"I wore out more soles than I care to count... I've kicked myself more times than not for the roads they led me down..."


The holidays were supposed to be happy. Engagements were supposed to be happy. Spending time with the people you love was supposed to be happy. But for Cassidy, there was none. Usually, just the sight of a Christmas tree would be enough to have her smiling from ear to ear. And the smell of gingerbread would have her running for the kitchen. But this year, those sights and smells harbored memories, and in those memories was pain.

There was even reason to rejoice this holiday season. Upon returning to Dallas, Cassidy and Jamie had chosen the date for their wedding; April 13th, in the short break between regular season and playoff games, should Dallas make the playoffs. Save the date notices were sent out to all the prospective guests. In that moment, Cassidy realized very few of those notices were going out to people of her knowing. In fact, only thirteen of the notices were of people she was inviting.

With no family left to invite, Cassidy was bound to inviting friends she had grown up with and some she had met in college. For a fairly small wedding of just nearly a hundred guests, only one seventh would be of people she knew. The rest would be family from Jamie’s side, and the team and the people they brought along.

So on Christmas Eve, at a team party where ugly sweaters were key, Cassidy didn’t feel like celebrating much. Even with Jamie in a ridiculous getup that matched Tyler and Jason’s, she found it hard to make light of the situation. And she felt like everyone could tell her smile was forced.

Now she was standing outside alone, taking a minute to herself. With a beer bottle in her hand and her arms crossed she looked up at the darkening sky and took a deep, long sigh.

“They must tell a story, eh?”

Cassidy looked back at the house and smiled as she saw Jason coming out towards her. He had switched out his tights for a pair of sweatpants but was still donning the ugly sweater. He stood beside her, with his hands shoved into his pockets and looked in the same direction she was looking; skyward.

“The boots, I mean.”

She looked down, past her own ugly sweater, and stared down at the worn brown leather of the cowboy boots she was wearing. When she looked back up at Jason, she nodded and took a small sip of her beer, “these boots have seen a lot of things. Last pair my dad owned,”

“I’m sorry,” Jason sputtered, trying to backtrack as he figured he might have touched upon a rough subject.

Cassidy waved off her hand as if to ease his nerves. “I’m not as sad as I thought I’d be. I knew it was coming and he’s probably in a better place anyway.” The conversation trailed off, and Cassidy looked up at Jason, “I saw your car at the apartment the night I got back into town,”

Jason’s face went red and he looked down at Cassidy, licking his lips quickly, “It… I…”

“I don’t care if you’re with Kennedy, or whatever you’re doing with her. You’re not the first guy she’d done it with, and you’re not gonna be the last. She’s going to be around the team a lot, considering she’s my best friend and I’m marrying Jamie… just something to keep in mind.”

“I’m…” he laughed and rubbed his face, “I’m not sleeping with her. She just needed help, and Jamie and Tyler had gone out, so I was the next best thing,”

Cassidy rolled her eyes and smiled. Did she believe Jason one bit, no? But she also wasn’t going to bust his chops about it; not yet at least.

They both walked back towards the back door, and Jason pulled it open, stepping to the side to allow Cassidy to walk in first. But in the moment they were both just about inside, loud voices caught her attention.

“Daddy!” Tyler yelled, raising his beer in the air, “yeah Daddy! Get it!”

Cassidy was confused, and looked at Jamie who was standing beside him. His face was pretty emotionless, waiting to see what she would do. And in that moment, she looked up, spotting the mistletoe dangling above her. When she glanced up at Jason, he was already looking down at her, his own cheeks flushed as he too was caught in a precarious situation. To kiss his captain’s fiancée, or not.

It all seemed like things were moving in slow motion, like it took forever for a decision to be made. And then taking initiative, Jason leaned in and planted his lips on her cheek. He didn’t linger a second too long, despite some of his teammates chirping him for not going in for a real kiss. But Jamie seemed to have appreciated it as he patted Jason’s shoulder when he passed by to get to the kitchen for another drink.

Cassidy looked up at Jamie, with one arm around his back and the other against his stomach. He smiled at her, like she was the only person in the room, and reached down for her hand, playing with the ring that sat on her finger.

---

What could’ve ended as a romantic night, took a much more PG route. With it being their first holiday season together, Jamie made sure the house was decorated more than usual to get into the festive spirit. Jordie and his girlfriend had gotten home shortly before Cassidy and Jamie, and had already disappeared to their bedroom.

And before leaving for the party, Jamie had made sure his bedroom was in order for when they got back. Set up with mistletoe hanging from the threshold, white rose petals dispersed along the floor to emulate snow, and stockings full of surprises for the night, Jamie believed he had pulled out all the stops for a good night.

But what he couldn’t have anticipated was that Cassidy would help some of the girls polish off three bottles of wine throughout the night. So instead of waltzing through the front door with her, and whisking her away to his bedroom, Jamie nudged the front door open and kicked it shut with his foot before he carefully maneuvered up the stairs with Cassidy in his arms.

Upon getting to the threshold of his room, Jamie leaned in to kiss Cassidy’s forehead as he passed beneath the mistletoe. She moaned gently in her sleep and turned her head, nuzzling against his chest until he was able to set her on the bed. He could’ve opted to change her but seeing as though she was wearing dark jeans and a sweater, he figured she could get through the night. And only after getting changed himself, Jamie crawled in bed beside her and turned on his side to fall asleep.

Cassidy didn’t know why, but that night had been the best night’s sleep she had gotten in a long while. She woke up Christmas morning energized and ready to take on the world despite a mild headache. And that was when she noticed Jamie’s bedroom decorated to impress. By now the flower petals on the floor had wilted, but the stockings and mistletoe remained in tact. Upon glancing through the stockings, she realized that what had wanted to happen last night, didn’t.

Cassidy flew out of bed, realizing she was still wearing the hideous Christmas sweater, and replaced it with one that promoted her school before she raced downstairs. Jordie and his girlfriend were halfway out the door by the time Cassidy got downstairs, and she yelled a cheerful greeting to them before sliding into the kitchen where Jamie was by the stove sipping coffee, and presumably reading the sports section of the newspaper.

“I’m an awful fiancée,” she groaned, moving towards the coffee maker to fix herself a cup of the coffee Jamie had brewed.

Jamie laughed and looked back at the timer, “you went a bit hard on the Christmas wine last night. But you’re up in time for breakfast and presents, and that’s all that really matters,”

She smiled and took a sip of her coffee as the timer rung, and Jamie pulled open the oven, revealing a pan of cinnamon rolls. Cassidy was shocked to see them as the most Jamie had ever made was some toast. Regardless of the rolls being premade, Cassidy wasn’t complaining as Jamie thrust a plate into her hands.

Back in the living room, Jamie sat beside Cassidy on he couch with an envelope in his hands. And next to him, Cassidy sat with a small box in her lap. “I have another gift for you, but I haven’t ordered it yet, so it’ll be here in the next few weeks.”

“You’re such a good planner,” Jamie smiled, taking a bite of one of the cinnamon rolls. He licked his fingers for the traces of the sweet, white icing. “I’m so happy you’re taking the reigns on planning our wedding,”

She rolled her eyes sarcastically and handed him the box, noting his expression, as it was heavier than he expected it to be. He tore open the paper carefully, and then when he saw the word Rolex written across the top of the box, he glanced at Cassidy almost disapprovingly. She giggled and nodded her head, urging him to open up the box.

Inside, Jamie looked at the silver watch, ticking away quietly. “This is nearly eight thousand dollars,”

“I know. But your watch was looking worn and you were always winding it to make sure it kept the right time. I figured you needed a new one,”

He leaned in and kissed her lips slowly, “thank you. I wasn’t expecting this. It’s an expensive gift,” he looked down and lifted the watch out of the box and secured it around his wrist, satisfied with the way it looked. He then rubbed his hands together excitedly before handing the plain white envelope to Cassidy.

The envelope was paper light, and Cassidy couldn’t imagine what could be inside. Maybe a gift card or something along those lines. She slid her index finger beneath the tab, breaking the seal, and then flipped it open. She paused to look at Jamie, somewhat concerned that the envelope only did have a paper inside it.

As she pulled the paper out, her breath caught in her throat, and she brought her free hand up to her mouth as she realized it was a land deed. She couldn’t even formulate an intelligible sentence, but instead kept a smile on her face as emotions overwhelmed her.

“I put it in your name…”

Cassidy set the land deed down and reached forward, hugging Jamie as tightly as she possibly could. He giggled quietly and held her, turning his head to the side to kiss her temple. She mumbled a thank you into his neck before she tilted her head to look up at him.

“You’re welcome. Of course, now is a good time to tell you that we’re meeting with the lawyer tomorrow for the pre-nup agreement… Merry Christmas,”

“And it’s in my name?”

Jamie nodded, “I want the Nashville house to be yours no matter what. The only place my name is on the contract, is as beneficiary should something happen to you.”

“So you might murder me to get the house…” she joked, winking up at him.

“Yeah, watch yourself Knox,” he beamed playfully. “But actually I want to talk about the agreement Ken wrote up… just so you’re not blindsided by it.”

Cassidy sunk back into the couch. Although she always knew a pre-nup would be required of her, all the money talk made her uncomfortable.

“Basically if we get… divorced…” Jamie flicked his eyes to Cassidy to make sure the word didn’t over frighten her in any way, “you get the Nashville house, obviously, and the Dallas house. I’ll keep the Victoria house, and then we split our assets down the middle; joint accounts, cars, everything else… we keep our own private accounts, and should we have young children, I’ll pay as much as you want me to.”

“Those terms sound lenient; leaving me with two houses,” Cassidy murmured. So she’d be left in a better position than she thought she would be.

“Richie thought I should restrict more, but I didn’t want to put you in a bad way should something happen. Even if we get divorced, it’s important to me to make sure you’re taken care of,”

“Even when I marry a different rich and sexy man,” Cassidy crawled up on her knees and set her hands on Jamie’s chest, closing in on his lips.

Jamie smirked and shook his head, “then you’re his problem.”

Cassidy laughed and wrapped her arm around Jamie’s neck, kissing his jaw quickly and making her way towards his mouth. “Jamie Benn, all this dirty talk is turning me on,”

With that confession, Jamie made quick work of his shirt, throwing it across the room with haste. He then reached for his shorts as Cassidy reached for her own pants, ditching them as quickly as possible. In this moment, she prayed Jordie wouldn’t walk back through the door.

She could hardly believe what they were doing so openly until Jamie thrust into her core with ease. They made eye contact, and Jamie bent his arms to get closer to Cassidy, sucking on her bottom lip as she moaned for him, the feeling of his skin inside her more pleasurable than she had remembered. As Jamie’s movements got faster and deeper, with small groans spilling from his own mouth, Cassidy’s movements got more frantic as well. She tugged on his hair, and as he hit the spot he knew she loved, she dug her fingernails into his shoulders, encouraging him to continue with breathless cries.

They leaned their foreheads against each other’s, and when Cassidy could no longer look at him without feeling undone, she kissed him and mumbled against his lips, “I love you.”

Jamie wrapped one of his arms around her mid-back, lifting her off the couch just enough to get himself inside her as much as possible. “You too, baby,”

And in the passion of the moment, as Cassidy was reaching her own orgasm, Jamie reached his, and they came together, bodies stiff but unable to pull their lips away from each other. When both came down off their high, Jamie still lay with his shaft throbbing inside her, and Cassidy’s muscles pulsed around him, trying to recover from the experience.

She wanted to stay like that, but both were forced to move as there was a knock at the front door, followed by the sound of Kennedy’s voice trying to spread words of Christmas cheer. Jamie groaned and sat up, while Cassidy looked around and grabbed for his boxer briefs, sliding them up her legs.

“Those are mine,” he shrieked. With Cassidy walking towards the front door, she picked up her thong and threw it at him, “don’t tempt me.”

Silently threatening him with her hand clenched around the doorknob, Jamie cupped himself and ran up the stairs, disappearing into his bedroom and shutting the door behind him. Cassidy took a deep breath and pulled the front door open, ready to start Christmas day with her oldest friend.

Notes

This chapter is titled after "These Boots" by Eric Church <3