Page 67 of Center Ice

She finally took a breath, and I nodded along. She had a clear vision, and I could picture it.

“That sounds lovely. I’ll put together an initial quote for you and Derek to review by the end of the week.” It seemed like she mostly needed someone to guide her along and make her vision come to life. That was exactly what I was good at.

“Thank you, Dani.” She put her hand over her heart. “I spend so much time with the guys that I think they forget I’m not one of them. It’ll be nice to have someone to talk to who get this stuff.”

“I’m here any time you want to talk about girly things or wedding ideas.”

She grinned. “I’m taking you up on that.”

I nodded and then remembered I might have just completely lied to her. Was all of this a mistake? I shouldn't get her hopes up if I wasn’t going to be here to help them. At least, not in person. Not all the time. I could work from the other side of the country. Most of the things I did were online anyway. It was just touring venues and doing tastings that would get tricky. If I worked fast, I could visit a bunch of venues before we left and trust the brides and grooms to choose their caterers and hope they were easy enough to work with.

“My turn?” Lucy asked as she stepped into the water.

“Yeah!” I forced a smile and pushed my thoughts away from the things I couldn’t control.

23

Jake

I went through the list of apartment buildings that Chloe sent me and narrowed it down to three options. I toured two before pulling up to the last option. It was only a few blocks from the arena, had its own parking garage, and was above retail spaces so there was food and shopping super close.

“Welcome, Mr. Jones. I’m Dustin.” A man about ten years older than me greeted me in a suit as I walked in.

“Thank you.” I glanced around the lobby. It was modern and spotless. Not very inviting, but at least there was a doorman for added security.

“I can take you up to the available unit.” He turned and went to the two elevator doors. I already had a pretty good idea of what I was about to see. All the buildings I was looking at had two-bedroom apartments that I could move into immediately. The first two were decent options, but I was hoping this one would work since it was my favorite location.

“Please take your time. If you have any questions, I’ll be in the hall.” He held the door open for me, and I stepped into an open floor plan. The kitchen was a good size and had a peninsula that separated it from the living room. I walked through the bedrooms, and they were both big enough to fit a king-size bed, which was all I needed to know. The bathrooms were modern as well, all glass and chrome with square sinks and faucets.

I only spent a few minutes checking things out before stepping back out to the hall. “It’s great.”

Dustin looked a bit surprised. “Do you have any questions?”

“Yes, but not about this unit.”

He tilted his head up. “Oh?”

“I noticed there was a retail unit available downstairs. Can we discuss that?”

“Of course, let’s head to my office.”

Back downstairs, he pulled out files with information about the small space I’d noticed on my way in. I wasn’t planning on looking for this, but when I saw it, something triggered in my mind, and it was at that moment that my mind was made up.

I probably should have called Dani. She was probably going as crazy as I’d been when I was waiting for her to decide, but I wanted to do something big to surprise her. This was certainly a grand gesture. I just hoped she accepted it. We were new, but it felt like we knew each other for years. We’d already weathered a lot, and we were on the same page. We didn’t need to add our wedding to her list of to-dos, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t start building our lives together.

We wanted a future, and this was a step toward that.

I reviewed the information and asked for the contract, then another.

By the time I walked out, my hand hurt from signing papers, but I felt better than I had in weeks. Knowing what was coming next was a huge relief. Having my mind made up and being confident in the decision was unexpected. I thought I would go back and forth more, but it was another thing in life that didn’t need to be difficult. Sometimes things could be as simple as saying yes.

I got in my car and sent Dani a text, telling her I was on my way to pick her up. I didn’t tell her what we were doing or that I had my mind made up. I wanted this to be a surprise.

My stomach was in knots as I drove across town. What if she was the type that hated surprises? Well, I guess I was about to learn something new about her. She did so much for other people; it was her turn to be taken care of. At least, that was what I planned on telling her.

When I pulled into the Cullens’ drive, she walked around from the backyard wearing a pretty yellow sundress. She got in the passenger seat and smiled. “Hi.”

I leaned over and kissed her quickly before pulling back. “Hi.”