Epilogue
Abby
Six Months Later
The hall is empty when I make my way down it, my heels clicking against the tile as I head toward the locker room.
I can’t help but think back to a time so many months ago when I came down this same way with Lila, but I felt a lot differently about it then.
I still kind of feel like I’m somewhere I’m not supposed to be, but also, I know there’s someone waiting for me in that room that is everywhere I should be. It’s a new perspective, to be sure.
The last six months have been nothing short of amazing.
Jack has been the picture of the perfect boyfriend, something that a year ago would have seemed completely foreign to me, but now that I know him—it’s absolutely easy to comprehend.
He’s supported me through the process of getting a restraining order against my dad—because of course the man learned nothing; he’s clapped for me at my graduation; he’s celebrated with me when I got a job at St. Michael’s counseling the kids there…
It feels like I’ve lived so much life in such a short time, and I’m happy to say that Jack has been there through all of it.
I rap my knuckles against the doorframe before stepping inside, opening my mouth to give a warning shout before realizing it’s completely unnecessary, since the locker room is empty.
I frown at the barren room as I turn my head this way and that in search of Jack, still holding his phone in my hand from where I’d grabbed it from his place.
“Jack?”
I jolt when he appears from behind the lockers, leaning against them with a lazy grin and looking extra delectable in his navy suit.
He thought a lot about whether or not he’d return to playing after he recovered from his surgery months ago, and in the end, he took it as a sign from the universe that it was time to move on to other things.
I can honestly say I’ve never seen him so excited as he’s been helping his old coach with the team, and now that it’s opening day, I know deep down he’s vibrating with anticipation at getting out there and doing it officially.
“Boo,” he says.
I roll my eyes, holding his phone out to him. “Don’t scare me like that.”
“How was work?”
“Long,” I tell him, “but it was a good day. I think I’m making a breakthrough with Jenna.”
Jenna is a seven-year-old who came to St. Michael’s not long after I started working there two months ago, her parents having passed away in a car accident not unlike what happened to Jack and Lila.
Maybe that’s why I’ve felt such a draw to her since she came, felt the need to make sure she knows she’s not alone.
“Of course you are,” he says. “My sweet baby shrink out there making the world a better place.”
“Mhm,” I answer, my eyes traveling down the length of him. “I have to say, if the new job means I get to see you like this more often…”
He wiggles his eyebrows, doing a little spin. “You like?”
“Wouldn’t want to make your head any bigger.”
“Oh, baby,” he laughs. “That ship has sailed.”
I turn my head to glance at the empty room again. “So where is everyone? Shouldn’t you guys be doing your little pregame shenanigans before opening day?”
“We’re reigning Stanley Cup champions two years in a row,” he scoffs. “We don’t have shenanigans.”
“Sure you don’t,” I chuckle.
“If you must know,” he tells me, “I had them clear out before you got here.”
“If you think I’m going to have sex with you in this locker room just because you’re wearing that suit—”
“While that is now completely on my radar—it’s not why I wanted you to come down here.”
I frown back at him. “What do you mean? I came because you left your phone.”
“I may have left it on purpose.”
I cock my head. “But why?”
“Because this is my favorite place in the world, and you’re my favorite person in the world, and it felt like there was no better place to do this.”
My brows shoot up. “Do what exactly?”
I feel like I stop breathing when he drops to one knee, my heart rate ratcheting higher because oh God, it’s too soon—and I can only watch helplessly as he bends and reaches for a little velvet box in his pocket, making my brain fizzle out and short-circuit.
“Jack,” I sputter, “what are you—”
“Abby,” he interrupts. “These last six months have been everything I could have ever hoped for. I know we never expected this to happen between us, but I can honestly say that you kissing me that first time is the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“Jack,” I manage tightly, still feeling overwhelmed, “I don’t know if—”
“Your smile is the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning, and your laugh is the last thing I think about before I go to sleep. Everything about you is everything I could ever want, and I know without a doubt that there will never be anyone else for me. No one could ever be more perfect for me than you are.”
“Jack, I—”
I swallow thickly as he slowly opens the box, and what I expected to be sitting there, which has been filling me with panic, turns out to be something entirely different—a shiny silver key resting inside the box.
I can feel the confusion bleeding into my expression as I peer down at him, trying to make sense of what I’m seeing.
Jack just smiles at me knowingly. “That’s why I want to see and hear all of those things every day. I want to see your smile when I first wake up, and I want to hear your laugh before I go to sleep.”
“What are you asking me, Jack?”
He stands, plucking the key from the box before he grabs my hand and presses it into my palm. “I’m asking you to move back in with me,” he says simply.
I smack his arm. “You jerk! You almost gave me a heart attack.”
“Aw, baby, did you think I was going to ask you something else?”
“I could murder you.”
“You love me too much.”
“That’s unfortunately true.” I eye the key in my palm, willing my heart to stop pounding so hard. “I told you to only ask me when you were sure we were forever.”
“I know what you said,” he tells me, “and that’s why I’m asking you.”
My lip quivers over something as simple as a key; I’m suddenly feeling overwhelmed for an entirely different reason. “And you’re sure?”
“I’ve never been more sure about anything in my entire life, Abigail Thompson.”
“Wow, you full-named me.”
“Needed you to know how serious I am.”
“Mm, we love serious Jack.”
He leans in, brushing his lips against mine. “Do we love him?”
“You know I do,” I say, kissing him gently.
“Then move back in,” he urges. “I want you in my apartment, my bed, in my fucking life. I want to know you’re never going anywhere. That every morning when I wake up, you’ll be right there with me.”
I feel my traitorous eyes start to mist over; I’ve never allowed myself to dream that I could have something like this, that someone as wonderful as Jack Baker—which I now know him to be—could ever want forever with someone like me.
That someone could make me feel like more simply by existing beside me.
“Of course I will,” I tell him.
He gives me another soft kiss. “Good. Because I’ve already hired the moving truck.”
“Wow, someone was cocky.”
“Oh, baby, you have no idea.”
I snort a laugh. “I have an inkling.”
Jack wraps his arms around me, pulling me in close as he brushes his nose against mine.
“I love you,” he says.
“I love you too.” I can’t help the way my lips curl at the corners. “I can’t believe you made me think you were going to propose.”
“Are you saying you’d have said no?”
“It’s only been eight months!”
“I hate to break it to you, Thompson,” he says, “but it’s coming. So you’d better prepare yourself to say yes when it does.”
“Always so confident,” I chuckle.
“I told you ages ago,” he tells me quietly, his lips a breath away from mine. “It’s all about the endgame, baby.”
And eight months ago, I would have rolled my eyes at that, would have written it off as Jack being Jack, but I feel differently about it now. Like if he had asked, maybe my answer would have surprised us both.
Maybe when he finally does, we’ll find out.
“Well,” I say, pulling back just a bit. “Are you ready to get out there, Coach?”
He grins back at me. “Now I am.”
“Then get out there.”
“And I’ll see you at home after?”
A slow, sweet warmth spreads through me, filling me up more than I ever thought possible.
“Yeah,” I tell him. “Yeah, you will.”