Chapter 22 #2
Cam gazed out the window with a look of pure adoration on his face and Jules smiled at the sight of it. He looked pensive in a soft kind of way and she wouldn’t deny how nice it was to see.
“It’s been long enough I think, right?” He turned back to her and propped his head up on his elbow against her pillows. “You’re a girl, what would you want?”
“Oh wow, thanks. Yes, I am a girl. So nice to be dulled down to that.”
“Shut up, you know what I mean. I can’t really talk to anyone else about this…so can we be serious, please?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard those words come out of your mouth.”
She was toying with him but she knew he was right.
When it came to relationships and dating, Cam had always turned to Jules in the place of their parents for advice or a heart to heart, and neither of them had questioned it.
Being his sister, Jules could never stop herself from teasing him just as she had when they were kids regardless of the situation they found themselves in.
“Jules!” He smacked her with a pillow and she laughed, shielding her face.
“Okay, okay, fine! You really want to know my opinion as a girl? I definitely think it’s a good time to have a relationship conversation and doing it on Valentine’s Day is, I’ll admit, very romantic.
If the person I was dating planned something special like that, it would be pretty hard to say no and nearly impossible not to go all heart eyes.
When people show you they care, when they make it clear that they want you, it’s a very attractive quality. ”
A smile bloomed on Cam’s face and he fell back against the cushions. He put his hands behind his head, stretched his long legs out and stared at the ceiling.
“I made reservations at a restaurant she saw on instagram. She told me she’d love to try one day if she ever got to visit Los Angeles and I’m having a bouquet of roses sent to her hotel room in the morning on the 14th.
I know it’s cheesy…oh, Cam, how is she going to get them back to the east coast alive…
but I think she’ll like it. She loves flowers. “
Jules shifted to lay down beside him, mirroring his position with her arms behind her head, her own eyes fixed on the white ceiling too. “You really are down bad for this girl.”
“Yup.” He turned to look at her and he grinned. “I really am.”
Did Frankie have a date for Valentine’s Day?
Was she flying to Dallas right the game was over with the other coaches?
How would she ask a woman to be her girlfriend?
Would it be with flowers and a romantic meal at a fancy restaurant or would it be simple and understated, just the two of them in a private moment of affection?
The final buzzer went off, signaling the end of the third period and Jules threw her arms in the air.
It had been a deeply contested battle between two teams hungry for a win but the scoreline depicted a story of one team being far more resilient.
The Halifax Harbour had put on their best performance of the season, giving up just one goal on a breakaway and scoring six of their own goals, two of them on the power play.
Jules allowed her eyes to drift to the bench where Frankie and the other coaches were congratulating one another for a hard fought and well earned victory.
While her seat wasn’t as close to ice as she’d been on the first game of the season, Jules could still watch as Frankie searched for her in the crowd, their eyes meeting as they so often did and Frankie smiled at her before trailing behind her players down the tunnel to the locker room.
Cam’s three goal performance, his best of the season thus far, earned him first star of the game and he came back out onto the ice a few minutes after the game ended to give fans a wave and to toss a puck over the glass for one lucky spectator.
It was easy for Jules to understand why her brother was such a well-liked popular player within the league.
He worked hard, had been shuffled from team to team, settling in Halifax with a C on his jersey that he’d earned, and games like this one, as Jules watched him on the ice with a look of absolute elation on his face, were when she wished her parents were around to watch him the most.
Jules didn’t wait around for Cam after the game, knowing all too well that the goals he scored and the team’s performance meant he’d be inundated by the media.
She considered reaching out to Frankie but the success of the power play in the game meant she’d be speaking with just as many sports journalists as Cam.
As easy as it was to be proud of her brother and of Frankie, Jules didn’t do what they did.
Their jobs could be tiresome and thankless sometimes, with a kind of pressure and expectation Jules had never been in a position to understand first hand so she caught an Uber back to her hotel and spent the next two hours watching reality TV while trying to decide what to order from hotel room service for dinner.
A knock on her door pulled her attention away from the mind numbing trash playing on the screen and she slid off the bed and padded towards the door. A smile bloomed on her face when she looked through the peephole then slid the lock out of place and opened the door.
“Well if it isn’t Frankie Stevens, the famous assistant coach of the league's hottest new team, the Halifax Harbour. To what do I owe this pleasure and also…how did you know this was my room?”
Frankie was no longer wearing the black suit she’d worn during the game. In her jeans and hoodie, her hair wet from a shower and damply framing her face, she looked so much smaller than the lifesize personality she always was behind the bench during games.
Jules was very fond of that version of Frankie, the way her confidence emanated, the way she stood firm, how her voice managed to captivate anyone who heard her speak but Frankie like this? All soft and relaxed with her guard down?
This was her favourite version of Frankie. The one that no else got to see.
Frankie smiled sheepishly and leaned against the doorframe. “I may have promised the guy at the check in desk an autograph from your brother…but don’t tell my boss that.”
“Frankie! You can’t just go around promising that to people, Cam won’t —”
“Relax, Jules, I’m only joking. I got it directly from the source. I told Cam I had something for you and he gave up your room number without even hesitating. He said he’s happy that you, and I quote, have a friend. And here I am.”
Frankie dropped her gaze, looking Jules up and down and it was only then that Jules remembered she was braless, wearing nothing but a matching pink sleep set of shorts and a cropped t-shirt, putting far more of herself on display than Frankie had ever seen before.
In her defense, she wasn’t expecting guests, and had no plans to go out on the town for a meal with the team, so it only made sense to change into the comfort of her pajamas when she’d gotten back to the hotel after the game.
The only thing she was going to entertain that night was a plate of chicken fingers and french fries. But now Frankie was standing in her doorway, her lips parted, pupils dilated as her eyes roamed Jules' body and God, Jules felt it everywhere.
She blushed, feeling like she was being undressed and something about the way Frankie’s eyes darkened slightly, how she swayed a little closer to Jules when their eyes met again, the way she smirked, it made Jules want to cover up but not because she didn’t like the attention.
It was the opposite. It had been a long time since someone looked at her the way Frankie was looking at her now and she wanted to cover up because she knew that it would take almost nothing to convince her to shed what little clothing she was wearing and bare it all.
“Cute PJ’s,” Frankie teased. “Very pink.”
A shade of pink that likely matched the same blush on her cheeks now. “Oh, uh…” She looked down at herself then crossed her arms as she felt her nipples harden from both the cool air of the hallway and the intensity of Frankie’s gaze. “Thanks.”
“So the reason I’m here…I wanted to know if you have any plans tomorrow?"
“Plans on Valentine’s Day in California? Of course I do. I’ve got a hot date with a girl from Tinder who promised to rock my world.”
“Oh.” Frankie’s face fell, and she pushed back from the doorframe, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jeans. “Okay…well then…forget I even asked.”
Jules hated being the reason for that look on Frankie’s face and she quickly laughed to make light of her joke landing flat.
“I’m kidding, Frankie. I have absolutely no plans.
To be honest? I figured I'd just relax between now and my flight home. I really just came to get away from the snow for two days and to watch the game. Besides, having a hot date, and on Valentine’s Day no less, requires meeting a woman who actually wants to take me on a date. ”
She hadn’t even entertained the idea of dating since her last relationship ended and it wasn’t like people were lining up on the east coast to get her attention.
The look of disappointment on Frankie’s face shifted into something more akin to surprise and disagreement as she gave her head a shake.
“You don’t give yourself enough credit. Any woman would be lucky to take you out.”
But there was only one woman Jules wanted it to be and right now she was standing on her doorstep saying all the right things and giving Jules butterflies.
“You’re sweet, thank you. But back to the question…why are you asking me about tomorrow?”
“Right! Well, since I’m also flying solo and I assume your brother is all tied up with…
Mackenzie, was it? That's her name?” Jules nodded in confirmation.
“I thought you and I could maybe play tourist tomorrow and take a drive up the coast? I rented a car because I figured I’ve earned a day off, so why not? ”
“Yes.