AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But Logan doesn’t answer. Instead, he hustles us to the rink, walking us both through the tunnel. The lights are down lower, but there’s a spotlight out on the ice, and I can see some of the guys out there.
Logan takes off his skate guards and leaves them on the rail, then turns back to me. “Be careful,” he says. “I don’t want you to fall.”
I wish I had my skates on, but this is fine. I start to step out onto the ice, but before I get too far, Logan says, “You know what? Never mind.”
And then he’s swinging me up and into his arms, skating out on the ice with me cradled against his chest. So far, this is the most romantic moment of my life, but I will be honest—it would be slightly more romantic if we were doing this after Logan had showered and changed out of his jersey. But I’m not complaining! Nope.
“What’s going on?” Van calls. He and the other guys are standing on the ice, and he’s got his hands on his hips, looking irritated. “We’ve been waiting for like twenty minutes.”
“Slight change of plans,” Logan says. He sets me down, and I realize there is a folding chair in the center of the ice where the face off usually happens. “I had to find Parker and then I might have already told her I love her—”
“Oh, man!” Eli says. “We missed it?”
“Sorry,” Logan says. “It couldn’t be helped. But don’t worry. We’re still doing this.”
“Do we have to?” Nathan asks, but he shuts up when Logan glares.
“Are you good?” Logan asks me. He makes sure I’m settled and steady in the chair, and I nod. That’s when I notice Brandon wearing a pair of skates and standing with the rest of the guys.
“Brandon?”
He waves sheepishly. Logan squeezes my shoulders before skating backward. “We talked earlier. And he decided to join in.”
“Which I’m already regretting,” Brandon calls.
“Yeah, yeah. Are we ready, Javi?”
Javi? I glance in the direction Logan’s looking, and yep—there’s Javi up in the sound booth. I realize the guys aren’t just gathered together but lined up in some kind of order. A messy order, but probably as good as they’re going to get without me directing what looks like some kind of choreographed thing.
As Taylor Swift’s “Paper Rings” starts, the guys break into the very worst choreography I’ve ever seen, which is, I think, supposed to match up with a recent TikTok trend. Is it bad to be happy that without me, the guys literally cannot manage? Because it makes me feel both wanted and needed. Professionally, that is.
Logan, who isn’t in sync with the rest of the guys but showing off his dancing prowess, makes me feel wanted and needed in a completely different way. In short, I’m grinning ear to ear by the time the guys finish the—mercifully quick—dance.
It ends with Logan sliding to me on his knees, jostling me just enough that the chair starts moving over the ice and he has to stop it, holding me by the hips as he smiles up at me. “And then I was going to confess my love for you. But since I already did that …”
“Do it again!” Alec calls, and the guys laugh. All except Brandon, who looks happy, but also really embarrassed.
“Yeah, we want to hear,” Van adds.
Logan takes my hands then, his green eyes warm as they meet mine. “Not-so-little Peter Parker—I love you and would like to ask you officially to be my girlfriend.”
“Hey, wait—wasn’t she already your girlfriend?” Eli calls.
But Logan and I ignore him because I’m too busy saying yes, and then he’s too busy smiling happily, and then we’re both too busy kissing our way into an unknown future that will, at the very least, include each other.
EPILOGUE
Parker
When all is saidand done, I’m feeling confident yet super sad to pack up my office in the Summit. If bittersweet is an overused word, it’s only because it is so accurate for moments like this.
I take a last spin in Fancy Chair—who will, of course, come with me since it isn’t Appies’ property—and look at the walls that were my home for the last few years. Without my sticky notes everywhere, the room seems smaller and dingy. While I am sad to go, the shabby state of my office is a perfect symbol of why I’m going.
It’s not like I asked for much in my raise. I researched what’s typical for someone in my position. I made graphs and spreadsheets showing the relationship between our viral posts plus the social following and our ticket and merch sales. I thought hard numbers and dollar signs would be enough.
Spoiler alert: it wasn’t.
Which is fine, really. With Logan back in Charlotte, my heart simply isn’t here in Harvest Hollow or with the Appies. It’s wherever Logan is. We’re still not sure where that will be next season, but my hope is that I can go wherever that is.
