Page 384 of Saving Forever with the Hockey Captain

"It’s time?"

"You'll survive." More laughter.

Smiling, Toby rises and picks up his glass. Unlike Liam, he doesn't hurry to speak. He looks first at Jamie, then at me.

***

“I've known Jamie a long time. Long enough to know that if you need him, he'll show up before you finish asking.”

Toby looks at me.

“Then Annette showed up.”

He smiles. “I'll be honest. I thought she was going to quit after the first week.”

“I wasn't that bad,” Jamie mutters.

Every member of the team laughs.

“You really were.”

Toby waits for the laughter to fade.

“But she stayed. And somehow these two figured out what the rest of us already knew—they're better together.”

He raises his glass.

“May you always be the place the other one comes home to.

To Jamie and Annette.”

Everyone stands. "To Jamie and Annette."

The soft clink of glasses fills the tent.

I glance at my husband. He's blinking suspiciously fast. I smile and slip my hand into his beneath the table.

He squeezes it once.

He doesn't need to say a word.

Neither of us does.

***

Liam glances across the room.

"I believe the maid of honor has a few words."

Keisha groans dramatically.

"I specifically requested emotional immunity."

"Denied."

More laughter follows her as she stands, lifting her glass.

Unlike Toby, she doesn't look nervous. She looks at me, really looks at me.