Home Matched (Salt Lake Pumas Book 4)

by Camellia Tate

  And as she leaned in, still cupping one side of my face, all I could think about was how much I wanted to be there for the next ten years, and the ten years after that.

  Chapter Twenty

  Helena

  If possible, going on a date with Sam at thirty felt even more exciting than it had at seventeen. Maybe that was partly because it had been ten years since I’d been on a date with Sam Levesque. And maybe it was partly because we had the freedom to do more than go to the same three restaurants.

  Sam told me to pack an overnight bag with comfortable clothes and to wear whatever would make me feel suited to a nice restaurant, but refused to give me any more information. Even as he drove us away from Lunengrove, I couldn’t needle anything further out of him, no matter how hard I tried.

  By the time we reached the city, the sky was just beginning to shade towards twilight.

  “Oh, wow! Look how pretty the lights are reflected in the river!” The streaks of white, yellow, orange, and red looked like something out of a painting. It was beautiful. If Sam had told me we were going to picnic by the water, that would’ve been more than enough to make this a great date.

  Instead, he took my arm and guided me towards a big, fancy yacht. “Are you really not going to tell me where we’re going?” I asked, hoping that this time, Sam might relent.

  “I feel like it’s going to become obvious very soon,” Sam teased, waving his free hand around. It made me look around more. There weren’t that many places we could be heading from here. In the distance, I could see a building that may or may not have been some sort of seafood restaurant. But if that was where we were headed, Sam would have parked closer.

  Instead, as we walked towards one of the bigger yachts, it dawned on me that that was where we were going. Sam must have recognized the moment I realized it because his smile widened.

  “You love boats,” he pointed out. “So I got you a boat. Well, I got you dinner on a boat. I thought buying you a yacht for our first date might be a bit much.”

  The noise I made was half a laugh and half a gasp. “Buying me a yacht would be a bit much for any date,” I pointed out, even as my cheeks flushed with pleasure that Sam had remembered my love of boats.

  It wasn’t something I talked about all the time, or anything. And I’d never been on a fancy yacht like this! Normally, I just paddled about in rowing boats in the park. Like the one Sam hadn’t let me borrow the night of Charlotte’s wedding.

  “This is amazing,” I said, craning my neck upwards as we got closer. “We get to have dinner on the water?”

  “Yes!” Sam laughed. “We’re going to yacht on the water,” he teased once we reached the yacht. It was very grand. I’d only ever seen yachts like this in films. There was even a crew! They greeted us upon arrival and we were given a tour that included safety instructions but mostly consisted of showing off how good the yacht looked.

  We got to sit at the fort and watch the yacht depart, my hand squeezing Sam’s so tightly that he gave me a small nudge. “I need that to play hockey,” he told me seriously, like I could possibly truly damage it.

  I made an effort to loosen my grip, but it was hard not to give in to my excitement. The view looked even more spectacular from the boat, the water bubbling and splashing past the prow as we ventured further out onto the darkening river.

  “This… is a lot more than I imagined a date with you would be like,” I admitted, glad that the gathering twilight would hide the uncertainty in my face. “Don’t get me wrong,” I rushed to add. “I love it. It’s just... It feels like something out of a movie. Not something that real, ordinary people get to do.”

  In a way, that was the point, I supposed. “You’re not really ordinary, anymore, are you?” And yet, Sam was the same good-hearted man I’d loved, I knew that.

  Turning my head, I struggled not to smile at the expression on Sam’s face. He was thinking about my question, like it hadn’t been rhetorical. The thing was, Sam definitely wasn’t ordinary anymore. Not that he ever had been ordinary, as far as I was concerned. But back then, at the start of his NHL career, sure there’d been money but Sam would have never have spent it on something like this.

  We were two kids from a small town. Back then, any money seemed like so much. But now... Sam probably earned more in a year than I did in five! Now, he could rent a yacht for a first date and without even putting a dent in his finances.

  “Maybe I’m going a bit big,” Sam admitted. “I mean... I know I am. But... I want to impress you. And to make you happy! And I knew a yacht would make you happy. It’s... yeah, probably too much, but you love it, I can tell.”

  He wasn’t wrong. Who wouldn’t love watching a sunset from a yacht slowly moving across a river?

  Butterflies gathered in my stomach, making me feel as if my blood was fizzing in my veins. It had been a long time since someone had wanted to make me happy the way that Sam did. And even longer since anyone had known how.

  But under the pleasant buzzing, I felt a slink of anxiety. “I want to make you happy, too.” Trying not to chew my lower lip, my hand ventured up into my hair instead. “But I don’t know if I can impress you like this.”

  I’d thought that my advantage had been knowing the local area well enough to take Sam on an incredible date. Now, I wondered whether that would even compare to the life he was used to living.

  “I would be a bit surprised if you took me for a dinner on a yacht,” Sam commented. “I think maybe I’m more of a hot air balloon sort of guy?” he added teasingly. Before I could object that I couldn’t take him on any date this grand, Sam shook his head, his hand reaching for mine. He untangled my fingers from my hair so he could hold my hand instead.

  Sam gave a light squeeze to it, making me turn to him more. “You impress me. Whatever you choose to do, I’m impressed. I know you don’t have the kind of money to take me on yacht rides - or hot air balloon rides, for that matter - but I don’t need you to. You like this, don’t you?” he asked and I gave a nod.

  “Good! So enjoy it. Let me enjoy you enjoying it. Worry less.” It sounded so much like an instruction that it made me laugh, like I could just switch the worrying off.

  And with Sam, maybe I could. He had more money than me now, yes, but back when we’d first fallen in love, we’d both had whatever we could scrape together from our allowance or working odd jobs around town.

  If Sam had liked me then, there was no reason to believe he needed fancy dinners on impressive yachts to like me now.

  “Okay,” I agreed, squeezing Sam’s hand back. “I mean, it’s pretty impossible not to enjoy this. It’s dinner on a boat! On a river!”

  I grinned. “But I’m going to have to put a lot more thought into your date,” I teased. Already, I had ideas forming.

  “What kinds of dates did your other girlfriends take you on?” Maybe it was a weird question to ask. Judging by the way Sam looked at me, he thought it was. “I missed out on ten years with you,” I reminded him. “And the girlfriends you had then were a big part of that.”

  “That is true,” he hummed. “It’s still a bit weird to talk about my previous dates on my current one,” he argued. But when I shrugged, Sam shrugged back. “Okay, let me think. Kelly and I went to a lot of sports-related dates, basketball, racing, so on. It was fun, but a very specific thing to the two of us.”

  I nodded. While I was happy to watch hockey, sports in general weren’t my thing. “Becca and I did quite a few outdoor dates. She liked camping so we did some of that. I don’t think camping was for me, though,” Sam commented, shaking his head.

  “And then, I suppose I’ve been to a lot of dinner dates. That’s pretty common, right? But a lot of those never went anywhere.”

  All of that sounded like something I could top, so that gave me confidence.

  “Well, I won’t argue that we should try camping again,” I teased. “This kind of outdoor date is much more my style.” The yacht was wonderful, the gentle breeze of the water ruffl
ing my hair, and the stars getting brighter overhead as the night sky dimmed.

  It wasn’t an experience I would ever have thought to treat myself to. But I was glad Sam had! This was a (second) first date to remember.

  “Do you remember our first first date?” I asked, my mind traveling back to the fries and milkshake that we’d shared. Even though it wasn’t anything special, it had still been memorable.

  That gave me confidence, too. Whatever date I planned didn’t need to be perfect. Just the fact that it was me and Sam together would make it worth remembering.

  “I do,” Sam informed me with confidence. “We went to the diner next to the knitting shop my grandmother used to love. It’s closed now, the diner. Weirdly the knitting shop is still going.” It had closed a few years after Sam had left and was now replaced by a bookshop. Every time I went there, it still reminded me of our first date.

  I smiled softly, taking a step closer to Sam at the railing. Right on cue, he wrapped one warm arm around me, pulling me closer so I could nestle against his body. “That may not have been as grand as this, but it was still a pretty great first date,” I told him.

  Sam hummed his assent, probably taking the same stroll down memory lane that I was. We’d talked for hours, about all our favorite films and TV shows. We hadn’t agreed on most of them, but that had just added spice to the conversation.

  “You’ll be glad to hear I have a new favorite film,” I teased. At seventeen, it had been Legally Blonde, which Sam had laughed at me for. It was a bit obvious for a future lawyer. “Argo is probably a bit more your speed, yeah?” It had been Sam who’d helped me discover that I could like films other than romantic comedies - though I still had a soft spot for a good love story.

  “Oh, I don’t know, I’ve really gotten into romantic comedies,” Sam informed me but then grinned, letting me know he was only teasing. “Ten years of films to catch up with!” Sam added. He moved in to bump his shoulder against mine. “There’s a lot of things we’ll have to make time up for,” he hummed.

  “But also!” Sam added. “New things? I think it’s good that we can make new experiences. I... I know it’s strange for us to re-date, but it’s also pretty exciting? I want to learn all about your new things, your favorite films, your favorite everything else you’ve discovered in the past ten years.”

  I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face. “Yeah,” I agreed. “I think catching up with ten years of your life sounds very exciting!” It was a lot, but in a good way.

  “Think of all the long phone conversations we can have,” I added, seriously. If we were going to make long-distance work, we had to make the things we could do while living in separate countries feel as exciting as the things we could do when we met up.

  Long phone calls felt like a good way to start. “I probably won’t be able to stay up to talk to you after games, with the time difference.”

  “But you can leave me voicemails!” Sam teased. His expression did become a bit more serious as he reached to give my hand a squeeze. “It will be awkward timing sometimes, you’re right.” He nodded. “But if we have to make a calendar of when we can talk, then that’s okay, too.”

  The thought made me laugh a little. Was this what we’d come to? Having a calendar for when we could talk? But! If that was how we made things work, then I was willing to give it a go.

  And with how different our jobs were, we’d probably have had to make a schedule even if we were living in the same place. It wasn’t going to stop us from making this work.

  “I like how seriously you’re taking this,” I said, snuggling even closer to Sam. “It shows how much you want us to work out.” No one had ever made me feel as important to them as Sam did. I wanted to show that I felt the same.

  Glancing up, I smiled as Sam’s eyes met mine. “I’m going to book tickets out to see you,” I promised. “How about after your first game of the season?”

  “Sure! Anytime!” Sam nodded energetically. “I can pay for them,” he added. Before I could object, Sam shook his head, turning towards me. “No, listen,” he said. “I have more money than you, so let me pay for the tickets. Or at least for an upgrade to first class. I want you to come and visit me and never worry about the cost.”

  While I could understand his argument, it still made me frown. It wasn’t as if I couldn’t afford things myself, so I pointed that out. Sam nodded. “Okay. Well, how about you put your money into a savings account? You can buy us a house when I come back to Lunengrove for you?”

  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 ce
lebrating 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 remember how good your muscles look under that shirt.”

  That statement made me snort. “Oh, is that so? You imagined me naked while I was skating?” I teased. Somehow, I was pretty sure that Helena hadn’t just imagined me naked, but hopefully, she wouldn’t have to imagine anything much longer. When I told her as much, Helena gave another laugh. I grinned.