Roy’s POV
My palms are slick with sweat, no matter how many times I wipe them on the rough denim of my jeans. The ring box in my pocket presses against my thigh like a stone—small but impossibly heavy, its velvet edges worn from how often I've pulled it out just to stare at it in the dim light of my truck. College is behind me, the last game played, scouts' calls fading into silence, and all that's left is this gnawing uncertainty about what's next. But her—that's the one thing I know. Hailey. The girl who turned my world upside down with one fierce check on the ice and never let it right itself.
The deck at the lake house overlooks the water, string lights draped like stars fallen low, their warm gold flickering off the gentle ripples below. The air smells of pine and fresh lake mist, c
