Page 100 of The Penalty

“See you then, Coach.”

He smiles and gives me one more kiss before he jogs off behind his team. I turn back to Kylie, who’s grinning like a madwoman.

“You knew about this, didn’t you?” I ask her.

“Duh. And it’s been killing me to keep this secret.”

“Yeah, I bet.” At least now I know why she’s been acting strange all day.

“Well, let’s see it.” She grabs my hand to see the ring. I barely even looked at it when Tyler slipped it on my finger, but it’s absolutely stunning. A round solitaire on a slim diamond band, it’s simple but gorgeous and exactly what I would’ve picked out for myself.

“Damn, the old man did pretty good, didn’t he?” she says.

“Yes. Yes, he did.”

She shoulder bumps me as we make our way to Tyler’s office. “I hope you know I’m not going to be calling you Mom.”

I let out a loud laugh. “Sorry, you have to. It’s in the stepmom handbook.”

“Ah, shit. Well, this is gonna get weird then.”

As soon as we get to Ty’s office, and while we wait for his press conferences to end, I call my mom. She’s elated for me. She’s been wanting a wedding for years now. It’ll be weird walking down the aisle without my dad by my side, but I know he’s watching over me. I choose to believe that he’s happy for me, and that belief has helped me get through a hundred percent of my hard days.

When the door finally opens, my future husband walks in. A random memory pops into my head. My birthday four years ago when I made a wish to find true happiness. I think my wish has come true. This is it. I’ve got everything I could’ve asked for and more. I am happy. So happy.

Tyler takes my hand and leads me out of the stadium so we can start the rest of our lives together.

The End