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“I was hoping you’d say that.” She stands. “Come on, I want to show you even though it’s not quite ready yet.”
We shrug into our winter coats and shove our feet into boots. She’s practically bouncing with excitement when we reach the garage. “Close your eyes and keep them closed until I tell you to open them, okay?”
“Okay.”
She takes my hand. “Watch the step.”
I edge my foot forward until I hit the lip of the door, then step over it. The floor feels different beneath my feet, not the pitted concrete I remember.
She tugs me forward. “Okay. Now you can open them.”
“Oh my gosh.” I spin around. “What is this?”
“You know the Stitches, who own Stitches Construction? Well, I guess Lily and Randy know them personally, and they’ve been helping me turn this into an apartment, so you have your own space when you come home for the summer.” She pulls me toward the framed wall in the back corner. “This will be the bathroom, with a shower.” She motions to the wide-open space. “And you’ll have a place for your bed, and over here is space for a couch and a TV. It’ll have a kitchenette and everything. They’re working on it between jobs, and all the materials are recycled from other homes. It’ll be a bit of a hodgepodge, but it’ll be yours.”
“It’s amazing.” Tears sting my eyes. “Can we afford this?”
“Clover helped me apply for a special grant for housing improvements. I wrote them an essay as part of my English course. Got a real good grade on that one.” Her eyes light up. “And they accepted my application, so here we are.” She takes my hand in hers. “I know it hasn’t been an easy road for us, Winter, and I made a lot of mistakes in the past, but I’m trying to do better. For both of us.”
“I’m so proud of you.” I throw my arms around her.
It’s another step forward.
Another pillar of support to add to the foundation of our new life.
Built with hope and held together with love.
EPILOGUE
GO FOR THE GOLD
Winter
Five Years Later
It’s the third period, just over a minute and a half left in the game. We’re tied. Overtime is coming if we don’t score a goal. My stomach is tight with anticipation. Anything can happen.
I scan the arena and find BJ in the stands. His parents are here, too, and so is my mom. I never thought this would be my life. Never dared to dream this big until BJ came along and planted an entire garden of hope in my heart and made it bloom endlessly.
Nothing about the past five years has been easy, but every battle we fought to get here has been worth it.
BJ eventually decided to try for the Olympics as a solo skater. It took four years of rehab and hard work to get him there, but he made it to the trials. We both did. And this past year has been the toughest yet, because we had to spend so much time apart.
But we accomplished the goal, despite all odds, and he’s made the best out of what has been a truly life-altering injury. There were so many times that he wanted to give up, months where it looked like competitive skating would never be an option for him again. He had some deep lows, but we battled through them together. I did for him what he did for me—fed his hope, held his hand, and held him up when he couldn’t do it on his own. We’ve spent a lot of time on the ice together and even more time off it, planning, figuring things out, and growing as a couple.
Every day I fall more and more in love with him. With his resilience. With his patience. With his desire to overcome the obstacles in his path.
He didn’t place, but he competed. For him, that was always the goal. And it was enough. His plan now is to go back to school and get his PhD in psychotherapy. I finished a degree in social work, but I have a place on the women’s US hockey team, and it’s been a dream come true.
And so much else has happened over the past five years. My mom completed her GED. Seeing her graduate was amazing, and then she took classes at a community college to become a personal care aide. She’s working at the Lavender House now, which Clover and Maverick run with the help of our amazing hockey family. It’s a place where battered women and their families go to get back on their feet. They help with everything from housing and therapy, to accompanying women and their families to court dates, or retrieving belongings from their homes so they can start fresh. It’s exactly the right place for my mom, and she couldn’t be happier.
I hope one day she’ll find love again, but the good kind. The kind that builds her up instead of breaks her down.
I catch BJ’s gaze from across the arena, and he presses two fingers to his lips and touches his heart, mouthing you got this.
A few seconds later, the whistle blows, and I’m back on the ice, heading for my teammate who has control of the puck. I see the opportunity, and so does she. She passes to me, and instead of taking the shot, I pass it back, skating behind the net and picking up the puck again as I come out the other side. Then I tap it in, the buzzer going off a few seconds later.
The roar of the crowd is deafening, and I’m swarmed by my teammates, my eyes lifting to the scoreboard as I watch our score move from two to three, giving Team USA the gold medal. Another goal accomplished. Another win. Another hope flower blooming.
