Page 383 of Saving Forever with the Hockey Captain

My eyes immediately fill with tears. "You borrowed puppies..."

"It seemed festive."

Jamie laughs beside me. "I can't believe that sentence makes perfect sense coming from you."

Toby grins. "I have a reputation to maintain."

He gently places the smaller puppy into my arms. Warm little paws immediately press against my dress as the puppy curls happily beneath my chin. Without thinking, I bury my face against impossibly soft fur.

The tiny heartbeat fluttering beneath my hand makes something inside me melt.

Jamie smiles at me with that wonderfully tender expression I've come to know so well.

"I think you've fallen in love again."

I look up. "I think I have."

"I was afraid of that."

***

The second puppy decides Jamie's tuxedo jacket is an excellent climbing wall and begins making determined progress toward his shoulder. Jamie laughs as tiny paws scramble determinedly across expensive fabric.

"So much for looking dignified."

"You looked dignified for almost five minutes," Liam says. "And for you, I'd call that a personal best."

Even Coach eventually kneels to scratch one floppy ear on the pink-bowed puppy now trying valiantly to walk through the grassy floor of the tent.

Becca catches him smiling. "I thought you weren't a dog person."

"I'm not." The puppy immediately rolls onto her back for a belly rub. Coach sighs in surrender.

"Apparently the dog has other ideas."

The laughter that follows drifts out across the lake, and I hold the sleepy puppy just a little closer.

Joy, I realize, rarely arrives in the way we expect.

Sometimes it wears a satin ribbon.

And sometimes it reminds us that the happiest moments of our lives are usually the ones we never planned.

***

By the time dinner plates have been cleared away and fresh coffee begins making its way around the tables, the reception settles into the comfortable hum of people who have no desire for the evening to end. No one knows exactly where the puppies have ended up but occasionally a little fluff of yellow fur pops up next to someone’s cheek.

Clusters of conversation fill every corner of the tent. Children chase one another across the grass beyond the tent while the older guests linger over stories that seem to grow funnier with every retelling.

***

Somewhere near the dance floor, Liam taps a spoon against his water glass.

"All right," he announces. "Before dessert—and before I accidentally eat all of it—we have a couple of toasts."

Liam gestures toward Toby. "Our best man."

Toby looks genuinely surprised.