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“Oliver?!” A hand tapped his shoulder.
He reluctantly turned, meeting Kaitlin’s smile.
“You’re here!”
“Hi Kait.” Oliver kept climbing and so did she.
“Who you with?” she asked. “You know, you can always sit with me.”
Oliver’s chances of speaking to Georgie alone were plummeting with each step. “Er, maybe next time?”
Wearing the jersey he’d given her, Georgie handed her camera to Michael, and squeezed past Terry and Ezio, headed his way. The butterflies in his stomach tripled as he stopped at her row and waited just off the aisle, careful not to knock the drinks left on the floor beneath the vacated seats.
Thankfully, Kaitlin kept moving. “Talk later,” she said, fleeing to the next row.
“Hi?” Georgie wrapped her arms around her waist, her quizzical stare sweeping Oliver’s white Henley and black trousers. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you.”
Her brows rose. “How’d you…?”
“Bought a scalper’s ticket.”
“Oh.”
The organist’s performance of Saga’s prog-rock hit ‘Wind Him Up’ pulsed through the speakers as Oliver glanced at the score clock, the game tied 2-2 with the time counting down to the third period. 16:12, 16:11, 16:10… No point dillydallying. “So how are you?”
“Been better,” said Georgie. “You?”
“Literally couldn’t be worse…” A nervous laugh stuck in his throat as he caught Michael, Leesa, Randall, Kaitlin, Ezio, Terry—all gawking intently.
“Yeah.” She picked at her fingernails. “Oliver, I’ve been thinking…”
Oh shit. He gulped.
“I’ll move—” they blurted at the same time.
“What?” They both flinched like they hadn’t heard each other correctly.
Oliver blinked. “I’m sorry?”
Georgie unsuccessfully tucked a strand of hair from her ponytail behind her ear. “I-I’ll move. I want to be where you are, Ollie, wherever that takes me, and if that’s the UK…”
Oliver’s pulse tripped. “You’d live in London?”
Breaking into a smile, she laughed. “Yeah. If it’ll have me.”
Heart soaring, he grinned back. Beautiful selfless Georgie, his ray of sunshine and biggest fan, was willing to give up her friends, her beloved hockey team, everything. All for him.
“I’ve been trying to figure stuff out, trying to decide what to do, what makes me most happy…”
She shifted closer and Oliver’s gaze dropped to her lips, pink and slightly parted. God, help me. He swallowed hard, fighting the burning desire to pull her in for a long, deep kiss.
“…and it’s not my job or Toronto. It’s not even the Leafs. It’s you, Oliver.” Georgie twisted and tugged the hem of her jersey. “I love you, and I know in time, I’ll fall for London, too.”
He swept the stubborn piece of hair away from her eyes. “Oh Bug, I thought I might’ve lost you.”
She grimaced. “I know. I’m sorry I made you worry.”
