Epilogue #2
I pop the velvet box open. Inside, a simple, flawless, emerald-cut diamond.
“I don’t know where this game is going to take us next, Campbell,” I say, my words coming out in a vibration. “I don’t know what stadium we’re going to be standing in next year, or how many miles we’re going to put on our suitcases. Yours more than mine.”
She shakes with a silent laugh.
“But I know that every single run I score, every game I win, doesn’t mean a damn thing if I don’t look into the stands and see you there, or at least get to make you my very first call when I collapse in bed at the end of the night.”
I reach up, taking her trembling left hand in mine, my thumb smoothing over her knuckles.
“You’re my true north, Campbell Hines . . . almost McKinney, I hope. You’re the only person who ever saw me for exactly who I am, not the last name on my jersey. I want you in my corner for the rest of my life. Will you be my permanent teammate? My all-star? Will you marry me?”
The city below us seems to fall away. The room we’re in a muffled quiet. The wind catches the silk of her emerald dress, waving it softly around her ankles.
She lets out a tearful laugh, not even waiting for me to stand. Instead dropping straight to her knees on the hard stone right in front of me. Together, we slide the ring in place, and she throws her arms around my neck with a crushing force that nearly sends us both sprawling onto the floor.
“Yes,” she gasps against my ear, her skin hot and damp against my cheek as she holds on to me like I’m the only solid thing left in the universe. The best thing. Her favorite thing.
“Yes, Jake. Always and forever, yes.”
I close my eyes, wrapping my arms around her waist and burying my face in her neck as my entire being is taken over by a beautiful calm.
Then I sit back and hold her hands in mine, admiring the way the diamond sits on her finger.
It’s like a crystal ball, a glimpse of greatness to come.
And while we will no doubt have challenges along the way, we move forward with some solid training underfoot, officially closing the book on some painful parts of our past and opening the first page of everything else.
THE END