Game Plan (The Stargazer Collection #2)

Chapter 1

Jade

Jade drummed her fingers on her steering wheel as she waited for the light to change.

Music blasted out the speakers loud enough to make the side mirrors vibrate.

It had been a long week, but one where her muscles ached in the best way.

She’d worked hard, and it was finally starting to pay off as her boss had scheduled her first annual review early next week.

She couldn’t believe it was already a year since she joined the sports physical therapy clinic.

She was headed for her family’s Friday Night Dinner at her parents’ house.

Jade had been so busy this past week she’d barely had time to speak with anyone outside of work.

So, she knew she was in for it from her mom as soon as her foot crossed the threshold.

After the week she’d had, she almost didn’t mind. Almost.

Turning onto her parents’ street, she noticed the collection of cars parked in their driveway as well as out the front. She was last to arrive. Great. Even more people who are ready and willing to jump on her back about her lack of communication this past week.

Jade pulled up behind her older sister Cleo’s giant tank of an SUV and switched off her car—her much cooler car in her opinion—which she’d worked hard to get. The car of her dreams: a sporty, slate-grey Audi.

She’d barely gotten her foot out of the car when the front door swung open, and her 9-year-old niece, Sophie, came hurtling down the path toward her. Sophie looked like a younger version of Jade, both with slightly different shades of fiery red hair showing the familial resemblance.

“Auntie Jade! Finally! We’ve been made to wait until you got here before we can eat and I’m staaaarving!” Her niece dramatically announced for the entire street to know.

“Nice to see you too, Squirt," Jade said through a laugh, “give me a second to grab my bag and I’ll be right there, ok?” She gently shook her head at Sophie who had already run inside to announce her arrival to the rest of the family. The distant call of her own Mom’s voice suggested that she knew Sophie had left the front door wide open to the world, again.

Walking up the path to the front door, Jade locked her car over her shoulder and made her way into the hallway, closing the door behind her. She removed her sneakers and placed her bag beside the shoe rack.

“Jade love, please, tuck them in before she starts.” Her Dad, Rob, said on his way from the living room to the kitchen for dinner. “You know your mom likes any excuse to moan at us about something.” He said with a wink to his youngest daughter as she leaned over to kiss his cheek as he passed.

"Don’t I always?” Jade said with a smirk.

“Stop being a slow-poke, Auntie Jade, and get through here so I can eat!” Sophie shouted from the dinner table, followed by a ripple of laughter from the rest of the family.

“Yes ma’am!” Jade replied as she stood in the doorway and saluted her niece.

She took in the large group of her family who sat around the large circular table waiting on her joining them: her older brother and sister, their partners, and their daughters. Three spaces remained for her and her parents.

“Need a hand dishing up Mom?” Jade offered, as she walked over to the sink to wash her hands before dinner.

“No need love. We all know the kitchen is not your area of expertise,” her mom, Fiona, said through a smirk. The running joke of Jade’s poor kitchen skills was still alive and well, it seemed.

“Oh, aren’t we just a regular stand-up today?” She replied as she dried her hands and made her way over to the table. Fiona waited until Jade sat down and looked over at her before throwing her a wink and a warm smile. That’s where I get my top wink skills from.

The table was covered with a large bowl of mixed tossed salad, a tray filled with cheese topped garlic bread slices, and two trays of pasta bakes. Jade’s belly let out a growl loud enough that Ivy, her future sister-in-law, turned in her seat beside her with a raised eyebrow and grin.

“Hungry much?” Ivy said before leaning close to whisper into Jade’s ear, “I helped Fiona set the table and bring the food over too so that I could sneak a few bites along the way, I’ve not eaten much since breakfast. I feel your pain.”

Ivy co-owned a coffee franchise on Main Street with her best friend and regularly worked longer shifts that she was scheduled to, much to Cleo’s frustration as it meant Ivy regularly skipped her own breaks to cover everyone else’s.

Then proceeded to moan about it once she got home.

Jade knew this because Cleo regularly called her to vent over it.

“You know,” Jade whispered into Ivy’s ear, “if you take your breaks like you’re supposed to, you wouldn’t be as hungry as I am right now.”

Ivy whipped around to Cleo sitting on the other side of her and gave her thigh a quick pinch to get her attention.

“Ow! What was that for?!” Cleo rubbed her thigh with her hand.

“You’ve been telling your sister about me missing some of my breaks, that’s what!” Ivy made to pinch her fiancée’s thigh again, but Cleo caught Ivy’s hand before she could.

“Only because I quite like the idea of my fiancée being able to walk down the aisle towards me at our wedding. Not collapsing halfway there due to the lack of food in her system.” Cleo lifted Ivy’s hand to her lips and kissed the back of hand softly, not taking her eyes off her future wife.

“C’mon Cleo, can you leave the cheese for the garlic bread please?” Jade said, much to their brother Evan’s amusement.

Everyone other than Cleo laughed, and Jade let out a breath of relief that she had somehow avoided the grilling from her family that she’d been expecting on arrival.

“Right, you lot, enough. Time to eat.” Fiona announced as she sat down at the table with her family.

Once everyone had eaten, the table was cleared, and the dishes were washed and put away, Jade noticed Cleo trying to catch her eye and nodded her head toward the backdoor.

Jade followed her older sister outside and closed the door behind her.

The air was still a little warm from the heat of the day, and if she looked up, she was sure the stars would greet her.

They sat next to each other on their parent’s matching Adirondack chairs that had once been a deep teal but had faded over time.

They enjoyed the quiet for a few minutes.

“Ivy and I have set a date for our wedding,” Cleo finally broke the silence with a smile, “March 13th next year.”

Jade smiled as she turned to her older sister, “Aw Cleo, that’s great news. I’m really delighted for you both.” She reached out her hand to hold Cleo’s.

“Thanks Jade, I can’t wait to marry her.” Jade took in the look of pure joy and love in her sister’s eyes when talking about her future wife. “And I was hoping that when I do, you’d be right up there with me, by my side?” Cleo’s face was a mixture of nerves and hope.

“You mean...” Jade said with a smile but struggled to get the words out.

“Would you be my co-best-person with Lana?” Cleo held her breath, Jade could tell.

“Of course I would, are you kidding me?!” Jade got up and pulled her sister up off her chair and into a hug. “Cleo, I’d be honored to be there for you.”

“You don’t mind sharing the title with Lana, do you? I mean, she helped get Ivy and I back together, and her and Ivy get on so well too.” Cleo babbled.

“Are you seriously worried about that?” Jade didn’t understand why; Lana was Cleo’s best friend after all.

“Cleo, it’s better that way anyway, sharing responsibility and double the help for you on the big day!

Everyone’s a winner!” Jade grinned as she pulled away from her sister for a moment, before pulling her back in for a second hug.

The sisters turned and made their way back into the house, where they found the family watching a movie in the living room with only a small lamp in the corner for light other than the large screen.

Ivy looked over as they entered the darkened room, Cleo nodded gently, and Ivy sprung up off the couch and threw her arms around Jade’s shoulders.

Nothing more needed to be said as Cleo sat down on the couch, Ivy leaned back against her, and Jade sat on the floor beside her niece.