35. Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Five
Sarah
It’s been a long day of cleaning kennels and other things I’d rather not name. I only almost threw up three times, which seems like a Christmas season miracle.
A bigger miracle would be getting the three Chihuahua brothers rehomed before Santa comes through town. I’ll make some more calls tomorrow.
For now, I need a nice, long shower and for the buffalo sauce smell at Overtime to not be at atomic levels for Wing Wednesday tonight.
Twenty minutes later, I let myself into the condo, and immediately Ranger's all over me. Jumping. Spinning. Making the ridiculous happy noises he makes when his people have been gone for more than five minutes.
"Hey, buddy. I missed you too." I crouch down to scratch behind his ears, and that's when I notice it.
His collar.
It's new. Navy leather with burnt orange stitching. Austin Stampede logo embroidered on the side.
Ranger’s been shopping?
Ranger doesn’t even have a bank account. And I know Kevin’s been gone today. He had that weird optional skate with the guys this morning. I haven’t heard from him much today, so I assumed he stayed busy with the gym and other things.
So how did Ranger get a new collar? Maybe Super PawMart dropped it off to Paige and Kevin picked it up while he was at practice.
"When did you get this fancy?" I unhook the collar to look at it properly, and there's a brass tag I didn't see before. It’s pretty basic. RANGER ST. CLAIR and Kevin’s phone number is engraved on the dog-bone-shaped tag.
Ranger nudges me just a little bit.
Total Instagram dog. He wants me to look over the merch fully. I flip the collar over so I can give it the thorough investigation that the furry influencer requires.
My heart stops.
Actually stops.
I bring the tag a little closer to my face.
Will you marry my dad?
I read it again to make sure I'm seeing it right.
Will you marry my dad?
Ranger’s not an influencer.
He’s a matchmaker.
"Sarah."
I look up.
Kevin's standing in the hallway. He's been here the whole time. Waiting.
The man who has some of the league’s best defensive stick handling has shaking hands right now.
"Wait a second—" My voice cracks.
"I know we've done everything in a way that's not traditional," he says, moving closer.
"Friends first. Then that night here after half the hockey teams in Canada tried to beat me up.
Then the baby. Then us figuring out how to be together.
But this—" He gestures between us. "This part I want to get right. "
He drops to one knee.
Right there in the middle of the living room, with Ranger sitting perfectly between us, playing his own role in the moment.
I can't breathe.
Can't think.
Can't do anything except stare at this man who didn’t get the memo that professional athletes with crazy contract values aren’t supposed to wind up with girls who clean kennels for a living.
And I’m so damn glad he didn’t.
Because being in love with my best friend has changed everything in my life. For the better.
"I love you, Sarah. I'm completely, hopelessly, forever in love with you.
" His voice sounds like he's never been more certain of anything in his life. "I don’t want you to move back to your little apartment on top of Overtime. I want to wake up next to you every morning for the rest of our lives and know that I get to call you my wife. I want to raise our baby here in Austin, together — and if I have to go somewhere, I don’t want to do it without coming home to my family. "
He opens the black velvet box.
And there it is, snuggled in the middle, cradled by white velvet fabric.
I can’t help it. I gasp.
My hands fly to my mouth. And then the tears start squeezing out. Within a nanosecond, they become a flood, blurring my vision.
The ring is beautiful. It’s just perfect.
I can’t breathe, so I just start bobbing my head like one of the dogs at the rescue when a new bag of kibble gets opened.
"Sarah Townsend, will you marry me?"
The other night, I put on his jersey like it was Cinderella’s shoe, wanting to share the same name as Kevin and our baby, just for one night. But this is better. It’s not a fairy tale.
We're better.
We're real. We're messy. And he’s right, we haven’t done it in order.
But this — us — this is everything. Everything and forever all in one.
And maybe, just maybe, exactly the way it all needed to be.
"Yes." One hand wipes away tears as I reach the other out toward him. “Is this for real?”
He's on his feet in half a second, sliding the ring onto my finger with shaking hands. It fits perfectly. The diamond catches the light and throws rainbows across the wall.
“I get to spend the rest of my life with my best friend. It’s absolutely for real. Oh, and there’s more.”
Ranger’s tail thumps on the floor, still moving up and down with pure dog joy.
I know exactly how you feel, buddy.
“But how can there be more? What are you even talking about?”
He reaches in his pocket and pulls out another black velvet box and opens it like he opened the first.
It contains a necklace. Another stunning, large, perfectly round diamond with a delicate halo setting. "For when you're at the rescue. So, you don't have to worry about the ring getting damaged."
Well, that’s it. I’m going to turn into a puddle in the middle of the living room.
"Kevin — I can't — this is too much—"
"It's not enough." He cups my face, thumbs wiping away tears. "It was actually Crash’s idea. And for once, he made total sense.”
"Liam suggested this?" Now I’m crying and laughing at the same time. Can’t tell which emotion is winning.
"He said you needed something you could wear every day without worrying. He's smarter than he looks."
My hands slide into his hair, gripping tight, and he makes this sound low in his throat that goes straight through me. His arms wrap around my waist, pulling me against him so completely that I can feel his heart pounding.
I kiss him like I'm trying to tell him everything I can't say out loud. That I love him. That I choose him. That I'm terrified and thrilled and so emotional I might actually burst into confetti right here in our living room.
The stupid pregnancy hormones are taking me on an absolute roller coaster ride right now.
His tongue slides against mine and I taste salt from our tears — his and mine mixed together. One of his hands moves to cup the back of my head, fingers threading through my hair, angling me exactly where he wants me.
When we finally break apart, we're both crying all over again.
Ranger isn’t, though. He’s sitting between us with his tail wagging so hard his whole body moves.
I scratch Ranger behind the ears and thank God that I pulled him from the Travis County shelter eighteen months ago and took him to Paws Across Austin at the same time a hockey player was doing a jog around the park.
"Good boy. You’re the goodest boy and the best wingman ever."
Ranger changed my life. He changed it all.
Dogs have a way of doing that.
“You ready for Wing Wednesday?” Kevin says with a grin.
I bounce a little on my toes and hold out my hand to look at the ring. “Everyone’s going to die.”
Kevin laughs, then shakes his head. “They already know.”
I narrow my eyes and tilt my head, sizing him up in a very Ranger fashion. “What do you mean? You told all of them before you told me?”
“Mandatory Optional Practice wasn’t actually about practice.
” His face lights up and he pulls me close, gathering me next to his side and wrapping his arms tightly around my shoulders.
"You should check your Instagram. Momo got a little carried away at Super PawMart. The guys even got Camper to get a sub and drive into town. It turns out they’re really good at assists — even off the ice. "
Hockey players have a way of doing that.
And I get to call the best one mine. Forever.
Overtime is packed for Wing Wednesday, and the second we walk through the door, Paige spots us.
More specifically, she spots my left hand.
"Aaugh!" Her scream cuts through the sports bar noise like a referee's whistle. "Everyone shut up right now!"
The entire restaurant — even the tables far beyond our corner — goes quiet. Every head turns toward us.
I hold up my hand, and the diamond catches the overhead lights.
Paige is already crying. Again. She's been crying a lot lately — I know first-hand that these pregnancy hormones are no joke — but now she's ugly crying while also trying to run toward me in heels.
"You said yes!" She throws her arms around me. "Of course you said yes. I knew you would say yes. Brett! Look at her ring!"
Brett's grinning ear to ear. "Congratulations, you two."
And that’s as subdued as this edition of Wing Wednesday is going to be.
I’m pretty sure even the strangers that Paige just bossed around are clapping.
Lindy's taking photos. Tyler's whooping. Graham's shaking Kevin's hand. Josh is his usual introverted self, but there’s definitely a smile. Aiden's already calling for a round of drinks and some ginger ale for me and Paige.
Liam appears at Kevin's side, grinning like he just scored a hat trick. "So. How'd it go?"
"She said yes," Kevin says, pulling me against his side. And there’s no place I’d rather be.
"Obviously she said yes. Look at that rock." Liam turns to me. "Sunshine did good?"
"He did very good," I manage, still trying to process that we're engaged and everyone knows and the rest of my life starts now.
"The necklace too?" Liam looks way too proud of himself.
"The necklace too. Thank you for that, by the way."
"I'm a genius." He's absolutely beaming. "Someone write that down. Crash had a good idea and it worked."
"We all had good ideas," Tyler points out, phone still up filming.
"Group effort," Graham agrees.
"Mandatory optional practice success story," Josh adds dryly.
Danny brings over our usual wings order plus extra appetizers. "Congratulations, Sarah. About damn time someone realized what a great girl you are. I guess I’m looking for a new tenant, huh?"