Epilogue
One Month Later
Ellie
“Have you noticed that Madeline keeps giving her drinks to Ryker?” I ask Camden, careful to keep my voice down.
We’re sitting at our table at Sam and Dakota’s reception. It’s being held at Tinsley’s Tea Room, a fancy restaurant in Denver that specializes in serving high tea.
Across from us, Madeline taps Ryker’s massive shoulder, then hands him her glass of champagne. He quirks an eyebrow at her. They look at each other, and she fights a smile before he accepts the glass and takes a sip.
Camden looks at them. A second later, his eyes go wide. He turns to me. “Maybe she’s trying to get pregnant,” he whispers.
I bite back a grin. “That’s what I was thinking.”
“What are you two whispering about?” Ryker asks.
I clear my throat. “Nothing.”
“Yeah. Nothing.”
Ryker rolls his eyes at Camden. “You’re a terrible liar, Connors.”
The servers come around and take our empty dinner plates. I glance around the space just to avoid eye contact with Ryker.
The spacious tea room is decorated to look like a fancy tea room in London.
All the chairs are plush and upholstered in cream fabric.
The tables are made of rich mahogany wood.
There are clusters of white peonies in glass vases on every table.
Baby pink striped wallpaper adorns the walls, and there’s a hot pink fluorescent sign on the far wall in cursive that says, “spot of tea?”
“This place is so cool,” I say, trying to change the subject. “It really feels like we’re having high tea in London.”
Ryker looks at me, then cracks a smile. He turns to his wife.
“We should just tell them,” Madeline says.
“Tell us what?” Xander, who’s also sitting at our table, asks. Sophie looks over. A second later, the rest of our table is looking at Madeline and Ryker. Del, Ingrid, Theo, Maya, Bella, Blomdahl, Coach Porter, and Abby are all staring at them too.
Madeline flashes the biggest smile I’ve ever seen from her. “I’m pregnant.”
“Holy shit, really?” Camden says.
“Dude! Congratulations!” Xander hugs them both.
Sophie gets teary-eyed as she hugs Madeline.
Madeline chuckles. “Not too loud, guys. We’re at our friends’ wedding reception. I don’t want to take the focus off of Sam and Dakota.”
I glance up and see Sam and Dakota talking to the people a few tables away from us. We all promise to dial back our excited noises.
“How far along are you?” I ask.
“Just hit fourteen weeks,” Maddy says, beaming.
“How are you feeling?” Abby asks.
“Pretty good overall. I was a little sick during the first trimester. The smell of chicken grossed me out. How random.”
Abby waves a hand. “Oh my gosh, when I was pregnant with Emma, the smell of fish made me vomit for, like, three months. I was so glad when that finally stopped.”
“Are you having any fun cravings?” Maya asks.
“Pickles dipped in peanut butter,” Madeline says with a chuckle. “And Ryker’s potato soup. He’s been making huge batches for me non-stop.”
Ryker kisses her cheek and rests his massive hand on her stomach. “Anything for you. And anything to help our little nugget grow.”
He looks at her with his heart in his eyes. I grin so hard, my cheeks ache. “That’s amazing, you guys. We’re so, so happy for you.”
“Happy for what?” Dakota says as she and Sam walk up to our table.
“Oh, um…” I look at Dakota and smile. “Happy for you and Sam. You look stunning, by the way.”
I gesture to the slinky, sparkly, mermaid-style gown she’s wearing. Her long, dark hair is styled in soft, Hollywood glam waves and swept over one shoulder. She really does look gorgeous.
“So very stunning,” Sam says to her, kissing her cheek. Dakota beams.
I flash a relieved look at Madeline.
“Wait, why do you keep looking at Madeline?” Dakota asks me.
I hesitate as I try to scramble for a convincing lie, but Madeline just sighs and smiles at Dakota. “I’m pregnant.”
Dakota’s jaw drops. She leans down and hugs her.
“Oh my god! You guys! Yay! Congratulations!” Dakota says as she squeezes her. She turns and hugs Ryker too.
“Thanks. Sorry, we didn’t mean to steal your thunder on your big day,” Ryker says.
Dakota steps back and playfully smacks his shoulder. “You’re not. I’m so happy you told us.”
Sam hugs them and tells them congrats too. A minute later, Sam and Dakota leave to cut their cake. We all watch as Sam sweetly feeds Dakota a bite and kisses her lips.
“He looks so in love,” I say.
Camden grins at me. “I looked at you like that on our wedding day.”
I chuckle. “But we weren’t in love yet.”
“Part of me has always been in love with you, Ellie girl.”
He drops a kiss on my shoulder, and I swoon.
After we all have some cake, we head onto the dance floor. In the middle of dancing, Ryker pulls his phone out of his pocket. He frowns at the screen.
“What’s wrong?” Madeline asks.
“My mom just texted about my idiot brother.”
She chuckles. “What did Nick do this time?”
“She just found out he’s failing most of his classes at Hollis University.” Ryker lets out a frustrated sigh. “I guess he’s going to get kicked off the hockey team if he doesn’t bring his grades up.”
“He’ll be destroyed if he has to do that. Hockey is everything to him.” Madeline’s brow furrows in concern.
“Sorry to hear that,” I say to Ryker.
He shakes his head. “It’s his own damn fault,” he mutters. “All he cares about is partying, hooking up, and hockey. It’s about time he takes school seriously.”
“Maybe he could get a tutor or something,” Madeline says. “I bet there are lots of students at Hollis who’d be willing to help him get his grades up.”
“We’ll see how he digs himself out of this hole,” Ryker says.
The music fades, and a slow, soulful love song starts to play. Camden holds me close as we sway together.
I glance around. Half the guests are on the dance floor. The other half are chatting and visiting at their tables.
“This is such a beautiful wedding reception,” I say.
“It kind of makes me wish we had one.”
I smile at him. “Our situation was a little different.”
“Yeah.” His expression turns soft. “But what if we had a proper wedding and reception someday? Like maybe on our anniversary?”
A giddy, happy feeling zooms through me. “You want that?”
Camden grins wide. “Yeah. Wouldn’t it be fun to get married in front of all our family and friends?”
I beam. “Yeah. It would.”
He kisses me. “Then let’s do it.”
Want a spicy bonus scene with Camden and Ellie?
Camden and Elllie finally have a proper wedding day…and a VERY hot wedding night…
Thank you so much for reading So Pucking Good!