“Right,” Jason says, blinking at him. “Yeah. Well, still. Thank you for finding a place to ordain you so you could perform the ceremony. And thank you to Maggie for helping Hailey with the dress and flowers and getting ready today. And thank you to Dozer and Marissa for the reservation, the music, and taking photos. You guys are the best.”
It hits me, then, that Jason has a good life here with real friends. I hadn’t really been paying attention, caught up in my own surreality and drama with all of this. But … he’s right. Without them here doing their best to make this special at the last minute, we would’ve just gone to the courthouse in shorts and T-shirts or something and said our vows in front of a judge.
Even if this isn’t meant to last forever, it’s still special. And that’s starting to sink in.
“Our reservations are in twenty minutes,” Dozer says, “so we should probably head out so we make it in time.”
“Lead the way,” Jason says, gesturing for the others to precede us.
When I start to move as well, he tightens his fingers at my waist, keeping me in place until the others are halfway up the path. “How are you doing?” he asks me quietly.
“I’m good,” I say automatically.
Turning me to face him, he looks me in the eyes. “Are you? You seemed kinda shell-shocked for a little bit there.”
“Aren’t you?” I ask. “This is …” I gesture around, trying to encompass everything—the park, the dress, him, the flowers, his friends. “It’s a lot. And really fast. Don’t you think so?”
He studies my face. “Yes and no. I’m used to things moving pretty fast, though, once the action starts. That’s basically been my whole life. Everything feels slow until—bam—it’s all happening at once. Why should this be any different?”
I search his eyes for a moment, but all I see is sincerity. “I think it’s fair to say that you and I have lived very different lives.”
His chin dips in a nod. “Yeah, that’s probably true. You’re okay, though? This, my friends, all of it—it was okay?”
“It was beautiful, Jason.” My voice is a whisper, and I’m getting a little choked up. Blinking away the moisture trying to collect in my eyes, I force a smile. “It was the perfect last-minute, shoestring wedding. Thank you for making it happen.”
He studies my face again, then breaks into a small smile. “My pleasure.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Hailey
While nothingspecifically changes with my relationship with Jason now that we’re officially married—I still sleep in my own room, we still hang out and chat like friends, but after the wedding, he hasn’t touched or kissed me again. Which is normal, considering this isn’t a romantic marriage. It’s a business arrangement so I can have insurance and support while I get established here. It’s just that part of me thought …
Well, it doesn’t matter. That’s the preteen with a crush part of me. Not the adult who knows better.
Lots of other things change the next week, though. Jason starts training camp, which means I have his condo to myself for long stretches of time. According to Marissa, I’ll need to get used to this because during the season—which lasts until next April for the regular season, longer if they make it to the playoffs again—he’ll be gone about every other week for away games.
Marissa also said that they’ve made it to the playoffs the last few years, though they haven’t managed to get to the Stanley Cup final.
The reception dinner, complete with a cake that Marissa and Dozer found at a local bakery, was more fun than I would’ve expected. And we even did the traditional cake cutting together, with Jason being surprisingly tender as he fed me a bite. I was a little worried he might try to smash it in my face, but he’d simply held out a small piece, his face open and sincere, though something flashed in his eyes when I ate it from his hand.
When it was my turn to feed him, I understood that look on his face when his lips made contact with my fingers. Despite his friends chanting, “Smash it! Smash it!” I chose to return his kindness—though I did grin at him like I was considering it for a second. But feeding someone like that is more intimate than I’d expected, and it sent a flash of heat through my whole body from that brief moment of contact.
While we ate, we all talked about the upcoming season, with everyone making their predictions about how well they’d do. Everyone but me seemed to know a lot about the sport. Which, obviously the guys would, since they play. But I hadn’t realized how into hockey both Maggie and Marissa were before.
And that’s when I found out that Maggie works for the Emeralds’ front office as their social media manager. Marissa works in auto parts sales as the regional manager up here, but is apparently a die-hard sports fan.
“I grew up on football and baseball,” she told me at one point.
“Same. Well, baseball, anyway,” Maggie put in. “Then my ex-husband was super into basketball, so I know a lot about that too. But I’ve been covering all sports for social media for a while now, so I know a lot about hockey too.”
Grinning, Marissa turned back to me. “I never followed hockey until I met Dozer, but I can see the appeal.”
“My brother played football when I was a kid,” I offer, searching for any grounds to relate to them, even if it’s as distant as that.
Marissa grinned. “Mine did too.”
Jason reached for my hand under the table, giving it a squeeze at my mention of Hunter, however oblique.
