Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Jif’s heart leaped, tension crashing through her for an instant until her brain caught up with her ears and she grabbed for her phone, buzzing on the counter. Sipping her coffee, she tucked it into the crook of her shoulder.
“Pete’s Pizza Palace, what’s your pleasure?” If her voice wavered, still breathless as the panic flooding her system slowly receded, her chipper tone would deflect notice.
“I’ll take a large supreme with extra pepperoni and pineapple.”
“You monster,” Jif joked.
“What can I say? I like a little sweet with my spicy.”
“Ugh,” she gagged theatrically. “Colton, I do not need to know that about you.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t need to hear my teammates comparing notes about you in the locker room, yet here we are. You’ll live.”
Jif winced. She’d assumed a certain amount of discretion might rule, but apparently not. “Were you calling for a reason?”
“I saw your school on the news this morning. You okay?”
She picked at a nail. “Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”
“I dunno. Seemed kind of serious. They’re saying there’s over a million dollars in damage.”
“It could have been worse.”
So. Much. Worse. Her hands shook as those first few moments, the popping explosions, drowned out the sound of her brother’s voice. She shook her head.
“... call mom.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
Colton only spoke after a long silence. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Peachy-keen, jellybean.” She didn’t generally care for Colton’s overprotective streak, and today wasn’t an exception.
“Whatever. Call mom. She’s worried about you.”
“Because of what happened at the school?”
“And... other things.”
“Colt,” she whined his name into at least three syllables. “You told her?”
“Well, stupid me, I kind of assumed you’d already said something about Jordan. Why didn’t you?”
“You know how she is.” Jif fidgeted in her seat. “I didn’t want to deal with her disappointment. I’m twenty-four, for heaven’s sake. I’m not an old maid yet.”
“Come on, she...”
“She was raised in a different time,” Jif interrupted, mimicking one of Colton’s mantras for dealing with their mother.
Funny how needing a spouse to have a complete and fulfilled life only applied to her daughter, not her son.
Though six years older, their mom never harassed Colton about settling down.
Besides, marriage hadn’t exactly worked out well for Grace Pritchard, and even if she didn’t have any physical scars to prove it, she and Jif both bore the emotional ones.
“Call her. Or, better yet, they said you’d be out of school for a couple days. You should go by.”
“I’m not...”
“You haven’t seen her since Christmas.”
“How do you...”
“Seriously, Jif? You live less than a half-hour’s drive away. It wouldn’t kill you to visit.”
“It might.”
“It won’t,” Colton bit out. “And someday, you might wish you had a better relationship with her.”
“Like when she’s dead?” Jif scoffed. “We have a way to go before we get there, I’m sure, and in the meantime, I’m tired of never being good enough for her.”
Her mother didn’t want a relationship, she wanted a picture-perfect daughter, one who reflected glory back onto her as the magnificent matriarch of the Pritchard family.
“You think you’re under pressure...”
Jif laughed. “Ah, has she accepted she won’t be getting any grandchildren from me and finally started in on you?”
“Har, har. I know you don’t want to do this, but will you? For me?”
“Fine,” Jif muttered.
If it would make him happy, she’d suck up her discomfort and resentment.
She owed him, after all, even if there were some things he didn’t understand.
Couldn’t understand. Her fraught relationship with their mother being one of them.
Then again, she had a beautiful apartment with a view of the park, an astronomical spending limit on her credit card, and no student loans, all courtesy of Colton’s contract with the Raptors. She could probably make an effort.
“I’ll call her. I’ll even go over if she’s free.”
“Thank you.” Did she imagine the note of relief in his voice? “I’ll see you Saturday.”
Jif perked up. “About that...”
“Whatever you got last weekend will be fine.”
“Party-pooper. Are you monitoring me again?”
“Hardly. I get an alert every time you spend over five hundred dollars. Speaking of, what the heck is The Golden Duckling?”
“Ooh, now you are being a party pooper,” Jif teased. “It’s too close to your birthday to ask questions.”
“I don’t need you to buy me any more rubber ducks.”
“But a seven-foot Raptors-themed duck would be so majestic in your pool, especially during parties...”
“I don’t host any parties,” he interrupted her.
“...and if you got a Panthers one, too, you could stage mock duck battles,” she continued, ignoring him.
“No ducks, Jif. I have enough already, including...” he spoke over her protests, “an entire NFL line.”
“But not a special edition misprint from your alma mater,” she teased.
“Special edition?” His tone wavered.
“Misprint,” she reiterated. “One of a kind. Well, technically three of a kind, but the point stands.”
“I can buy my own darn ducks,” Colton grumbled, but with no bite in his tone.
“One of these days, I’m going to get you a real one,” Jif teased. “White, with a curly feather on its tail. You should have gone to the University of Oregon.”
“I don’t think choosing a college based on its mascot is very wise.”
“Maybe not, but you’d have had all the merch.”
Colton laughed. “Probably, but you still shouldn’t be dropping hundreds of dollars on a rubber duck.”
“You like them,” Jif stated simply. And what her brother liked, she’d make darn sure he got if it was within her power. Which, in this case, it was. “Does that mean I can get a new dress?”
“No,” Colton bit out. “Jonah said the one you bought last weekend was perfect.”
Jif groaned. He’d said it Saturday night, too, except it had been followed with on my floor and then had ended up there. She sure hoped he hadn’t added any commentary when talking to her brother. He wouldn’t have, would he?
“He’s already seen me in it,” she tried.
“But no one else has.”
“Garrett...”
“Geez, Jif.” He groaned this time.
“Not separately...” She paused, realizing how she sounded. “Well, yes. I mean...”
Colton huffed. “I don’t want to know. Wear the dress, you don’t need a new one.”
Then, he hung up