“Speaking of jobs…” Jude interrupts. “Do you need anything? Like a reference or cash until you get a new position somewhere? Let me know.”
I nod. “I’m okay. I can take care of myself. Besides, soon you’ll have your own little girl to take care of, so you better save your money for that.”
“It’s a boy!” Jude argues back instantly, and Zoey laughs.
“I don’t care what it is, as long as you let me babysit a lot,” Mom says with an excited smile.
I spend three hours hanging out with my family and then decide to head home and start the job search. As I get off the trolley the phone rings. I have the number saved in my phone as “Kelsey ALS.” She must be calling about the social media campaign.
“Dixie! How are you? Do you have a moment to talk?” she says. Her voice is friendly and upbeat, which fills me with hope.
“I’m good, and yes, I’m free to chat. How are you?”
“I’m good, but I’ll be great if you take a job with us,” she says. “We got your email and we’re sending you an offer to be our social media director as we speak.”
“Seriously?”
She laughs. “Yes. Normally there might be an in-person interview, but we know you, and the work you’ve already done for us has been exceptional. We’re confident in making the offer.”
“Thank you so much, Kelsey!”
We talk for a minute more and she tells me to review the offer and send it back with an electronic signature to make it official. The email comes as soon as we hang up and I look it over. The salary is a little less, but the benefits are better and I get more time off. My start date is a week from today. I squeal and do a little dance on the sidewalk. Then I immediately call Eli and tell him the news.
“I’m on my way to your place right now, and I’m taking you out to celebrate!” he announces.
I can’t stop smiling, and when he knocks on the door twenty minutes later I’ve already signed the offer and sent it back. He’s carrying a box with my stuff in it from the office. He carefully puts it down near the kitchen and then picks me up in a hug and spins me around. “Congrats, Dixie!”
“I knew it would work out. I just didn’t know it would be so quickly.”
He lets me go and heads back over to the box and grabs a small frame out of it. I had a motivational motto in that frame. It said INHALE CONFIDENCE, EXHALE DOUBT. He smiles deviously as he hands it to me. “I replaced it with my new favorite pickup line, so you can put it up here and it’ll remind you of me when I’m on road trips.”
He’s replaced my motto with something he must have printed on a printer. It’s white paper with thick, large black print. YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE BEST THING IS IN MY LIFE? IT’S THE FIRST WORD IN THAT SENTENCE.
I look up at him and his goofy grin and I feel deadly serious suddenly. “I don’t need reminders. I don’t intend to forget you,” I admit with nervous butterflies. “Because I love you.”
His smile drops and a new, warm, sweet one blooms across his rugged features. He steps into me again, circling my waist with his arms and pulling me into him. “I love you too.”
He kisses me again, and when he pulls back he’s got a cocky smile on his face. “See? Sometimes flying by the seat of your pants works out, Little Miss Plans and Rules.”
“Sometimes.” I laugh. This relationship tested me in so many ways and catapulted me out of my comfort zone, but as he kisses me again, I know I’d risk everything all over again if I had to. He’s worth it.
Epilogue
Elijah
Six months later
Two minutes. Two minutes and we will have done it. We will win the Stanley Cup for the third time in four years. I will win my first Stanley Cup. With my brother. Levi skates and he actually smiles at me. He’s trying not to be cocky, but it’s two minutes left and we’re ahead by two goals. I take my position in my crease and glance at my team on the bench. They’re all standing, bouncing and shaking with anticipation.
The ref drops the puck. Jude wins it and gets it back to Duncan. He sails it over to Levi. They skate up the ice away from me for one final assault on the beleaguered Milwaukee Comets goalie. They take three shots between them, but no one scores, and I don’t care. All I care about is that clock counting down.
A Comets player gets in and starts down the ice toward me, but Duncan checks him into the boards and gets the puck back. They’re too close to my end, so I can’t glance at the clock, but I fucking want to more than anything. Jude has the puck now and moves behind the Comets net. He’s wasting time. We just need to beat the clock now. I hear the fans’ thunderous countdown: “Three! Two! One!”
A deafening roar shakes the arena. I never actually hear the final buzzer, but when I look up, the clock’s at zero. I toss my stick and throw my gloves off and lift my arms in victory. I throw off my helmet and start skating down the ice toward my team. Every single Thunder player is hopping the boards. Equipment is flying everywhere, and the next thing I know I’m colliding with everyone. We topple over onto the hard ice in a pile of bodies, but I don’t feel a thing. I’m euphoric.
Levi’s face swims into my vision. He’s grinning, tears brimming in his eyes. I grin back as he grabs the back of my head. “We did it! You did it! You fucking did it, Eli!”
I laugh. Jude grabs us both in a hug, roaring in victory. I hug everyone and anyone I see, and then Coach Schneider is in front of me grinning and he hugs me and kisses my cheek and hollers, “Fuck yeah! I knew you could do it, kid!”
