Page 149 of Pucking Rebound
“And I admire the way you have handled yourself. You have a good heart.” He does. There’s nothing I don’t like about him.
“You have a great laugh,” he says, surprising me as he points out the things he likes about me.
“Nice eyes,” I tell him, examining the color.
“Same as my dad’s.”
“That’s crazy, right?” I screw my face up.
“Feels surreal.”
“It won’t always feel like that. I promise. I’ve had time to process who my mother is, and it gets easier. And better. Look at us two now. I’m so happy.”
He wriggles in his seat, looking nervous before he asks, “Can I give you a hug?”
“I thought you’d never ask.” I throw myself around him. He’s so strong it feels like he’s going to squeeze the air out of my lungs, or perhaps he doesn’t want to let me go. Either way, it’s nice.
“I’m so glad you found me.” He tucks his face into my neck.
“I am too.” I can’t stop myself from crying with relief. My body shakes as he swaddles me in his strong arms. “You’re such a nice guy. You’re better than I imagined.” My tears fall, soaking the skin of his neck and neckline of his tee shirt. “I’m sorry for what Graham did to you, Wade.”
The last I heard from a friend of a friend of a friend, Graham closed his store and left town.Good riddance.If I never see him again that will be too soon.
I also heard that someone pointed the tax man in his direction, and they’d already found huge irregularities that would probably land Graham in prison or at the very least, with a huge fine he’ll never be able to pay.
Sidenote: that someone was me.
Karma can be a real bitch sometimes.
“He screwed us both over.” Wade rubs his hand up and down my back, which feels oddly comforting. “We didn’t deserve for this to happen.”
“We didn’t,” I agree. “If I’d have told you at the beginning, it wouldn’t have been made quite so public.” I still blame myself.
“There are a lot of things we, including me, you, Graham, Marcus, and everyone, could have done differently.” He’s firm with his words.
Leaving Miranda’s name out of his line up doesn’t go unnoticed by me. We don’t need her if we have each other.
I wish I still had Jordan in my life, too.
Leaning out of our embrace, Wade smiles wider than the Grand Canyon, and I know everything is going to be okay.We’regoing to be okay.
“We have so much catching up to do.” I’m excited about us doing that.
“We have the rest of our lives to catch up,” he says, looking far more relaxed than he did earlier.
“I plan on you being in my life for longer than you were out of it.”
“I like the sound of that, Lola.” He passes me a napkin from the dispenser.
Dabbing the corners of my eyes, I pull a gentle smile. “Thank you. I’ve been very emotional lately.”
“Tell me about it,” he says, making us both laugh. “What a month.”
“Worst ever.” Also, the best. I have a brother and gained a whole new family in Marcus, Zane, and Nicki. I’m going to be an aunty, not that Wade knows that yet.
“So, is this what we do now, eat ice cream together to mend our broken hearts?” Wade asks.
In his absence, Kali has cried an ocean, and my mission over the next few days is to get his ass back to Edmonton.
