Epilogue
Jess
After doing the final touches on Gina’s braid, I scooped her up into a hug then stood up and walked over to the mirror.
“You look adorable,” I said.
She looked into the mirror. “So beautiful.”
“How about we find a bow to match your dress?”
“Yes! Yes!”
Gina wriggled out of my arms and shot out of the bathroom. I checked my hair, tucking a stray strand back into place. Noah wanted Gina and me to get dressed up for dinner tonight. We continued their tradition of getting all dolled up before heading out to a fancy restaurant. On top of our regular weekly date nights, where Mom graciously took Gina for the evening, this was another night I highlighted in my calendar and couldn’t wait for each month. Since Noah didn’t need to wear a suit every day, the three of us tended to dress on the casual side most days.
It was nice to take our time to get dressed up for a night out. And including Gina made it that much more special.
My little black dress hung on the hook outside of my closet, waiting for me to slip it on. There was no shortage of sticky fingers from Gina, so I always got dressed last. Once she was in her dressy clothes, Gina had an air of a princess and didn’t do anything to mess up her “pretty clothes.”
I went into Gina’s bedroom to help her with her dress. She had several of them out on the floor and she was trying to get one over her head.
“My braid!” she cried, and I hurried over to her.
“One second, hold still,” I said.
“Did I mess it up?” she said then stuck out her lower lip.
“No, it’s fine,” I said. “I put enough hairspray in there to keep it in place.”
She sighed heavily.
I adjusted the navy blue dress with silver sequins over her shoulders. I zipped it up and then fluffed the tulle out around her legs.
She twirled in place and then ran off to her closet to get a pair of black patent leather shoes. “I want to wear these.”
“All right, take a seat, milady,” I said with a deep bow.
Gina giggled into her hands and sat down in a chair usually reserved for tea parties. Gina looked the part of a princess going off to a fancy tea party. She kicked out her feet, and I slipped the shoes on over them.
“I’m so excited!” she said, clicking her heels together when I was finished with her shoes. “When is Daddy getting home?”
“He should be home soon, so now I’m going to go get ready,” I said.
“Can I watch?”
“Sure.”
Gina came into the master bedroom, and I set her up on one of the chairs near the window.
I pulled out my dress, and she let out an appreciative, “Oooh.”
“You like it?”
“I do.”
“I’ll be right back.”
I went inside the walk-in closet and shed my bathrobe. I found this dress a few months ago at a boutique during one of our trips. Gina and Noah had gone off on their own for the afternoon, so I walked the area and window shopped.
When I saw this dress, I knew it was special. And I was proved correct when I tried it on. The strapless dress was fitted at the waist, and the bottom flowed down my legs in waves. A golden fabric peeked out the bottom of the dress that reached my mid-thigh.
I hadn’t worn it before, waiting for a special occasion. Even though we’d had plenty of fancy dinner nights in the past, none of those nights felt right. That is, until today. There was an electricity in the air that I couldn’t ignore and I had a feeling this night was going to be special.
I slipped on the dress, and it still fit me, even after all these months. I grabbed a pair of high heels and slipped them on, adding almost four inches to my height and accentuating my calf muscles.
When I came out of the closet, Gina jumped out of her seat. “Wow, Jess.”
“Thanks,” I said.
Then I heard the front door slam downstairs.
“Daddy!” she said and took off.
I heard his voice floating up the stairwell and knew Gina would be preoccupied. I took a moment to check myself out in the full-length mirror and couldn’t help but smile. I’d tied my hair back into a simple bun at the back of my neck, and I went over to my jewelry box to pick out a bracelet and earrings. The dress was simple enough that I didn’t want to overdo it on the accessories, but I needed something to make it pop just a teeny bit more.
When I was finished, I looked at myself in the mirror one more time before heading downstairs.
Noah’s briefcase sat next to the stairs, and I heard their voices in the living room.
Noah went into the satellite office once a week to consult on the operations of his company. I knew he couldn’t stay away forever, but since he “retired,” he was particular about the amount of time he spent there. And since going back, he had weekends off to travel with us, and he was always home before five. I was happy that he could fit in his job with his new lifestyle. It only took him a year to figure it all out.
I walked into the kitchen and smiled when I saw Noah sitting on the couch with Gina. He wore a suit from work, but this one was a little more dressy than normal. I’d been right about tonight. I didn’t pry, but I had a feeling that Noah thought tonight would be special too.
He stood up and crossed the room.
When he reached me, he took my hands in his. “You look absolutely breathtaking.”
“Thanks.”
He turned to Gina. “Shall we?”
Noah hadn’t told us where we were going for dinner that night. But I was surprised when he got onto the highway toward Sydney.
For other dinners, we stayed local to Mona Vale or one or two towns over. But this time it appeared I’d been right about tonight being more special than just a regular dinner out with the family.
Gina kept Noah preoccupied with the events of the day, so I didn’t get a chance to ask where we were going.
Though, when the Sydney Harbor Bridge came into view, I knew for a fact that Noah had something up his sleeve. We hadn’t traveled that far before during our monthly family night.
What was he up to?
Gina openly gaped out the window at the brilliant lights around the Sydney Opera House and the Harbor Bridge. She distracted me enough that I didn’t realize it when we reached our distraction.
Noah pulled the car up to the curb of a restaurant. He lifted my hand and kissed it before getting out of the car to greet the valet. Two other valets came around to open the doors for Gina and me.
“Thank you,” I said to the valet.
Noah rounded the car and took Gina and my hand in his.
“Where did you find out about this place?” I asked him.
“I wanted to do something new for tonight,” he said. “I did my research.”
We entered the restaurant, and it was definitely one of the more expensive places. I knew my outfit was fine for the occasion, but my mind was unprepared for the elegant venue.
Noah strode over to the hostess and announced our arrival. The young girl beamed up at Noah and then signaled for us to follow her. I had no issue with the way women responded to Noah. It was almost like second nature for them to be attracted to his charm and good looks.
The hostess’ ponytail swished around as she walked through the restaurant toward our table.
Noah held tight onto my hand, and with my free hand, I held Gina’s. The place was packed, though I know Noah liked to have a window seat for these dinners. Gina’s manners weren’t of concern, but he really liked nice views. And I couldn’t imagine him making a reservation at this place without having a view.
As we neared the floor-to-ceiling windows facing the water, the Opera House appeared to float right in front of us.
The hostess pushed through the glass doors leading to the outside deck.
The edges of the deck were adorned with twinkle lights strung across the entire perimeter. There were hundreds of flowers in various clusters around the deck. A table set for three was the focal point of the space. And other than a bucket with champagne chilling inside, the table and chairs were the only other pieces of furniture.
“Noah,” I breathed. “Is this for us?”
“Yes,” he said.
The hostess retreated back inside the restaurant, and we went toward the table. A single red rose adorned two of the plates. Noah went over to Gina and helped her into the chair with the booster, and then he came over to me. I was still a little stunned and he had to prompt me to sit down.
I glanced around our general vicinity. It had been a warm day, and the heat still lingered under the cool breeze rippling off the water.
“I can’t believe you did this,” I said.
“Well, tonight is special for us,” he said. “For all of us. Jess, before you came into our lives, we were a strong family unit. But we were missing something. I was missing a partner to fill my heart while Gina missed a mother to fill hers. I thank whoever is up there looking down on us for sending you into our lives. I don’t know where we would be today without you. And I know you’ve been a member of our family since the moment you stepped into our lives, but tonight, I wanted to make it official.”
I opened my mouth to say something when Noah got up from his chair and knelt next to mine. He took my hand in his and lifted a black velvet box from his jacket pocket.
“Jessica Holland, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” Noah asked.
My head spun, and my jaw slackened. I wanted to scream out a big fat YES, but there was one thing I had to do first.
I glanced over at Gina. “Gina, I want to make sure this is what you want too.”
“I want you to be my mom,” Gina said with a big smile on her face.
My eyes teared up, and I turned back to Noah, nodding my head. “Yes, of course, I will marry you.”
Noah opened the box, revealing a massive diamond ring. He slipped in on my finger, and I jumped up out of my chair and kissed him. One of the thousands of kisses that we’d share as an engaged and married couple.
Gina came around the table to hug my leg. I broke the kiss and Noah reached down, lifting his daughter to his hip. The three of us embraced each other. And I’d never felt more whole or happier in my entire life.
EXPERTISE
By Claire Adams
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 Claire Adams
Chapter One
James
My head pounded. I cracked an eye open and barely managed to suppress a groan. It was bright out, and I hadn’t drawn the curtains. The evil elves that lived in the rays of sunshine pouring through the windows attacked my eyeballs with ice picks. Miserable bastards.
The inside of my mouth tasted like the floor mat behind a bar at the end of the night. It was more like two somethings had crawled into my mouth and died. I was pretty fucking sure they’d waged World War 3 in there and then had make-up sex before they died.
At least I knew where I was. Ryder’s house. My crazy ass wide receiver never failed to host a mind eraser of a party. Last night’s party was no exception. I barely remembered what happened the night before, but at least I hadn’t woken up on a cruise ship again, like I had last year on the Monday after the Super Bowl.
If there was one thing I could always count on Ryder for, it was a crazy story. On or off the field. Last February, one second I remembered being at Ryder’s party at his place in Miami, and the next, I was downing tequila shots at 10 a.m. with a fucking sombrero on my head. On a private cruise ship. The owner of which was no longer a fan of his friendly neighborhood Miami Dolphins.
I’d been told that the team’s wide receiver talking the man’s daughter into taking us out on a joyride on daddy’s boat, and the QB hooking up with said daughter, were contributing factors to our loss of that particular fan. Amongst a couple of other things.
At least this year, I’d managed to stay in Miami and on dry land. I chalked it up as a win.
After I established my whereabouts, I had to face the next problem. Two passed-out women lay on either side of me in Ryder’s guest bed. My 14-year-old self would roundhouse kick me in the balls to learn that a short 10 years later, it was considered a problem to have two naked girls passed out next to me.
Careful not to jostle the bed, I extricated myself from the pile of human limbs I was tangled up in and tugged on my jeans without waking either of the sleeping beauties.
Ryder’s front door was in sight in no time. I could practically taste freedom without the inconvenience of awkward morning-after goodbyes or a hopeful “call me.” Ryder’s voice interrupted my jailbreak.
“James!” he hollered from his kitchen. “I got a mean fucking hangover, man. Wanna share it with me?”
I headed to the kitchen, losing sight of my escape route. “Don’t you always say that you have to appreciate the hangover because you paid a ton of money to have it?”
“Yeah,” he said. “If I recall correctly though, you called bullshit on that little nugget of wisdom. Told me that while the hangover was a necessary evil, you sure as shit didn’t have to appreciate it.” He ran his hand through his jet black dreadlocks and winked at me. “You going soft on me in your old age, pulling that crap out on me now?”
“I’m three years younger than you, dipshit. Unless you’re calling yourself ancient at 27.” I knew which buttons to push when I wanted to. Ryder was my best friend. We’d met in college and hadn’t lost touch since. “Anyway, my misery doesn’t love company today, man. You’re going to have to face it on your own.”
“Come on, man; you’re my quarterback. If we can’t play in the Super Bowl, the least we could do is drown our sorrows together.” Ryder tried to pout but failed miserably in his attempt.
“Didn’t we do that last night? And we wouldn’t have sorrows to drown if we’d been playing in the big game instead of just fucking watching it.” My complaint came out harsher than I’d intended. “That should’ve been us.”
Ryder didn’t take offense to my outburst. “Sure, it should’ve been us, but the team’s been struggling for the last two seasons. Management needs to shake things up. Otherwise you’ll never get that ring, my man. None of us will.”
“Yeah, we have to do something to cut the dead weight. Otherwise, we’re dead in the water.” He and I both knew I was right.
He nodded absentmindedly, staring through his window at the ocean below. I knew that look. He was working up to something, but he wasn’t ready to say it yet.
I decided to preempt him. “Speaking of which, I’m thinking of talking to Ralls about restructuring my contract.”
Richard Ralls, the owner of the Miami Dolphins. The man who owned my ass and Ryder’s. For the moment, anyway.
“Probably a good idea, bro. You deserve a ring. You’re not going to get it the way the team is now. As much as I hate to admit it, we’re complete shit right now.” Ryder was nothing if not direct.
“Yeah. Let me talk to Ralls. I’ll let you know what he says.” I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and downed it in one go. I was over at Ryder’s so often, I was as comfortable at his place as I was at my own. So was Harper.
“If he’s going to listen to anyone, it’s going to be you, James.”
I had nothing to say to that. It was probably true. Richard Ralls and I had grown close over the last few years.
“What are you making, anyway?” I asked. My addled brain had only then realized that he was chopping up cubes of God knows what and chucking them into a blender. Usually, Ryder was all about grease for a hangover.
“Smoothie, I think. The dietitian for the team put me on to it. Something about our health or some shit.” His brow furrowed. “I think I may have fucked it up, though.”
A quick glance at all the random fruits and vegetables he’d haphazardly butchered and added to the blender confirmed that he had, in fact, fucked it up. “I hear they have recipe books for that kind of shit.”
“Apparently so, but I’m a football player. I don’t read well.” Ryder wiggled his eyebrows at me, jokingly.
I rolled my eyes and dragged my hand through my short hair. He had a degree in business for God’s sake, but that never stopped him from hiding behind the stereotype when the urge took him.
“Oh, ha,” I replied dryly. “I’m sure that an advanced degree in economics is required to read the combinations to add to your smoothie to actually make it fit for human consumption.” I ducked the piece of apple that came flying my way.
“Everybody’s a fucking critic. What’re you even doing up, anyway? From the sound of things last night, I thought you’d be down for at least a few more hours.”
“I had to get out of there. I wasn’t feeling the awkward goodbyes.” Ryder was one of the only people in my life that I could be completely honest with. No fear, no favor, no judgment.
He’d been a godsend once Harper had come along. He may have had a reputation for being the wild one of our group, but he was also fiercely loyal and one hell of a guy to have in your corner.
“You know, you could have taken those chicks back to your own place.” He glanced in my direction but was too busy concocting his hideous potion to stare at me for too long.
“You wanted me to drive in the state I was in?” I clutched at my heart in feigned betrayal. “Besides, my bed is mine and mine alone. No girls allowed.”
“Except for Harper, right? And it’s called Uber, jackass. I think I should start charging you rent for that room. Oh, and the laundry service that keeps needing to sterilize it.” He punched the button on the blender and grinned at me. The grinding noise prompted the ice- pick-wielding assholes in my brain to start digging in again.
Once the noise from the blender subsided, giggles floated into Ryder’s kitchen from the bottom of the stairwell, followed shortly by footsteps and the appearance of two underwear clad girls stumbling into the room.
“Ladies,” Ryder boomed, drowning out my groan. “What’s up? James here was just talking about you.”
The presumably faux blonde laughed. Her laugh sounded like a hyena getting fucked by a hippopotamus. Or maybe it was just the hangover.
Christ, what the fuck have I done? They were both hot at least, but the way they checked me out, they were clearly stuck in the “deep blue Skye,” as some fans had nicknamed me.
I hated it. Fucking hated it. I just wanted to play ball. Of course, I had loved it at first, but I was over being star fucked. I mean, fuck me, fine. Please, in fact. I’ve never stopped anyone, but I didn’t do the emotional shit after. There was no “deep blue Skye,” just balls deep Skye.
“Really? He was talking about us?” The redhead giggled, toying with a lock of flaming hair. Her green eyes sparkled as they ran over me.
Yup, I was definitely a prize. A story she could tell her girlfriends over sushi. Or margaritas. Or whatever the fuck girls did to gossip.
Fun times.
That was why I avoided morning-afters. After the “oh, baby” and the “fuck yeah, baby,” there was a level of expectation I didn’t want to meet. I only had room for one girl in my life, and the position was already filled.
“Hells yeah, he was.” Ryder smirked, pointedly holding my eyes. “He was just saying how he’d love to take you out to breakfast.”
Goddamn soul-sucking motherfucker. I needed better taste in friends. Or just new friends altogether.
Maybe I should have taken up basketball. I was well over six feet. I could’ve made it work. Or maybe I should’ve taken up a sport that required no teammates whatsoever. Fencing or snowboarding. Anything seemed like a better option than the one I was stuck with, thanks to my fucking teammate.
“Oh,” the blonde exclaimed, a slight Southern drawl evident in her accent as she continued. “Breakfast with the James Skye. Whoever would’ve thought? We’d love to. Just give us a minute to get changed, and we’ll be right down.”
The girls headed upstairs. I grimaced. Ryder doubled over laughing.
“Good luck, man.” He shot me his shit-eating grin and stumbled back to his bedroom. No doubt he was going back to sleep.
“Fuck you, asshole,” I growled. I grabbed my leather jacket and stalked out the door before they’d even made it upstairs. I didn’t need that shit. I needed to get to Harper.