Rewind It Back (Windy City, #5)(140)

“Absolutely.”

“Hell yeah.”

“That’s right,” is echoed around me as everyone leans forward to connect whatever they’re drinking in a cheers.

We all take a drink before Hallie leans back against my chest, and conversation continues as it always does. Laughing with each other, a bit of shit-talking, and of course the real stuff too.

I just sit back and watch nine of the most important people in my life.

I’m the luckiest man alive, I swear.

When I was younger, I remember how much I wished I had a sibling. Someone to play hockey with. Someone to talk to. Someone who understood me.

Little did I know, as a grown man, I’d end up with eight of them.

These girls are practically my sisters, and there’s no question that these guys have become my brothers.

I spent years complaining about being the single one of the group, the odd man out. But even though I was the last one, how lucky am I that I got a front-row seat to watch each of my best friends fall in love?

I watched Zanders strip the fa?ade he wore for so long to allow the flight attendant on his team’s plane to see the real him.

I watched Stevie learn to love herself the way the arrogant hockey player who followed her everywhere loves her. The way we all do.

I watched Indy come out of a relationship she wasn’t meant for and learn to be loved in a new, quieter way.

I watched Ryan allow someone into his home and his heart after shutting everyone else out for so long, only for the brightest ray of sunshine to move in and light every dark space she could touch.

I watched Kai learn to ask for help, only for that help to come in the form of a firecracker pastry chef who taught him how to have fun again.

I watched Miller stop running and grow deeper roots than she ever thought she could by falling in love with a single dad and his little boy.

I watched Kennedy learn how to love and be loved thanks to her husband who refused to go a day without showering her with it.

I watched Isaiah persist in showing his wife exactly who he was behind the smile, all while keeping his heart open for the only woman he wanted to have it.

I watched Hallie, with so much goddamn pride, as her heart softened again. She forgave me while also continuing to stand up for herself along the way.

And I . . . well, I found love because it was always out there, waiting for me, even when I questioned its existence. In fact, I found it right next door—where it had always been.

I feel so incredibly blessed that I get to go through life with these nine people.

Besides Indy, we’re all a bunch of transplants from other places who found a home in the windy city . . . and with each other.

I’ll speak for all ten of us when I say, there’s nowhere else we’d rather be.




THE END





Acknowledgments

This is probably going to be a bit long-winded, but I write 400+ page books, so are we really all that surprised? Grab a snack and take a seat. I just finished my very first series (that’s so wild to type out) so I’m going to take my time with this one.

First, as always, I need to thank you all—the readers. If it weren’t for your love and excitement for my books, I wouldn’t have the chance to tell stories for a living. When I first started this series, I was a flight attendant for a hockey team (hello, Mile High plotline), and I kept that job until I finished Play Along. Writing Rewind It Back was the first time I wrote a book as a full-time author. Even though I’ve been writing for years now, when people asked me what I did for work, I would always tell them that I was a flight attendant. Mostly, because saying that I was an author seemed unrealistic and a bit of a pipe dream. The other day, I was in my local coffee shop finishing the last few chapters of this book and the barista asked what I did for work. It was the first time I can remember saying, “I’m an author” out loud and it was this wild moment of realization—that I get to tell stories, live in my imagination, share my love of romance, and call it my job, all because of you guys’ love for this series. So, THANK YOU for making my dreams come true. I am truly so grateful for you.

This part is a bit heavier, but it’s such an integral part of how this book came to be. When I plotted this book out, especially Hallie’s storyline, I thought it was going to be therapeutic for me to write about the feelings surrounding having a sick parent at such a young age. I also spent most of my twenties and early thirties worried over a sick parent, but luckily for me, unlike Hallie, I had a very involved brother who always shared that responsibility. The week I started writing this book, my mom went into the hospital. For the entirety of the three months it took me to write this book, she stayed in the hospital, and suddenly those old feelings I thought would feel therapeutic to get down on paper, were my current reality again. There were times I wanted to reconsider Hallie’s storyline because my real life was heavy enough, but then she became this safe place to spill exactly how I was feeling at the time. It was therapeutic to write, but in a different sense than I originally believed. Hallie became exactly what I needed at exactly the right time.

All that being said, the second person I need to thank is my brother, Andrew. If it wasn’t for him stepping up and taking on my mom’s needs so I could put my head down and write, I never would’ve finished this book on time.

To Allyson, who has been here since the beginning. Well, you’ve been here since I first told you I wrote a book (which was about a year after I had written it because I kept that secret from all my friends and family for as long as possible). So you’ve basically been with me from the beginning, and I’m so grateful for you! I can’t believe we’ve been talking about you coming to work with me for years now, and it has finally happened! I’m so lucky to have you as one of my best friends and it’s a dream to have you a part of my team now.