I couldn't have scripted this, couldn't have planned it, couldn't have controlled it.
Because sometimes, the best things in life come straight from your blind side.
Epilogue
Six months later
Molly
“Oh sweetheart, did you see this one?” Grandma Griffin tossed the Us Weekly into my lap as she passed the couch. “You’re way too pretty for my grandson.”
Noah groaned as I flipped to the article she’d dog-eared. “Another article?”
I elbowed him. “People love us. We’re cute.”
It was a quick mention. Never in a million years would I have anticipated having a corner of a magazine page dedicated to me and my hot boyfriend and our red-carpet style.
Amazon had gone all out for the All or Nothing season featuring Noah, and to my never-ending surprise, me. Instead of red, we’d done a black carpet, so that my red dress would stand out. And it had.
It was a picture I’d seen a lot. Instagram users seemed to like that particular one. Noah had his tux-clad arm wrapped tight around my waist, head bent toward me, and his nose pressed against my temple.
I was smiling widely, my shoulders angled toward him, and a hand placed against his chest. The Grecian-style dress that I’d chosen was a vivid scarlet that draped over one shoulder and was cinched tight around my waist with a gold belt. What the camera couldn’t see because the length of the dress swept the floor were the spiky gold heels that had only lasted as long as getting our picture taken.
By the time we were in the theater for the screening of the first episode, I’d slipped into some nude flats.
It was our first night as a couple in the spotlight, and social media exploded with the release of the full season of episodes documenting our love story. Since Rick hired me before I even finished pitching myself, I was involved in crafting the finished product of our story from beginning to end. And it was damn good television, if I said so myself.
The last episode was my favorite, the one we’d shot during their final playoff game, which they lost 28-21. It encapsulated everything about Noah and me that I loved so much. Before the cameras moved to follow us through the game, it caught some sweet, quiet moments when he helped me unpack my things. I loved Isabel, but living with Noah was way more fun.
When the quiet moments were done, and we saw him play his heart out for four quarters, only to have the opposing defense stop us five yards shy of the end zone as the clock ran out. The devastation and disappointment on his face still made me cry, as it had that day. It was still hard for me to watch even though we were a few months removed from it by now. But the viewers loved it.
They loved how real we were with each other. They loved that the footage of me at the end of the game was just as emotional, that my sorrow for him was so obvious as I sat in the stands with the other disappointed Washington fans. It was what made the closing scene so poignant.
Me climbing over the barrier and into his waiting arms. Him, sweaty and disheveled and dirty, lifting me into a tight embrace on the chaotic post-game field. And he smiled.
Not a sad smile.
Noah Griffin smiled like he’d just won.
His grandma, our host for the week, told me she’d watched every episode three times. She kept every article that mentioned us and made sure to show me each and every one.
“You ready, son?” Noah’s dad asked from the kitchen.
Noah nodded, dropping a soft kiss on my lips as he stood from the couch. “We’ll be back for dinner.”
“Okay.” I grabbed the front of his shirt and tugged him back down for another kiss. “Have fun fixing fences.”
He rolled his eyes. His grandma and I laughed.
Noah left the cabin first, and I smiled as I caught the embarrassed blush on his dad’s face when he left the kitchen. It had taken a bit for him to get used to having me around and seeing the easy affection that Noah and I shared.
As I spent more time with his dad, it was so clear to see how Noah fell into the patterns that he had. Slowly but surely, his dad was relaxing around me. My goal was one week every summer that Noah, his dad, and I came to South Dakota together. Eventually, I’d break him into the Tuesday family dinners. He just didn’t know it yet.
And that was why Grandma Griffin proclaimed that I was her new favorite person in the entire world.
She rubbed my shoulder as she passed behind the couch. “Need anything while I’m up, sweetheart?”
I smiled up at her. “I’m good, thanks. I have some work to do for Rick while they’re out there unless you need my help with anything.”