Chapter Twenty

Zoey

"Okay, you're off the hook. You've got enough pictures. Now go dance with your date before some other girl snags him up," she says and then points at Brent on the other side of the room, talking with one of our uncles.

My stomach flips the second Brent looks over in our direction, and his eyes lock with mine.

"Thanks. I love you," I tell her.

"I love you too. Now go get your man," she says, leaning in and giving me a hug.

I squeeze her back.

Strangely enough, this wedding—and what I thought would be a nightmare of a flight sitting next to the man I couldn't stand up until two days ago, might have been exactly what I needed to finally get my head straight and move on from Liam.

I tuck my camera into my bag, and Brent watches every step I take across the crowded dance floor toward him while my uncle jabbers at him… probably about the San Diego Blue Devils team, which is everyone's home team in this room but just so happens to be the Hawkeyes rival team.

I pass the halfway mark on the dance floor, and I see Brent stand when he realizes I'm headed straight for him.

I see him say something to my uncle, like "I have to go." Or, "Please excuse me," and then he pushes his chair back and walks out and around the table.

He meets me at the edge of the dance floor.

"Hi," he says with that brilliant smile that's probably only half real teeth with how many fights he's gotten in on the ice.

It doesn't make it any less swoon-worthy, though.

"Hello," I say back.

"Will you dance with me?" he asks, holding out his hand. "I have some making up to do for missing prom."

I nod and put my hand in his.

"You do… and a lot of making up, by the way," I tell him, giving him a playful side-eye.

"I know." He walks me onto the dance floor a little farther and then pulls me around, wrapping his right arm around my back and his left in mine. "I'm sorry for what I did. You didn't deserve that. If it's any consolation, I would do it differently if given the chance."

I've heard the apology before, but what I really want is an explanation.

"Why did you do it, then? Couldn't you have practiced slapshots the next day?" I ask, my eyes pleading to get closure on this so that I can understand, and we can move on.

"I can't tell you exactly why, but I thought I was doing the right thing."

"Why can't you tell me?"

"Because I don't want you to pick me only because you hate him now," he says. "I want to be your first choice… not the backup choice."

"What?" I ask, my eyebrows furrowing.

He shakes his head.

"I promise you that the reason won't make things any easier to understand. I'd rather spend the rest of my life making it up to you instead," he says, pulling us closer together.

A lifetime?

My heart rate accelerates at the idea of more time with Brent. I didn't know what last night meant for him. I didn't know if it was a pity fuck or a start to something, but now, with more clarity, I can't wait to see what happens when we go home.

"Making it up to me?" I ask.

"This morning's offer is still good. Do you think they'd mind if I stole you away before my red eye tonight?"

Oh yeah… he's leaving, and I'll be heading to my parents' house to open gifts before I head back to Seattle the day after Christmas.

"You have to go?"

"I promised Tessa that I'd be home. I haven't missed a Christmas with her since our parents died. And the Hawkeyes go all out on Christmas afternoon—they're expecting me. I don't want to let them down. They've become a family to Tessa and me when we didn't have one in Seattle.

I love the way Brent is present for his family and his team.

"I get it," I nod, glancing over his shoulder, trying to hide my disappointment.

"But before I go, I want to talk—"

Someone walks up to us and stops on my right side.

He clears his throat.

Liam.

"Mind if I cut in?"

Brent's hands tighten around me, bringing me closer against him.

The things that Phobe and Sarah said in the dressing room have me thinking over everything. How did Brent feel about Liam and I dating if Brent wanted me?

Brent looks down at me, waiting for me to answer Liam's question, his eyes searching mine.

"Umm…" I say, trying to buy myself time to think it through.

I don't want Brent's hands to release me, but it feels rude to turn Liam down in front of all of our friends and family. Not to mention that the whole reason Brent and I came up with this fake dating idea was to make Liam jealous.

I turn to look at Liam's arms open to receive me as if he already assumes I'll come to him… and I would have. If he had done this any time over the past year, I would have jumped into his arms.

"It's customary that the maid of honor and the best man share a dance, and you were supposed to be the maid of honor," he says, trying to make sense of it.

I look back up at Brent, and he nods as if trying to make the decision easier for me.

As if he thinks that I might want to say yes.

Doesn't he know that there's no other man's arms I want to be in than his?

"Okay…" I say with an unsure voice. "One dance."

Brent lightens his hold, but he holds my hand until I pull mine from his. His hand slides off my back as I take steps away from him.

I step into Liam's hold and hear my sister's voice behind me.

"Looking for a partner?"

I glance over my shoulder to see Phoebe in her big wedding dress, asking Brent to dance while David walks his grandmother to the dance floor.

They're making their rounds dancing with guests, and I'm relieved she's dancing with Brent. She'll ask top journalist-worthy questions and pry into his intentions with me better than anyone I know.

Liam steps into me, wraps his hand around my back and places his hand in mine.

"You look gorgeous… as always," he says with a smile.

It's so weird that Liam's arms used to be my happy place, and now, there's a dullness to them. An emptiness in his hold.

"Thank you," I say, watching others on the dance floor instead of back at him.

Then it dawns on me that someone's missing.

"Wait… where's Shelby?" I ask.

I look among the crowd, but I don't see her anywhere. What I do notice is that Liam has danced us farther and farther away from Brent.

I catch Brent's eyes still on me, a slight frown on his lips as he listens to my sister, who's watching our parents dancing.

"She went home. We broke up," he says, but the words don't even register because I'm back to staring at Brent, who's now looking in the opposite direction while talking with my parents as he sways Phoebe back and forth.

My dad must have had a couple of drinks because he just threw his head back in laughter at something Brent said.

"Zoey," Liam says, breaking my trance.

I shoot a startled look back up to Liam as he smiles at me when my attention is back on him.

"Did you hear what I said?"

"Oh, umm, that Shelby left?" I ask, almost positive that it's what he said.

He looks over at Brent to see what has my attention.

"Come on. Come with me for a second," he says, pulling his hand off my back and pulling me with him.

I follow, with little other choice than to pull out of his hand, but he wants to show me something, and if this is closure, he's giving me so that I can move on with Brent, then I'll accept it.

He leads me off the dance floor and past the tables until we're headed for the exit of the reception hall.

"Where are we going?" I ask behind him.

"There's a cool courtyard in the middle of the hotel. It's quiet and private. I thought we could take a minute to talk."

Closure, yes, this is what we need.

We're all still friends, and with our big friends' ski trip to Aspen in a couple of months, it would be good for all of this to be behind us.

Although, if Brent and I are dating, I should probably go to his game. I know they're playing Las Vegas that weekend, and it will be a big game for him.

Whoa… the idea of sitting in Brent's seats, wearing his last name on my back and cheering for him, sets off a jittery feeling of excitement low in my belly.

I want a life with him back in Seattle.

I want to be the woman in his cheering section, whether it's hockey or a cornhole competition… or competitive eating. I don't care, I just want to be the one.

Liam leads me farther down the hall until he takes a left turn and steps into a beautiful outdoor courtyard with trees and ferns growing inside. Several lounge chairs are placed around the small space, and I imagine this would be a great place for reading.

I look up at the night sky with twinkling stars above us. It's a romantic spot that I wish Brent had led me to instead.

"How did you find this place?" I ask, admiring the stars above us for a moment.

Liam turns to me.

"Does it matter? I can't stand by another second and watch us fade further apart. You being with Brent is killing me, Zoey, can't you see that? Can't you see what seeing you with someone else does to me?" he asks.

Is he kidding me right now?

"And how do you think I have felt for the past year knowing you're with Shelby?"

He shakes his head as if what I'm saying doesn't matter. He wants me to think he's the victim in all of this, but he's not. "Who cares about her anymore? What matters is us."

Is he trying to brush the woman who he left me for under the rug as if it never happened?

"Well, what you did still matters to me. Why isn't she here anymore?" I ask, more aware that Liam didn't bring me here for closure.

"I told her that I'm still in love with you and that I can't live a lie for the rest of my life. I need to be with the woman I truly love."

The irony is that it's the same thing he told me when he broke it off with me

"Liam, I…"

But before I can finish my thought, Liam lowers to one knee and pulls out my engagement ring. The same one we picked out together years ago and the one he proposed to me with. Also, the same one that was on Shelby's hand up until yesterday.

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the platinum setting is still warm from Shelby's finger.

A part of me wants to yank the ring out of the box and chuck it into the bushes past Liam's head. But I know that Liam will never stop being a part of our friend group. I'll still have to see him at birthday parties, and gender reveals.

It's time to put an end to this.

Seeing Liam down on one knee doesn't give me even the slightest butterflies.

"Zoey. Give us the chance we deserve."

"I can't, Liam… I'm not in love with you anymore," I tell him. "It's time that we both move on."

"So what… you're in love with Brent?" he says bitterly.

I nod. "Yes."

A part of me would like to have softened the blow, but he didn't do that for me when he chose Shelby a year ago, and this break between us needs to be final.

"He can't make you happy. He only gives a shit about himself and hockey," he sneers.

I know that's not true.

If it were, he would have let his grandmother raise Tessa so he could live the bachelor life as a professional hockey player.

I can't claim the man I'll be moving on with will be Brent because he and I haven't talked about what happens next, but I do know that I have Brent to thank for making me see that Liam isn't the one.

"That's not true, and you know it," I say.

"You're making a mistake," he says, still down on one knee.

I look back down at the ring he's offering me. There is no promise in that ring. It means nothing to him.

"My biggest mistake was holding on so tight. I should have seen it sooner and let you go way before this."

I know marrying me isn't what Liam wants. I don't think even he knows what he wants. Ever since hockey ended for him, I think he's always been looking for something to fill that void.

But that "void filler" won't be me anymore.