Regards,
Simon Reynolds
OPU Athletic Director
I open the attachment to find an invitation for a black tie event at a hotel in downtown OKC. I feel like it was meant to be. This is the exact issue Coach Collins and I have been discussing.
“First, I need to talk to Amy,” I murmur aloud. After all, the last time we were an us outside of Willow Creek didn’t end well for her. Still, it’s her choice. I don’t want to repeat my mistakes from our past and assume anything.
I sit back at my desk and look at a picture taken of the two of us as Velma and Shaggy on Halloween that Amy gave me for Christmas. When I opened it, it was all I could do not to kiss her then and there. Considering we were in her parent’s living room, I held back until later that night.
That’s when she let down the last of her barriers.
The house is quiet. While I place the leftovers in the refrigerator, Amy turned on the lights to the tree she insisted I put up.
Now, the tree lights are glowing but they don’t hold a candle to the woman curled up next to me. Amy’s head is resting against my shoulder. I lean over to nuzzle her hair, I realize maybe it was a good thing I got knocked in the head.
It didn’t just reset my priorities. It returned my heart.
Amy’s been quiet for a few minutes. Thoughtful, not distant. I’ve learned her all over again with the intensity I used to devote to learning plays on the ice. The way her thumb traces slow, absent patterns along my forearm. The way she breathes in before saying something that matters.
“Brennan?”
“Yeah.” I turn her toward me, shifting so she has my full attention.
“I’ve been thinking about us. About…where I am.”
“What about where you are, my queen?”
“I think you should know my feelings have changed.”
My gut clenches with fear. “They have?”
“They’ve grown,” she continues, eyes locked on me. “I’ve fallen for you again. Maybe I never really stopped. But I’m scared.”
“Why?” I want to yank her onto my lap to return her feelings, but I sense she has more to say.
“Because we feel permanent. If that’s not where you’re at, I understand.” She searches my face for any sign of discomfort.
I don’t hesitate, not even for a second. I yank her over my lap so she’s straddling my legs. She glares at me. “Some warning next time?”
“I’m in love with you, too,” I lift her chin gently so she can’t look away. “I’ve been feeling this for a while.”
Her brows knit. “You don’t have to say that just because?—”
“I know.” I press my forehead to hers, breathing her in. “Trust me, I’m not. I’m saying I love you because I wake up thinking about you. Go to sleep thinking about you. Becauseduring a day where I may make one or a dozen decisions, your reaction to each is what I imagine. When something good or bad happens, you’re the first person I want to tell. All I want, for the rest of my life, is to be here. With you.”
Her eyes shine, reflecting the Christmas lights. “You mean it.”
“I feel complete with you in a way I never have anywhere else—including the ice.”
She lets out a shaky laugh that turns into a sob. Her hands fist in my sweater as if she needs to ground her emotions. “So, we’re on the same page.”
“We are.” I kiss her temple, then her cheek, then hover just close enough that she can feel the truth of it on my lips. “I love you. I will choose you for the rest of our lives at whatever pace you’re ready for.”
She kisses me then—slow, sure, like there’s no question left unanswered.
And for the first time since I saw her at The Honeyed Hearth, I feel like I deserve the love she’s offering me because I know I’ll never let anything happen to it the way I did before.
