Chapter Forty-Six Tigerlily
My phone rings at seven in the morning, and my heart jumps into my throat when I see the caller.
“Hello?”
“Miss Lopez, this is Sandra from Child Protective Services. We have an urgent situation with Zinnia’s placement.”
I sit up in bed too fast. My injured arm pulls and pain shoots to my fingers. “What happened? Is she okay?”
“She’s fine. The foster family has requested she be moved. The placement isn’t working out.”
My heart races. Oh, no. “What does that mean?”
“It means we need to find alternative placement immediately. Given your pending guardianship petition—”
“I’ll take her. Right now. Today. Whatever you need from me, I’ll have it ready.”
“It’s not that simple. We need to complete the home study first, and we need a co-guardian who—”
“With all due respect, she’s my sister. I’m so grateful you’re calling me to let me know of her situation, but please, Sandra.
I…” I start crying, unable to control myself.
My chest feels pain similar to when my mom went to prison.
“I––I would really love to have her. She’s my little sister.
She should be with me. I will do anything, please. ”
Sandra’s quiet for a moment. “I understand your frustration. Let me make some calls. Can you be available this afternoon?”
The tears dry. It sounds like she’s taking me seriously. “Yes, of course. Anytime. Anything you need.”
“I’ll call you back.”
She hangs up, and I sit, staring at my phone, trying to process.
Zinnia needs me. And I’m here alone because all three guys are in Arizona.
I call Zephyr. It goes straight to voicemail.
Try Callum. Same thing.
Try Jax even though I know he won’t answer.
He doesn’t.
I text all three of them: CPS called. Zinnia’s placement fell through. Need help.
Then I call Marcus and sigh when I get his voicemail. I leave him a message and pace the house, wondering why absolutely no one is answering their phones. I walk back and forth for thirty minutes and check my phone every two seconds.
Finally, my phone rings. It’s Zephyr.
“Tiger? What’s wrong?” he says when I answer his call. He sounds out of breath.
“I’m okay, kind of. Just CPS called, and… Zinnia’s foster placement isn’t working. They want to move her, but they need a co-guardian and a completed home study, and I don’t know what to do.”
“Okay. When do they need this?”
“Today. This afternoon maybe. I don’t know. I’m waiting for a call back.”
“We left Arizona this morning, so we should be there in a couple of hours.”
Relief floods through me. “You’re coming back?”
“Yeah. The game was last night. We’re already on the road.”
“All of you?”
Pause. “Yeah. All of us.”
My chest tightens. I wonder if Jax can hear me.
“Okay. Okay. Thank you.”
“Text me when you hear from CPS again. We’ll figure this out.”
He hangs up right as I sit on the couch and try to breathe.
Two hours later, I hear trucks in the driveway.
I’m on my feet before I can think about it. I walk to the window and watch them unload their bags.
Zephyr. Callum.
And… Jax.
My heart stops when I see Jax. He looks tired. Angry. But he’s here… in front of me, and that makes my stomach fill with butterflies.
They walk in together. Zephyr sees me first.
“Hey. Any updates?”
“Not yet. Sandra said she’d call back and hasn’t yet.”
Callum drops his bag and walks over. It makes me smile because he doesn’t live here, but he should at this point. He pulls me into a hug and says, “It’s going to be okay.”
I nod against his shoulder even though I don’t know if I believe it.
When he pulls back, Jax is standing there, staring at me. I stare back as the silence stretches. Awkward. Heavy. I haven’t seen him in a long time. He’s been staying at his mom’s, and it’s killing me.
Then my phone rings. My heart races as I look at the screen. Sandra.
“Hello?”
“Miss Lopez. I have good news. We can do an emergency placement today if you have a co-guardian available.”
“I do. My—” I pause and look at Zephyr. “My partner. He’s over twenty-one.”
“Excellent. Can you both be at the office at two?”
“Yes. We’ll be there.”
I hang up and look at Zephyr. “They need us there at two. You have to sign papers as co-guardian.”
Zephyr looks at Jax.
Jax watches me, and then he says, “I’m taking you.”
“What?” I ask, confused.
“I’m taking you to CPS. I already talked to Marcus. He set this up.”
“What are you talking about?”
Jax exhales. “I’ve been working with Marcus since you were in the hospital, getting the paperwork ready, making sure we’d be approved. I’m the co-guardian. I finally got her out of that foster home.”
The words don’t make sense. “You... what?”
Zephyr and Callum exchange looks.
“You did this?” I ask. My voice sounds distant. “But… why?”
His jaw clenches. “Because Zinnia deserves better than the system. And you deserve to have her back.”
“But you—”
“Can we talk about this later?” His voice is hard. “We need to leave in twenty minutes to make it on time.”
I stare at him, trying to understand. I’m trying to process the fact that he helped me even while he was furious with me. I figured his disgust would’ve kept him at his mom’s house, but now I’m relieved he came back. He already knew this was going to happen, he just didn’t tell me.
“Okay,” I say finally. “Give me a second.”
I walk to my room, close the door, and stand there for a moment trying to catch my breath.
He came back. He set this up. He’s helping me.
But he’s still upset. Still distant. Still looking at me like I’ve broken something he can’t fix.
I change quickly and walk back out.
Jax is waiting in the kitchen with his keys in hand.
“Ready?” he asks.
“Yeah.”
Callum squeezes my shoulder as I walk past. “Good luck.”
Zephyr just nods. “Bring her home.”
The drive to CPS is silent.
Jax doesn’t turn on music. He doesn’t try to make conversation. He just drives with both hands on the wheel, jaw tight, staring at the road.
I want to say something. I want to clear the air. I wish we could talk this through, but I keep to myself. I know what he’ll say. We don’t want the same things, and I guess we have to be okay with that.
We pull into the parking lot, and he turns off the car.
Neither of us moves right away.
“Jax—”
“We should go in.”
“Can we just—”
“Tiger.” He finally looks at me. “I did this for Zinnia. Not to… win you over, okay?”
The words hurt more than they should.
“Okay,” I whisper.
We get out and walk inside, where Sandra is expecting us.
“Miss Lopez. Mr. Kingsway. Thank you for coming. Right this way.”
She leads us to a small office for more paperwork, more questions.
Jax answers everything calmly. Professionally. Like he’s expected this.
Income. Housing. Support system. Relationship to Zinnia.
“And your relationship to Miss Lopez?” Sandra asks, pen poised.
Jax’s jaw tightens. “Partner.”
The word feels wrong coming from his mouth. Too formal. Too distant.
Sandra makes a note and keeps asking questions.
By the time we’re done, an hour has passed. She collects all the paperwork.
“Everything looks good. I’m approving the emergency placement. You can take Zinnia home today.”
Relief crashes through me so hard I start to cry.
“Thank you,” I manage, wiping my tears away. “Thank you so much.”
“She’s in the next room. I’ll go get her.”
Sandra leaves. Jax and I sit there in silence.
“Thank you,” I say quietly. “For doing this.”
He just looks at me, and my insides melt. I want to kiss him, but I stop myself.
A moment later, the door opens, and Zinnia walks in holding a backpack.
She sees me and freezes.
“Lily?”
I stand up, my heart dropping. “Zinni.”
She gasps, “What are you doing here?”
I smile, tears springing to my eyes. “I’m taking you home.”
Her face crumples. She runs to me, and I catch her with my good arm, holding her tight.
“I thought you died,” she sobs into my shirt.
“Never. I’m not dying anytime soon.”
She cries, “I was so scared.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
She pulls back and sees Jax. “You’re the hockey player.”
“Hi, Zinnia,” Jax says. His voice is softer than I’ve heard it in days.
Zinnia wipes her face and turns to me, “He’s the one who broke in and stopped Dad from strangling you.”
My face heats at the thought. “Zinni—”
She walks over and hugs him. He’s surprised at first, glancing at me, and then he hugs her back. I let out a small whimper, seeing her hug him. I wipe my cheeks.
“Thank you,” she mutters into his shirt.
“You’re welcome, kid,” he says. His water-glazed eyes meet mine, and my heart cracks into two.
We sign the final papers. Sandra gives instructions about check-ins and the hearing in two weeks.
Then we’re walking out with Zinnia between us. She’s holding my hand, and I never want to let her go.
Jax opens the back door of his car, and Zinnia climbs in.
The drive home is different. Zinnia talks nonstop. About the foster home. About how happy she is to see me.
Jax actually responds. His mood has lightened completely. For a minute, I may have forgotten that he’s upset with me.
It’s confusing. Painful. Hopeful.
All at once.
When we pull into the driveway, Callum and Zephyr are waiting on the porch.
Zinnia’s eyes widen. “I remember them, too.”
“Yeah,” I say. “That’s Callum and Zephyr.”
We get out, and Zinnia immediately gravitates toward them.
Callum scruffs the top of her head, messing up her hair. “You must be Zinnia. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Are you guys all friends?”
“Yeah. And teammates. We all play on the same team,” Zephyr says.
She looks between all of us. “Teammates.”
He nods.
She looks at all of us and says, “This is a lot of people.”
“You’ll get used to it,” Callum says, grinning. “And I don’t live here. I’m just always here because… teammates.”
I smile at Callum, who’s smirking at me.
We go inside. Zinnia remembers coming to this exact house and immediately feels comfortable.
Jax mostly stays quiet, watching, but I catch him looking at Zinnia with something softer than the anger he’s been showing me.