Page 151 of Breakaway Hearts
“My pleasure.”
He nods at the door, and I turn the knob. But when I open it, the first thing I notice is the dead silence.
Reese isn’t talking. The kids aren’t peppering him with questions. Even Peg is quiet.
I step into the room, and as I do, my jaw drops.
Almost every kid is holding a sign, some sharing one, with the letters spelling out…
I blink a few times.
My eyes are already blurring with tears, but the sign definitely says what I think it says. And are those flowers? Twizzlers? Why are the Twizzlers in the shape of hearts?
I clap a hand over my mouth, my gaze trailing over the words,WILL YOU MARRY ME?
Reese kneels in front of me, and I wipe my eyes so that I can see him clearly.
A laugh bubbles out of my mouth, and my heart is pounding somewhere between my ribcage and my throat. He smiles and wipes away a tear of his own, his face tilted up toward mine as his warm brown eyes shine with emotion.
“Callie Marshall,” he begins. “You are my best friend. The love of my life. The woman I want to spend the rest of my days with. I love every single thing about you. You’re magical, vibrant, beautiful, crazy smart, and so incredibly kind. Every day, you teach me something new about the world and myself. Never in my life did I think I would be lucky enough to find someone like you. But here you are. Here you’vebeen. Right under my nose the whole time, and I’m just lucky that I finally stopped being a fool and admitted to what’s always been true. I love you with my whole heart, as so much more than a friend. So…” He clears his throat and adjusts his position slightly so he’s nearer to me. “Firefly, will you marry me?”
“Yes,” I choke out through the continuing tears. “Yes. Oh my god, Reese, yes!”
He draws in a deep breath, his chest expanding as if he forgot to breathe for a moment. Then he slips the gorgeous ring on my finger before standing up and sweeping me into his arms. I’m vaguely aware of the children cheering and the other teachers who must’ve come in while I was with Principal Slater clapping too. But the majority of my attention is on Reese. The man I’m going to marry.
My fiancé.
He kisses me, and I’m laughing and crying, holding his neck tightly and kissing him back, still stunned.
“How did you pull this off?” I whisper once we finally break the kiss.
“It was simple.” He looks around the room, at the kids who are still bouncing around and clapping and the teachers who are now talking amongst themselves and smiling at us. “Everyone here loves you. They absolutely adore you, so recruiting them to help was the easiest thing in the world.” He sets his fingers under my chin, tilting my head up as he adds, “Iadore you. I love you so much.”
“I love you too,” I whisper.
The tears start flowing again, and Reese wipes them away with his thumbs before leaning down to kiss my cheeks tenderly.
“You’re mine, future Mrs. Sutton,” he murmurs. “Just like I’m yours. And I can’t wait to marry you.”
Epilogue Two
Theo
“Almost got ’em!” I call to my teammates as we charge down the ice, pressing hard into the Prowlers’ offensive zone.
Just as I let those words fly, a bone-rattling check blindsides me, slamming me brutally into the unforgiving boards. Pain shoots through my left side like lightning, and I grunt as I go down, worried for a second that I might’ve cracked a rib. As I catch my breath, Shawn Kaplan’s vicious grin appears in my peripheral view.
Bastard.
I can hear Dunaway’s voice from the bench, but I struggle to my feet, not wanting him to call for a line change or make a substitution.
There’s only one minute left in the game.
We’re all tied up.
And I need to end Kaplan.
Luckily, Noah and Reese have managed to keep the puck, but without a clear opening, they haven’t been able to make a successful shot on goal. We’re running out of time, and spending any unnecessary amount of overtime on the ice with Kaplan sounds like a prison sentence.