Page 143 of Icebound Hearts
I tilt my head, confused. “What do you mean?”
“The only thing better than calling you my girlfriend will be calling you my wife one day.”
He cups my face in both of his hands to kiss me again, and for the first time since I left Denver, I let myself get totally lost in it—because I know he’s mine.
Chapter 49
Sawyer
The next week blazes by in a streak of organizing everything for Violet’s move back to Denver—but it can’t come fast enough. I hired a professional moving team to pack up and transport all her stuff, and even though she wanted to make the drive back, I didn’t want to wait the extra time to be with her again. Plus, I wanted to save her from putting the miles and wear and tear on her car, so it’s getting shipped back too.
She’s been in LA all week working out the details of the new satellite office and having a ton of meetings about it with her boss and the company higher-ups, and even though I’ve been counting down every second until I get to be with her again, I’m so fucking proud of her. I already knew she was amazing, but seeing that she made such an impact at the company that they offered to open up a whole new office just to keep her has blown me away all over again.
If it had been anyone else, they probably would’ve just let her walk away, no questions asked. But Violet’s not just anyone else, and I know firsthand how impossible it is to let her go. I couldn’t do it before, and I’m never going to do it again.
A puck whizzes past me, barely missing my skate, and I whirl to see who shot it.
Theo is standing across the ice with his stick in his hands, smirking at me.
“Earth to Townsend!” he calls. “Better snap out of it before Dunaway notices and dresses you down again.”
He’s a smart ass, but he’s right. Still, it’s hard to care about anything other than Violet right now. She’s supposed to fly into town today, and all that’s standing between me and seeing her again is this practice. The better I do, the sooner it’ll be over and I can get to the airport but knowing that doesn’t make it any easier to stay focused.
“You’re up!” Noah calls to me from the line of guys who are taking turns shooting on Grant, and I realize I don’t even know how or why I drifted away from the line like I did.
I skate back to the line in a hurry where Noah passes me a puck, but when I get in place and try to tighten my grip on my stick, I’m buzzing with so much excitement that my hands are shaking a little bit. I take a few deep breaths to try to steady myself, then imagine Violet sitting in the stands and cheering me on with Jake at her side.
In just a few hours, that will be my new normal. She’ll be here, forever, and in the stands for as many of my home games as she can. The thought dials me right in, so even though Grant’s crouched and ready to give me his best defense, I hurtle toward him and let the puck fly. He blocks it, but I hear him let out an “Oof!” from the force.
“Jesus, Townsend. Are you trying to kill me?” Grant groans.
“You keep that up and we’ll have to promote you to take Theo’s place,” Noah teases, and Theo scoffs.
“Yeah, right!”
Dunaway hammers on his whistle from the box, snapping all of us to attention. “Come on, boys, this is supposed to be a practice, not a social hour. Let’s keep it moving!” he scolds,and we fall quiet as we work through the rest of our drills until Dunaway finally calls it quits.
I can’t get off the ice fast enough. “Where’s the fire, dude?” Theo shouts after me when I streak past him toward the locker room, but I ignore him. They all know what’s happening today and I’m sure they’re just trying to give me shit, but I don’t have time for it. All I care about is getting to the airport to pick up Violet.
I tear off my gear and throw it in the gear bag in my locker so I can wash it later, then head right for the showers to take what is probably the fastest one I’ve ever had in my life. Some of the guys are still streaming into the locker room when I step out wrapped in nothing but a towel. They’ve turned their attention to teasing Grant—he makes himself an easy target—but Reese makes eye contact with me from across the locker room as I’m getting dressed and wanders over.
“So, today’s the big day, huh?” he asks, leaning against my locker while I towel off my hair.
“Yeah. Finally.” It’s still kind of awkward talking about Violet with him, but at least we can be open about it now. “I know this must be weird for you and everything, but?—”
Reese holds up a hand to stop my babbling. “It’s only weird if we make it weird. The only thing that matters to me is that Violet’s happy and safe. And honestly, I’d rather see her with one of my guys than anyone else. At least that way I know what she’s getting into,” he says with a teasing smile.
Maybe I’m imagining it or hearing what I want to hear, but it almost sounds like he’s giving me his blessing.
“I’m crazy about her, Reese. Really. I’d never hurt her.”
I’d cut off several of my limbs before I let that happen.
“You’d better not. I’ll kill you if you do,” he says, and his smile widens so I can’t really tell if he’s joking or not. “But I know you love her. I saw how much it fucked you up when she left. And Iknow Violet better than probably anyone else. She wouldn’t give up a life in California to come back here for nothing, so she must be serious about you too. I want what’s best for her, whatever makes her happy, and she’s decided that’s you. So I’m happy for you both.”
“Thanks. I don’t know what else to say.”
“Just be good to her. That’s all I need.”