I roll my shoulders. “Spit it out, then. You’re going to say it anyway.”
“I want you to tell Haley how you feel about her during your best man toast. Go all in at my wedding, Liam. That’s the only gift I want from you.”
He’s dead serious. His green eyes are like looking in a mirror.
“Why is it so important to you?” I ask him. “I was planning to talk to Haley about our future but in private.”
“Look, I just…I think Dad will be looking down on us all today,” Hunter says. “He’ll be giving his blessing, and I feel like this is the right thing to do. Make today about you, not just me. You deserve love more than the rest of us put together.”
Jared and Max both nod.
“Truth,” Jared says.
My three little brothers. All grown up, they soared past me in the true love department. And now they’re extending me their hands like I’ve always done for them.
I swallow hard. Today is about so much more than a wedding. It’s about us Storms stepping out of the pain of grief and into our future as husbands and, hopefully one day, as fathers.
I clap Hunter on the back. “I’ll consider it.” I take a breath. “I was going to wait to tell you this, but I want you to be the first to know.”
They all look at me.
“I’ve decided to retire.”
Silence.
“From ice hockey, not from life,” I growl. “Can somebody fucking say something, please?”
Hunter grins. “You’re serious.”
“Of course I’m fucking serious. You think I’d joke about retiring? Do you know what it took for me to get to this decision?”
Jared and Max and Hunter all nod.
“Yeah,” Jared says. “Of course we do. Congrats, Liam. I think it’s awesome.”
Max shakes my hand. “Best decision you could make. You deserve it.”
“You turned pro and gave us all a chance to stay kids. You’ve made generational money for your daughter and her future children.” Hunter’s now wiping at his eyes. “Get the hell off the ice and out of the arena and live the rest of your damn life.”
* * *
Haley
“Do you take this man to be your husband?”
Winter beams at Hunter. “I do.”
With the big blue sky and hot sun of summer in Montana above us, and the pine trees perfectly encircling the altar, I can’t help but smile too. Despite my lack of faith in a happily ever after.
Because Winter Allen and Hunter Storm were meant to be together.
And maybe, just maybe, as I sneak a peek at the best man across the aisle, I’m regaining the faith that I’d lost in love.
Liam raises his eyebrows at me, and I fight the urge to laugh.
He looks so ridiculously handsome in his suit that it should be illegal for him to go out in public. The whole world will want him.
And I don’t want any competition.
