Chapter 34
THIRTY-FOUR
Rourke
I wake up to the sound of Aria babbling and the smell of something incredible baking in the tiny cabin kitchen. For a moment, I just let it wash over me—the familiar sounds of home and the complete absence of the usual dread that’s haunted me for twenty-eight years.
Until recently, I thought this kind of happiness was impossible for me. But now I realize: this is what Christmas is supposed to feel like.
“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Janie says when I come out to the kitchenette. She’s still wearing my jersey, along with a smile that makes my heart skip a beat. “Someone’s been asking for you for the past twenty minutes.”
I scoop Aria up, then give her a kiss on her belly which makes her giggle like crazy. “Merry Christmas, baby girl.” Then I turn back to Janie, sweeping my mouth over hers. She tastes like coffee and vanilla and her usual holiday scent.
“And merry Christmas to you,” I murmur against her lips before noticing that something in the oven smells like cinnamon. “Wait. Are you making cinnamon rolls?”
“Mmm-hmm,” she says, looking pleased with herself as she hands me a cup of coffee.
“On top of all this stuff, you remembered half your pantry?”
“Actually, no,” she says, a sheepish grin curving her mouth as she pulls a tray of rolls from the oven. “The woman I interrupted last night from the next cabin over said they had extra, so she gave me some.”
“How did I get so lucky?” I wrap an arm around her waist and leave a kiss on the curve of her neck.
“I asked myself the same thing this morning,” she says, beaming up at me.
I still can’t fathom how this incredible woman brought Christmas to my doorstep, then scrounged up cinnamon rolls too.
When I reach for a roll, she slaps my hand away lightly. “You’re going to make Aria wait for her presents?”
I open my mouth, then think better of it. Breakfast can wait, although I’m not sure my stomach agrees. When Aria lets out a happy squeal of agreement, I crumble. She’s got me wrapped around her little finger. “Of course I wouldn’t make my little princess wait.”
She takes Aria from my arms and heads toward our little Christmas plant, where a small pile of gifts sits underneath. She sets Aria on the floor before placing a wrapped gift in front of her, which Aria just stares at.
“I don’t think she knows what to do,” I say, settling on the floor next to her and loosening an edge to show her how to rip paper.
Then Aria tries. As soon as she gets the paper in her hands, she tears it and then…cackles.
It’s the cutest thing. And then she does it again.
“I think she’s more interested in the paper than the actual present,” Janie says around a laugh.
By the time Aria opens the gift, a copy of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, she’s still shredding leftover paper.
Just as I’m about to suggest digging into cinnamon rolls before they get cold, my phone buzzes with a video call notification from our Crushers group thread.
“Should I answer it?” I ask Janie, holding up my phone. Luckily, Janie brought a charging cord with her, so by morning, I had no less than twenty-five messages waiting for me, most of them frantically asking where I was.
“They probably want to know if I made it,” she says, getting up to pour herself another cup of coffee. “And if you’re still alive.”
I accept the call, and immediately a grid of squares fills the screen, showing me my teammates in various states of holiday chaos.
Brax and his brother, Vale, are at Rose & Thorn with what looks like a wrapping paper explosion behind them.
Tate is in the car with Lauren on their way to her family celebration.
Miles is at the airport waiting to catch a flight home.
Leo is on the couch with Victoria, cuddling in that ridiculously happy way.
And Brendan is offscreen, but judging by the obnoxiously lavish tree behind him, he’s most likely at Mr. Marco’s house.
The only one missing from our usual conversation is Jaxon, who’s probably still asleep.
“Well, well,” Leo says. “Look who’s not sulking alone on Christmas morning.”
Brax appears in the frame. “Janie! You made it.”
“With a little help,” she says.
“Jaz and I were worried about you and Aria. We were catching up Vale and Sloan on the situation.”
We wave to our old teammate Vale, who now plays for the NHL team in Tampa and lives there with his wife, Jaz’s sister.
“Tate, how’d you even know where to tell Janie to find me?” I ask.
“The process of deduction,” Tate says. “We figured if Janie was crazy enough to drive there on Christmas Eve, she’d probably track you down.”
Janie leans into the camera view. “Honestly, it was a team effort.”
“Wow, she’s wearing your jersey?” Miles blurts out, then immediately turns red. “Sorry. I thought she hated hockey.”
Leo snorts. “Smooth, rookie.”
Miles frowns. “Well, there’s this girl from high school who still won’t wear my jersey, and I’ve been trying for like three years…”
“Miles,” Janie says gently, “the secret isn’t the jersey. It’s the game-day suit.”
My head whips toward her. “You never mentioned that before.”
“Wasn’t it obvious at Marco’s party?” She gives me an innocent glance.
“Speaking of that party,” I say, scanning the screen, “where’s Brendan? I want an update on the Scarlett situation.”
“Present and hiding,” comes Brendan’s voice from off-camera.
“He’s mortified about his karaoke performance,” Brax whispers loudly.
“No, I’m not.” Brendan’s face finally appears on screen with a scowl. “And it wasn’t karaoke. It was a grand gesture.”
“Right, a failed gesture,” Leo concludes.
“Define failed,” Brendan mutters. “Because I had her laughing.”
“At you,” Leo clarifies.
“Did you get the girl?” Miles asks.
“Well, no.” Brendan drags a hand through his hair. “She won’t even give me the time of day now. Says we can only be friends.”
“Ouch.” I wince. “Friend zone. That’s rough.”
“You know what might change her mind?” Leo says. “Groveling. Lots of groveling.”
The guys erupt into laughter.
Brendan leans back, crossing his arms. “You don’t think I can just be friends with her?”
Brax chuckles. “Nope, but good luck trying.” He gives two thumbs-up to the screen.
Brendan huffs. “What am I going to tell my family, then?”
“What do you mean?” Tate asks.
He sighs. “I may have told them I was seeing someone. And they’re expecting to meet my girlfriend at some point.”
“But you don’t have a girlfriend,” Miles points out.
“Thanks for that insight, genius,” Brendan snaps.
“Why’d you tell them that?” Leo asks.
“Because they’ve been on my case about settling down ever since my sister got engaged a few months ago. I thought if I told them I was seeing someone, they’d back off. All I needed was a name.”
“What name did you give them?”
Brendan pauses for a second. “Scarlett.”
Tate pinches the bridge of his nose. “You really didn’t think this through, did you?”
“At some point, I thought I could ask her for a favor and have her show up as my girlfriend, but that was before what happened at the Christmas party.” Brendan shakes his head, clearly regretting everything about that night.
“Let me get this straight,” Leo says slowly. “You want to ask the girl who friend-zoned you to pretend to be your girlfriend in front of your entire family?”
He frowns. “When you put it like that, it sounds worse.”
“Because it IS worse,” Tate says. “The probability of that ending well is approximately zero percent.”
“What could go wrong?” Brendan asks defensively.
“Everything,” I mutter.
“Just tell them you broke up,” Leo says.
“And ruin their Christmas?” he asks, his eyes flying wide.
“Or, I don’t know…how about you tell them truth?” Miles says with an innocent shrug.
“The truth? What a revolutionary concept,” Leo deadpans. “Next you’ll suggest he should actually talk to Scarlett like an adult.”
Brendan holds up his hands in surrender. “Listen, I’m not going to ruin their Christmas, so I’ll make up some excuse, then drop a big announcement that’s going to make them so happy.”
“What big announcement?” Tate asks.
Brendan pauses. “You didn’t get the email?”
“It’s Christmas,” Tate reminds him. “No one is checking email.”
“I checked my email this morning!” Miles says.
“Okay, no one except rookies,” Tate clarifies.
“Guess who just got hired as assistant coach?” Brendan says.
“What?” Brax yells. “You’re the new AC? Congratulations, man!”
“Yep,” he says, smiling for the first time since the video call started. “Now I just need to prove that Uncle Marco isn’t the reason I got the job.”
“You will,” Brax says. “Guess we have two things to celebrate when we’re all back together.”
“Two things?” I ask. “What’s the other one?”
“It’s part of the reason we called,” Brendan says. “Mr. Marco couldn’t reach you to tell you himself, so he asked us to pass it along. You won the volunteer challenge.”
My stomach drops. “I won?”
“You get the bonus, and the organization gets the matching donation,” Brax adds.
“Wait…” I can barely process this. “The school gets twenty thousand dollars?”
“Yep.” Brax grins.
Janie’s hands fly to her mouth, her eyes going wide. “Twenty thousand?” She practically shouts in my ear, “Oh my gosh, Rourke! Do you know what this means?”
She grabs me by the shoulders, having totally forgotten we’re still on camera.
“We can hire an assistant director for the pageant! Or buy new costumes for every kid! Or put it toward next year’s set!
” She stops, pressing a palm over her eyes now.
“I can’t believe this. The kids are going to be thrilled! ”
“But why me?” I ask, still stunned.
“Word got back to Mr. Marco how much you hated this time of year,” Brendan explains. “He didn’t come to the pageant, but he got dozens of emails about it. Said he knew it took a lot for you to fulfill your hours, and then you kept going beyond what was required.”
Janie reaches over and squeezes my hand. “You earned this,” she says softly. “You changed so many kids’ lives this year.”