24. Brody
Brody
“Call him,” I say, already picking up the pace, my foot pressing harder on the gas pedal, the tires crunching the snow-packed road. I need to get home. I need to know what the hell happened.
I toss my phone onto the seat and Jami nods, fumbling with hers, fingers unsteady as she taps the screen. She puts it on speaker, and suddenly the air between us feels too tight.
It rings once.
Twice.
Three times.
“Shit,” I mutter, convinced it’s about to go to voicemail.
“Hey,” Jaxon says, his voice rough, like he’s been woken up. “Been trying to reach you, sis.”
“Jaxon.” Jami exhales his name, all of it coming out in one rushed, fragile breath. “Are you okay?”
He snorts, a sound meant to be casual, meant to reassure. “Yeah. Stupid accident. Are you with Brody?”
“I’m here,” I say. “I’m driving. We’re almost home. We had no signal at the cottage. What happened?”
There’s a pause. Not long, but long enough to set my nerves on edge.
“I was on my way home from work,” he says. “It was dark. Didn’t see the ice. Slipped and—” He blows out a breath. “Tore my damn ACL.”
“Fuck,” I curse. Beside me, Jami’s face crumples, her hand flying to her mouth like she can physically hold the fear in.
“Oh, Jax,” she whispers. “I’m so sorry we missed your calls. We had no signal at the cottage and heard the helicopter yesterday, but we didn’t know it was you. If we did—”
“There was nothing you could have done anyway,” he says quickly, like he needs her to believe that. “The doc in town thought I needed to be seen at the hospital in Lab City, so they airlifted me.”
“I’m glad you’re getting the care you need,” I tell him, working to keep my voice calm.
“I’ll need surgery,” he continues, his voice suddenly tired, the bravado slipping. “But they have to wait until the swelling goes down.”
“Are you coming home?” Jami asks, her voice a little high pitched.
“Surgery’s scheduled for next week,” he says. “And I’d rather not fly twice. Brody, your mom called your cousin Devon. He’s on his way to pick me up. I’ll crash at his place. Real nice of your mom to do that, and nice of Devon to take me in.”
“You’re family, Jaxon.” I say and guilt floods me as I glance at Jami.
“I’m getting on the next flight,” Jami says, already sounding determined.
“No,” Jaxon says, firmer now. “You’ve got yoga, childcare… and with me not at the social, you’re going to be needed to lend a hand, if you don’t mind.”
She looks at me, eyes glossy, searching. I nod, even though my gut twists at the thought of her not being there with him. She swipes angrily at her cheeks.
“I’m so sorry,” she says, her voice breaking. “I wish I’d been there.”
There’s a grunt on the other end, like he’s shifting, trying to get comfortable. Trying not to make it worse than it is.
“Are you in pain?” she asks.
“I was,” he admits, his words followed by a wobbly chuckle. “They’ve got that handled now.”
“What can I do?” I ask, forcing my voice to stay steady for Jami’s sake, even as something tight coils in my chest. Guilt. Regret. If we hadn’t gone away. If Jaxon had the truck. If any one small thing had been different—
“Just…you two take care of each other and the club,” Jaxon says. “I’ll be fine.”
“We can do that.”
“Jaxon,” Jami mutters.
“Hey, chin up, little sis. I’m okay, and I don’t want this to bring you down.
” She swallows and nods, even though he can’t see her.
“I did a lot of the admin work before the accident,” he continues.
“And I can log in with Devon’s laptop if anything urgent comes up.
But…” His voice falls off, and I throw a quick, uneasy glance at Jami, bracing for the blow.
“I’m going to be laid up… in need of physio. ”
“You know I’m there for you, Jaxon.”
“Yeah, I know, buddy,” he says, but there’s something in his voice, something he hasn’t said yet and that’s when it hits me.
“Pickleball,” I mutter, my stomach tightening. “The tournament.”
“Right,” he breathes out. “Pickleball. The tournament.”
Jami shakes her head, like she’s responsible for this disaster, but she’s not. I am.
“You’re not going to be able to play sports for… what… nine to twelve months?” I ask, as I think about the last guy I helped heal from an ACL injury.
“Probably not,” he admits, his voice tight. “It’ll depend on how fast I heal, but… the September tournament is out.”
My chest sinks, not because I no longer have a partner, but because I know what Jaxon is going to go through and how important this tournament was to him.
‘It’s okay,” I say quickly, shifting my thoughts. “Our priority now is your recovery. To get you back on your feet… without any long-term damage.”
He lets out a low sound, part grunt, part sigh. “Yeah, but you still have to go, Brody.”
“No,” I say. “I can pull out. I’ll figure something else.”
“No,” he insists, voice firm despite the slur creeping in, no doubt from pain meds. “Our priority is for you to go, to promote the social. And Jami needs to promote her new line of clothes. You both need to be there. And hey… if you both have to be there, why can’t Jami take my spot on the team?”
Jami blinks at me, incredulous. “Big brother… what kind of drugs are they pumping into you? You have to be really knocked out to suggest something that crazy.”
He snorts, a little wobbly. “It’s not always about winning, Jami. It’s about having fun, too… and promoting the social as fun, and your clothes as comfortable and athletic.”
I bite back a laugh, because… he’s not wrong. There’s a logic buried in the madness.
“Right,” Jami agrees slowly. “But losing spectacularly probably isn’t going to achieve anything.”
“You’re not as bad as you think,” he teases, voice light but rough at the edges.
Jami opens her mouth to counter, but I cut her off. “I’ll train you. Hard. Intense. You’ll have to work your ass off because we’ve only got a few months to get you competition-ready, but… you have natural athletic ability, whether you realize it or not.”
She freezes, mouth slightly open, like I just suggested she could run a marathon tomorrow. Or maybe that I just threw her life into overdrive.
I can see the calculation behind her eyes, terror, disbelief, and maybe just maybe a small hint of excitement all tied together.
“We start tomorrow,” I say before she can untangle her thoughts, and decide this is a bad idea.
“Thanks, Jami,” Jaxon says, his voice fading. “I knew I could count on you.”
“You…” She shakes her head at me. “You…you can always count on me, big brother.”
“Me too,” I add.
“Jami,” Jaxon says in a big brother voice I’ve come to learn. “I’m okay, I promise. There is no sense in you being here. Work on your designs, have fun on the court.”
“Okay.”
“Promise me.” Before she can answer, he adds, “You have to promise me you’re going to have fun. If you don’t promise me that, I’ll send you back to the mainland.”
She laughs and her eyes meet mine. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“Sis, you can’t lie to me. I know you had a good time with Brody at the cottage.”
She gulps, and I hope he can’t hear it. “He probably made a fire, took you snowmobiling, and I bet he made you his famous bologna sandwich.”
Jesus, it’s like he knew everything I had planned. I just hope that’s not true.
“He did all those things,” she answers.
“Good, then stay and have fun. Sitting here with me is useless. You’re only here for a while, so I want you to embrace all Churchill Falls has to offer and experience each day to its fullest okay. I know you’re working and helping at the social, but I want this to be a break for you too.”
“Okay,” she agrees, her voice stronger. “But I’m coming for your surgery so I can take you home.”
Before Jaxon can answer, and knowing how important that is to her, I say, “I’ll make arrangements with Frank.”
“Thanks bro, I knew I could count on you. I’ll message with the details when I know more.”
“Sounds good, now you go get some rest and let us know when you’re settled at Devon’s. Don’t worry about the club, Jami and I have everything covered.”
“Promise me you’ll take care of her, Brody. Make sure she’s happy,” he says his voice tired.
“You have my word.”
The call ends and Jami is still shaking her head when she says, “We were placating him right? Because he’s drugged out of his mind?” I don’t say anything and her voice rises a bit when she continues, “You’re not really going to train me, Brody. We’re not going to compete as partners right?”
“Wrong?” I reach the edge of town and soften my voice when I say, “Jami we can do this.”
A sound crawls out of her throat. “Brody… I don’t know. I won’t be good enough. Even with intense training.”
“You heard Jaxon. It’s not just about winning.” I pause. Then, “Besides… it’s my fault he’s hurt.” My hands tighten on the steering wheel. “I… I have to make this right.”
Her hand slides over mine, and she gives it a gentle squeeze. “Your fault? How is this your fault, Brody?”
“If I’d left the truck… or convinced him to come with us…” I flick the signal, voice tight.
She glances down, face softening with guilt. “Then it’s my fault too.” She exhales, leaning back. “I guess… we’re doing this, aren’t we?”
I nod. “For Jaxon, yeah. But… for us too. For the social, for your new line. We can’t let him down.”
I lift her hand to my lips, kissing it, holding on as I pull into our driveway. On the seat my phone pings, and we both glance at it.
Elise.
I pick it up and put it in my pocket.
“Aren’t you going to read it?” she asks.
“No.”
“Is she…”
“I don’t want to talk about Elise,” I say.
She nods and in a low voice says, “I guess it looks like I’ll be staying until September.”
Is it wrong that I’m secretly happy about that? “Is it going to be that bad? It’ll give you lots of time to save money and work on your new line.”
Her grin is small but mischievous. “Come to Churchill Falls, he said. It’ll be fun, he said.”
“Admit it, you are having fun.”
“Yeah… but now you’re going to work my ass off.” She winks. “And I kind of like my ass.”
“Babe, I like your ass too.” I gesture toward the door. “Let’s get inside and I’ll show you how much. I mean hey, you did promise your brother to have fun, and I promised to take care of you. He left the ‘how’ up to me.”
She laughs, and opens her door. “I’m not sure this is what he meant, and as nice as that sounds… don’t we have Sunday dinner to get to?”
I give her a playful wink full of promise. “I can be fast.”
“Oh, I’m very well aware of that,” she jokes, springing from the car. Her laugh lingers behind her.
“Hey.” I chase after her, as a cold breeze rushes down the street. “You’re going to pay for that.”
She squeals, locking the door before I reach her. “Let me in! I’m freezing my ass off!”
“Just when I was starting to like your ass,” she shoots back through the closed door.
“Don’t act like you haven’t always liked my ass.” As I think about getting inside and getting a glimpse at her sweet backside, my dick thickens, despite the cold.
“Brody.”
Oh, fuck.
I turn to find Mr. Cheeseman’s car idling on the road as he walks toward me, his eyes sharp behind wire-rimmed glasses.
“Ah… hi, Mr. Cheeseman. How are you today?”
“Doing all right.” He leans to the left, glancing at the door. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah… Jami was just kidding around.”
He nods, gaze narrowing ever so slightly. “You haven’t heard from Jaxon, then?”
Great, now I feel like shit. Here we are messing around while Jaxon is laid up. He said to have fun and take care of each other but still…
“Yeah…we were just talking to him.” I shove my hands into my pockets, happy that Jaxon is okay but still upset that he’s down and out. “He has to have surgery. He’s staying with my cousin Devon in Lab City. We’re going to fly out for his surgery.”
“Shame,” he says, glancing down, like he’s personally responsible for the accident. “I plowed just before he fell. It might not have been so slippery if I left the snow.”
My heart tightens. “It’s not your fault, Mr. Cheeseman.”
“Yeah, well I’m the mayor of this town. It’s my job to know everything that’s going on and ensure the safety of the citizens.”
“Our streets get slippery. Hey, maybe we ought to hire the guy who salts the fries at the golden arches.”
As he stares at me, my joke landing flat, the door creaks and Jami pops her head out. “Oh, hi, Mr. Cheeseman.”
“Jami,” he says, nodding. “Sorry about your brother. Nice to see your spirits are up.”
I can practically hear her groan inwardly. “Jaxon wants me to keep my chin up. I’m going to help out at the social… and take his place in the tournament.”
His eyes flick between us, and I somehow think he can read more than either of us wants him to see. “I see.”
God, what the hell does he see?
“Good to see things are up with you too, Brody.” He glances at his car, still idling in the street. “If Jaxon needs anything…just let me know.”
“Will do,” I say, heart hammering. As he walks away, I hurry inside, slamming the door behind us.
“That man needs a damn bell,” I mutter.
She crinkles up her nose. “Do you think he knows?”
My head drops and I sigh. “I think he knows.”
“Yeah,” She mutters. “He knows too much.”
That niggles something loose in the back of my brain. “Wait, what exactly was it he saw you buying at the department store?”
“Nothing,” she shoots back quickly.
“Is it in your bedroom?”
She plants her hands on her hips. “Where it is, is none of your business.”
I put my hand on her shoulders, and turn her, pressing her against the door. Then I point to the stairs. “Will I find it in your nightstand?” Before she can answer I bolt up the stairs and she shrieks as she comes running after me.
“Don’t you dare go into my nightstand.”
I have no intentions of doing that, but this was the quickest way to get her into her room for…well…for whatever she wants…whatever is going to make her happy. After all, Jaxon tasked me with that assignment.
But that’s when it hits me.
As soon as she reaches me, and sees the sudden terror on my face, she goes still. “What?” she asks, breathless.
“When Mr. Cheeseman said, ‘Good to see things are up with you too, Brody’, you don’t think he was talking about…” I point downward.
Her eyes go wide. “Oh, my God. I think he was.”
“Oh, God, this might be worse than the time he filled my pockets with condoms for my senior year’s Valentine’s Day dance, and gave me the talk.”
“He did not!”
I grimace and bury my face in my hands. “He did too. Was trying to be my father figure, you know. Thought he was helping.”
She grabs my jacket and hauls me into the room. “Well Brody, did he teach you any tricks I should know?”
“No, Jami,” I rush out, laughing and mortified all at once. “Just…no. We are not going there.” She laughs and jumps onto the bed and I shake my head. “I’m never living this down, am I?”
“Hey if you’re going to be hard on me on the pickleball court, I’m going to be hard on you too.” She glances down and crooks her finger. “Now…speaking of hard…”