Page 91 of The Coach

She laughs at me and grabs the ring, slipping it on her finger and holding her hand up to her chest as if protecting it from me. “No take-backsies.”

I stand, gripping her around the waist and tugging her to me. “Deal.”

thirty-nine

MICK

Florida was hot and humid, but there were days I almost wished I was back there within close proximity to the ocean. Like when my car's AC goes out, and the leather seats make me stick to them and wish I could plunge myself into the Arctic.

I make my way back home after a ten-hour shift at work. It was a long, fulfilling day. I met two new clients today, both veterans who are using our new program.

Since we started the program last month, we’ve taken on ten veteran clients. All mine. It was growing at a steady enough pace that I was looking for more people to come in and work for me part time.

I couldn’t believe how rapidly it was growing, and Erik was pleasantly surprised and fully supportive of how I was choosing my candidates and running the program. I had a little help from Monica, Erik’s right-hand person, who showed me the ropes on anything I didn’t know.

Things were going well.

I enter our place—previously Tanner’s place—and greet Spud, our new French bulldog we adopted a couple of weeks ago.

“Spud, what are you doing, boy? Is Daddy home?” Yeah, we started calling each other mom and dad to our dog, too. It happened so naturally that neither of us even realized it until Tanner asked where Mommy was, and Spud ran to me. We’d looked at each other, both frowning at the realization that we had named ourselves for our dog.

I glance around, noting the quiet of the apartment, and realize he’s not here. Setting my things down, I grab Spud’s leash and take him for a quick walk outside. It was on our list to find a place with a nice backyard so he could go out whenever he wanted to.

After graduation and our engagement, Tanner surprised me with a vacation to Florida. He even went as far as to clear it with my work to make sure I could have the time off. It was just what I needed to reset between graduating from school and starting to work a full-time job.

We stayed at an oceanfront resort, had cocktails on the beach, and daydreamed about the amazing life we were going to have together.

We were half-tempted to elope since the timing had felt right, and the place was beautiful. But neither of us wanted to get married without our friends or family, so we decided to wait.

Luckily for me, one of Cassie’s great friends, Rachel, was an amazing wedding planner, and between Cassie and her, plus mine and Tanner’s mom, they had almost everything under control.

We reenter the air-conditioned apartment, and I let Spud go, who immediately slurps down about half a gallon of water while I watch on in amazement. When he’s finished, I head into the kitchen for a glass of water, drinking down mine almost as quickly as the dog. My eyes travel and land on the whiteboard on the side of the fridge.

On it is a note.

Care to win another debate about hockey? -Future Hubby

I smile to myself and rush to the shower.

The Old Mill is the same as always, and when I look around the bar, I don’t see Tanner anywhere. I frown, wondering if maybe I got the place wrong or guessed at the note wrong, but I take a seat anyway.

My phone doesn’t have any notifications, and as far as I can tell, the crowd is mostly just the after-work crowd.

I think about the first time I met Tanner here, how I was caught off guard by someone like him sitting next to me, flirting and talking with me for hours, how I was surprised I felt such a pull to him in the first place.

But I think that’s why I found myself falling for him so hard, so fast. That’s why I was willing to risk hurting other people’s feelings when it came to our relationship. There was something about him I never found in anyone else, that I would never find in anyone else.

I love him, and he loves me for me. There were no pretenses, no hiding who we were or what we asked of each other.

He is an amazing man, and as I sit here on the same stool I sat on almost a year ago today, I find myself daydreaming about him and our future the same way we did on that beach in Florida.

I feel him come up behind me before he says a word, and I keep myself facing the bar, waiting to see what he’ll say, and then he says the same thing he said one year ago, “This seat taken?”

Epilogue

MICK

The glittering laughter that bounces around the rink makes me smile as I watch the scene in front of me. I sometimes sat and thought about how everything came about, about how Tanner and I got together, how we found each other, and everything we did to end up right here.

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