Epilogue
Blaine
Seven months later
“Ernie, come on! Don’t let me down now, dude.” I whistle to get Ernie’s attention, but he’s too busy trying to pull a tree root out of the ground.
The Chicago Thunder groundskeeper is going to be so mad with me.
“Dude!” I tug on his collar, and he finally lets go, only to run a few more laps around the grassed area outside of the arena.
How this dog has so much energy, I will never know.
Usually, Ernie and I go to the dog park near our apartment block to try and exhaust his never-ending energy levels. This allows for Alex to come home from helping Jacob at the bakery to a nice, peaceful night working on his graphic design business.
I’m so proud of how far Alex has come in the last twelve months.
With the money worries settled, he’s really been able to come into his own.
The bakery is thriving, and he’s been able to develop his graphic design business.
He still works a couple of days at the bakery because he doesn’t want to give it up completely, but his clientele is growing, and he now has a waitlist of people eager to get on his list. I couldn’t be prouder of him.
And as for me?
Well, today we have a different plan.
If you’d asked me a year ago if I would be walking through the doors to the Thunder arena with an engagement ring in my pocket, I’d have laughed in your face and called you insane.
But there is nothing I want more than to be married to the love of my life and my best friend.
Ernie comes running back, this time with a tree branch, and rubs it against my leg. I lean down to stroke the top of his head. “You can’t bring that inside, buddy; leave it out here, and we’ll ask Ethan if you can take it back to his place.”
Ethan Parkes, top man and a brilliant captain, has offered to give me and Alex some uninterrupted alone time and take Ernie home with him tonight.
We walk down the hall to where I’m meeting Ethan, who’s helping me execute my plan, and Ernie makes sure to say hello to every person we pass.
When we reach the door to the locker room, I spot him standing near the start of the tunnel, a trolley full of carpet next to him.
“Hey!” I give Ernie a nod to let him know that he can go see Ethan.
My teammate reaches down and ruffles Ernie’s fur, crooning to him in that high-pitched baby voice I’d never have expected Ethan to be capable of.
“Are you all ready?” He asks.
I knew I wanted to propose to Alex at the rink where I first met him, but I was driving myself crazy over how to make it special. I wanted it to be memorable. Like when you see it in the movies and everyone cries when the story is being retold.
I wanted that.
I wanted people to cry because I’m such a fucking romantic.
But I just didn’t know how, so as always, I went to Ethan for help, because it turns out Mister Grumpy and Broody is actually a big softie.
“I think so.” I rub the back of my neck. “I’m fucking nervous, man.”
Ethan chuckles. “That’s normal. Did you bring the candles?”
I nod.
“The jersey?”
I nod again, removing my backpack and unzipping it, taking out the mini jersey I had custom made and handing it over to Ethan. He pulls it out of the bag to examine it, then gives a nod of approval.
“It looks good.”
“Do you think he’ll like it?”
Ethan laughs. “Yes, he’s going to love it. Now let's get to work because we have an hour before he shows up.”
I follow him through the tunnel and onto the bench. We begin rolling out the red carpet we use for special pre-game events, starting from the bench all the way to the penalty box where I sat that first night. Ernie is busy zooming around the rink, chasing a puck Ethan threw for him.
We line the edge of the red carpet with battery-operated tea light candles.
I debated using real candles but then thought against it—knowing Ernie, he’d kick them over and cause a fire.
There’s been a few times we’ve wondered whether we’ve adopted Elliot in dog form because Ernie and Elliot are like two peas in a pod.
“Blaine, your flowers are here!”
I lift my head, and Zach’s holding the bouquet of twelve long-stem roses that I ordered—one for every month I’ve known Alex.
“Did you tip them?” I ask when I get to the bench and take them from Zach.
He nods. “Yeah, I did.”
I go to grab my wallet from my back pocket, but Zach waves me off. “You can pay me back in donuts.” He grins.
Ernie runs over, slipping and sliding on the ice, then jumps up to bite the end of the bouquet.
“Quit it!” I hold them up out of his reach.
Zach looks out at the ice. The arena lights have been dimmed; only the spotlight lights up the penalty box, and the projector light is casting heart shapes onto the ice.
“Okay, I think you’re set.” Ethan claps a hand on my shoulder; his head tilts slightly as a wide smile crosses his face. “I’m fucking proud of you, Blaine.”
I bring him into a hug. “Thank you for everything.”
“Anytime, bud.”
When Ethan and Zach leave, I put the jersey I had made on Ernie, and we head into the penalty box and wait for our man to turn up.
Luckily, I don’t have to wait long, as ten minutes later, the sound of voices alerts me to Alex’s arrival.
I spot Ethan walking out of the tunnel first, with Alex shortly behind.
He flashes me a wide grin, then squeezes Alex’s shoulder, and next thing I know, the soft melody of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love” filters through the sound system.
Alex gazes around the rink before he sees me as I stand up in the box, my heart pounding in my chest. The doors open, and Ernie’s sitting on the bench with the warm-up puck from the first night in his mouth, wiggling in excitement. He doesn’t move, though.
I’ve trained our boy well.
Alex takes a tentative step onto the carpet, then heads toward me. I watch as he wipes his palms down the side of his jeans and takes everything in.
“Hey.” His voice is like warm caramel on a winter's day, warming my insides.
Ernie’s going crazy on the bench, his tail thumping wildly at Alex’s arrival.
“Hey, baby,” I say softly as I step out of the penalty box.
Alex warily takes another step forward, his brow furrowing in confusion as he accepts the flowers. “What’s going on?”
Taking his hand in mine, I rub my thumb over his knuckles, “Twelve months ago, on this day, I’d woken up to a shitshow. I thought I was about to lose everything, but little did I know it was the other way around. I was about to win it all.”
His breath hitches.
“I didn’t know that when I knocked into those boards,” I say, pointing to the boards next to me, “that I’d just laid eyes on my forever.
The guy who’d challenge me in ways neither of us knew.
Who would show me that I’m worthy and someone who could experience this type of love.
That I could love with everything I am.”
With his hand still in mine, I kneel down on one knee and slip the small velvet box out of my pocket.
I click my tongue, causing Ernie to jump off of the bench and come to my side, where he sits down again. He drops the warmup puck to the ground, then turns around.
Alex’s watery eyes go from mine to Ernie’s, and when he notices the words “Marry Me?” on the back of the Thunder jersey Ernie’s wearing, with my number, a choked cry escapes his throat.
I open the box to reveal an eighteen-karat white gold band.
“I want to love you for all of my days. I want to dance with you to Elvis every Sunday. I want us to adopt all the dogs together and have a house in the country for them to run around. I would love for you, Alex, to be my husband.”
Alex’s mouth drops open, then closes and opens again. A small tear rolls down his cheek.
“Will you marry me, Alex? Will you be mine forever and ever?”
I hold my breath in anticipation for his answer, letting it out on a whoosh as he nods.
He drops to his knees in front of me, taking my face into his hands, and presses his lips to mine in a desperate kiss. My cheeks are wet with my own tears, and when Ernie pushes his nose between us to give us both kisses of his own, we break apart and laugh.
“Yes.” Alex nods, the smile that captured my heart spreading across his face. “Yes, I would love to be your husband.”
“Good, and you should get two minutes for holding…” I grin. “Because you’re going to be holding onto my heart forever.”
I kiss him again and again and again.
I kiss him because he’s mine.
I kiss him because he’s my lover.
I kiss him because he’s my forever.
He’s my everything.
The End.