Chapter 28
“Ithink I want to try making lasagna,” Jules said while pushing her shopping cart down the pasta aisle in what had become their local grocery store.
Cam followed along beside her, grabbing things off the shelves and tossing them into the cart.
Ever since the first city they’d lived in together when he signed his first professional contract, grocery shopping together had been the one constant in his busy schedule.
It was how they’d always been able to make time for each other no matter what.
“I love lasagna. Remember the one Mom used to make with the—”
“The extra layer of cheese? Of course I do, it was so good. Maybe that’s what I’ll try to recreate.”
She wasn’t going to be making it for Cam though. No, she wanted to make it for Frankie. They’d been planning a date night and with a snowstorm coming their way, staying in with good food and a warm bed sounded like a great way to spend their time.
It had been two weeks since their first date, since that night, and Jules had become a woman with a craving for a very specific redhead ever since.
After they finally managed to drag themselves out of Jules’ bed, they’d showered together and Frankie had run her fingers through Jules’ hair, massaging shampoo and conditioner into her scalp in a way that practically had her purring.
It was the first time Jules truly understood how sensual the simple things could be if the person you were most attracted to was the one doing them.
After their shower, they’d slipped into bed and Frankie had wrapped her arm around Jules waist and hugged her close. She’d kissed her shoulder, then her neck, and then the spot below her ear that gave her whole body chills.
Soon, she was turning over in Frankie’s arms and they were right back where they started, with hands slipping between each other’s thighs in the quiet darkness of the early morning beneath her silk bedsheets.
When Jules woke the next morning, she’d rolled over to find the bed cold and empty, the space Frankie had occupied vacant. The sound of her coffee maker in the kitchen caught her attention and she sat up in bed, letting the sheets slip off her nude body.
She grabbed whatever t-shirt her hands found first in her drawer and pulled it on, along with a pair of sleep shorts, before leaving her bedroom in search of Frankie.
She smiled to herself as she followed the trail of clothing they’d left behind hours earlier and felt a pleasurable ache in her core from what that trail had ultimately led to.
The path of clothing brought Jules right to the woman she wanted to see and she stepped behind Frankie at the kitchen counter, sliding her arms around her waist and under the flannel shirt she’d snagged off a hanger in the closet.
In fact, the only thing Frankie had on was the pair of underwear Jules’ had slipped off her frame of her the night before and the flannel which was unbuttoned and a little small on her stronger frame.
“Mmm, good morning,” Jules said, breathing Frankie in. “I could get used to this.” She allowed her hands to roam the softest skin she’d ever touched and pressed a kiss to the flannel fabric between Frankie’s shoulder blades.
“Good morning to you too.” Frankie leaned back into her touch and then she turned around and gazed down at Jules. “You ruined my surprise, I was going to bring you coffee in bed.”
“Aww, I’m sorry. How will I ever make it up to you?”
And there had been plenty of mornings like that since the first one they’d shared together.
They’d easily slipped into a routine of Frankie spending the night with Jules and she would either wake up alone in her bed to find a note on her bedside table written in Frankie’s scrawling handwriting, or she’d wake up to lips softly kissing the back of her neck.
On one particularly enjoyable morning, she’d awoken from a soft sensation in her lower body and blinked her eyes open, glancing down to find Frankie lying between her legs with the sexiest smile on her face that Jules had ever seen.
Frankie made her come in less than five minutes from just her tongue, which was very impressive, and the image of Frankie wiping her lips and chin when she was finished was burned into her memory.
“Maybe you can make one for Mackenzie and I? I promise I won’t tell her that I made it.”
“Hmm? Sorry?” Jules raised her eyebrows and blinked at her brother. She’d gotten lost in her thoughts and he was looking at her like she was crazy.
“Were you even listening to me? Your eyes got all glassy and you were just staring at the jars of pasta sauce.”
“Yeah, sorry, I’m good.” She waved him off and plucked two boxes of lasagna pasta from the shelf and tossed them in the cart before turning her attention back to the sauce.
Cam rounded the shopping cart and stepped in front of it. He gripped the metal bars and smiled broadly at her like he knew something she didn’t and Jules frowned.
“Are you sure you’re okay? Stop looking at me like that. It’s making me uncomfortable.”
“There’s something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about…”
“Mackenzie’s not pregnant, is she…? Because I’m not ready to be an aunt.”
“Fuck, no. Why was that your first guess?”
”I don’t know, you're just full of surprises lately.”
Jules lightly pushed the cart forward to jostle her brother and he released his hold on the bars. She picked the most familiar brand of sauce and put it in the cart before they carried on to the next aisle.
“Back to what I was saying,” Cam said, “I was speaking with one of the athletic therapists for the team.”
“Did you tell him you get a weird rash from that one type of KT tape?”
Cam grimaced. “No because I actually forgot about that and I did get a rash last week so thanks for the reminder. But that’s not what I was talking to him about.
He told me his wife is having a baby in April so he’s taking a leave of absence from the team, which means there’s an opening for a full time physiotherapist.”
Jules scanned the shelves for spices, knowing she needed to add a few to add to what little ingredients she already had in her kitchen. She hadn’t done much home cooking since moving in, and more often than not found herself in her brother's condo, sharing meals with him.
But Frankie had done so much for her, was always thinking about her and doing little things to make her smile. Jules wanted to show that she could do the same in return.
“Oh, that’s uh…that's great.” Jules smiled at him and grabbed some garlic and onion powder, throwing them into the cart alongside the other ingredients. “I can give it some thought and see if I know anyone who's looking for work. There's probably someone at that co-healing space I’ve been using.”
“No.” Cam put his hand on her arm and shook his head. “I want YOU to apply, Jules. It’s perfect for you!” He slid his hand up to her shoulder and jostled it lightly in the teasing way a sibling does and Jules just stared at him.
”Me? Why would I apply? I already work with you and I know I don’t do much until the offseason comes around so I was actually thinking of of branching out, trying something new and maybe even – ”
“Exactly!" He said, cutting her off with an amount of enthusiasm that took her by surprise. He didn't know yet that she'd been wanting to distance herself from his career, because she hadn't built up the courage to talk to him about it yet.
"Cam, I…I don't know," she replied, doing her best to give off an air of disinterest, hoping he'd pick up on it. "I'm not sure I've got enough experience and…"
"And I know you’ve felt a bit directionless lately even if you don't want to talk to me about it. You’ve perked up recently but I can tell you’re bored and I don’t want you sitting around, waiting for me forever just because of a promise we made when we were kids.”
What Cam didn’t know was that her reason for seeming different as of late was all because of Frankie and as much as she didn’t want to admit that she had been feeling lost since the move to Halifax…well, she’d been feeling that way for much longer if she were completely honest, he was right.
She did want more for herself but until now, she didn’t really know where to start when it came to finding it and for the longest time she'd been convinced that it existed beyond the sport of hockey. What if she were wrong?
“Jules, I really think this is a great opportunity for you to stay involved in something you love, but it's also a chance for you to further your career and maybe, one day, move on from me.”
“Move on from you?”
Cam smiled and Jules saw herself in his face. Sometimes it really was like looking in a mirror and there was something in his eyes, a kind of acceptance and realization she hadn’t seen in them before.
“I am so grateful for everything you’ve given up for me over the years but we’re not kids anymore and it’s taken me too long to accept that.
With Mackenzie now…and the way I feel…I don’t know, I guess I just think I’m ready to grow up, y’know?
And I know that means you and I have to grow apart in a lot of ways but I think it needs to happen. ”
It was very surreal to be having this conversation with her brother in the condiment aisle at the grocery store of all places and even though it had been a long time coming, Jules didn’t really know what to say.
She always expected that she’d be the one to bring this up, that she would be the one to tell her brother how she thought it was time to live a little less for each other and little more for themselves, but Cam was growing up, and Jules was proud of him for that.
Cam appreciated her and what she’d done for him, sticking by him in the face of their loss, being his home when they’d lost theirs so many years ago, and even though it meant her own life didn’t always feel fulfilled, Jules wouldn't change a thing.