Chapter 30
JACE
I went to bed much later than usual. We had an early flight the next day.
Even though we had no other game until the semifinal in Miami, our schedule was still packed with interviews and promotional appearances through California.
I wanted to drop everything and head back to LA, but it wasn’t an option.
When Coach sat next to me, I was fully expecting to get an ass-chewing from him.
“I talked to Brooke this morning,” he began. “Just found out Tina let her go.”
“I found out last night. It’s my fault for getting into that damn fight.”
“Jace, you always keep a cool head on the field. In the rare instances I’ve seen you lose your temper off the field, it was warranted. I might not be close to any of you boys, but if I know one thing about you, it’s that you fight for what you want.”
“That’s true, sir.”
He clapped my shoulder. “So you’ll fight for my girl?”
“Absolutely.”
“Good, because sometimes Livie gets too trapped in her head when things need fixing. After my heart attack, it was impossible to reason with her. But I have full confidence you’ll find your way through. It’s worth it.”
If Dad were here, I was sure he’d give me the exact same advice.
As soon as we landed, I had half a plan. I didn’t know how to fix things with Brooke yet, but I was determined to fix things for her. I planned to make people see just how valuable she was. My girl wasn’t going to pay for something that wasn’t her fault.
It was still seven o’clock in LA, and I went for my morning run first, planning to wait until eight o’clock to call Tina.
But after completing the run in the park surrounding the hotel, I didn’t even have the patience to walk back inside and shower.
I sat on one of the wooden benches on an alley in the park and called at seven thirty.
“Well, this is a surprise,” she said.
“Is it?”
“Not really. I’m surprised you didn’t call earlier.”
“I didn’t know. Found out after you sent the report to Graham.
Listen, Tina, this isn’t fair to Brooke.
I got into that fight with Levi. And the bit about her being impartial is simply not true.
She has this scoring system where she weighs everything from game stats to number of existing sponsorships, estimated social reach, and about a million other things. ”
“Jace, I understand that, but I’m in a tough position. The sponsors were ready to walk away from the Lords. They were skeptical of Brooke’s recommendations.”
“Was it their request for you to let her go, or was that your decision?” I was tapping my foot against the pavement in a jittery move, struggling to keep my voice calm.
“I was doing my job the best I could. Covering all bases.”
No, you were just choosing the easiest way, I wanted to say, but I bit back the words. Lashing out at Tina wouldn’t help Brooke.
“I want to talk to the sponsors.”
“That’s not your job,” she said harshly.
“No, but in this case, it’s more than warranted.”
“Still not your job.”
“They changed their decision based on my actions.”
She ended up forwarding me their numbers, suggesting I wait until ten to call them. I decided to take her advice. My mind was spinning, and I had so much tension in my body that I wasn’t sure even another run would help me release it.
Over the next two days, I spoke to the sponsors in between trainings, wanting to fix this. Needing to fix this.
When we arrived at the hotel in Miami, where the first semifinal game was taking place the next day, the first thing I did was head out for a run. After, I encountered a surprise in the hotel lobby. Hailey was at the check-in counter.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I wanted to surprise you. Took time off so I can watch the game and see the city. Why are you sweaty?” She took in my jogging attire. “You went for a run in the afternoon? What happened? You only run twice a day when you’re in deep shit.”
I chuckled for the first time today. No one picked up my moods the way Hailey did.
I made to hug her, but she took a step back.
“Brother, I love you. But not enough to give you a sweaty hug. Go take a shower. Meet me at the restaurant afterward?”
“How about you come to my room and we order something in?”
She blinked, then furrowed her brow in concentration
“Don’t turn the lasers on me,” I warned.
“You leave me no choice. You give off unhappy vibes. I should have brought Lori and Val with me. You look like you need an intervention. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“You just don’t have a pause button, do you?”
Hailey grinned. “You already know the answer to that. You’re just like me. The good news is, I can get the girls on the phone. We can do an intervention via a conference call.”
“Please, don’t.”
“Fine then, I’ll channel my inner Val and Lori. But I need more reinforcement for that than room service. I saw a promising food truck nearby. I’ll grab us something and meet you in your room.”
“What would I do without you?”
“Probably brood.” She patted my cheek, the way she did when I was a kid before pointing me to the elevator. “Shower. Now. You’re a bit stinky.”
I was in a much better mood as I went to my room.
I would’ve loved to be in LA for the next Friday dinner.
Being with my family always helped me see things more clearly.
I couldn’t explain why, but being surrounded by my siblings always helped me be able to strip the unessential things away and focus on what was important.
Val especially had a way of putting things in perspective, but so did Hailey. Channeling Val… she was definitely good at that. She used to do that all the time when we were kids, thinking she could get to boss me around if she acted more like Val. It didn’t work, but it was a lot of fun to watch.
Hailey took her sweet time, knocking at my door half an hour later. She had large paper bags in both hands. I relieved her of them at once, carrying them to the small table.
“I thought you were buying some snacks from the food truck.”
“Yeah… I changed my mind and also went to the grocery store. Bought dessert and some wine.”
“I don’t drink before games.”
“It’s for me, not for you. Thought I might need some reinforcement.”
“Creative reinforcement for channeling Val?”
“Yep. And for being a voice of reason and dishing sage advice.”
“Maybe you won’t have to do either.”
She parked her hands on her hips. “Sorry to burst your bubble, but you look like you need both. Usually Chardonnay is of great help for inspiration. Didn’t find any, but I’ll make do with what I have.”
“Let’s eat before it gets cold.”
My sister kicked off her shoes, sitting in one of the chairs with her legs tucked under her.
I sat opposite her, digging into my burrito. I’d pushed myself a little too much during today’s second run, and I was starving.
I felt Hailey stare at me.
“You’re giving me the laser eye glare again.”
“Just trying to guess what the damage is. Will told me you have some problems with the sponsors.”
“When did you even find out? That only happened a few days ago.”
“You underestimate me. But you don’t fret over those usually, so there must be something more.”
I shook my head, smiling.
Hailey pointed a finger at me. “That right there is a sad smile. You don’t do sad smiles, Jace. What’s wrong?”
“Brooke and I aren’t in a good place.” All the worries I’d managed to subdue during my run crashed into me at once as I spoke.
“Why not? What happened? Tell me you’re not getting cold feet because things are getting too serious.” The look in her eyes was murderous.
“I’m not.”
“Oh, okay.”
“It’s the opposite.”
“Brooke has cold feet?”
I shook my head, doing my best to summarize everything. Apparently, the Connor rumor pipeline wasn’t that efficient, because Hailey had had no idea Brooke’s contract hadn’t been renewed.
“Jace, of course she’s probably not too happy with things right now.”
“With me. She wasn’t happy with me,” I stressed. What ate at me was that I didn’t know if Brooke was simply mad at me, or if her feelings for me had changed on a deeper, fundamental level. Even if that was the case, I was going to fight my way through all of it. I loved her.
“Jace, a relationship isn’t about being happy one hundred percent of the time.
That’s not possible. Mom used to say that the secret to a happy marriage is working together to get through the moments that don’t make us happy.
She said that during a Christmas morning when she and Dad were semi-fighting. ”
“Was I there? I… don’t remember that.”
“I do believe Will was rolling his eyes, Landon stuck his fingers in his ears, and you were copying him.”
“That sounds like me.”
“You know, I always thought that after they passed away, you were the most closed off. Even to us. For a while I was afraid you wouldn’t open yourself up at all, but then you did—to us, at least. But you haven’t really let anyone else in…
until Brooke. I see how you look at her, how you’re a bit different when you’re around her.
She makes you happy. Don’t let her go, okay? ”
“I’m not going to.”
I knew what Hailey meant, and I wasn’t going to let anything get in my way, much less myself.
Hailey smiled. “So… when were you planning to propose?”
“How did you know?”
“Oh, dear brother, you still have no clue how online advertising works.”
“What?”
“When we chose the rose quartz set, you looked up engagement rings on my laptop when I wasn’t looking. Guess what kind of ads I’m being bombarded with.”
So much for secrecy. “Maybe I just wanted to check how our Bennett cousins’ business was going.”
She wiggled her finger before taking the dessert out of the bag.
“No, no, no. You’re not fooling me. Online advertising is way more targeted than you think.
If it’s showing me engagement rings, it’s because you looked at them.
And no man looks at engagement rings unless he’s serious about buying one.
Since I got ads for different ones, I’m not sure if you looked at a lot of them because you were curious or had trouble deciding, but I made a folder of my favorites, just in case you needed a second opinion.
I can show them to you anytime. Ready when you are. ”