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“On it.”
Several beeps drift down the phone. It’s the sound of Ash opening the safe. “It’s still there.”
My shoulders sag with relief as I step inside the elevator when it arrives. “She won’t get away with this.” I push the basement button on the panel to take me to my car.
“Oh, I’m not letting her get away with anything.” He’s firm with his reply. “We’re unbreakable. You know that, baby?”
“I do.”
She messed with the wrong tiger and bear; we’re ferocious together.
Now hear us roar.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Lily – Four Months Later
It’s the Stanley Cup Final, and the Eagles made it without Ash.
He knew they could do it. After all, with Brayden as one of the assistant coaches, they were always going to make it.
They still haven’t replaced Ash yet, but they will before the new season begins. No one is indispensable.
Named after his father, the Theodore Johansson Hockey Training Facility is fully up and running. Almost full, there are only two slots available to work with Ash next season.
And the best thing about him opening the facility? When he has press and media interviews, they come to him instead of the other way around. Sports broadcasters and hockey journalists, including ex-hockey players, are fascinated with his new venture.
He maintains it’s the best thing he’s ever done besides marrying me, and I have to agree with him. Our lives have changed in so many positive ways in such a short time.
And it’s about to get even better.
Following Britney’s lame attempt at blackmail, where we discovered we weren’t the only hockey couple she had tried it with, she was charged with several counts of extortion and is awaiting trial. While Ash and I are not pressing charges, many others are. We both agreed she didn’t deserve our energy. Instead, we took out an injunction, which means she can’t come within one hundred yards of either of us and no contact whatsoever. However, we won’t need it if she ends up in prison, which is most likely, given the scale of her extortion demands.
Regardless of her efforts, Ash was right, she couldn’t break the unbreakable.
Enjoying watching the opening fanfare, the screaming and shouting of all the fans as each of the players gets announced onto the ice takes me back to the evening he asked me to marry him.
Much like that night, when I stood around the edge of the rink with Bree and Candy, Ash and I are down by the boards, waiting to be called on to the rink. They are presenting him with an honorary member of the Eagles hockey team. Alongside his father, he will go down in history.
Finally, the red carpet is laid out for Ash and as we step into the rink, the fans go crazy, shouting and screaming his name. Squeezing my hand as we walk into the middle of the rink, with his other he’s waving and grinning his face off.
Over the course of his twenty-year NHL career, and sitting just below his father, Ash holds firmly in second place for scoring the most goals, points, and assists in the league.
Regardless, in my eyes, he’s my number one.
Approaching the players, Ash works his way down the line, shaking each and every one of their hands, wishing them well and good luck for the game.
I make myself busy chatting to Dustin, Ash’s former boss, and make small talk with the other members of the management team. They’ve all come out for him tonight.
Overhead, the commentator draws our attention to the giant television screens lit up overhead.
Arm around my shoulder, Ash and I look up to watch a beautifully curated video spanning Ash’s career. Photos of him signing his contract, hugging his father when he played his first game with the Eagles, Stanley Cup wins, video footage, a full timeline of his career, including him asking me to marry him, along with dozens and dozens of funny moments and snippets in time move across the screens to “Best Day of My Life” by American Authors. It captures all the brilliant moments of his career as a player and coach, photos with the fans, the players, his old teammates. It’s so emotional, I can’t stop the happy tears from flowing.
I know I will be in pieces when they do the speeches after this and when they raise his giant jersey with his name and number on to retire his number. Ash’s number eleven will be retired not just from the team, but from the league. He’s a huge deal in the NHL.
My husband is a star. A beautiful, bright, shining supernova.
Scratch that, he’s the entire galaxy.
