Epilogue
Erin swore viciously as she negotiated the rented, two-door subcompact down the snowy driveway toward Brendan’s house. She’d already ruined her surprise visit when she called him from the airport to tell him the weather had delayed her flight into Lincoln, so she should’ve canceled the rental and accepted his offer to pick her up in his four-wheel-drive truck.
She sighed, exasperated, as something clanked against the undercarriage. One of these days she’d learn to let him take care of her occasionally.
After all, she was continually surprised by how much she enjoyed taking care of him. It began the night of the league final when she’d slipped him the card for her hotel room in case he wanted company after the players’ party. He’d eased into her bed at two o’clock in the morning with whiskey on his breath and a hard-on between his legs that made her come twice, gaspingly and fiercely, before he finally sighed his release. Then he sagged beside her, put his head on her chest and sobbed.
She wasn’t sure how long she held and comforted him as he grieved for the end of his career, but it was long enough for her to know with utter certainty that she would never love anyone as much as she loved him. He was her one and only, her now and her forever.
He’d have to be for her to keep racking up these frequent flier miles on trips to Nebraska, she thought wryly as the lights of the house came into view. Although she had to admit the place was growing on her, and seeing him so happy was worth every damn second she spent on a plane. At Thanksgiving, his warming relationship with his parents had been palpable, and days spent sanding floors and painting walls seemed to be exactly the occupying project he needed as he loosened his grip on his life in soccer.
He’d put in his share of miles, too, either to Atlanta or to wherever she’d traveled for work and had time to spend with him. In the last two months, they’d been together more than they’d been apart, so the distance between their addresses felt more theoretical than real.
“There you are,” she murmured as the headlights caught a tall figure with his hands in his pockets standing in the middle of the drive. She pressed the brake and lowered the window. He leaned his forearms on the frame, grinning broadly, snowflakes peppering his ash-blond hair.
“I don’t pick up hitchhikers,” she informed him, then pressed a kiss against his smiling mouth.
“You shouldn’t. You never know who you’ll get.” He circled around to the passenger side and yanked open the door, folding his long frame into the cramped space, the crisp scents of winter clinging to his barn jacket.
“If you walked out here because you were worried I’d get lost, you’re a little late. It’s only twenty feet to the house.” She put the car into drive and crept up the bumpy road.
“I walked out to make sure you didn’t get stuck,” he replied pointedly. “And so I could direct you to the parking spot I cleared for you. And because I couldn’t wait to see you.”
She couldn’t halt her smile at his last sentence and quickly squeezed his thigh before returning her hands to the wheel and following his instructions to pull the car into the space he’d dug out.
“Pretty,” she remarked as she climbed out of the car, gaze sweeping the Christmas lights he’d wrapped up the chains of the porch swing.
“Sit for a minute. I’ll take this inside.” He hefted her bag out of the trunk and carried it through the front door.
She did as he instructed, climbing onto the swing and pulling the thick, quilted duvet he’d left out over her knees. Sitting on the swing had become as close as they had to a relationship tradition, and despite the freezing temperature she smiled up into the clear, black sky. Curling up next to Brendan on the porch was one of the highlights of every trip she made to Nebraska.
He returned carrying a bottle of bubbles and two glasses, and she grinned up at him as he set them down and took his seat beside her.
“That glad to see me, huh?”
“It’s almost New Year’s Eve—officially a year since we had our first, er, encounter. Thought I’d mark the occasion.”
“Classy. Almost as classy as that joke you told at Christmas Eve dinner at my parents’ house.”
“Your dad thought it was hilarious,” he countered, the swing shifting as he settled beside her. She pressed into his side as his arm came around her shoulders, and she exhaled her contentment. Nothing made her happier than this man. Absolutely nothing.
“Do you want your Christmas presents?” he asked, and she looked up at him suspiciously.
“Christmas was four days ago, and I drove you to the airport that afternoon.”
“Is that a yes or a no?” he pressed.
“Yes,” she acceded cautiously.
“First one wasn’t confirmed until yesterday.” He squeezed her more tightly into his side. “I’ve accepted a part-time job next season. Goalkeeper coach for Skyline Ladies.”
She sat bolt upright, pushing out of his grasp so she could look him in the eye. “You’re moving back to Atlanta?”
“I’ll split my time,” he explained. “But yeah, I’ll be in Atlanta three weeks a month. Any idea where I can stay?”
She smacked his arm, delight stretching her cheeks. “You coy dog. I had no idea.”
“Good. I’m hoping you didn’t see this coming, either.”
She watched incredulously as he withdrew a small, velvet box from his coat pocket and opened the lid to reveal a diamond ring so stunning, it dazzled even in the dim light of the semi-lit porch.
Tears tugged down the corners of her mouth as she looked up at him. “Brendan, I—”
He shook his head to silence her. “It doesn’t have to be what I want it to be. I know we’ve only been together a little while, and you might need time to be sure. You can wear it now, or you can wear it when you decide. Or never. I don’t care. I just want you to know that I’m ready when you are—if you are.”
Air snagged in her lungs. She reached across and snapped the box shut, then linked her arms around his neck.
“It’s beautiful, but I don’t want you to think it was necessary. Playing or retired, diamond or brass, I love you, Brendan. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
His grin could’ve lit up three counties. “Really?”
She nodded, surer of her response than any bet she’d ever placed. “Really.”
He brought his lips to hers and she smiled into the kiss. If she was still a gambler—which she decidedly was not—she’d push all her chips forward for this man. He was the surest bet she’d ever seen, as bright and steadfast as the stars over their heads.