Room for More

by Beth Ehemann

  Yesterday, Andy called and told me he had a contract offer for me, but he wouldn’t tell me from what team. I had no idea if I was still going to be Minnesota Wild’s goalie next year or a Florida Panther. He didn’t want to tell me over the phone, so I was going into his office to meet with him.

  Today is also Kacie’s birthday. She’s turning twenty-five years old. She’s the most mature and selfless twenty-five-year-old on the planet. When I scroll through Facebook, most of the girls I went to high school with are still pretending to be drunk airheads to impress a guy or posting stupid selfies of themselves in their bathrooms. Kacie has been a single mom for years, though she doesn’t call herself that anymore. Between me and Zach, who has been spending more and more time with the girls lately, she’s anything but alone. She passed her exams with flying colors and has been working in the labor and delivery unit of Roger’s Memorial Hospital since shortly after she graduated. She works three twelve-hour shifts a week, and while that’s been a huge adjustment for us, we’ve gotten good at going with the flow.

  And thank God for that because I had no idea what was going to happen at this meeting with Andy. He told me to come by at nine o’clock. I looked at my phone.

  9:12 a.m.

  I was stalling. I really didn’t want to hear that the Wild was letting me go, and the last thing in the whole world I wanted to do was give Kacie that news on her birthday. But we’d promised each other: no more withholding information. And we hadn’t. Not so much as a blip on the radar in the eight months since our Hell Week, as she called it.

  Before I rolled out of bed and dragged myself to Andy’s office, I shot my girl a text.

  MORNING, JENSEN.

  Diesel hopped up and curled into my side, giving me another excuse not to get out of bed yet.

  K: GOOD MORNING TO YOU, MURPHY.

  LISTEN, I WAS THINKING… I’VE GOT A LOT OF ERRANDS TO RUN AROUND HERE. I’M PROBABLY GONNA COME UP TOMORROW INSTEAD OF TODAY, OKAY?

  I laughed out loud in my bedroom. “Holy shit, D. She’s going to be so pissed.” A second later, my phone beeped.

  K: REALLY? TODAY? YOU HAVE TO RUN ERRANDS TODAY?

  YEAH. I’D LIKE TO GET THEM OVER WITH. WHY? DID YOU HAVE SOMETHING GOING ON?

  K: UMMMM…

  I couldn’t let her suffer anymore.

  JUST KIDDING. I’M COMING UP. OF COURSE I WOULDN’T MISS MY GIRL’S BIRTHDAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABY.

  K: YOU JERK! I THOUGHT YOU REALLY FORGOT!

  NOT ONLY DID I NOT FORGET, I ALREADY PLANNED OUT OUR EVENING AND ASKED YOUR MOM TO BABYSIT.

  I didn’t like lying to her, but I had been working too long on her surprise and I wanted her to think we were going out tonight after we all took her to dinner.

  K: YOU DID? WHERE ARE WE GOING?

  CAN’T TELL YOU THAT. IT’S A SURPRISE.

  K: WHAT SHOULD I WEAR?

  YOU STILL HAVE THAT BLUE DRESS THAT YOU WORE TO THE CHARITY BANQUET LAST YEAR?

  K: NO, BUT I CAN BORROW IT FROM LAUREN AGAIN. WE’RE GOING SOMEWHERE THAT FORMAL, HUH?

  NOPE. WE’RE GOING SOMEWHERE TOTALLY CASUAL, YOU JUST LOOK SMOKING HOT IN THAT DRESS.

  K: YOU’RE A PAIN IN THE ASS.

  THE BIGGEST. I’LL BE UP IN A FEW HOURS.

  K: OKAY. CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU. I LOVE YOU.

  I LOVE YOU, MORE.

  “Well, look who decided to show up.” Ellie smiled at me as the elevator doors opened. “And only an hour and a half late.”

  “Sorry.” I grinned back. “Is he in there?”

  She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Yep. Go ahead in.”

  The door to Andy’s office creaked as I opened it. He looked up from his computer and leaned back in his chair when he saw me, clamping his hands behind his head.

  “I know, I know. Shut up.” I threw myself down on the leather couch across the room from him.

  “I didn’t say shit.” He chuckled.

  “No, but I could feel you thinking it.”

  “I’m actually impressed.” He looked at his watch. “I figured I probably wouldn’t see you before noon.”

  “I’m heading up to Kacie’s after this.” I picked a football up off of his coffee table and flipped onto my back, tossing it straight up in the air. “Stop fucking around. Give me the news.”

  He stood up and grabbed a paper off his desk.

  “Before I give this to you”—he sat down across from me—”I want you to know how proud I am of you. You ended with an amazing year, even with that rocky start. This is a fair deal that I think you should seriously consider.”

  My heart started beating as fast as I could ever remember it beating in my whole life.

  I’ll take less money; I don’t care about that. Please be the Wild. Please be the Wild.

  He set the paper down on the table in front of me and sat back again. I grabbed it off the table, searching through the legal bullshit, looking for a city and a team name.

  MINNESOTA WILD

  YES!

  I jumped up off the couch and fist pumped the air as every muscle in my body contracted at the same time with excitement. I vaulted over the coffee table and landed in Andy’s lap, bear hugging him.

  “First of all, get off me, this is weird. Second, I’m assuming you’re happy with that offer?”

  “I didn’t look at the offer.” I hugged just his head. “It’s in Minnesota, that’s enough for me.”

  “You should probably look at the offer, Brody.”

  I stood up and climbed back over the coffee table to my side. Picking up the offer, I squinted as I scanned it quickly, this time looking for a dollar sign and a time period.

  There it is.

  “What the fuck?” I dropped the paper on the table and stared at Andy incredulously.

  He grinned at me and nodded. “You’re reading that right. They’re offering you seven million a year for six years. A forty-two million dollar contract. That’s a franchise record for a goalie, Brody. I think you should take it.”

  “Take it?” I yelled, jumping up again. “I want to hump it.”

  “Well, Ellie doesn’t want to clean anything gross out of the fax machine, so keep your dick in your pants, okay?”

  “Dude.” I shoved my fingers in my hair and left them there as I paced his office. “This is fucking huge.”

  “It’s beyond fucking huge. After the way you kicked all kinds of ass the second half of the season, I knew they would offer to keep you here. I didn’t expect that number, though.” He took a pen out of his pocket and tossed it on the table. “Whenever you’re ready, bro. Sign away.”

  I was facing the bookshelves in the far corner of his office with my hands still locked on top of my head.

  “What are you thinking about?” he asked.

  I spun around slowly to face him. “Kacie. I can’t wait to tell her. She’s gonna fucking flip.”

  He tilted his head to the side. “Dude, you’ve had it bad for that girl for a year now. You gonna marry her or what?”

  Nothing short of the building falling down around us at that very moment would have stopped the grin that slid across my face. “Funny you should mention that…”

  “Did you guys have fun tonight?” I ran my fingers through the tiny blonde strands of Lucy’s hair that fell across her forehead.

  She beamed and nodded excitedly.

  “We’ve never been to that place before. It was fun, huh?” I said to them, looking over at Brody who was sitting on a chair on the other side of their bed. They had their own beds but insisted on sleeping together still.

  “It was really fun,” Lucy said. “Can we go back again?”

  “Sure,” I answered.

  “Tomorrow?” she asked.

  “I don’t know about tomorrow.” I laughed. “But we’ll definitely have dinner there again soon, okay?”

  “I liked it when they sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to you and made you wear a cowboy hat.” Piper giggled.

  “And then they made you ride that
stick horse,” Lucy yelled, hopping out of bed and galloping around the room.

  “That was my favorite part too.” Brody held his hand up and high-fived her as she skipped by him. Then he looked at me and winked. “I never wanted to be a stick horse so bad in my whole life.”

  I raised my eyebrows and gave him the warning look, trying not to laugh. “Come on, Lucy, back in bed. It’s late.”

  Lucy climbed back into bed and snuggled up as close as she could to Piper.

  “How much do I love you guys?” I followed Brody to the door.

  “More than all the stars in the sky and the waves in the sea,” they sang together.

  “And how much do I love you?” Brody asked them before leaning in close to me and whispering, “Listen to this.”

  “More than all the zeros in your new contract.” Piper giggled.

  I smacked him on the arm. “You’re terrible.”

  “I taught it to them at dinner when you were talking to your mom. Pretty awesome, huh?”

  “Go.” I pushed him down the hall. “Good night, girls.”

  “Night, Twinkies!” he called over me.

  “Night, Mom! Night, Brody!”

  “I’m exhausted,” I whined, collapsing onto the couch in the family room.

  “No, no. You’re not gonna lay there and fall asleep.” Brody grabbed my hands and tried to pull me back up. “I still have to give you your present. Come on. Up.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “Outside.”

  “Outside? Can’t you bring it here? I’m tired.” I laughed.

  “Who’s the pain in the ass now?” he teased, leading me toward the front door. “Let’s go.”

  We walked out the front door and he grabbed my hand, pulling me down the stairs and to the right, around the side of the house.

  “Uh, last time you led me this way, I lost a tank top.” I giggled, again trying not to step on anything.

  He turned back to me. “Keep walking, birthday girl.”

  We got to the back of the house and started our way down the hill when a light up ahead caught my eye. I squinted through the darkness and realized it wasn’t a light, but a row of lanterns on the pier.

  Our pier.

  “What did you do?” I squeezed his hand and grinned at him as we got to the edge of the sand.

  “You’ll see.”

  We stepped onto the creaky wood and I stopped walking for a minute, taking in how amazing it was. Little silver lanterns lined both sides of the pier, lighting the whole thing up just beautifully.

  “Come on.” He gently pulled on my hand again.

  As we got closer to the end of the pier, I finally noticed the white box with a perfectly tied red bow sitting at the end.

  “What’s that?” I cooed.

  He bent over and picked it up, handing it to me. “Happy birthday, Kacie.”

  I tugged on one end of the bow and it unraveled smoothly. Wrapping my hand around it so it didn’t drop in the water, I lifted the lid of the box and moved the tissue paper to the side.

  Confused, I frowned up at Brody. “My View-Master?”

  The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. “Look at it.”

  I handed him the box to hold as I raised the View-Master to my eyes, aiming toward the lanterns for backlight. Blinking for a second so my eyes could adjust, the first picture I saw was of Lucy, Piper, and I in our matching Wild jerseys from his first home game.

  “Oh my God!” I peeked over the top at him. “How did you do this?”

  “Keep going.” He laughed.

  I pulled the orange tab down. The next picture was of Brody and me walking the red carpet on our way into the Wild Kids charity event last year.

  “Holy shit! This is so awesome,” I said, pulling the tab down again.

  Picture number three was taken last fall, right in the exact spot we were standing in. It was one of my favorite pictures ever. The sky was painted pink and purple and the sun was setting perfectly right behind my mom and Fred as they exchanged wedding vows.

  I anxiously blinked a couple times to clear the tears from my eyes so I could go to the next picture.

  This one was taken at Brody’s parents’ house. It was of Brody, me, his mom and dad, Shae, and her new fiancé, Ricky. The picture was a little crooked because we had Lucy take it, but you could clearly see Shae showing off her new engagement ring. Brody’s fear had come true—his sister was going to be Shae May.

  “This is just the coolest thing ever, Brody. I want to do this with all my pictures.” I sniffed, pulling the tab again.

  Picture five was of Viper, Brody, and the girls from the first time they taught them how to ice skate. Not many kids could say that the first time they ice skated was on a professional hockey rink with two professional hockey players as teachers. The smiles on their faces were priceless, just like this gift.

  The next one was from my graduation ceremony several months back. I was grinning at the camera and holding up my certificate while Brody kissed the side of my head. One of my proudest achievements.

  I pulled the tab for the next picture and my breath caught. I remembered taking it on Christmas morning. The girls woke us up super early to open their presents. After we were done, I was making monkey bread in the kitchen while Lucy, Piper, and Brody sat on the couch watching Charlie Brown’s Christmas. I’d noticed it had grown pretty quiet in that room and tiptoed over to see what they were doing. Brody and the girls were lying down, sound asleep. Lucy and Piper were each tucked up under his arms with their little heads on his chest.

  Picture eight was another favorite of mine, taken the weekend we spent at his house after his first game. The girls were grinning ear to ear, playing blissfully in the fort Brody had made them in his living room the night before. Diesel liked the fort too.

  The next picture was of me, Brody, the girls, and Zach. It was taken last Halloween when we all went trick-or-treating together. It was the first time we all hung out together for the girls’ sake. There had been many of those occasions since then, but that one would always be special.

  I pulled the tab again.

  “What picture are you at?” Brody asked.

  I moved the View-Master down just enough to look at him as I answered. “The one of you and Andy from the night you were awarded the William M. Jennings trophy. You looked so hot in your suit.”

  Picture number eleven was from just a couple weeks ago when we got another big rainstorm and Brody ran out and bought hot pink rain boots for the girls so they could jump in puddles with him. This picture was the most breathtaking shot of Lucy’s and Piper’s ecstatic faces just as they hit the ground and the water sprayed up around them.

  The next one was another recent picture. It was a big group shot of me, Brody, the girls, Derek, Alexa, Tommy, Lauren, and their new son, Max. Tommy had his arm proudly around Brody’s shoulders and the way Alexa was standing, you could really see her pregnant belly starting to pop. I had a five by seven of this one in my bedroom. I would never get sick of looking at it.

  Picture thirteen was of a Ferris wheel. I sighed. Our first kiss.

  I pulled the tab again and immediately recognized the barn from Brody’s parents’ property. I squinted my eyes to look closer and gasped when I realized that Brody was standing next to it, pointing up at red letters painted on the side that read:

  My knees suddenly felt like Jell-o and my hands started shaking.

  “What is this last pict—” I lowered the View-Master and froze.

  Brody was down on one knee, staring up at me as he held a black ring box open. He hadn’t even said a word yet, but tears started streaming down my cheeks faster than they ever had.

  “Kacie, I’ve thought about what I wanted to say for a long time now, and I know I’m probably gonna mess it up, but here goes.” He took a deep breath. “I love you. I love you so damn much it scares me. But what scares me more is the thought of ever losing you. I have no idea what the future holds, or where my career will take m
e, but I do know that none of it is worth looking forward to if you’re not by my side. Please, let me love you forever. You and the girls. Will you marry me?”

  I clutched the View-Master to my chest and let go of a sob I’d been fighting like hell to keep in while he talked. “Yes. Yes!” I cried, flying into his arms as he stood up. He caught me, thankfully, because I sailed into him with such force that I was surprised we didn’t both tumble into the lake.

  He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed tight, lifting me off the ground. “Say it again,” he mumbled into my shoulder.

  I cupped his face in my hands, staring into the eyes of my best friend, my soul mate, my fiancé. “Yes, I will marry you.” I pressed my lips against his and closed my eyes, desperate to remember every detail of the moment so I could relive it over and over. He pulled me hard against him and slowly dipped his tongue in between my open lips. Our mouths moved together in slow, sensual waves feeding off of each other’s excitement and pure joy. My eyes danced around his face as I pulled back. “I’d marry you tonight if I could.”

  He wiggled his eyebrows. “We could be in Vegas in just a few hours.”

  “Okay, no. I take that back.” I giggled. “I need my family there.”

  “True. Both of our moms would kill us if we eloped.” He set me down and locked his hands around my waist. “Especially yours, she’s been as excited about this as me.”

  I jerked my head back a little. “She already knows?”

  A devilish smirk curled the corners of his mouth upward. “Who do you think set up the lanterns for me while we put the girls to bed?”

  I looked around at the pier and shook my head. “I didn’t even think about that. You sneaky little brats.”

  “I wanted you to be surprised.”

  “Well, it worked. I’m blown away… and so damn excited to be Kacie Murphy.”