Chapter Sixteen
Sixteen
Jack
I’m trying to pay attention to what Ian is saying to Kyle, but my eyes keep wandering over to the kitchen station, where Abby is laughing at something Dee has just said. It’s probably a little obvious that I’m distracted, but I can’t seem to stop looking their way.
“Great shot, Kyle!” Ian claps me on the shoulder, forcing my head to snap back to the net where Kyle has just sunk the puck. “Right, Jack?”
“Great shot,” I stress, trying to seem like I actually saw it.
Kyle gives the both of us a toothy grin, and I have to admit, it does make me feel good to see it on him. I can remember what it was like being here, and being a part of this kid’s happiness is kind of thrilling. Even if I’m distracted as hell.
“How about we grab something to drink?” Ian asks Kyle. “You’ve been working really hard.”
Kyle nods enthusiastically. “I am thirsty.”
“Well, let’s go take care of that,” Ian says, patting his head. “You’ve earned it.”
Kyle skates after Ian like a puppy, but I follow behind a little slower, allowing myself to take in Abby’s still-laughing form without fear of being noticed.
This morning had been worrisome for a moment; it’s not unusual for me to put my foot in my mouth, but to make Abby think that last night was anything other than mind-blowingly good—not to mention making me almost feral to touch her again—was a new level of stupid, even for me.
And not just because it was mind-blowingly good, but also because it was just her.
I don’t think I ever allowed myself the daydream that Abby would let me touch her, and now that she has…
it occurs to me that I might have wanted to do so long before last night.
Maybe there was some part of me that knew she was too good for me; maybe that’s why I’ve hidden behind my teasing and my incessant jokes.
But the more I think about it, the more I think that last night wasn’t just some fluke, no—
I think I might be into Abby Thompson.
I think I might be really into her.
A fact that is all too obvious when she turns toward me, her gray eyes meeting with mine as a slight flush enters her cheeks.
Her blond hair is pinned back away from her face, making her open expression all the more noticeable.
And I am certainly noticing. I’m noticing all sorts of things I haven’t let myself linger on in the months since we’ve met.
Like the way the apples of her cheeks become more prominent when she smiles, as rare as it is.
The way her lower lip is slightly fuller than the top one.
The way her long neck slopes into delicate shoulders.
I’m noticing so many things that make me think I was an utter fool for ever thinking she was only pretty in an Ian way.
Abby is fucking beautiful all on her own.
She averts her gaze when I approach the counter where Dee is cleaning some dishes, organizing things and taking stock before her next play day—an event she organizes once a year for the kids at St. Michael’s, where the Druids players come out to put on an exhibition game—in a few months’ time.
I was happy to see that Ian invited his mom today, too—mostly because of her friendship with Abby and how much I know it means to her.
“What are we doing over here?” I say as I skate up, leaning over the counter.
Dee gestures toward an empty pot. “Just making sure there’s nothing that needs replacing.”
“And that takes three of you?”
“It could take four if you want to get back here and help,” Abby says with an arched brow.
I smirk back at her. “I’m doing important teacher work out here, in case you didn’t notice.”
“I noticed you doing a lot of daydreaming,” she points out.
My eyes round, my lips quirking. “Yeah…My bad. I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.”
It has the desired effect; the flush in her cheeks spreads down to the pale expanse of her neck, and there’s a strong desire inside me to lick that heated skin, to feel it give against my tongue.
“Oh, get along, both of you,” Dee chides. “I swear, you two are like kids sometimes.”
I want to tell her everything that’s wrong with that statement, but I keep my lips firmly shut.
I remember that Abby and I agreed to keep this…
thing between us a secret. Something that I agree is the best course of action, but then again—there is some small part of me that would enjoy the hell out of all their shocked expressions.
“I saw your shot out there, young man,” Christine says to Kyle, reaching to ruffle his hair at the edge of the counter. “That was great.”
Kyle beams up at her. “Thank you, ma’am.”
“Ma’am,” Christine scoffs good-naturedly. “Have I gotten so old?”
Ian pats Kyle’s shoulder. “He’s just being polite. Isn’t that right?”
“Yessir,” Kyle says immediately, looking up at Ian like he’s the sun.
It really is cute, how much the kid worships my best friend.
“You’d probably better head on over to the main building,” Ian says then. “Ms. Gulley will be looking for you.”
Kyle nods stoically. “But you’ll be back next week?”
“Of course I will,” Ian promises.
Kyle gives another toothy grin, and Ian ruffles his hair before he skates off toward the exit. Dee and Ian both watch him go, and it isn’t until he’s off down the chute carrying his skates that my sister speaks quietly.
“We’re going to try to adopt him.”
My mouth drops open, and everyone around us goes deathly quiet. It takes several seconds for my brain to catch up to my mouth, but when it does—
“The fuck? Really?”
Dee beams, nodding. “We’ve already been talking to Ms. Gulley about it. There’s a lot of paperwork, but…we’re optimistic.”
“But you’re not even married!”
Ian and Dee exchange a glance, looking sheepish.
“About that…” Ian says, rubbing at the back of his neck.
Dee giggles as she lifts her left hand, revealing a sparkling diamond ring that definitely wasn’t there the last time I saw her.
“Shut the fuck up!” I all but shout.
“Language,” Christine chides, even though her mouth is turned up in a grin.
Abby squeals as she grabs for Dee’s hand. “When did this happen?”
“Last night,” Dee says with a shy smile.
Ian leans over the counter from his side of the ice, smiling like a fool as he meets Dee’s lips for a kiss that is definitely less than proper as far as I’m concerned.
“All right, all right,” I grouse. “Enough canoodling. We get it. You’re in love.”
“We are,” Ian murmurs, pecking another kiss against Dee’s mouth.
I yank Ian away from my sister, pulling him into a hug, which is a lot harder to do in skates than one might think. “Happy for you, brother.” I snort. “Wow, I can really call you that now, huh? Maybe it’ll feel a little less incestuous.”
“It’s never been incestuous,” Ian says with a snort as he pulls away.
“When you guys do something, you don’t do it halfway,” Abby laughs.
“I know, I know,” Dee says. “It’s just…He’s such a good kid. And he adores Ian so much.”
“And we adore him,” Ian adds.
“Don’t you think it’ll be weird to start out your marriage with a kid?” I ask. “An older one at that.”
“It will be strange,” Dee concedes. She catches Ian’s eye, her expression softening. “But we’ve talked about it a lot, and it’s something we both want. We’re going to make it work.”
Christine moves to throw an arm around Dee’s shoulder. “I’m happy for the both of you.”
“Thank you,” Dee says, lips split in a wide grin.
It hits me then, that my baby sister is going to be starting her own family, and what it does to me is…
strange. I feel this odd sense of…not being needed.
Which is silly, because it’s been a long time since Dee really needed me.
But seeing her now, engaged and apparently with a kid on the way—it’s driving that fact home.
Abby catches my gaze, her brows furrowing, and I know it must show on my face, what I’m feeling. I do my best to wipe it away, forcing a smile instead.
“Wow, I’ve always wanted to be someone’s favorite uncle.”
“You’d be his only uncle,” Ian reminds me. “Kind of makes it not a fair competition.”
“Are you implying that if there was another uncle in the picture, I wouldn’t be the favorite?”
Dee smirks. “I’m sure you’ll be great.”
“Seriously though,” I tell her, leaning over the counter that separates the kitchen from the ice and placing my hand over hers. “I’m happy for you guys.”
My voice sounds thicker, and at any other time I might be embarrassed by that, but these people in this room are my family. I think I’m allowed to be a little emotional.
Dee’s eyes look a little shinier, and she reaches to wipe away an errant tear. “Thank you.” She lets out a watery laugh. “Now get those skates off so you can get over here and hug me.”
My eyes feel a little watery, too, when I rush to the edge of the ice to comply.
It’s much later, when everything is put away and Ian and Dee are packing up to go home, that I go looking for Abby. She took a phone call before we all left the rink and never came back. I find her around the back of the building, but she looks and sounds…off as I approach.
“—you shouldn’t even be calling me,” she’s saying.
Her brow is furrowed, and her mouth is pursed into a tight line, and her cheeks are a ruddy sort of pink, not at all like the pretty blush she was wearing earlier.
“Well, I wouldn’t have answered if you hadn’t used a different number,” she hisses.
I stall a few feet away, Abby still having not noticed me.
“You can’t keep doing this!” she says with a raised voice. “I don’t know what you want from me.”
I can hear an increasingly loud male voice on the other end of the line, each word making Abby look more and more upset.
“I know, but, Dad, you can’t just—”
Another bout of shouting from the phone, and then Abby winces, pulling it away from her ear entirely, apparently having been hung up on.
I can’t seem to keep my feet from moving then.
“Are you okay?”
Abby jolts, turning to me with wide eyes. Eyes that I realize are wet with unshed tears, which makes me immediately bristle as I rush to close the distance between us.
“Abby, what’s wrong?”