Chapter 16 Jackson #2
Patting my chest, she pulls away and starts walking toward the registers. I place her record in the cart and follow after her, nearly running into her when I don’t realize she’s stopped short.
“T?” I question, looking around to make sure no one’s recognized her.
When I don’t find a reason for her abrupt stop, I realize we’re in front of the baby section just before I watch Tae’s shoulders shudder.
She brings her hand to her mouth to muffle the sob that escapes while tears stream down her cheeks.
Fuck. I need to get her out of here.
Leaving the cart right where it is, I put my arm around her shoulder and hold her against my chest as I guide her out of the store.
Once I’ve got her securely in my truck and I’ve started it, I run back into the store to grab our cart and check out. Rushing to get back to her, I nearly run straight into Alexa in the parking lot.
“Woah, sorry!” she apologizes before looking up and realizing it’s me. “Hey, stranger. How’s it going?”
Some of the panic that was squeezing my chest subsides from seeing one of my friends. And that’s exactly what Alexa is to me. In fact, over the past year, she’s become one of my closest friends that isn’t one of my teammates.
“Hey, Lex. It’s going.” I nod over to where my truck is parked, and say, “Sorry I nearly ran you over. I was just hurrying to get back to Tae.”
“Ah, I see. How is she?”
“She’s had a long morning already so she’s waiting in the truck for me. I think she may have overdone it a bit.”
Sympathy floods her face, and Lex reaches out to give me a reassuring squeeze on my arm. “That’s too bad. Well, I won’t keep you. Get your girl home so she can rest up.”
Warmth fills my chest and I can’t help but smile from her words. My girl. Home.
I give Alexa a quick hug and as she steps away, she does what she does best, she shows how big her heart is.
“Please let me know if there’s anything you or Tae need.
Anything at all, any time of day or night—I mean it.
You’ve got a village, Jackson, and now that Taevin’s back where she belongs, we’re her village too. ”
Pulling her in for another hug, I take a deep breath to fight back the fear that threatens to take over whenever I think about everything Tae has already gone through. And this is only the beginning.
“Thank you, Lex. You don’t know how much that means to me.”
She turns to walk away, but not before reminding me, yet again, to call her if I need anything.
I load the groceries into the back of my truck and get into the driver’s seat, apprehensive of what state I’ll see Taevin in. To my surprise, Tae isn’t crying anymore, which I think is a good thing.
That is, until she avoids meeting my eyes the entire ride home and doesn’t say more than a handful of words to me.
If there’s anything I know about women, it’s that one-word responses are never, ever a good sign.
It’s not long before I realize I probably just need to give her space and think of something to cheer her up in the meantime.
“Remember when we used to pull pranks on my brother and sister?” I ask Tae as we sit in the living room and eat goulash together.
When she said she was craving it, I was more than happy to make it for her seeing as it’s my favorite meal of all time.
Add in my nana’s homemade sauce my mom brought over last week, and it’s the best damn thing to ever exist.
Chuckling, she scoops a big spoonful of noodles into her mouth and chews it up before responding.
“I used to love doing that. And then Walker loved it so much she wanted to start doing more prank calls so she’d have us use funny voices to call the numbers on the back of the cereal boxes or random companies in town to enter formal complaints for the dumbest shit.
” A soft smile spreads across her face. “Those were some of my favorite things to do.”
“Want to try to prank call some of the guys now? I saw this video earlier that had me laughing pretty hard. Essentially, a group of girls were calling their exes, and when they’d pick up they’d just tell them they were calling to say goodnight.”
“That’d actually be hilarious. Would the guys just be like what the fuck are you doing?”
“A few of them might catch on since I’ve become the team prankster.”
Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I scroll through my contacts and tell her, “Alright, I’ll try Bennett first.”
“No, you shouldn’t. Aren’t they on their honeymoon right now?” Tae questions.
“They are, but I’m still pissed at them for signing Calvetti, so this is a little appetizer of what’s to come for him.” I’m sure the smirk taking over my face looks as devious as I feel.
The phone rings and I put it on speaker so Taevin can hear.
“This better be a fucking emergency,” Bennett grits.
“We’ve talked about this—that’s no way to greet your favorite brother.”
“I swear to god, J, if you don’t start talking, I’m hanging up and not talking to you for a year.”
“Well that’s just not true. Preseason starts next month, you’ll have to talk to me then at least.”
“Five . . . four . . . three . . .”
“Alright, alright. I just wanted to call to tell you goodnight.”
A click sounds on the other end of the line before the call disconnects.
“He’s such a grumpy asshole sometimes,” I tell Taevin, shaking my head at my phone.
She giggles and then her face crumples in pain.
“What’s the matter?” I’m at her side in a second.
Tae shakes her head. “I’m fine, promise. I guess laughing still doesn’t feel the greatest.”
Throwing myself down beside her, I rest my head against the back of the couch and breathe a sigh of relief. “Should I stop? I don’t want you to be in pain or pop a stitch.”
“No, I’ll be fine. I’ll give you a signal if it’s too much.” I turn my head just as Tae grabs one of the throw pillows and hugs it to her chest, bringing her legs up to better support her core.
Quirking a brow, I ask, “And what signal would that be?” When she flips me her middle finger, I narrow my eyes and shake my head at her. “I should’ve known.”
I scroll down my contacts and dial Griff next.
“Hey, J. What’s up? You good?” he answers the phone.
I press mute and whisper-hiss to Taevin, “See, that’s how my brother should’ve answered the phone.”
Unmuting my phone, I say, “Hey, G. Yeah, I’m good. Not much, just getting ready for bed. You?”
“Ah, man, I feel like it’s early for you. Are you sick or something?”
I smile at how much of a dad he’s become to the group. “Nah, just been tired is all.”
“Right, that makes sense. How’s Taevin doing after surgery? Have you guys tried the chicken pot pies yet?”
“We ate them last night for dinner and they were bomb—perfect amount of flaky crust on top while not being dried out in the center. Not sure how you did it, man.” I pause, eyeing Taevin as she shifts to get comfortable. “Tae’s doing good, resting up and healing.”
“Nice! I’m glad they turned out. And that’s good to hear about Tae. We’ve been thinking of you guys.”
Tears of gratitude well in the corners of my eyes when I think of how great of friends I’ve got. Clearing my throat, I say, “Thanks, G. How’s staying at the cabin and working at Camp Katie? Sorry I couldn’t make it up this year.”
“It’s going really good. We’ve got a few new counselors and we just kicked off the figure skating camp. It’s filled up to capacity already in year one, so that’s great news.”
“That’s awesome!”
“Yeah, it’s pretty awesome to see what Kenna and Carson have come up with to honor Katie. Anyway, I think I got us off topic. Why’d you call again?”
My attention is momentarily pulled back to Tae when she gasps. Clearing my throat, I answer, “I was really just calling to say goodnight, man. And that I miss you.”
Griff sniffs on the other end of the phone. “Fuck, buddy, I think you might make me emotional.”
“Don’t go crying over me calling you,” I tell him, chuckling because he’s not giving me shit right now, he’s being completely serious.
“I won’t, but I miss you too. Say hi to Taevin for us. We’ll be back in the city in time for training camp and Bennett’s cookout in a few weeks.”
“Sounds good, bud. I’ll let you get back to the fam.”
“Thanks, J. Love you.”
“Love you too, G. Night.”
“Sleep tight, fucker,” he says, and I chuckle as I hang up the phone, stopping short when I see Taevin has tears streaming down her cheeks.
Panic flares in my chest at the sight of her in pain. “T, what’s wrong? Fuck, I said I shoudn’t have called him.”
“No, it’s not that.”
“Then what is it?” I press.
“It’s just, I didn’t realize the camp you were missing for me to be here was a camp dedicated to Katie’s memory. When did they start that?”
My heart sinks thinking about Katie’s accident and her funeral.
Both of which happened only days after I left for my freshman year of college.
Swallowing past the emotion swelling in my throat, I run my fingers through my hair.
“Carson and Kenna, uh, they started a summer sports camp in honor of Katie. It’s up north on the lake where we spent the Fourth of July with them.
They bought a former resort that had closed down and fixed it up so the cabins could house the campers and counselors. ”
I take a deep breath to combat the weight of grief pressing down on my chest before continuing, “I believe this is the sixth summer. They originally started by offering only hockey, golf, and volleyball camps. I’m pretty sure Katie played a hand in the fact that there just so happened to be an older hockey rink down the road from the campsite.
McKenna made it a priority to have both beach and court volleyball offered the second summer.
From there, it’s grown year after year. It sort of went viral and got all sorts of attention last summer when Nathan Connelly filmed part of his Hockey Visionary documentary there after he was drafted. ”
Tae’s breath hitches. “Wow. That’s a beautiful tribute to Katie—to continue her legacy in a way that benefits young athletes.”