The idea brought a smile to my lips. “I do like the sound of that,” I agreed. “We always thought we’d want to live in a city somewhere, we never talked about having a house with a yard.” Now that we both knew we wanted kids, the idea of settling in a small town was a lot more appealing.
I’d seen how well Sam interacted with Ethan. I wanted to watch him get to know his own children. Our children.
It still felt more like a dream than a reality, right now. Maybe putting some money away every time I visited Sam would help it feel more like something we were planning on.
“Okay.” I agreed. “We’ll try that out.” We could always make adjustments if I didn’t like the way it felt to rely on Sam for money.
I beamed up at him, tiptoeing so I could press a kiss against his lips. “I like how this feels,” I said softly. “Like the start of something new, and like picking up where we left off, all at the same time.”
As he smiled back, it was easy to believe that Sam felt the same. It gave me confidence that, between us, we could definitely make this work.
We watched the sun set over the river before going inside where a table was set for our dinner. It was one of the most romantic things I’d ever seen! This was very much the sort of thing they showed in movies. But better, because Sam was here with me. Sam who wanted to date me. Who was planning to pay for my flights to see him. Who was suggesting we had a calendar to see each other!
“I hope you’re hungry,” Sam told me as he pulled out a chair for me to sit. My stomach growled in response and we both laughed. If this was how amazing everything looked, I could hardly imagine how good the food would be!
Thankfully, once we were seated, and the waiter had brought us some wine, the food was quick to follow. Whatever I was expecting, I hadn’t been prepared for two pizza boxes to arrive. From how widely Sam was smiling at me, he had definitely been involved in planning that particular surprise.
“It’s been a long time since we had pizza together,” he pointed out. “It was always one of my favorite traditions, I think we should bring it back!”
My smile grew so wide that I was sure my cheeks would hurt tomorrow. Without giving it a moment’s thought, I opened up my box. Lifting out a slice of pizza, I held it up to Sam, like I wanted to toast with it.
He caught on immediately, lifting a slice of his own pizza from the box. “Yeah,” I agreed. “I think that’s a lovely idea.”
As we touched the tips of our pizza together, I laughed. “Here’s to old traditions and new traditions,” I offered.
Building a new life with Sam was going to be my most exciting project in ages.
Chapter Twenty-One
Sam
The days that followed our first date - before I had to head back to Salt Lake City - Helena and I went on a date every day. It was the best possible way to spend the last of my time in Lunengrove. When I returned for training camp, everyone managed to comment on how happy I looked.
It didn’t take them long to figure out that Helena was the cause of it. Especially not when Felix walked in on us video calling. We had never been very good at keeping secrets from each other; by the time our first game rolled around, the whole team knew.
“Are you coming out, Levesque? We’ve got to celebrate this win!” Alfie called across the locker room. Before I had a chance to respond, our captain was already answering for me.
“Don’t be silly, Alfie. Sam’s girl’s here for the game. He’ll be busy celebrating with her!”
There followed much whistling and some chirping. I could hardly do anything but grin in response. Helena could only fly in for the game and not earlier, so we hadn’t even seen each other. Knowing she was in the audience, I’d played harder. Winning had just been the cherry on top.
Despite the chirping, I got ready quickly. Helena was meeting me in the parking lot and I didn’t want to keep her waiting too long. Excitement bubbled inside me, not just over having won the game or seeing Helena, but also about showing her my house.
When I’d bought it, just after we’d broken up, part of me had hoped that we might still get back together. It hadn’t happened then and Helena would never move to Salt Lake City, but she could still share the house with me some weekends, maybe some holidays.
It was exciting to share that space with her.
“Hey you,” I greeted, spotting her next to my car. “You found it!” Which hadn’t been too hard, since I’d sent Helena plenty of pictures to guide her. Sweeping her up, I pressed my lips against Helena’s. She kissed me back instantly, electricity sparking through both of us.
When I finally put her back down, I pressed a lighter kiss against her lips. “Hey,” I greeted again.
Her hand found mine, so warm and familiar as she laced our fingers together. “Hey,” she replied, grinning from ear to ear. “You won! I’d forgotten how much faster your games are now that you play pro.”
Helena had never seen me play with the Pumas, but she’d come to my games when I’d played pro in Canada. I could understand how ten years of watching Ethan play might have driven the pace of the NHL out of her mind.
“You looked brilliant on the ice,” she added, smirking up at me. “Made me
