Page 104 of Must Love Dogs… and Hockey

Lilly

I’m home after spending Christmas with Mom and Dad. It was strangely normal. Dad had lots of interesting stories from his travels, but he didn’t talk incessantly about it, thank God. And it sounds like he and Mom are planning a trip in the new year—together. To Australia. Wow.

I could tell they’re concerned about me, so I tried to keep a happy face on, but that was tiring. So I’m glad to be back in my little apartment where I can just mope. I won’t mope forever. Just for a while. I need to be ready for the trial, which I’m sure is going to demand a lot of my energy.

Carlin gets back from visiting her family that evening. I go down to say hi and hear about her visit. William is with her and they’re both wearing huge smiles, and it takes only seconds for me to notice the diamond flashing on her left hand.

I let out a little scream and grab her hand. She starts laughing and then we both start crying and hugging. “I’m so happy for you. For both of you.” I lean back to smile at William. I like him, and he’s perfect for Carlin. “This is so wonderful!”

“We brought a bottle of champagne!” Carlin gestures at William and he produces it. “Let’s open it!”

I hurry into the kitchen and return with three champagne flutes. William pops the cork and Carlin sloppily pours the bubbly wine into the glasses.

“To both of you.” I lift my glass, beaming. “Wishing you a lifetime of love and happiness.”

We clink our glasses together.

“Thank you,” Carlin says with a sniffle. “You’re the best, Lill. You’ll be my maid of honor, right?”

I press a hand to my chest. “Oh my God! Of course! I’m honored! When will the wedding be?”

Carlin glances at William. “We’d like to do it this fall.”

“Perfect!” Then I pick up on the hesitation in her answer. “Oh.” I divide a look between them. “You want to move in together sooner, don’t you?” I tilt my head, smiling. “I’ve thought that for a while.”

She bites her lip. “Yes, but…I don’t want to leave you.”

“Well, William can’t marry both of us,” I quip, although my stomach tightens. I smile brightly. “Don’t worry about me! I’ll be fine.”

Carlin looks at her fiancé again. “We’re thinking that I’ll move in with him right away, but I’ll keep paying the rent here until you can find another roommate.”

“No! Oh, no. You don’t have to do that. I’m getting back on my feet. It’s okay.” Truthfully, I can’t afford the full rent. I’m barely making enough to pay my half as well as tiny payments on my debt. But I’ll figure something out.

“Well. We’ll discuss that.” Carlin smiles too, and I know we’re in for an argument at some point. But not now. Now, we celebrate.

We talk about Christmas and gifts and wedding plans while we finish off the bottle of champagne. We don’t talk about Easton, even though I still think about him all the time. There’s a Bears game tonight and this is distracting me and keeping me from watching it, hoping for a glimpse of Easton.

When William leaves and Carlin heads to her room to unpack, I flick on the TV. The game’s almost over. The Bears are winning three–one. That’s good. And then the play-by-play announcer mentions Millar. My eyes fly open wide and I lean forward. He’s playing!

Not only playing, he’s flying up the ice on a breakaway. A Carolina player is chasing him but has no hope of catching him and Easton goes in on the goal tender alone, playing with the puck, then shooting it over the goalie’s shoulder. “He scores!” the announcer shouts as the hometown crowd in the Apex Center erupts. “What a return to action for Easton Millar, a hat trick!”

Sure enough, hats are raining down onto the ice. I cover my mouth with my hands, watching, my heart so full of joy I could burst.

“Wow. Wow, wow, wow!” Good for him.

“What’s going on?” Carlin pokes her head out of her bedroom.

I tell her what just happened. She saunters over to perch on the arm of the couch and watch the replays. Then she turns concerned eyes on me. “You okay?”

I nod. Of course, my heart is still bruised and aching despite my happiness for him. “Yeah. Sort of. I’m just happy he’s playing.”

She nods, sets her hand on my shoulder, and squeezes, then returns to her unpacking.

I watch the end of the game, the team celebrating at the end, holding their sticks in the air to salute the fans before they skate off the ice. I see Easton among them, smiling, getting lots of helmet pats and backslaps from his teammates.

Tears blur my vision, but I dash them away. I was lucky to spend time with him, even though he let me down in the end. He has issues he needs to deal with, but deep down he’s a good man. We had so much fun together. He supported me in my crazy hopes and dreams. And I love him.

Chapter 22

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