Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“Colt says you have a new boyfriend? You didn’t tell me.” Grace’s tinny voice rose from Jif’s phone, sitting on her vanity, the speaker volume turned up so Jif could apply her makeup while she talked.
She wrinkled her nose, then ran a brush over it again, smoothing the crinkles left behind. Studying her eyes in the mirror, she debated whether to add another layer of shadow or extend her eyeliner into a more dramatic line.
“It’s new, Mom. He’s...” She paused.
Explaining Miles to her mother made as much sense as explaining swimming to a bird—not a penguin or a duck, either. An ostrich, maybe. Or a roadrunner. One who had never seen water in its life.
“Is it serious?” her mother interrupted. “You’re running out of time, darling. You’re only young and beautiful for so long, and then who will want you?”
“I’m twenty-four, Mom. I’m hardly a spinster.”
“I had Colton already by...”
“I’m aware,” Jif bit out before her mother could launch into a play-by-play reminiscence of her epic romance with her father.
The one that lasted until he cheated on her, divorced her, and left both of them destitute.
Colton’s draft had saved them from homelessness and poverty, not her ex-husband on a white horse.
How she could so conveniently forget that part of the story, Jif would never understand.
“Who will take care of you if you don’t settle down soon?”
Usually, Jif would tune out her mother’s voice, humming an occasional affirmative until she ran out of steam, but this time her mother’s words pricked. Could she really ignore the blatant inconsistencies between her words and her life? Miles would suggest she ask.
“Who takes care of you?”
Grace’s silence filled the line between them, longer than Jif anticipated. Then, her mother took a shaky breath, the phone crackling with a strange, sniffling sound.
What in the world...
Before Jif could ask, Grace spoke again, her voice steady and elegant. “Colton has taken care of both of us. You don’t give him enough credit.”
She raised a fair point. Colton had taken over caring for his family since their father left, and he’d always kept a roof over all of their heads.
He’d paid the down payment on her house, the mortgage on their mom’s, as well as his own.
Her car lease carried his name, and her credit card drew from his account. The same for her mom.
“He has,” Jif conceded. “I have to finish getting ready now.”
“Are you going with Colton tonight?”
She checked her watch. “Yeah, he’ll be here in twenty minutes, and I still have to get dressed.”
“Okay, darling. Dazzle them!”
“I will, Mom.”
Dazzle them! How many times had she heard those words? Cheerleading on the sidelines: Dazzle them! Competition: Dazzle them! Graduation Day: Dazzle them! Job Interview: Dazzle them!
She frowned in the mirror, then consciously smoothed her face. Her mom’s voice echoed in her mind, Frowning causes wrinkles, darling. So does smiling too much.
Somehow, she didn’t think Miles would care if she had a few wrinkles. Especially not if they came from smiling.
Standing, she pulled her dress from its hanger and shimmied into it. Contorting her arms, she slid the zipper up her side, then ran her hands over the fabric, subtly shifting and adjusting the drape. Last came her jewelry.
She opened the leather box and considered her choices. Part of her wanted to wear the gold ropes, but her ivory dress demanded something classier. Off to one side, a small, velvet pocket held dangly diamond earrings and a matching necklace.
They’d be perfect, but before she reached for them, she paused.
Jordan’s diamonds. The set he’d given her a month before dumping her and moving to Ohio. A precursor, she’d thought, to a matching ring. Since that night, she’d avoided wearing them.
She steeled herself for the pang of rejection usually accompanying any thought of Jordan. She really had thought he’d propose. If he had, she would have said yes. They’d be planning their wedding, maybe even married already. She wouldn’t have wanted to wait another season.
She’d never have met Miles.
Well, no, not quite. She’d probably still have met Miles, but she’d have missed him. Starry-eyed, with no less than five carats on her hand, she’d never have noticed him, beyond what he could do for her students.
And she’d have missed this moment. Realizing she wanted something quieter, less flashy, less...dazzling. Something solid and real, with someone she could trust.
Jif clasped the necklace around her neck, arranging the teardrop pendants to splay against her collarbones. She clipped the earrings into her ears and checked the mirror.
Perfect.
A knock sounded. Jif swept her shoes off the floor and went to answer it.
Standing on one foot as she hooked her finger through the heel, she pulled open the door to find her brother, fully decked out in a navy three-piece suit and coral tie.
The tie matched her dress, a satin floor-length gown with a daringly high slit, low, fluttering cowl neck, and sequined and embroidered embellishments.
She switched feet, sliding her second shoe on, then pulled Colton into a tight hug.
After a moment, she let him go, patting his signature rubber duck lapel pin, a coral pink color to match his tie and her dress tonight. “Let me grab my purse, and we can head out.”
Colton stared, speechless, as she stuffed her wallet and an extra tube of lipstick into her clutch, then pulled her keys off the hook by the door, locking up behind her.
She started down the stairs, but when he didn’t follow, she turned back to him. “What?”
Mouth still ajar, he shook his head. “What was that for?”
“What was what for?” Her cheeks heated, but she forced blithe unconcern into her tone.
“You never hug me.” Finally, he came down the stairs after her, then opened the passenger door while she slid in.
By the time he’d settled into the driver’s seat, Jif had gathered herself.
“Thank you. You’ve always taken amazing care of me. And mom,” she added belatedly. “We’re lucky to have you.”
Colton shot her a skeptical side-eye as he pulled out of the driveway. “Who are you and what have you done with my sister?”
“Make fun if you want, but I’m telling the truth.” She twined her fingers together in her lap. “Mom reminded me earlier how much you’ve done for us.”
Still shooting her funny glances, he replied, “You should thank the Raptors. They’re the ones who picked me up.”
Jif shifted in her seat, and while he couldn’t face her while driving, she made sure she’d caught his attention before saying, “I’m thanking you.
You didn’t have any responsibility to take care of us.
Most newly drafted players buy a car, or a vacation home, or whatever.
But you didn’t. You sent me to college. You gave mom a place to live.
You pay half my bills, including my mortgage, even though you already paid the down payment. ..”
“Yeah, well, you’d never be able to afford a house in this neighborhood on your salary.”
“An apartment wouldn’t be so bad,” she mused. “But it doesn’t matter. Thank you. Whatever reason you did it, thank you.”
Colton didn’t say anything until he pulled up to the valet parking outside the hotel where they’d attend Mike Clemens’ gala fundraiser.
“You’re welcome,” he said gruffly.
She really should thank him more often. Before she could say anything else, though, the door opened, cameras flashing. “Let’s go dazzle them.”
Colton grinned in return. “Let’s do it.”