Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 139(@200wpm)___ 111(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 139(@200wpm)___ 111(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
When she lets me go, I turn back to the rink and move closer to the glass with tears in my eyes. I will never admit it to anyone, especially not Brodie, because he would love to give me a hard time about it, but I love hockey. Or I love him, and he loves hockey so much that it’s rubbed off on me. I laugh when I see him coming in my direction with his helmet off and a beautiful smile on his handsome face.
“You did it!” I scream at the top of my lungs. He rests his forehead against the glass, and I do the same, wishing I could touch him.
“Love you,” he mouths when I lean back to look at him. I mouth it right back, then giggle when his teammates all swarm around him. Then, just like that, he’s gone and out of sight, lost in the crowd of his friends. Falling to my bottom in my seat, I let out a breath and then look at the screen when Aunt Ileana nudges me and points up. I frown when I realize that I’m looking at myself with the team’s mascot right behind me. I turn around, and he holds out a tiny red box on his big furry paw.
“What?” I shake my head, and he motions for me to take it while the stadium buzzes around us. When I have it in my grasp, he hand-signals for me to open it, making me laugh. Lifting the lid on the box, my body stills, and my heart pounds.
The brightest and biggest diamond I have ever seen in my life glitters from inside, nestled in white silk. I look up at the mascot, confused.
“Turn around,” people yell. When I do, I find Brodie still dressed in his hockey uniform, down on one knee behind me.
“Oh my God.” I cover my mouth with my hand, and he reaches toward me and carefully takes the box from my grasp.
“Ree.”
“No,” I breathe, shaking my head. He laughs.
“I love you.”
“Brodie.” Tears fill my eyes.
“The last almost two years have been the happiest of my life.” Oh, my God. My knees shake as I look into his eyes. “You’re my best friend. The best thing to ever happen to me.” I wipe the tears from my cheeks. “I know with you by my side, there is nothing I can’t accomplish… Will you marry me?”
“Yes.” I lunge at him and wrap my arms around his neck. The ground beneath my feet shakes as people scream, clap, and cheer. “I can’t believe you,” I whisper in his ear.
“I meant it. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Ree.” I can’t tell him that I feel the same because a sob I can’t control is climbing up the back of my throat. I never imagined having a moment like this with a man as perfect for me as he is. “You said yes, right?” he asks against my ear, and I nod, then lean back to look at him while laughing.
“Yes.” I wipe the tears from under my eyes as he takes my hand to slide the ring onto my finger. Once it’s in place, he lifts my hand in the air, causing the crowd to go crazy again.
I laugh, leaning into him, then grab his face and give him a kiss that is likely too inappropriate for TV.
Brodie
Around 8 years later…
“Dada. Baba,” my one-year-old daughter Rin shrieks. The people seated around us look in our direction, all with smiles on their faces directed at my girl, who looks just like her mom.
“Okay.” I unclip her pacifier from her diaper bag and give it to her. As soon as she has it in her mouth, her head falls against my chest, and her eyes start to close. She’s tired. Then again, she’s had a busy few days, spending time with her older cousins and her grandparents, who are all in town for her mom’s graduation.