Chapter 11
Jaylynn
Penn comes back to our table at the inn, a plate full of crispy bacon. I arch a brow and he gives me a warning look as he points a finger at me. “Don’t tell Coach.”
I cock my head. “Oh, and what do I get for keeping your secret?”
“Something very special,” he tells me with a playful wink as I reach over and steal a piece of bacon.
“Something more special than clogged arteries, and a future bypass?” I ask, and he laughs. “Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me.”
“What secret?” Jaxon asks, as he steps up to us. He glances at Penn’s plate, cringes, and then tries to hide his own when he says, “Dude, that stuff is going to make you sluggish today.”
“You’re one to talk,” I shoot back, protecting Penn as I point at the plate he’s trying to hide.
He hangs his head. “Yeah, okay. Busted.”
“Join us,” I say.
His brow lifts. “Yeah?”
Penn waves his hand, but that nervousness is back. “Sure.”
Jaxon pulls out a chair and sits and I take another big drink of my coffee. A young boy at the table next to us turns, his eyes wide as he sees the two NHL players sitting together. I gesture with a nod. “You guys have a fan.”
They glance at the boy, and his parents try to turn him, but the guys give him a wave. “You playing today?” Jaxon asks Penn.
“Not that you need an enforcer for a friendly holiday game with kids,” he jokes with a laugh.
“Actually,” Jaxon says. “Why don’t you take left wing?”
“Left wing? You want me on the same line as you?” he responds, and reaches for his coffee.
“Actually, yeah,” he responds casually. “But why don’t you play against me? It’ll be fun.”
“Yeah, sure. I guess. If Coach wants me there.” He takes a sip of his coffee, as more people enter the inn’s guest dining area.
“Grab a beer tonight?” Jaxon asks.
Penn nods, looking unsure when he answers. “Uh, yeah sure.”
“Beer tent!” I once again blurt out like an idiot.
“How about we show up for one drink, then sneak out and hit up Freemans and play some pool?” He shakes his head and glances around, then he leans in. “I love my parents, and this inn, and Christmas, but a guy can only take so much peppermint.”
“Preach,” I shoot back and we all laugh. Just then, said parents walk into the dining room.
“Jaxon,” his mom Fiona says, coming up behind him. He stands and gives her a hug and I note the uncomfortable way Penn shifts. “I can’t believe you have to leave tomorrow. You just got here.”
“I know. But I’ll be back. Nothing is keeping me from Christmas dinner.” He hugs his dad, and that’s when Penn shifts even more.
“Penn, it’s so good to have you staying with us,” his dad Donovan says. “You and Elaine are welcome to join us for Christmas dinner.”
“Thank you,” Penn says. “That’s very kind, but we’ll be having dinner with family.” He smiles at me and I reach across and put my hand over his.
“Ah, so it’s true,” Donovan says as Jaxon’s gaze goes back and forth between us. “Wedding bells in the future.”
Jaxon’s brow crinkles. “You mean…you two…”
“We’re engaged,” I blurt out, and Jaxon sits back, a strange expression on his face. Sure, Jaxon caught us in bed together, but an engagement is a whole other thing.
“I actually didn’t even know you two knew each other all that well,” he mumbles.
That clearly seems to be the consensus. “Oh, it’s a long story.
” I give a dismissive wave. “But yes, we’re engaged.
No big plans yet. Mom is set on the country club of course, but we could have a winter wedding.
” All eyes are on me, and for some reason I can’t seem to stop babbling.
I glance at Penn, needing him to come to my rescue.
“We have lots of time to make plans.” He gives me a slow, easy smile that helps calm me. “Right now, you have a festival to run.”
“Are you two enjoying the peppermint honeymoon suite?” his mom asks.
“It’s perfect.”
She grins. “What do you think of the mistletoe alarm?”
I pause. Do I tell her the truth?
Penn links his fingers through mine. “We think it’s fun.”
“Oh, good,” she says and claps her hands. “Okay, we’ll leave you for breakfast. We’ll see you guys at the game this afternoon.”
Jaxon sits back down, quieter now as he studies us. “Jaylynn,” he finally says. I lift my brow and he continues. “Are you moving back to Boston?”
“I…well…right now. The festival.”
“We’re just taking things slow,” Penn says.
Jaxon snorts out a laugh. “Doesn’t look that way to me.” He shakes his head. “Sorry, I’m not judging. In fact,” he begins, and wipes his mouth with his napkin. “Did you know our team’s media relations officer is moving?”
“What no.” I sit up a bit straighter, my heart jumping, but I try to calm myself. Honestly, I can’t let myself get too excited about anything. I’ve got nothing but rejection after rejection since #GobbleGate.
“Yeah, I just heard about it before I came home.” He glances at Jaxon. “You know Deanna, right? Married to Mackenzie?”
Mackenzie is on the fourth line like me. I didn’t know he was married to the PR officer, though. But I mostly keep to myself so there’s a lot I don’t know. “Yeah,” is all I say.
“Mac is going to Pittsburgh. She’s going with him. The position is going to be open. Maybe you should apply. I’ll put in a good word for you.”
“Are you serious?” Honestly, it’s a dream job.
Calm down, girlfriend. After all the rejections, you know better than getting too excited.
“Totally serious. Penn could put a good word in for you too.”
“Uh, after the incident, I’m not sure my word is worth much.”
“Yeah, well.” He grins at me before tuning his focus to Penn. “If anyone can clean up your image, it’s Jay.” He makes a fist, turns back to me, and gently nudges my chin.
OMG, does he know we’re pretending? Wait, no that’s crazy. He can’t. Right? Even if he did, no big deal. He needs Penn’s image cleaned up for the team and he clearly cares about me. Our families do go way back.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” My phone pings, and I reach for it.
I read a message from Garrett. “Shoot, Garrett was supposed to go to the country club to get the star for the town’s life-size nativity set.
Apparently, it somehow got boxed up with the club’s float last year. He’s tied up. I’m going to have to go.”
“Right now?” Penn frowns. “You’re not staying for the game?”
“I can go after the game.”
“Snow is coming later tonight,” Jaxon informs me. “A good eight inches.”
Eight inches.
Gulp.
Penn sets his mug down. “I’ll take you. I have the SUV. If we’re getting pounded with eight inches, it’s safer.”
Pounded.
Do they have any idea what they’re saying? Wait, are they messing with me? I eye them. They don’t seem to be. Yeah, okay. Sure. I have the maturity of a twelve-year-old boy, but still…can we stop talking about getting pounded by eight inches already.
“I’m sure we can get there and back before too much falls.”
“That would be great, Penn.” I set my utensils on my plate and stand. “Right now I have to hit up Main Street and get voting boxes out for the displays.”
“Sounds fun,” Jaxon grumbles.
I pause. “That means you want to help Penn and me out,” I tease.
His phone pings. “Actually, if you need help, sure, but—” His face drops when he looks at his phone, and then his head lifts, to see his ex-fiancée walking into the room. When she starts toward him, I suck in a breath and hold it. Those two have history, and not the good kind.
“We’ve got it covered,” I blurt out. Penn looks bewildered by our reactions and I wave him up. “Come on. I need your help to carry…um, the ballot boxes.”
He gives me an odd look and stands. When he does, Jaxon’s ex slides into his seat, and I can feel the tension in the room growing. Penn grabs his plate and I snatch up mine. We set them in the bin and leave the dining area.
“What’s going on?”
“Have you been living in a cave?” I ask him.
“Not that I know of. I mean, Elaine’s place is on the outskirts, and I haven’t been back in a while.”
“That was Jaxon’s ex.” I point to the dining area as we walk past reception toward the hall to our room, passing the blazing fire and the sparkling tree. As soon as we reach the threshold of the hall, an alarm goes off and I nearly jump out of my shoes.
“What the—”
Jaxon’s mother claps her hands, and new guests coming inside turn to see us, no doubt wondering why I’m in the middle of a cardiac arrest.
“Mistletoe alarm,” Penn informs me and points overhead.
“Ooh, it works.” Fiona grins from ear to ear.
“I think we might need to turn the volume down,” Donovan says as he cringes.
You think?
“Okay you two lovebirds, you know what that means.” Fiona points up as all eyes turn our way.
“Just go with it,” Penn says and pulls me into his arms. I lift my face to his and he dips his head, his lips closing over mine, and for a second, I lose myself in him, forget that we have an audience watching us. Honestly, I could stay in his arms, lips locked like this all day.
Donovan clears his throat and when I inch back, heat moves into my face.
“That was fun,” I joke. I turn to Fiona who is beaming at us.
The woman truly loves Christmas. I mean, I do too, but the mistletoe alarms are overkill.
A cold breeze rushes in and when the door opens and the second Fiona turns her attention to her guests, I grab Penn’s hand and hurry down the hallway.
Once inside our room, I head to the bathroom and brush my teeth, and when I come back out, Penn is staring out the window. “You okay?” I step up to him and place my hand on his back.
“I am.” He turns to me, and pulls me against him. The movement is so natural and easy, it’s like we’ve been together for years. “Should I be worried about Jaxon?”
“He’s a big boy. He can work things out.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t have bailed. What happened between them, anyway?”
“It’s kind of sad really. They were engaged—”
“Jaxon was engaged?”
I cock my head and study his face. “You really don’t know much about him, do you?”
“Not really.”
“You’re teammates. Aren’t teammates supposed to play and party together?”
A measure of sadness falls over him. “I haven’t been with the team long.”
“Do the guys not invite you out?”
“They do.”
“You don’t go.”
He looks over my head, his thoughts miles away. “I’m a team player,” he murmurs almost to himself. “I’m a bit of a loner outside the rink.”
I pull him against me, hold him tight. “There’s nothing wrong with being a loner, Penn. But it seemed to me that Jaxon was trying.”
“Yeah. I just…” he exhales. “This is going to sound strange.”
“Hey, we’re engaged,” I tell him playfully. “You can tell me anything.”
“I don’t think I’m really good at bonding. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because…”
I don’t want to say anything to upset him, but add, “You didn’t have a lot of stability in your life, or a father figure?”
His throat makes a sound as he swallows. “Yeah, maybe.”
“You’re part of the team, Penn. As much a part as Jaxon and any of the other guys are. I know you’re new and—”
“What if I get sent back down?”
There it is. One of the biggest reasons he’s afraid to bond with the guys.
“You’re good at what you do. Dad wouldn’t have sent you up if you weren’t.”
“He said something weird to me last night.”
“Oh?”
“He said something about believing I can do more…believing in myself.” He struggles, like he’s trying to find Dad’s exact words.
“Maybe he just means you could be more…on the ice?”
“I do my job,” he shoots back almost defensively. “I do what I’m supposed to. If I…” He lets his words fall off again, like we’re broaching a subject that’s just too painful to voice.
“Have you tried doing more?” I ask very carefully, not wanting to upset him. “What was that Jaxon said about you playing winger with him? Have you ever thought about what else you can do on the ice?”
“He only meant for this game,” he says.
I think about what he said about his mom.
That he thought she’d come back if he did everything right, became what people wanted.
Then maybe she’d see his value—keep him.
He’s afraid to put himself out there. To try something different.
Because if he’s not good enough, he won’t be valued, and he’ll be sent down… left behind.
My heart aches for the little boy who was dropped on his aunt’s doorstep. “What if he didn’t?” I ask, knowing his fears of trying and failing. “What if Jaxon sees something else in you?”