Fresh tears flood my eyes. I see Eli waving at me, grinning. Noel brought my family here, and it means everything to me.
He waves at the crowd, smiling and holding up my hand. I don’t look at the faces of the joyful fans, or at the sparkling, outrageously expensive ring on my finger.
Happiness washes over me as I look at what matters the most. Him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Noel
One MonthLater
I’m listeningto one of my old hockey teammates, Alex Dearden, recounting our time together on the US Olympic men’s hockey team. We won silver, and we had a hell of a time celebrating in Switzerland.
My eyes can’t focus on him, though. Not when my radiant fiancée is nearby, dancing with Suki’s friend Dex.
It’s been two weeks since our first Christmas together. Carter and Suki are hosting a party at their friend Harry’s restaurant to celebrate our engagement and Jules’s thirtieth birthday.
“I think you finally got it right,” my friend Olivier says, putting an arm around my shoulders. “She’s very different from the other two.”
“Very different.”
“I heard she’s a style influencer. Did she pick this out for you?” He tugs on the lapel of the sport coat I’m wearing, which is dark khaki.
“That was all me.”
Dex twirls Jules, saying something that makes her throw her head back with laughter. She’s wearing a blue dress that hugs her in all the right places, her hair loose around her shoulders.
“How was Christmas?” Olivier asks.
“It was good. We did dinner and presents on Christmas Day and then we all went skiing in Park City for a couple days.”
Jules, Blair, Eli, and Cooper mostly snow tubed, but they had a great time. My kids got to know Jules’s family better. We had a lot of laughs and good times.
“Did you have a good Christmas?” I ask Olivier.
“Yeah, we did. We always spend it in Paris these days.”
The song ends, and instead of playing another one, the DJ passes a microphone to Talia.
“Hey everyone, if you don’t know me, I’m Talia Turner, Noel’s daughter. I just want to take a moment to thank Carter and Suki Stanton for hosting this amazing party, and also Harry for the beautiful venue and incredible food. Jules has been my girl since we first met, and I couldn’t be happier that she’s now my dad’s girl, too.”
Jules makes her way over to me, and she blows a kiss to Talia as I put my arm around her waist.
“I know what everyone’s wondering—were we, Noel’s children, shocked when our dad proposed to Jules at center ice? Well, let’s just say it’s a good thing we keep smelling salts handy in the locker room, because I nearly fainted.”
That gets a laugh. Jules looks up at me warmly.
“There were disappointed men not only in our locker room, but around the globe when Dad officially took Jules off the market. We’re sure some women were disappointed that Dad’s not single anymore, but we have yet to hear from them.”
I laugh and tip back my tumbler of Macallan. I’ll never forget the night I proposed to Jules, not only because she made me thehappiest man in the world, but because pretty much our entire team was gobsmacked over it. My players congratulated me, but I could tell they had lots of questions.
Talia focused on work, not saying anything to me until after the game. I can still remember every word we exchanged as soon as we got back to the locker room after our 4–2 win.
“Dad, what in the actual fuck is this alternate reality? Have you and Jules even been out on a date before?”
I arched my brows in response. “You think I just proposed to her out of nowhere?”
“No. Yes. I don’t know. Were you with her on Thanksgiving night?”
