Unravel Me (Playing For Keeps, #3)

by Becka Mack

“That’s okay. I live in mine. It’s an overwhelming place to be sometimes. Oh!” She claps my shoulder and turns, walking backward in front of me. “Do you ever do that worst-case-scenario thing?”

“I’m a worst-case-scenario expert.”

“You thought of me, and that’s a big deal to me.”

“Oh, I completely agree. One inch might mean the difference between a disappointing night and one spent screaming for all the right reasons.”

“I am kind. I am strong. I am beautiful. The people who are meant to be in my life will find me.”

“It makes perfect sense, Rosie. Nothing worth having ever comes easy, does it? We want the calm, but sometimes we have to brave the storm to get there.”

“When someone asks me what my favorite sound is, and I have to describe it like that.”

“Your thoughts are painful, yes, but not morbid. I can’t put myself in your shoes, but I’d stand in them if it meant one less minute where you felt that pain alone.”

“She makes me feel like things aren’t so heavy.”

“You make me feel like things aren’t quite so heavy, too, Adam. Just in case you were wondering.”

“Big trouble and little trouble. Perfect names for you and Mama.”

“Tiger stripes,” he wonders out loud. “I understand the term now more than I ever did. A beautiful reminder of the versatility of your body, the way it adapted to grow something so precious. You’re unbelievably strong, Rosie. A mama who’ll do anything for her son, to help him grow and learn surrounded by love, while also showing him what true strength looks like.”

“It’s fierce. Brave. Conquering your fears so you and your son can live without the barriers you see in your mind. But it’s also vulnerability. Honesty. Trust. It’s seeing your faults, your fears, as setbacks and opportunities to grow and learn more about yourself, rather than a dead-end road. It’s moving forward one step at a time, with someone’s hand in yours, holding you tight.”

“I feel the same way about holding your hand. But for what it’s worth, Rosie, I think you’d be moving forward with or without me. I’m not your strength. You’re your own strength.”

“I like you for everything you are, all the pieces you’ve shown me, and the ones you try to hide too. I know our insecurities exist for a reason, but there’s nothing you need to hide from me.”

She clutches to her heart. “You know what I think, Adam? I think you’re the one who found it because you’re my family now too. You feel like it, anyway. You didn’t just find my family; I found my family in you.”

Because I know, in her, I’ve found something I’d given up on. I’ve found love.

“We’ll never be right for everyone, but we’ll be perfect for the right person. And when that person comes along, there is no choice. It just…is. We exist exactly the way we are, with exactly the right people, because there is no other way to be.”

“I want you, Rosie. I want all of you. And there is no other choice.”

“I don’t want this to go to your head, but it feels like I’m being politely split in half.” I chuckle. “As long as I’m doing it politely.”

“You’re not my first choice, Rosie. You’re the only goddamn option.”

“I don’t know how I found you, but I don’t want to waste my time wondering. I can’t believe I just stumbled on you on a normal day, that you walked into my life and didn’t turn around and walk right back out. I don’t want to know how or why I got so lucky; I just want to accept that I did and never question it.

“Here’s the thing, Rosie. You don’t need anyone to sit at the table with you. You need to be happy sitting there with yourself. That’s the only way you’ll ever understand and treasure your own worth.”

clearing my mind. “I am stronger than the voices in my head that tell me I’m weak,” I remind myself. “I prioritize myself and my family, and I make decisions with my well-being at the core.”

Rosie is everything good and bright in this world. She’s got the purest heart, made of the warmest sunshine. She’s the embodiment of compassion and grace, the kindest person I’ve ever known, someone who strives to give people the understanding she didn’t receive when she needed it most. She’s continuously working on herself, taking difficult steps to give her son the life he deserves. She’s always trying to be the best version of herself, but I don’t think she needs to change a thing; her drive and her heart ensure she’s someone who only puts her best foot forward every time she moves.

All those broken pieces don’t make a whole unless you give all of them to her.”

All this time, I wanted someone to like the parts of me that weren’t defined by hockey. I wanted someone to see me outside the sport and everything it’s brought me, and want those parts too. Because for so long, that’s all I’ve been. But the truth is…hockey is a part of me. It’s made me everything I am today, both the good and the bad. I’m loyal and supportive because I know how to be part of a team. I’m empathetic because I know what it feels like to lose, to put so much pressure on myself to succeed, and I know what it’s like to have people support me every step of the way when I don’t think I deserve it. I love as hard as I do because people have loved me just as hard back.

with her by my side, I feel fucking priceless. Irreplaceable.

I know the days will be hard. I want to be someone who takes the pain of somebody’s hardest day and makes it a little easier to carry.

I’ve waited too long for this, a partner to walk through life with, a love I haven’t had to earn but simply deserved. Because, fuck, we all deserve to be loved without condition.

“We’re family, Rosie. We show up for each other.”

I’ve been searching my entire life for these people, for this kind of love, and I didn’t just find it in one person; I found it in a whole group of them. Surrounding myself with their love is like coming up for air at the last moment, having life breathed back into you.

“We don’t only choose you when it’s convenient and easy and happy. We choose you through all the hard, challenging moments in between.

there is no other place for me and Connor than at his side.

“Fuck you. Full offense.”

“If I’m your happy ending, you’re my heaven. There’s nothing else I need from this world. I could live here forever, in this place where I’m yours and you’re mine. There’s never been anything more beautiful than this version of paradise. I’m certain of it.”