasn’t a good man.
“You’re dating Mikey,” I state in disbelief, leaning back on the railing. “Is it serious?”
“No, Rio, we’re just talking.” Her tone is laced with sarcasm. “I don’t know how to answer that. Yes? It’s not like we’re going to run off and get married tomorrow, but we enjoy each other’s company. At my ripe age of twenty-nine, that’s all that matters. That’s why it’s so important that the person you’re with is your friend.”
“What happened to believing that childhood relationships don’t work out because you grow up and grow apart? You’ve known him since you were a kid. How’s that any different?”
Her expression softens. “Sometimes people can grow together. I was recently reminded of that by my son.”
“Jeez.” I cross over my chest. “Mikey?”
I look in that direction to find him still chatting it up with Ryan and Indy. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always liked him. He’s honest and kind, and I guess that’s all you can really ask for in someone who’s dating your mother.
I exhale a long breath. “Well, does he make you happy?”
A genuine smile curves on her lips, and I note the sparkle in her green eyes. It seems almost foreign because I haven’t seen her look this elated in over six years.
She glances over her shoulder, and when she does, he catches her eye and grins softly at her.
“He does make me happy.”
“He better.”
Chuckling, my mom playfully smacks me in the arm.
“So, I take it that means you’re not moving here.”
She shakes her head no. “Maybe one day, but not right now. Boston is my home, just like Chicago is yours. Regardless of what happened in that house, it is still my house. I grew up there and your nonna grew up there. I want to keep it in our family, and even though you and Hallie don’t see yourselves living there again, that house will be yours one day. I hope you take my grandbabies back there to show them where their parents first fell in love.”
Slipping my arm over her shoulders, I pull her into my side. “We definitely will. That house will always stay in the family, so don’t ever worry about that.”
She pats my back. “But if you really wanted to find a way to get me to move here, you and Hallie girl could get to work on those grandbabies.”
Laughing, I pull her in closer. “We will. Not yet, but one day, we will.”
“Love you, Rio.”
“I love you too, Ma.”
Hallie and Wren exit the house through the back door, arms linked together as they chat about something. Wren’s older brother, Cruz, follows behind, talking to Zee and Stevie.
“Go ahead. We’ll catch up later.” My mom pats my back before taking off to go find my uncle.
Still not fully wrapping my head around the idea of her dating again, I cross the yard to join my friends at the firepit. Ryan and Indy join too, where Kai, Miller, Isaiah, and Kennedy are already hanging out.
“Hey, Cruz.” I put my hand in his. “Good to see you. Glad you could make it.”
I give his sister a hug before standing behind Hallie, crossing my arms over the front of her shoulders and pulling her back to me. The twelve of us circle the firepit, some sitting and some of us standing.
“The house looks amazing,” Cruz says. “But I’ve got to be honest, I am so thankful you didn’t try to sell at the same time as me.”
“Hey!” Hallie playfully cuts in.
“Don’t get me wrong. My house is beautiful and sold for way over the asking price, but this place? You outdid yourself, Hallie.”
She smiles proudly. “Well, thank you very much.”
“When do you hand over the keys?” I ask Wren.
“Tomorrow.” There’s an edge of sadness in her tone, but I know most of her is looking forward to moving home. “Cruz is in town to help me finish packing up the moving truck, and we’ll start the cross-country drive in the morning.”
“I’m going to miss you,” my girl says.
Wren’s expression turns a bit sorrowful as she looks at her former roommate. “I’m going to miss you too. You’ll come visit though, right?”
“Definitely. Rio and I are already looking for a good time that’ll work with his hockey schedule.”
“You’re welcome anytime,” Cruz cuts in. “You’re never going to get bad weather, regardless of the time of year. And our family’s property is pretty spacious. There’s plenty of room for you to stay.”
“You mean, for all of us to stay?” Ryan asks.
There’s a collective laugh among the group, though Cruz and Wren don’t pick up on it. And why would they? Who would expect Ryan fucking Shay to be a fanboy, but we’ve quickly come to learn that he’s a huge fan of the Wilder brothers.
“Absolutely,” Cruz says. “I’m pretty sure my brothers would freak the fuck out if Ryan Shay came to visit.”
“Let alone the whole town,” Wren adds.