A bet, coffee, and a heart.

Prologue August 2022 The deafening sound of the crowd’s applause echoed around me as I slid across the ice, my body responding to the instinctive commands of the game. There were only a few measly points left for the match to be won and for us to lift the State Championship trophy of the NHL league. Just that one game, and the League Ice Kings would be headed to the world finals in Toronto. The game was tight, the opposing team was good,but I was the best center. I had a name and a solid reputation, and nothing on the ice would make me lose. However, in the very next moment, everything seemed to slip into slow motion. The noise of the stadium faded into a distant buzz as silence echoed around me. My blood pulsed rapidly through my veins, my heart pounding like crazy when I saw that hair swaying in the front row, right in front of where I passed along the line near the goal. One thought invaded my mind, eclipsing everything else: Emma. Was it her? I froze in the middle of the ice rink, but then the girl turned around, her eyes locking onto mine, and with a smile she pointed to a brightly colored sign that read: “Marry me, Raydam.” Suddenly, everything became loud again. I could hear the restless rustle of the crowd and my teammates shouting at me. It was as if I had been at the bottom of the ocean with no air to breathe and then surfaced as quickly as I had sunk. I glanced at the scoreboard,nine seconds left in the game. I slid two steps to the left, just enough to take a first-shot swing and send the puck straight into the goal. The buzzer sounded. Cheers and joyful applause filled the arena as I dropped my stick and skated off, pulling off my skates right there by the rink. I ran straight to the locker room. I needed to talk to her. “What the hell were you doing?” Jackson’s voice burst into the locker room as I pulled on my sneakers. “Ray? RAY! I’M TALKING TO YOU!” he snapped when I didn’t answer. I stood up, grabbed my backpack, and shoved a few things into it, feeling his eyes fixed on me. “Raydam, what happened?” he asked, his tone calmer now. Then I looked at him. “Sorry, Jackson.” “Sorry?” he said. “Man, you froze in the middle of the rink with all those big shots watching. We almost lost the game.” He kept talking while I searched for my car keys in the locker. “We almost lost.” “But we didn’t,” I said, looking at him again as I closed the locker door. “I need to go now. We’ll talk later.” I brushed past him as fast as I could and headed for the parking lot. … Charleston, South Carolina When the sun appeared on the horizon, I was already inside the city. My hands were clenched tightly around the steering wheel, gripping harder the closer I got to my destination—a coffee shop I’d heard about four days earlier. Four days, after years without losing sleep or thinking about anything other than her. I parked across the street and stayed there, watching people come and go, completely unaware of what that place represented to me. I took a deep breath, got out of the car, and with hesitant steps walked to the door, glancing around. Once again, summoning my courage, I pulled the handle and stepped inside. The place didn’t come close to what I had imagined,it was far more beautiful. All the details, the colors, and in the back a small library with a sign that read: “Leave your reading suggestion or a positive comment here.” My heart was already racing in my chest, a feeling of accumulated longing flooding through me. But nothing compared to the moment I heard her voice,my heart forgetting how to beat, missing its rhythm with every second. I turned, my eyes searching frantically for her. And then I saw her. Emma. Her head was lowered behind the counter, a focused expression on her face as she wrote down orders. I stepped closer, my voice coming out in a rough whisper as I ordered an iced coffee with ice and whipped cream, topped with cherry syrup. “Sir, will you be paying” she began, but then her eyes met mine and the words died on her lips. Shock spread across her face, her lips parting in silent surprise as she stared at me, her eyes shining with a mix of emotions. “Hi, Emma.” “Hi, Raydam.”