16. JAGGER
Chapter sixteen
JAGGER
We’re making progress. It’s not easy to throw a bunch of new guys together and expect them to gel right away. But a little over two weeks in, we’re headed in the right direction.
Jess says we should do some sort of team-building activity, and maybe she’s right. There are a lot of different personalities in this group, and we need to bring them all together. It’s a classic truth: a team that clicks and works together can outplay even the most skilled and experienced opponents. I’m one of the oldest guys on the team, so I need to take on a leadership role and organize it. And I will. But not today.
Because it’s Sunday, and I’ve been waiting all week to be with Jess again. The late night at the playground is the only time we’ve been alone for the last five days. Yes, I’m counting. I’m always counting when it comes to her.
Counting down the minutes until we have a day off. Counting down the seconds until the end of practice just so I can walk by her office and smile at her.
I’ve noticed a lot of guys head in to see her throughout the day, but I do my best not to linger. It’s hard, but with Coach a few doors down from her, I don’t want him getting suspicious if I’m in there too much.
Sneaking in to write on her calendar has me feeling like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible. The first time I did it was no big deal; everyone was gone for lunch. But Friday when I snuck in to write “Glacier” in the corner of today’s date, things didn’t go quite as well.
That’s not entirely true. There was a highlight or two.
The team just finished lifting and the locker room was clearing out, so I jogged up to the second floor about the same time I did for my first note. The entire area was quiet.
Perfect , I thought.
I walked casually down the hallway just to double check. When I was sure it was clear, I jogged to Jess’s office and grabbed a pen. Just as I was finishing up the last letter of the word, I heard footsteps.
Why couldn’t I get one minute in here?
“Hey Coach,” I heard a voice say.
Talon. He’s a rookie from Florida. He was very quiet when he first got here but seems to be opening up a little every day, his surfer lingo becoming more prominent.
But it wasn’t a voice I wanted to hear right now because it meant I had three problems: him, Coach Bradley, and nowhere to hide. I shouted ‘bye’ to the guys when I left the locker room, claiming I was headed home. Being up here is going to look suspicious, especially if Coach pops his head in.
The voices grew louder, leaving only one place to go—under the desk.
I’m not the size of Troy, but I’m no Dax either, and the space under Jess’s desk is not conducive to hiding my six-foot frame. But there was no time to think about it, so I did my best to initiate Jagger stealth mode and shoved myself into the cramped area.
I heard the flop of a body into the chair in front of her desk, along with a heavy sigh. I assumed it had to be Talon. I sure hoped he wasn’t planning on hanging out very long, but as the moments ticked by, I heard him playing a game on his phone, clearly in no hurry.
“Tasty,” the phone declared in a deep voice.
What in the world?
“Sweet,” the same voice chimed a few seconds later.
My limbs were cramping quickly, but I was still frozen as the dings and crunching sounds continued. And then I got it.
Candy Crush.
It’s one of Jess’s favorite ways to unwind, second only to ice cream. It’s been so long since I’ve been around her while she was playing it, I forgot the celebratory jingles it makes. I’ve never known any guys to play it, but to each his own.
Just as I heard another “Sweet” ring out, I recognized Jess’s voice. “Hey there, Talon!”
There’s a sudden thud. I can only guess Talon wasn’t anxious for other people to know he’s a secret Candy Crush player and dropped his phone.
“Big winner?” Jess asked.
“What?”
“Candy Crush? Sounds like you were crushing it.” Jess laughed at her own joke, and Talon actually joined in a little. She’s so amazing. I’ve definitely never heard him joking around since he’s been here. Jess has an innate ability to connect with people.
“Um, maybe,” he mumbled.
“What’s your highest level?” she asked.
Talon cleared his throat. “Um, ten thousand, maybe?”
“Ten thousand?” Jess shrieked. “Wow! I’ve never gotten past eight hundred. You must be an expert.”
As much as I appreciated her ability to get Talon talking about his Candy Crush skills, and clearly, he has them judging by her reaction, my accommodations still aren’t five stars.
“I guess,” he conceded. I’m not sure Talon wanted Jess telling the team of his Candy Crush prowess.
I pushed Jess’s chair away from the desk when I dove under here. Her shoes came into view as she rounded the corner and stood near it. Then she sat and started sliding the chair in my direction.
It scraped against the floor as Jess pulled it in closer to the desk, and her feet unknowingly brushed against mine. I held my breath, pressing myself further into the shadowed corner under the desk.
From my vantage point, I saw her legs shift—she crossed one ankle over the other, completely oblivious to how close we were. Her fingers tapped lightly on the keyboard, the sound almost drowning out the pounding in my chest.
“So, what’s up? Something you want to talk about?” I’m sure Jess quickly figured out Talon isn’t here to talk about his secret love of eliminating colored candy from a game board.
There was a long pause before Talon answered. Jess scooted her chair even closer, her knee accidentally connecting with my jaw. I winced, biting my lip to keep silent. For a split second, she froze, then reached down to rub her leg while my head bobbed and weaved like I was in a boxing match to avoid her touch.
But I forgot I’m in a teeny tiny living space and whacked my skull against the inside of the desk. “You all right?” I heard Talon ask.
“Oh, uh, yea, just hit my knee. Not a lot of leg room under there. Bad design.”
I peered out from under my ledge. Jess’s eyes went wide when she saw me. I’m not sure who else she was expecting. Well, I guess she didn’t expect anyone to be under the desk in her office, especially not a six foot plus hockey player who’s crouched like he’s playing hide n’ seek by himself.
She returned her gaze forward while giving me a little kick to the side. “I’m fine. What’s going on with you, Talon? How can I help?”
Jess’s foot caught me in the ribs. She didn’t kick hard but if she was going to have a little fun with the situation, then so was I.
“Remember the woman I was telling you about…”
Talon was talking to Jess about a girl. I’ve clearly underestimated her ability to connect with people. Talon opening up is crazy.
“Yep. The travel blogger you met at the bike shop, right?”
Talon rides a bike. I really need to get to know my teammates better.
“Yes. Her name’s Willow. She’s just so…”
I listened as Talon talked endlessly about this Willow. It’s more words than he’s said combined since I arrived in Echo Ridge. He gushed about how she's unlike anyone he's ever met. That she's turned his world upside down in just a few days, but she's supposed to leave soon, on to the next stop in her traveling journey.
Does every guy sound the same when they meet the one they can't imagine life without? His words echoed what I felt. Well, I was too dumb to know it the first time around with Jess. But I’m not making that mistake again.
Hearing Talon’s words made me realize how much I want to be with her. Right. Then. But since I couldn’t pop up from under the desk, I had to take advantage of her leg’s proximity to me.
Jess was wearing dress pants and flats. My fingers found their way to her ankle, the bare skin between where her slacks ended and her shoes began. I gently traced my way around, slowly and teasingly.
Goosebumps leaped to the surface. Are ankle goosebumps a thing? I don’t know, but she had them, so they must be.
Jess shifted her body to move her legs away, but she wouldn’t escape that easily.
“What should I do?” Talon asked when he ended his monologue. He huffed and his chair squeaked from the sound of his shifting weight.
“"Well—” Jess began, then stopped abruptly as I contorted, trying to reach the ankle she had just moved out of my grasp. “You could—” Now my lips were on her skin. “Uh— Um—” She’s got the most sensitive ankles I’ve ever seen.
“Are you ok?” Talon asked. Jess sounded like she was speaking in Morse code with her stops and starts.
This was getting good. I removed her shoe quickly. I didn’t know about her ankle sensitivity, but I definitely knew how ticklish her feet were. One swipe of her arch and…
Jess’s knee jerked upward with the force of an erupting Mount Vesuvius. She gasped when it struck the metal, then moved quickly away from her chair.
I clamped my hand over my mouth to keep my composure. I don’t think it hurt, just surprised her.
“Jess, what’s going on? Are you having some kind of medical emergency? Do I need to go get Tina? Call 911?”
Isn’t he the sweetest? Talon wanted to call 911 because Jess had ankle goosebumps and ticklish feet.
“I’m ok, really. Just a little jumpy, haven’t gotten much sleep lately.” She started talking slowly, then went from zero to sixty at warp speed.
“Listen, Talon. I’ve always been a big fan of love, or at least I used to be.” Hearing that last part was upsetting. “There was a period—a rough patch, really, a few months, or maybe even years—when I wasn’t so sure. But I think I’m back to being a fan of love now. At least, I’m getting there, sort of, kind of, possibly. I mean, I haven’t quite found my happily ever after yet, but—"
I wanted to scream, “Yes, you have! I’m right here!”
“Jess? You’re sure you don’t need Tina?” Talon checked on her again.
She exhaled deeply, then laughed. “No. I’m good. What I was going to say was you only need five words to tell Willow how much she means to you.”
“Really. How’s that even possible?” Talon was skeptical.
So was I. I know the three words that have so much power, but clearly Talon’s not going to tell Willow he loves her after a few days. So, what is it, then?
“You look her in the eyes with all the intensity you feel inside. Don’t break your gaze, that’s critical. And you tell her, ‘You had me at Hello.’”
“You had me at Hello,” Talon repeats softly. "Dang. That’s good. Thank you, Jess.”
“Don’t thank me, thank Jerry Maguire.”
“Who?”
“Never mind,” she answered. “Just go get her.”