Hard Fall by Brenda Rothert

Chapter Twenty-Six

Hadley

I relished the pause on the other end of the phone, smiling as Liz processed the two-week notice I’d just given her.

“I’m willing to keep you on,” she finally said. “At a lower salary of course, but we can negotiate something where you can work remotely all the time.”

“I appreciate it, but my heart’s just not there anymore. I want to pursue something new.”

“Something new?”

“Yeah, I’ve been feeling like I had no professional options for so long, but I was just seeing things the wrong way. I have unlimited options and I’m excited about my future.”

Was I rubbing it in her face at this point? A little. But if anyone deserved it, it was Liz.

“I’ll just remind you about the noncompete clause in your contract,” she said sharply.

“Oh, I know. But it’s only a year, and it would take me that long to get all the groundwork laid if I decide to launch something new.”

A pause. “Launch? Are you going to start your own magazine?”

Probably. But I wasn’t telling Liz that. I wanted her to spend time trolling the staff listings for other magazines for the next year, wondering what I was doing but not knowing.

“I don’t know,” I said, a smile in my tone. “Maybe? Anyway, with my smaller office, I hardly have anything there anymore, so if you guys could just box up my personal items, I’ll have someone come by and pick them up.”

“Sure. And don’t worry about working the next two weeks. I’ll have payroll cut your last check.”

This bitch. If I wanted to steal any future story ideas from Willow, I would have done it before putting in my notice. And it’s not like I could overhear anything while working from home. But as soon as she hung up, Liz would send out a company-wide email telling everyone I’m no longer employed by Willow and anyone who speaks to me about any ongoing things there risks termination. She liked making it sound like she fired people even when she didn’t.

Joke’s on her, though. I told all my friends at Willow I was quitting yesterday.

“That’s so nice of you, thanks,” I said. “Best of luck, Liz.”

“Same to you.”

Liz hung up the phone on me for the last time and I let out a little cheer. I immediately felt lighter. Why had I thought staying at Willow was my only professional option?

I planned to take a break from work for the next couple of months. I was going to start boxing up some of Ben and Lauren’s things to give to their children one day, and selling some pieces of furniture.

It didn’t feel sad anymore. I was going to let Annalise help me pack up some of her mother’s beloved baking pans and cooking appliances, knowing that one day she’d have a kitchen of her own to use them in. Wes and I were going to work on Ben’s study together, carefully packing up hockey memorabilia for both kids. We had already rented a fireproof, climate-controlled storage unit for most of the stuff we were saving as well as a safety deposit box at a local bank to store some important paperwork for the kids.

It was time. Wes and I had won the court case and Patrick and Susan had left town immediately after. Wes was the kids’ permanent legal guardian, and we’d also had wills created for both of us that left full custody to me in the event he died. I hated the thought, but we knew all too well that life could change in the blink of an eye. Ben and Lauren’s deaths had left us stunned, but the clouds were lifting and we were finding a way forward together.

And like I had told Wes, it was okay that I wasn’t the love of his life. We would always mean a lot to each other because of what we’d been through together, and I hoped our unconventional little family would work for a long time.

The only promise we had made to each other was that we’d always do our best by the kids. It wasn’t the promise I’d expected to get from a man I’d fallen hard for, but it was something.

“Aunt Hadley, I need your help!” Annalise cried, running into the master bathroom as I was drying my hair after a shower.

“What’s up?” I asked her.

“It’s, uh…there’s a big, huge animal in our backyard! It’s so huge! Come help!”

I furrowed my brow, sensing a tall tale. “What? How can there be a huge animal in the yard when there’s a fence?”

Her eyes widened and she spoke solemnly. “It crushed right through the fence. It’s so mean and huge, I think it might eat Benny! Come quick, Aunt Hadley!”

I hurried into the closet and closed the door, hanging up my towel and talking to Annalise as I got dressed.

“Where’s Wes? Is Benny seriously alone in the backyard right now? I told Wes I was taking a shower and he said he’d take care of both of you.”

“Uncle Wes needs your help with the big huge animal!” Annalise cried. “It’s true! This is all true!”

She was the worst liar ever, just like her mother. I smiled.

“I’m kind of scared, though,” I said. “What does the animal look like?”

“It’s big! With brown hair and fur and sharp teeth and claws. You better hurry. It’s going to eat Benny!”

“Okay, I’m on my way.”

I went into the bathroom and ran a brush through my wet hair and then followed Annalise downstairs.

“Hurry!” She ran to the kitchen and slipped out the back door.

I glanced out the French doors she’d gone through and saw pops of color. Spring had sprouted tulips, hyacinths and other perennial bulbs Lauren had planted in the yard. Knowing her hands had touched those bulbs reminded me that parts of Lauren were still here with me. I planned to dig up the bulbs after they’d finished their blooming cycles and take them with us when we moved. We’d plant them in our new yard and have a small piece of Lauren there.

When I put my hand on the door handle to open it, I frowned as I saw Drew and Nina. Something was definitely up, and it had nothing to do with a big, hairy monster. Glancing down at my cutoff sweats and gray UCLA T-shirt, I shrugged and decided I knew Drew and Nina well enough to wear my comfy clothes in front of them.

But as I walked outside, I saw that it wasn’t just Drew and Nina. I rounded a corner and saw several more Mavericks players. Annalise was on Lars’s shoulders, beaming.

“There’s no monster,” she said gleefully.

“I see that,” I said, arching a brow at her.

I turned, looking for Wes so I could ask what was going on. I found him behind me, down on one knee. My breath left my lungs in a whoosh as I took him in, grinning nervously.

“Come a little closer, babe,” he said, holding a hand out to me.

My heart and mind couldn’t seem to catch up with what I was seeing. Was this what I thought it was?

When I reached him, Wes took one of my hands in both of his. I still hadn’t managed to close my mouth, still shocked at the site of him on one knee. On. One. Knee.

“Hadley Ellis, I’ve never known anyone like you,” Wes said, his eyes shining with affection. “You make me want to be better in every way. You’re smart and tough, but you also have a huge heart. You don’t take any of my bullshit. You pick me up when I need it most. You and me and Annalise and Benny have become a family, and our family means—” He stopped to clear his throat, tears welling in his eyes. “Our family means everything to me. You mean everything to me. I should have told you sooner. If you’ll let me, I’ll tell you every day for the rest of our lives. I love you, Hadley. Will you be my wife?”

A single note of stunned laughter escaped my throat, and tears blurred my vision. I couldn’t believe this was real. Wes loved me. He was looking up at me with hopeful eyes as he reached into his pocket and took out a small blue box, popping open the lid.

“Hadley?” he asked softly.

A smile spread across my face as I cried, “Yes! Yes, of course I will!”

He jumped up and swept me into his arms, spinning me in a circle as everyone cheered.

“There was no big animal, Aunt Hadley!” Annalise said from on top of Lars’s shoulders. “I made that up to get you out here!”

“You had me scared there for a minute,” I said, playing along.

“Let me put this on you,” Wes said, taking the ring from the box.

It was a simple, round platinum solitaire, and it was enormous. I smiled, tearing up again as Wes slid it onto my ring finger.

“I measured your finger while you were sleeping the other night,” he said. “That was fucking nerve-racking. I was so worried you’d wake up.”

“We’re getting married?” It came out as a question, because I still couldn’t believe it was real.

“We are. I was thinking this summer.”

“This summer?”

“I’m not waiting ‘til next summer,” he said, frowning.

“But there’s so much to do. What if we can’t get a venue booked? And I have to find a dress.”

“I kind of thought we’d do it right here, in Ben and Lauren’s backyard. It’s as close as we can get to having them here. One last great memory here before we buy a new home of our own.”

I absolutely adored he’d thought of that.

“I love that idea,” I said, wiping the tears that had fallen down my cheeks. “And I can find a vintage dress if I can’t get a new one fitted in time.”

“The saleswoman at Tiffany said we can get a vintage wedding band for your ring, too. I thought you’d want to pick it out yourself.”

I put my palms on his cheeks and leaned up to kiss him. “Look at you, being all thoughtful.”

He kissed me back, a laugh rumbling in his chest. “If Ben and Lauren could see us right now.”

It was definitely not a turn of events I had seen coming. I’d been so wrong about Weston Kirby. He was actually an incredible catch. And he was all mine.

Annalise tugged at Wes’s legs, asking him for a piggyback ride. Our moment alone was over, but we’d make up for it tonight.

“Welcome to the family, Hadley,” Nina said, hugging me.

“Thank you.”

All the other Mavericks players there hugged me, too—except Lars. He gave me a warm congratulations, though.

Wes leaned down and whispered in my ear. “You’re gonna be my old lady. Can you believe it?”

I gave him a look and said, “Call me your old lady again and you’ll have to find someone else to wear this ring.”

He laughed and kissed me lightly. “There’s that fire I love so much. Don’t ever change.”

As I looked around the yard, and thought about this place, this new life I’d found myself in, I felt Ben and Lauren here with us. Life had taken all of us in directions we never saw coming. The two of them were gone now, but still with us in so many ways. I’d lost my best friend in Lauren and found another one in Wes.

She would have laughed so hard if she could see us now. Until tears were running down her cheeks. Lauren would have loved every single thing about seeing me and Wes together. And thinking about it made me just the tiniest bit happier than I already was.