Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Jason
Me
Where are you now?
Hatch
Split
Me
Charming
Hatch
No, that’s where I am. It’s in Croatia. The town is built inside an ancient Roman palace. It’s gorgeous.
Me
Meet any nice Croatian girls?
Hatch
I’m not really in the market for that.
Poor kid. About ten days ago, my nephew had flamed out with Summer and now he was finding himself in Europe. But he hadn’t forgotten his girl.
Hatch
Summer’s doing great with her internship.
Me
You talked to her?
Hatch
No, Addy told me. I’m thrilled for her.
Remarkably mature for a kid barely out of diapers. I could learn a thing or two about acceptance, especially given the latest gossip from my old Boston Cougars teammate Dean Foster. He had messaged me this morning.
Ran into Everly last night with Coughlan. They’re engaged.
That she was halfway to hitched less than three months after our split hadn’t surprised me. Dean’s follow-up text had, though.
And pregnant.
If I hadn’t figured it out before, that clued me in real quick. Not father material.
Was I like my old man? I was so sure I wasn’t. How he had treated my brother Theo had disgusted me, while his Act Two with me and Sean had hardened my heart. Maybe even soured me on relationships.
But not the ones with my family. I loved my nephews and nieces, like they were my own, which at this rate might have to suffice. Everly obviously didn’t think I was good enough for that kind of life. She saw something lacking in me.
Not so different from Dr. St. James.
Mental headshake. Who cared what that brainiac thought? It wasn’t as if I wanted to give her my sperm.
The thought tugged at my groin. Not sexy. But maybe a little? Sperm delivery was inevitably connected with sex and orgasms and smooth skin and messy hair …
Knowing the professor, she wouldn’t even want to do it the old-fashioned way. She probably had some sort of meth lab setup in her apartment with test tubes and syringes and specimen cups. Clinical. Cold.
But she didn’t seem so clinical or cold when I ran into her last week. If anything, she seemed off her game, all because I bought her a cup of tea and a cinnamon roll and whipped out my big … vocabulary.
That pretty blush on her cheeks was still on my mind as was the way she stepped away—or practically stumbled—but couldn’t stop looking at my mouth.
So I might have imagined some of that. Still, I liked the idea I might be able to throw her off that righteous path she had carved out to skip right over me.
“Uncle Jason!”
“Tillington!”
In Theo’s backyard, I scooped up my rambunctious niece into my arms. It was kind of weird that my brother was still pumping them out at his elderly age, but he’d sworn Tilly was the last. His little accident was my favorite.
“I can’t believe you’re finally four years old.”
Frowning, she blew out a breath that ruffled a dark curl curtaining her green eyes. “Five!”
“You sure?”
“I’m five. Years. Old. Today’s my birthday.” A wave behind her head referenced the gathering of people on site to celebrate this important milestone.
“Cool, cool. So I’m guessing four, I mean, five-year-olds are probably too old for presents, right?”
A vigorous back-and-forth of her head. “No.”
“But you must have gotten so many, too many to even be bothered with mine.” I gave her a squeeze. “I’ll just give it to another little girl. Mabel would probably like it.”
“No! She wouldn’t!” Tilly usually adored Mabel, my teammate Lars Nyquist’s toddler daughter, but apparently there were limits to any bestie friendship.
I placed her down and she stood before me, hands on hips, her expression radiating “don’t fuck with me” vibes.
Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a small mesh bag and handed it to her. Her shamrock-melted eyes lit up as she pulled on the drawstring and withdrew the gift, a friendship bracelet with letter beads.
I squatted down to meet her on her level. “Can you read what’s on there?”
She examined it closely, her cute button nose twitching with the effort. “T-I-L—that’s my name!”
“Yup. And there’s more. J-A-S-O-N, that’s me, and a heart. Know what that says?”
“Jason loves Tilly!”
“He sure does. I figured you’re getting a million gifts, but maybe you’d like something special for you and me.”
She hugged me, and I closed my eyes and smelled her hair. Fuck Everly for making me feel I wasn’t good enough for this.
She drew back. “Should be Tilly loves Jason.”
“Why can’t it be both?” I turned the bracelet around. “It’s just a different way of looking at it.” I helped her put it on. “But also …” I pulled out another one from my jeans pocket and put it on my wrist. I’d had fun making them. I didn’t even try to palm the task off on my cleaning lady.
“Samesies!” She screeched. “Daddy! Look what Uncle Jason got me.”
Taking his eye off the grill for a quick second, Theo said, “Cool. He also put some money in your college fund, though I told him not to bother because everyone’s doing that.”
“We’re saying no to money gifts now?”
Uncaring of the size of her college fund, Tilly ran off to show everyone her bracelet. For a few precious moments, I was the prince of presents.
My brother looked on indulgently, then turned to me. “Now use your uncle-sized influence to bring Hatch home.”
“He needs to be a sad boy for a while. We’ve all been there.”
Theo sighed. “But not usually with the woman who jilted a teammate.”
“You Kershaws don’t make it easy.”
My brother snorted. “Like you’re not one of us. Plenty of woman trouble in your life, but not a lot of attention to finding the one.”
The one. I didn’t think about that too often, or at least not since Everly.
Not that she was up on that pedestal. Realpolitik was what they called it when world leaders didn’t let ideology get in the way of practical decision-making.
That was me, when it came to relationships, a practitioner of Real Relationships.
The child of divorced parents, who saw love and women with a clear, non-rosy gaze.
While I’d witnessed plenty of successful marriages, my parents’ go around the carousel was not inspiring.
But then I saw Theo and Elle and their boisterous brood, and something inside me keened with want.
My nephews and nieces were the best, and while childless people joked about how great it was to give them back after a babysitting gig, I never did.
I loved kids; I just didn’t appreciate the hoops I would have had to jump through to get one.
Tilly was running around, showing everyone her bracelet. Most people were nodding absently or ruffling her hair before returning to their conversations, but one person bent down to take a closer look. The professor herself.
Maybe she was checking my spelling.
I hadn’t noticed her arrival—no whiff of Sulphur—but now I took a closer look. Rolled up jeans, white tennis shoes, a white shirt that had some transparency to it in the late afternoon August sun. I could just about make out a dark bra strap …
She looked up, caught my eye, and Lord have mercy, did not sneer.
Ladies and gentlemen, civility has entered the building.
“Well, look who it is,” Theo said, as my nephew, Landon, came out with a bag of hot dog rolls. “Sure you don’t need sunglasses? Looking a bit squinty there, Vampire Boy.”
“Funny, Dad. Hey, J.” Landon, Conor’s twin, grinned at me. Smart as a whip, he had just graduated from the University of Michigan and was working on a dating app in his parents’ basement. Hence, my brother’s jibe about his need for eye protection.
“You made your first million yet?”
“It’s not about the money. Just trying to help the right people find each other.” He winked. “But when I sell it, it’ll be worth a lot more than that.”
These kids with the confidence levels through the roof. Had I ever been this cocky?
“Damn,” Theo murmured.
“What?”
“I need the Kaiser buns. They’re Addy’s favorite.”
Landon made to turn around, but I put a hand on his arm.
“I can get them.” That errand would take me past the doc, and maybe I could poke her some more. Verbally.
Because poking her any other way was not on my agenda.
I headed toward the kitchen just as Franky stood and Tilly moved on to her great-grandma, Aurora. The professor saw me approach, but she didn’t turn away.
“What’s up, Doc?”
Her eyes narrowed, evident suspicion at my friendly tone her instinctive reaction. I couldn’t blame her. I had been somewhat of a dick to her about her baby plan, and while I could say she started it with her opinions on the brain size of athletes, I hadn’t helped by stoking the fire.
“Just chatting with Tilly about her gift. She loves it.”
My social butterfly niece was now showing off to Nyquist’s toddler daughter Mabel, currently being cradled by Adeline, who was her mom in all the ways that mattered. These children mothering children.
“Just something fun. Kids these days with their jet skis and cars, sometimes gift-giving needs the personal touch.”
“And you made a matching one?” Gently, she gripped my wrist and raised it so she could see better. I couldn’t recall us ever being skin to skin before. That sudden charge was shock at her deigning to touch me—nothing else.
“You made this yourself?”
“Surprised I have that kind of dexterity with my digits?”
That’s right, Doc. More big words, with a touch of alliteration and innuendo thrown in for good measure.
She raised her cool blue gaze to mine. “Not surprised at your dexterity, just at what you consider to be a good use of your time.”
“My family is always a good use of my time.”
It came out sounding defensive. With this woman, I couldn’t seem to go longer than a minute without feeling that burr under my saddle.
“I didn’t mean to criticize.”
“Sure sounded critical.” Yeah, turn it back on her. “But hey, you can’t help what you think of me, can you?”
“J!” My brother called out. “Buns, dude!”
“Excuse me, I have an errand to run. For my family.”
Before she could respond, I left, feeling vaguely irked and supremely dissatisfied. Not sure what I was looking for from that encounter, but I was damn certain I didn’t get it.