“I don’t need easy,” I said. “I just needyou.”
She smiled then, that same smile I had fallen for on the first day I’d met her. “So we’re doing this?” she asked, a little breathless, a little awed.
I nodded, squeezing her hand. “Yeah. We’re doing this.”
She exhaled, her lips curving. “If you’d told me when we first met that we’d end up here, I wouldn’t have believed you.”
“You mean falling for a devastatingly handsome hockey player?”
She swatted my chest playfully. “I meant,” she laughed, “falling and having a devastatingly handsome hockey player catch me, who would soon have me falling for him.”
I grinned, unable to stop the warmth blooming in my chest. “I guess you’ve been falling for me since day one, huh?”
“Oh, please,” she teased. “Let’s not forget who kissed who that day.”
We were both smiling now—wide, real, unguarded smiles. The kind you only wear when you know you’re exactly where you’re meant to be.
I tugged her gently back into my arms as the music swelled around us. “Well, for the record…I’ve been falling for you too.”
She leaned in closer. “Then let’s keep falling together.”
There were still things to sort out like miles between us, careers to return to, logistics that didn’t come with easy answers. But none of that mattered in this moment.
Because what we had? It was real. And we’d figure out the rest.
Together.
I dipped my head, brushing my lips against hers—soft, certain, and full of everything I hadn’t known how to say until now.
It might’ve started with a fall, a kiss, and a little Christmas magic…
But this?
This was just the beginning.
Epilogue
Holden
December 25th
It washard to believe it was Christmas Day.
I’d spent so many years pretending I didn’t care about holidays or about family. But, sitting in Belle’s family home, surrounded by the laughter of people who actually wanted me here, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d been missing something for a long time.
We were sitting around the big oak table, the room glowing with soft light from the fireplace, and Belle’s parents were smiling at me like I was a part of the family already. Her brother, Ethan, wascracking jokes, and Claire was laughing along, her eyes twinkling like she had a secret. Even the dog was curled up by my feet, as if he’d claimed me as his new favorite person.
Belle and I exchanged a smile as her dad told yet another Christmas story about her childhood, and I was content. Truly content. It felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
Just then, my phone buzzed in my pocket. I glanced at the screen and saw a name that made me smile. The Zeke Man.
I shook my head at the ridiculous nickname he’d given himself. I still hadn’t changed his name in my contacts, and I probably never would.
“Mind if I take this?” I asked Belle, my voice barely above a whisper.
She nodded, squeezing my hand under the table. “No, of course not.”
I stepped away from the table and walked into the next room, picking up the phone. “The Zeke Man.”
