“Umm,” I laughed, wiggling my fingers as I admired my manicure. “Gorgeous? Definitely. Life-changing? Not so sure.”
“Mmm. Well, I think you’ll change your mind about that,” Mia said vaguely before returning to the bar. “So, what are you drinking, love?” she asked me.
“Oh, nothing, I have to go. I haven’t even packed yet,” I said, prompting my entire tipsy team to protest and boo me.
“What!”
“You can’t leave! We made them turn the channel to ESPN for you!”
I laughed as I looked up at the screen of some sports show still talking about the new record-breaking contract Iain had negotiated for Drew, who had just delivered the Empires to their third consecutive championship in October. Now with this contract, he was set to retire a New York Empire.
Which was great for me as an Empires fan, but even better as an Evie and Kai fan.
I smiled as the video of the press conference video shifted to footage of Iain and Drew just talking and laughing behind the scenes of the Winter Meetings where the deal was inked. Cameras surrounded them, but it was like they barely noticed. Drew had his hand on Iain’s shoulder and whatever he was saying in Iain’s ear made him laugh so hard his eyes crinkled in that way I fucking loved.
A year and a half ago, the news about Iain had looked so much different. He was being vilified. Stomped by the media. He’d lost so many of his clients, but Drew never stopped vociferously defending Iain, and eventually, one of Drew’s fans dug up security footage from a residential building across the street of the bar where the whole Shane Watt thing happened.
And just like that, the tides changed.
The media turned their focus on Shane, who had more than a few of his own personal scandals for them to focus on, and just like that, normalcy was restored. It took a few difficult months, but it happened, finally giving Iain and me the much-needed chance to just breathe.
Together.
“Okay, Holland, you have to stop that,” Mia said suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Don’t make sex faces at my TV when you have the real thing at home.”
“Fair,” I said, tearing my eyes off my gorgeous boyfriend on the screen before waving goodbye to everyone and giving Mia the biggest, tightest hug ever.
“Let me know if Iain loves the manicure,” she said before planting a big smooch on my cheek.
I laughed at her and said sure, and as I walked back out to see the city streets looking like a scene from a snow globe, I reached under my sleeve and with a gloved hand, I pinched myself, because two years later, I still had to remind myself sometimes.
Nope, not a dream, I grinned big behind my scarf. Still very much real.
On the final day of our trip, I was the one to wake up first in the morning, my lips already curved up in a smile before I even opened my eyes.
It was just instinct anytime Iain had me hugged to his body like this. His heavy arm wrapped around me, I nestled back against his warm chest, just luxuriating for a bit before I officially got up.
I’d gotten more than a year of this by now, and I still wasn’t used to it yet: Iain still being sound asleep when I woke up, his breathing soft and peaceful behind me.
It didn’t happen every morning—maybe a couple days out of the week—so it was still a novelty to me, because for so long, he hadn’t been much of a sleeper. Even back when he stayed out our house in Jersey. He was always up first, before anyone else, which was why I took the time to savor this moment before opening my eyes.
And when I finally did, I cracked a half-smile for what I saw in front of me.
Bits of yesterday’s Christmas celebration strewn across the floor. A bit of ribbon. A chunk of wrapping paper. Kai’s shark toy that he’d left behind for Iain.
We were in Jackson Hole for a week of skiing and snowboarding with the Maddoxes as well as Adam and A.J, and for the sake of keeping our luggage manageable, we’d agreed on a no-gifts-except-for-Kai rule.
Of course, Adam had broken the rule by bringing a present for Iain, though none of us gave him crap him for it because of what it was: the pair of Burton snowboarding socks that he “stole” from Iain on that last Christmas that Iain didn’t come to our house. It was still in the original wrapping paper that Dad had used forever ago, though of course it was pretty ripped and beat up from living in the back of one of Adam’s closets for so long.
With the blanket snuggled to my lips, I stared blearily at a chunk of that wrapping paper.
It was crazy to think that there was a physical piece of that year in my life right here in this room. I’d come so far since then, as evidenced by Iain sleeping behind me. That was already enough to blow my mind, but then I looked at Kai’s shark toy and remembered a moment from yesterday.
After opening presents, I’d played with Kai on the floor while Drew and Evie and everyone else finished their breakfast. And in the middle of drawing dinosaur-shark hybrids with him, I’d looked up to find Iain with a smile on his lips as he gazed down at our crayon masterpiece. I caught a split second of him raising his eyebrows and nodding a little, as if he’d been having a conversation with himself and just made a really good point. It made me laugh so hard I broke him out of his daze, and when I asked him what he was thinking about, he blinked, pausing for a moment then cracking a surprised half-smile as he mouthed, “Babies.”
Then it was my turn to raise my eyebrows.
“I know right?” he said. “Definitely a first.”