by Sara Hubbard
“And you said, fuck no, right?”
“Well, I didn’t use those exact words, but yeah...”
“Good.”
“So I guess you’re free to go, right?”
“I guess so. I only have a few days though. I’ll have to do something about that, because I can’t leave you here.”
She rubs my arm and sighs. “I thought you might say that. I can’t let you stay. Especially since you’ve made the playoffs.”
“Try and stop me.”
“Don’t be foolish. You’re going back.”
“Then you’re coming with me. You can’t go back to work now anyway, not with that prick still there. I can only rein it in so far. You go back to work with him and I’ll be your shadow.”
“Well you’re right about one thing. I can’t go back now. I feel bad, not finishing my notice and I’ll probably get a bad reference for it.”
“We’ll figure it out. Don’t worry about it.”
“When everyone at work finds out, they’ll all believe Charlie. He’s so perfect on the surface. He had me fooled, too.”
“We should stay and fight him, Annie. You know that, right?”
“I’m so done with running away and fighting to be happy. I don’t even think leaving would be running away from him. He’s sick. He needs mental help, not jail. Besides, they’re still going to investigate the case and they don’t need me here to do it. There is nothing here for me that I can’t find somewhere else—somewhere with you.”
“What are you saying?”
“When you leave, I’m going with you.”
I sit up and turn her around so she’s facing me. I crush her to me and squeeze her more than I should. “I fucking love you, Annie. More than you know.”
“I know. And you might not know this, but I love you right back—just as much.”
35
ANNIE
Two weeks later...
A restraining order: that’s what my only other romantic relationship resulted in. I got it just before we left for the States. It’s doubtful he’ll come here to bother me, but then, you never know. I got a letter from him a week ago. Never opened it. Technically, it was against my restraining order for him to make contact with me, so I forwarded it to the police who then arrested him. They told me he admitted to hurting me in the letter and they were going to get him help—medically. I was okay with that.
Ethan? Not so much. Ethan wants Charlie to suffer. But since I moved to Philly with him, he’s so happy and eager to please me that he let it go. Pretty sure it’s the hardest thing he’s ever had to do.
But I’m here now. In Philly. And our life is about to start—at a hockey game no less. I only got here this morning and this is how we’re spending our first day together. It kind of seems perfect.
The music starts and the crowd cheers. Every player’s name is called and they come out onto the ice one by one, each of them generating about the same amount of applause, except for one or two. I’m very happy to see Ethan is one of them. I beam with pride and clap like an idiot. He skates around the rink, looking for me in the family section and when he sees me, he taps his heart and I tap mine.
One of the wives, her name is Carmen, nudges me with her elbow. “Aw, isn’t that sweet. We never saw him bring a girl to one of the games before. I guess he was just waiting for the right one.”
I hear someone behind me whisper and then she and another woman laugh. They’re staring at me, but I ignore them. There are some bitches in these stands, so I try to stay with the ones who are here to support the men they love, not here to create drama and look down upon and judge the rest of us.
“Just ignore them,” Carmen says. “The blonde tried hard to get up in Ethan’s business. She’s just jealous ’cause he wouldn’t give her the time of day. But I suppose that’s Cedric’s loss and Ethan’s gain.”
I chuckle with her, but from my peripheral, I notice the girl behind me glowering at me. They think I’m some girl who just walked into Ethan’s life when he came home to see his brother. They can’t know how long and how deep Ethan’s and my relationship runs and I don’t have the slightest desire to tell them about it. That’s between Ethan and me. And I like that our story is between us and no one else. It kind of adds to this little world that we built for ourselves that no one else is invited to be a part of.
We stand for the National Anthem and the game starts. I still know nothing about the game, but I like watching Ethan whip around the ice and it doesn’t bother me so much when he plows people into the boards. I guess because I know this is a game and that seems to be part of it.
After two periods, the score is one to one, with number seven scoring the only goal on Ethan’s team. I might actually be into the game at this point, hoping that they can get another before the last six minutes tick away on the digital clock.
Ethan slaps the puck to seven and they race down the ice. Toronto’s number five tries to match his pace, trying to bump him out of the way, but Ethan shoulders him away and I’m cheering, “Go, go, go!” Then the announcer screams “Score!” as Ethan—number nine—slaps the puck hard and it narrowly goes in below the goalie’s arm.
The crowd explodes into applause and there are people around us dancing. The wives are calm, though. They’re still chatting. Not sure if they missed what I just saw because I can hardly contain myself. I am up in my seat, pumping my fist, knowing how happy Ethan is right now. Carmen is just as excited, but she might be the only one.
The rest of the minutes tick away until the buzzer sounds. The team floods the ice, hugging and skating around with fists in the air, but not Ethan. His eyes are on me and he’s smiling. I touch my heart again and he heads straight for me. I walk down the few stairs to meet him and then he surprises me as he climbs over the boards and Plexiglas like superman. The world fades away as he drops beside me. He unsnaps his helmet and grabs me, kissing me so tenderly that the world fades away. We’re Ethan and Annie. We belong together and we’ll do what we have to do to fight for us.
“You were amazing,” I say in his ear.
“Thank you, Annie. Thank you for coming here.”
“Anytime, babe. Anytime.”
Acknowledgments
I always struggle with writing acknowledgments and dedications. It’s not that I don’t have anyone to thank, but more I don’t know quite how to express the extent of my gratitude, which is often enormous.
To my family: I love you ver much. Thank you for supporting me and understanding my constant state of distraction.
To my readers: thank you for all your support! It means the world to me. I hope you enjoy Annie and Ethan’s story as much as I enjoyed writing it. I love books about second chances and hope to give you much more of them.
Thank you to Lisa Ward for joining my street team and for suggesting the title. It’s a great one!
Thank you to Sommer Stein for being kickass! You make covers that inspire and you knocked it out of the park for this one.
To the bloggers willing to read ARCs of my books and to leave reviews: thank you! You help others discover my books, which is no easy feat in today’s market.
To Nancy Cassidy, Donna Alward and Amber Trimble: thank you for helping me make my book shine! I couldn’t ask for a better editing team.
About the Author
Sara Hubbard is the author of romantic fiction. Her debut novel BLOOD, SHE READ released fall 2012 and was a NEORWA Cleveland Rocks winner and a RCRW Duel on the Delta finalist. Her latest novels, Beautiful and Broken and inCapable, are Amazon Bestselling Novels.
Sara lives in Nova Scotia, Canada with her two children (four if you count her husband and her needy Labradoodle) and works as a registered nurse with the military.
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Also by Sara Hubbard
Contemporary Novels
Beautiful and Broken: A Beautiful & Broken World Novel, #1
A Perfect Mess: A Beautiful & Broken World Novel, #2 (coming soon)
Saving Sullivan
inCapable
The Last Shot (November 22, 2015)
Fantasy Novels
Blood, She Read
By Force
By Choice
