Page 119 of Mac Meyers Needs Me

“Quiet,” Brody replies. “Quieter than me even, but when she does speak, it’s usually a zinger.”

“I like her. She’s sassy,” Mac says.

The doorbell chimes. “I’ll get that.” Mac kisses me on the cheek and leaves the kitchen.

“He’s been checking the mail compulsively,” Brody informs me.

“So have you!” Mac calls out.

“Not untrue,” Brody admits. “But I’m once a day, maybe twice, and he’s many times.”

“Oh shit!” Mac comes skidding back into the kitchen holding a stack of thick, legal-sized envelopes. “This one is for you.”

He tosses it to Brody whose eyes light up. “Hockey Academy! Did you get one, too?”

Mac holds up his matching envelope with the logo in the corner.

“Oh my gosh!” I jump up and down. “It’s thick! That has to mean good things, right?”

They both snicker.

I roll my eyes. “What are you waiting for? Open it!”

“On the count of three?” Mac says to Brody.

“On three.”

We count down together and Mac slides his thumb under the edge of the envelope, tearing it open. He and Brody pull the thick packet of sheets out at the same time, but Brody is already wearing a knowing smile.

I watch my boyfriend’s face light up. “I got in! I got into the Hockey Academy’s summer program! We’re going together!”

Brody is all proud smiles. “Yeah, man, we’re going together.”

Mac hugs and kisses me, then crosses over to his friend and they give each other backslaps while Brody and I grin at each other over Mac’s shoulder.

And then he rushes back to me, wraps his arms around me in a bone-crushing hug, and lifts me off the floor. “I get to stay in Toronto and be close to you. I don’t have to spend the summer missing you.”

“There are two other envelopes. Do you want to open those, too?” I kiss his neck, my smile wide even as my eyes fill with tears. They’re made of joy, relief, and pride.

Mac carries me over to the counter and grabs the stack of papers from the Hockey Academy and the unopened envelopes.

“What are you doing?”

“Taking you upstairs to celebrate. We’ll go for dinner later. I’ll tell Gage his package is waiting for him,” Mac calls over his shoulder as he carries me through the kitchen.

“I’ll make us a reso!” Brody calls after us, still smiling.

Mac doesn’t set me down even as we pass Gage’s room and shouts, “There’s a package for you downstairs that you’ll want to open. Congratulations. Don’t knock on my door for the next hour.”

Gage’s door swings open. “Is it from the Hockey Academy?”

I give him a thumbs-up.

“Oh fuck!” Gage bolts down the hall and we hear him thump his way down the stairs.

We disappear into Mac’s room, and he locks the door behind us.

He takes my face in his hands and slants his mouth over mine, kissing me fiercely. “I’m so fucking relieved, Fee.”