Epilogue
SOLOMON
“I don’t think I can watch,” Vega says, ducking behind Cade to hide her eyes. “It’s too stressful!”
“She’s gonna trip that girl,” Cade groans. “I can see it on her face.”
“That does look a lot like her rage face,” Violet agrees, wringing her hands.
I bite back a grin, my eyes never leaving the field where Cecelia is currently streaking toward the other team’s midfielder, in hot pursuit of the ball.
It’s the final minute of the final game of the conference tournament, and we’re one goal away from winning the whole damn thing.
The team’s record is good enough that they’ll be invited to the NCAA tournament either way, but I know what it means to Cecelia to win her conference outright.
Especially after being forced to sit out the tournament due to her injury last season.
Down on the field, Cecelia moves in to get possession.
“She’s not gonna trip her,” I mutter, gaze locked on the play. “She’s going to score.”
“What?” Vega yelps, peeking around Cade’s shoulder. Next to me, Sam reaches over and grips my arm. Cecelia’s mom must see it too, the window that she has to get around the defender and—
“Goal!” Cash yells, throwing his arms up in the air. I meet Sam’s eyes and we grin at each other. Called it.
Everyone is going crazy in the stands, but no one more than the group I’m sitting with. The Littles and Jay are all hugging each other, Will and Wyatt are screaming their heads off, and Cash Ransome is literally jumping up and down, pounding his fist on my shoulder.
“She fucking did it!” he yells in my ear. For once, the noise doesn’t bother me.
In fact, I barely take it in, all my attention locked on the field below. Cecelia is surrounded by her teammates, grinning like a lunatic. She’s red-faced from the last ninety minutes of difficult play, her hair sweaty and matted.
I don’t think she’s ever looked more beautiful.
My eyes dart to the clock—ten seconds left, and the score is 2-1.
Cecelia doesn’t act like they have it in the bag though.
The other team is hurrying to get into position for a last offensive attempt and she’s shouting at her teammates, directing them into position for the final kick-off, clapping her hands and shouting out instructions, making sure everyone is focused.
I can’t wipe the grin off my face as her family and the crowd continue to lose it, counting down the seconds on the clock. They somehow manage to get even louder when the ref gives three sharp whistle blasts, signaling the end of the game.
She did it. She won.
There’s bedlam on the field. Cash is hugging me. Vega is crying. Will and Wyatt are slapping my back. But my eyes stay on my girl.
I have to admit, I feel a twinge when the bench empties and the whole team rushes the field. The training staff is down there with the coaches and the players, and part of me feels like I should be there, too.
But then Cecelia’s mother pulls me into a hug, and I realize I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.
“You helped do that, you know,” Sam tells me, close to my ear so I can hear her over the noise.
I shake my head. “That was all her.”
Sam squeezes me. “You helped her get her confidence back. You helped make it fun for her again. Thank you, Solomon.”
My eyes get a little blurry at that. All I want in this world is to watch Cecelia Ransome have fun playing soccer. She pats my back a few times before releasing me. As Sam turns to hug her sons, I see tears in her eyes to match the ones in mine.
Down on the field, Cecelia looks up from her team’s celebration, her eyes scanning the stands until she finds us. Our gazes lock and she puts a hand over her heart. I do the same, hoping she can see everything I’m trying to say in that gesture.
The way she smiles tells me that she does.
It seems to take forever before we finally get to see her. There’s a trophy presentation, medals are handed out, and a ton of pictures are taken. When Cecelia is named tournament MVP, Cash hides his face, but we all know he’s crying.
Just when she’s about to make her way over to where we’ve huddled along the fence, Coach Carla grabs her arm, pointing in the opposite direction.
I watch as Cecelia goes very still before nodding her head.
She shoots us a look I can’t quite read, then follows her coach over to where a few people I don’t recognize are standing.
“Press?” Cash asks, a hint of disquiet in his voice. I crane my neck to see better but I still don’t recognize the pair. They’re animated as they talk to her, and Cecelia is wearing a serious expression. “I don’t think it’s press,” I mutter, a suspicion growing in my gut.
Then her smile returns, spreading slowly across her face, and she holds out a hand to shake with them both, and I just know.
“Who is it then?” Will asks.
Before I can answer, Cecelia waves to the pair, bumps fists with her grinning coach, and heads back in our direction. After a second, she starts sprinting, an expression on her face like I’ve never seen before.
There’s a gate a few feet from us, but she ignores it, coming straight for me instead. She jumps up against the fence and I grab her under the arms, lifting her the rest of the way.
She has her arms around my neck, her legs wrapped around my middle, and we’re both laughing while she buries her face in my shoulder. Any remaining disappointment I felt about not being on the sidelines with her is long gone—I’d much rather be her boyfriend than her trainer in this moment.
In every moment.
“Was that who I think it was?” I ask, my cheek pressed against hers.
She pulls back enough to look up at me. “National Team scouts,” she whispers, eyes wide, like she hasn’t quite wrapped her mind around it. “I’m invited to camp in January.”
“Holy shit,” I mutter, holding her even tighter.
“I know,” she laughs, the sound watery. “I can’t believe it.”
I look down into her beautiful, overjoyed, shocked face and I swear I’ve never felt so much all at once. Pride. Joy. So much love. “I can. They’d be crazy not to want you, Cecelia Ransome.”
Her eyes lock on mine. “This wouldn’t have happened without you, Solomon.”
I shake my head. “You were always going to end up right here,” I tell her, pressing my lips against hers. “Right where you wanted to be. Where you worked so hard to get to. I’m just lucky you let me come along for the ride.”
She puts her hands on my cheeks, her expression turning fierce. “I’m the lucky one, Sol.”
Her family is already closing in, probably impatient for their turn to celebrate, but I hold on for one more moment. Memorizing the feel of her in my arms. The pride swelling in my chest.
The knowledge that this girl is mine, that she loves me as much as I love her. That I actually get to keep her.
“I’ll need to stay in good shape during the NCAA tournament if I want to do well at camp,” she says, her eyes glinting with humor. “Know anyone who could help me with that?”
God, this girl.
She turned my whole world upside down. Showed me that life wasn’t something to just survive, that I wasn’t destined to be alone. That I could be more than what my parents tried to make me.
She showed me that I was capable of building a different kind of life, one with good people in it. Good people who love me and let me love them back.
I don’t know how I got lucky enough to end up here, with Cecelia Ransome in my arms, but I’ve always been pretty smart—and I’m definitely smart enough to never let her go.
“I think I know a guy,” I tell her, swallowing her laugh with my kiss.
The End