“Well she is throwing a party at the Belle Mead Mansion in March, everyone’s invited from the team. I know it’s a while away but if you asking me for her number I won’t give it to you,” she said with a mischievous smile. “But I will tell her that you were asking.”

“No, don’t do that. I’ll wait or maybe I’ll run into her.”

“Maybe,” she said with a knowing grin.

This was why Lucas didn’t like a woman boss — if Mrs. Adler was a Mr. Adler and Lucas asked about Fallon they would have just let it go, but not Mrs. Adler. She had that look in her eyes, and Lucas knew that look.

Fallon would know about him asking about her as soon as the door to Mrs. Adler’s office closed.

***************************************************

“Mommy, can I be the Marshmallow Man for Halloween?”

Fallon shook her head as she looked up from her computer before looking over at Aiden, who sat on the couch watching Ghostbusters. “Honey, Halloween isn’t for nine months.”

“I know, but I want to get my costume now,” Aiden whined.

“Honey, let’s wait ‘til at least September before we start buying costumes,” Fallon said as Audrey came out the kitchen with a bag of marshmallows in her hand. When she took off running towards the couch, Fallon looked up again.

“Or! We can eat this whole bag of marshmallows and hope we turn into the marshmallow man!!” Audrey exclaimed before she started stuffing marshmallows in her mouth. Aiden started laughing but then he joined in, leaving Fallon to shake her head.

“Y’all are nuts,” she said just as her phone started ringing. It was Elli. “Hey,” Fallon said as she stood up to leave the room because believe it or not, consuming marshmallows to become the marshmallow man was a very loud event.

“Hey girl, talked to my papa, and he wants to set up a meeting next month, the 17th at 10 a.m.,” Elli said. In the background Fallon could hear sweet baby Shelli making sweet baby noise.

“Sounds good, I’ll make sure we are ready for you. You want to do it at the office right?”

“Yeah, I think everyone will be there.”

“Cool school, I’ll be ready.”

“Sounds good. Also you know how I had that meeting today after you left?”

Fallon stopped writing and looked up, “Yeah?”

“Well it was with my newly traded player, Lucas Brooks.”

“Yeah,” Fallon said with dread filling her. She prayed that Elli didn’t tell him about Aiden or that she wasn’t married or anything. She should have told Elli not to tell him anything about her. She knew Lucas would ask questions, especially when he saw that Rocky Top Wines was a sponsor.

“Well, he was asking about you today, and I remember you breaking a bottle of wine at the sound of his name so I thought I would call, give you his number, so maybe y’all could talk,” she said in suggestive voice. Fallon took a deep breath, knowing that Elli hadn’t said anything.

“I’m good. Do me a favor too. Don’t give him anything of mine and don’t tell him anything about me.”

Elli was quiet for a moment; the only noise was the sound of Shelli eating. “Okay, can I ask why?”

“Just an old flame. No big deal.”

“Okay, why do I feel like your hiding something?”

Fallon sat for a minute, listening to Audrey and Aiden as they became marshmallow men, while trying to figure out what she was gonna say to Elli. She had known Elli for a long time, even before the sponsorship. Elli had done a lot of the photo work for Rocky Top Wines. She also had taken all of Fallon’s personal pictures for her. She loved Elli, and she wouldn’t lie to her, but it would be a cold day in hell before she told her the truth.

“Because I am, Elli. I’m asking that you hang with me for a little bit. Everything will come into light sooner than later.”

Elli didn’t say anything right away, but then Elli said what Fallon knew in her heart she would say. “Okay, just let me know if you need anything.”

Chapter 4

How Lucas had done it would always been a mystery to Fallon.

She stood in the middle of her dorm room in complete awe. Every surface of the room was covered in little pink post-it notes with what he said was all the reasons he loved her. There had to be over a hundred of them!

Fallon walked around the room, reading each one.

I love you because you are there for me.

I love you because of your laugh.

I love you because you believe in me.

I love you because of your integrity.

I love you because you love my mom.

I love you because just like how you warm my hand when we are sleeping, you warm my heart just with one look.

I love you because you are great in bed…haha.

I love you because you are mine.

I love you because you play goalie for me, even though you are scared shitless of the puck.

Fallon’s smile grew wider with every one she read. Lucas was incredibly sweet. It was their two-year anniversaryand he was in New York for a game and still had done all this for her. How did she get so lucky to be with a man that loved her so much?

In the middle of her bed was a big bouquet of white lilies with some kind of red flower she had never seen in her life in the middle. All around the bouquet were little wrapped boxes, so she tore into each one, finding a different shade of her favorite lip gloss in each box. In the last box, there wasn’t a tube of lip gloss but a ring. It wasn’t an engagement ring, but it still took Fallon’s breath away. It was platinum with small pink diamonds lining the whole band. When she looked inside the ring, there was an inscription.