Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
Jules
I’m bursting with excitement when Blair comes into the kitchen to grab a box of Cheez-Its from the pantry.
“I have amazing news,” I say, bouncing from foot to foot.
“I’ll take literally anything that’ll distract me from the vomit photos I’ve been studying.”
She’s studying, the boys are both at school, and I’m off today.
Deb told me I was working too much since I was in the office from eight to five every day and traveling with the team.
Our first regular-season game is tomorrow night, and she threatened to fire me if I come into the office at all today and before noon tomorrow.
“I just got off the phone with the Crush team owner, and he gave me a bonus. Deb told him about the latest social media numbers and they’re way better than she was even hoping.”
Blair sets the box of crackers down and comes over to me, giving me a hug. “Of course they are, because you’re amazing at what you do. Congratulations. You deserve it.”
I pull back and put my hands on her shoulders. “I’m booking a trip for you and the boys to Disney World for their spring break.”
Her eyes widen. “Jules, no. Seriously. You already do everything for us.”
“I wish I could go, too, but it’s too far into the hockey season for me to take a week off.”
Tears shine in her eyes. “It’s so sweet of you to want to do that, but I can’t accept it.”
I give her a pointed look. “It’s a gift. There will still be money left over from the bonus, and I’ll do something for myself, too.”
“Jules.” Her tone is scolding. “That’s your money. I can’t put into words how much it means that you take care of us and are putting me through nursing school. I’d be lost without you, and worried about feeding my kids. But I do have my pride, and I can’t take something so extravagant.”
“You’re assuming I’m not getting anything out of it,” I say softly.
She knits her brows together. “You said you can’t go.”
“I can’t. But you, me, and the boys, we’re a package deal. I don’t work like I do just so I can have half a million followers and buy expensive clothes. It’s for our home, and our savings, and so we don’t have to eat beans out of a can for dinner.”
A sad smile flickers across her face. “Hey, the beans were better than uncooked spaghetti noodles. Remember that?”
I wish I didn’t, but I do. “You and I never even dreamed of going to Disney World. Our childhood dreams were much simpler, and the only one that ever came true was getting the hell away from her.” I take a deep breath, fighting the swell of emotion in my throat.
“The boys will never know what that feels like. They deserve a fun week with you. No studying, no classes, just fun. It means everything to me that I can make that happen.” When I blink, tears spill onto my cheeks. “Don’t say no.”
My sister is also crying when she throws her arms around me again. “Okay. The boys are going to lose their shit when we tell them.”
I pull back and smile at her. “Let’s do it tonight. I have to go over to Carter Stanton’s house to get content of him and his pet pig, but I’ll have plenty of time to book it before dinner.”
She swipes her fingers over her cheeks to dry the tears. “I love you.”
“I love you back. Now go study vomit.”
Her response is half laugh, half groan.
Carter’s wife, Suki, greets me like an old friend when I ring their doorbell an hour later.
“Jules! I’m so excited to finally meet you. Come in!”
I step inside their luxurious but comfortable home in a ritzy Cleveland suburb, and she hugs me.
“I promise not to make it weird, but my friend Mara follows you on IG, and she got me to follow you, and now we’re both obsessed.”
I laugh, distracted by the massive pig approaching us in the open two-story foyer. “Thank you. You don’t look like you need any style advice, though.”
Suki is effortlessly beautiful, her caramel hair up in a loose bun. She’s wearing jeans, a lightweight cream sweater, and tall tan boots.
“Pretty much all the makeup I own I got from your recommendations,” she says.
The pig is wearing a custom-made Crush jersey, and he snuffles at my feet, his snout working its way up my lower legs to my waist.
“Darling, stop,” Suki scolds.
I bend down to pet him, already charmed by their massive pet. “He’s adorable. I love his name.”
“Our youngest daughter, Hallie, named him. And before I forget, our oldest asked if you can stay until she gets home from school because she’s dying to get a selfie with you.”
I rub the top of Darling’s head and his snuffling sound intensifies. “Me?”
“She and her friends are skin care obsessed, and they follow you.”
“Hey, Jules.” Carter approaches us, holding a baby in one arm.
“Oh my gosh.” I stand up to look at the baby and Darling squeals.
“You’re not the only one who gets attention around here,” Suki says, patting his back.
“This is Rachel,” Carter says, passing the baby off to his wife.
“So you’re a girl dad,” I say.
“Yeah. Me and Darling are the only dudes around here.”
He’s dressed casually in dark-gray sweatpants and a T-shirt. He leads me back the way he came, into a huge, open, two-story family room. Despite its size, the room is cozy. It has several brown leather sofas with soft throws and pillows arranged on them, and a fire crackles in the fireplace.
Suki walks over to give Carter a quick kiss. “I’m taking Rach up for a nap. There’s a two-hour blackout on video games.”
“Come on,” he grumbles. “I didn’t mean to wake her up, but I got hosed.”
“You’re not kidding anyone. You yell every time you play. Spend some quality time with your son until naptime is over.”
She smiles at me. “Make yourself at home, Jules. There are drinks in the fridge and snacks in the pantry.”
“What time does your oldest daughter get home?”
“Oh! I’m glad you remembered. She’ll be here at three twenty. Will that work?”
It’s just over an hour away. “Absolutely. That gives us plenty of time to get my content done.”
She gives me a sheepish look. “Would you mind if she brings a couple of friends home?”
“Are you kidding? I’d love it. I wish I had some skincare samples with me. I get way more than I can use. I’ll bring some stuff to the arena and Carter can bring it to her.”
“She’ll flip. That’s so nice of you. It’s just about impossible to impress her now that she’s a teenager.”
Carter scoffs in agreement. “No shit. I’m just her embarrassing dad. I’m not even allowed to wave at her when I drop her off at school.”
Rachel starts fussing, and Suki repositions her so she can pat her back. “I’ll let you guys get to it. You might have to wait for her to stop crying to take video.”
I wave a hand. “It’s no problem. We’ll do photos first, and I can edit out any background sounds on the videos.”
“Where do you want us?” Carter asks.
I look around the room, finding a couch with a long ramp on one end. “Is that how he gets up on the couch?”
“Unfortunately. Then he takes up more than half of it.”
He makes it sound like he’s annoyed by Darling, but based on the way the pig stands next to him and gazes adoringly up at him, I think Carter secretly loves him.
“Let’s start with you two sitting together on the couch.”
Carter sits on the end of the couch, and Darling immediately heads up the ramp and flops down beside him. He’s so much bigger than I imagined he would be, his jersey snug around his ample belly.
“Is he house-trained?”
“Yeah, but we really have to coax him to go out when it gets cold. He’s a pain in the ass, but the girls love him.”
I’m glad my camera is ready when Darling puts his head in Carter’s lap. Even though Carter’s not smiling, he has a hand on the pig’s back and he’s rubbing it affectionately.
“Yeah, you’d be a freezer full of pork chops if I had my way,” he says, patting Darling’s belly.
“You guys seem like best buddies to me.”
He sighs through his nose. “He’s grown on me. Rachel loves him. He’s really patient with the girls, which is good.”
“What made you decide to get a pig?” I ask, still taking pictures of them.
“Leo. We couldn’t get a cat or a dog because of allergies, so he suggested a micro pig and I asked him to find one for me, kind of a last-minute thing. Obviously, he fucked that up.”
“Let’s get some pictures in front of the fireplace.”
He gets up from the couch. “Suki has some of me and him in the matching Christmas pajamas she got us if you ever want those.”
“Are you serious? I’d love that. They’ll be perfect for December posts.”
Darling follows him over to the fireplace, where Carter tells him to sit, and I’m surprised when he does, just like a dog would.
Carter puts a hand on Darling’s back, and this time he smiles. I could swear Darling is smiling, too. He looks really happy.
“How do you like the job so far?” Carter asks me.
“I love it. I love content creation and it’s been very good to me. But I missed working with people and now I get to do both. It’s nice to have that again, and there’s so much excitement from the fans on the socials that I feed off it, in a way.”
“Makes sense. We feel that during games, too. They’re the extra man on our roster.” He gets down on one knee and puts an arm around Darling.
“That’s perfect. Stay just like that.” I take several photos.
“The guys are all treating you okay?
“Oh, definitely. Everyone’s been really nice. I think even Coach Turner is getting used to having me around.”
He huffs out a single note of laughter. “Coach can come off abrasive, but he’s a great guy.”
Noel. It feels off for me to call him Coach because when I think of him, I think of Noel. I’d never say that out loud, though.
I take more photos and videos of Carter rubbing Darling’s belly while the pig smiles directly at my camera. This stuff is going to kill it on the team’s socials.
When Olivia gets home, she has two friends with her, and they all give me starstruck looks.
“You’re so pretty,” one of them says.
My heart. I adore my nephews, but there’s something about girls that makes me see myself at their age.
I sit down in the dining room with the girls and they pepper me with questions about skincare, clothes, and social media. It’s kind of hilarious that they think I’m a star when there’s an actual star pro athlete sitting in the next room.
After about half an hour, Carter walks into the dining room, Darling on his heels. “Okay, girls. Let’s let Jules get back to her day.”
Olivia smiles at me. “Thanks for talking to us.”
“Anytime.”
“Really?” She gives Carter a hopeful look. “Can she come back over again?”
“If she wants to.”
“I do.” I stand up and gather my things.
“When?” Olivia asks.
“Suki can set something up.”
I hug all three girls and pose for selfies with them. They all walk me out to my car, and I hear Olivia telling Carter she wants a white Audi Q5 just like mine when she gets her license.
Carter approaches my car and says, “Thanks, Jules. We really would love to have you back sometime.”
“I’d love that.”
“See you tomorrow.”
He closes my car door for me and I push a button on my car’s menu to find the nearest Starbucks. I feel light and happy as I drive there to get a drink before heading home.
Carter is exactly the kind of man I should want in my life. I’m twenty-nine-years old. It’s time to want a partner close to my age to start a family with. I’m not sure I want that, though.
My mom could teach a course on how not to parent, and Blair has broken that mold and is an incredible mom. But I think maybe I’m meant to be a doting aunt and second mom to my nephews.
There’s not a single player on the Crush that I’m attracted to. Not even the handsome team captain who’s a good husband, dad and pig parent. The only one who makes my heart race is Noel.
I guess that’s best, because he’ll never give me the time of day, and I won’t have to worry about a personal entanglement at work. I can just secretly fantasize about him closing the blinds to his office, locking the door, and bending me over his desk.
I should probably get an iced drink instead of a hot chai latte, because I’m getting warm just thinking about it.