Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Franky
My sister had many good attributes: she was a great cook, a loyal friend, and a mixologist par excellence. But her ability to craft a cheese plate was probably her most underrated talent. I sighed at seeing it laid out like a Bake-Off showstopper on her coffee table.
Summer nudged me. “You, too, huh?”
“I love a good cheese board.” I would have to stay away from the Brie and feta, but the hard cheeses were fair game.
“Are you sure you don’t want a martini, Franky?” Adeline handed off a Cosmo to Summer, who took a seat on the sofa, an iPad in her lap.
“No, I’m fine. I’ve a slight headache so I’ll stick with the water.” I was going to have to come up with better excuses during these early weeks of my pregnancy.
Esme Fitzpatrick sipped a dirty martini.
A good friend of Rosie and Adeline, she was the daughter of Tara, the Rebels’ hair stylist, and Hale Fitzpatrick, a former general manager.
I didn’t know her that well, as she was much younger than me and had recently moved back to Chicago after graduating from NYU.
“Franky, those boots are gorgeous. Frye, I’m guessing?”
They were my favorites, a warm brown and well-worn. “Good eye. ’Tis the season and all that.”
Lauren came rushing in. “Sorry I’m late, guys.
One of my players needed to be talked off the ledge.
He thinks he offended a veteran player at a cookout when he told him he didn’t like red onion in the man’s guac.
” She shook her head. “That’s me. Therapist to the rookies. Ooh, look at that sexy cheese board!”
Once a month we met for Bonking Book Club, a reading group focused on romance. This month, we were reading a super sexy enemies to lovers historical, and I was looking forward to taking my mind off Jason and whether he was having sex with someone in the present.
Rosie came in with a sleeve of crackers because you could never have too many carbs. “Before we get started, could we talk about how amazing Hatch played last night in Dallas? That third period was phenomenal!”
“And your man and Isner in those waning moments?” Lauren spoke to Adeline, referring to her boyfriend Lars, who also had a great game. “I didn’t think we’d ever see a better pairing on the D-line than Theo and Nyquist, but those boys are gellin’ like Magellan.”
There was some chatter about the game, and I offered a few comments, so it didn’t look like I was trying to avoid conversation about Jason.
Summer smiled and held up her iPad. “Should we talk about the book? I had no idea these Regency ladies were so forward-thinking.”
“Oh, first, we need to get a caption for this.” Esme held up her own iPad, but not to an electronic page of text. This was a photo.
Of Jason in a bar with a woman.
My heart clattered wildly, and I wished my glasses would fall off my face and shatter into a million pieces.
She was cute and blonde and pert, and with that pink cowboy hat, likely Texan.
This was probably taken at a post-celebration drink after one of the games—they had won both—with Jason partaking of the spoils of victory.
In the world of professional hockey, that generally involved the soft, sensual comforts of a woman.
Her head was tilted up, her eyes adoring, her breasts perking. With their mouths close, the pheromones practically wafted from the screen.
“Oh, Uncle Jason!” Adeline grinned. “So nice to see him meeting someone. I think he was bummed after he broke up with Everly.”
“Hatch said he’s been kind of a bear on the road trips,” Summer added. “Hopefully this helped relieve some of the stress.”
Lauren shuddered. “He’s both a friend and a client, and I really don’t want to think of him with Miss Perky Texan Tits, thanks very much.”
Cosigned. Thank you, Lo.
Esme gestured with her glass toward me. “Speaking of action, how’s the baby plan?” My desperation was still a hot topic in Rebels circles.
“Still working through my list. I want to be sure I make the best decision.”
Summer looked at me approvingly. “Iconic.”
“That’s my sis.” Rosie smiled and winked at me.
Adeline opened her mouth to ask a follow-up question, I assumed. Lauren cut her off. “I’m dating someone!”
My baby fever was instantly forgotten as everyone peppered Lauren with questions about her love life.
She was rather coy about it but caught my eye, which confirmed that she had fallen on her sword for me.
I sent her a look of gratitude. I doubted she knew about my pregnancy, but she did know that Jason and I were trying.
Adeline clapped her hands. “Okay, book club time. And then we can catch up with our other not-so-guilty pleasure.”
Summer looked confused. “What’s that?”
Lauren gave a sly grin. “Oh, you’ll see.”
I opened my Kindle e-reader to the highlights of our book club choice and put thoughts of Jason and Miss Perky Texan Tits from my mind.
“So the five characteristics of Annelida are a segmented body, also known as …”
“Metamerism,” someone called out.
“Correct. What else?”
“Bilateral symmetry?” another student weighed in. “And a coelom. Not sure if I’m pronouncing that right.”
I nodded at Gina Alvarez, one of the more promising students in my class. “Yes, a coelom is a body cavity. Annelida also have what else?”
No one offered to complete the list, so I finished it for them.
“A closed circulatory system and a well-developed nervous system. The average earthworm has incredibly complex internal organs.”
I clicked to a slide showing a drawing of an earthworm’s coelom. “And how many species of annelid are there?”
“Over twenty thousand,” a deep voice called out.
Not one of my students, yet I would recognize that voice anywhere. I peered up to the back of the lecture hall to see a tall, muscular silhouette.
Almost two weeks had gone by since we last spoke at Halloween.
He was mad at me, and I understood he needed space.
I needed the same, not because I was angry, but because spending time with him would weaken my resolve.
I had been doing so well. I certainly did not need him to waltz in here and continue to turn my world upside down.
“Twenty-two thousand, actually,” I called out as if it was perfectly normal to have a famous hockey player answer questions about earthworms in my auditorium.
“Sorry, Doc. I forgot how precise you like it.”
The entire lecture hall of forty-three students in my Animal Biology II class turned at that excessively familiar tone. The whispers started immediately.
“I think we can end this a couple of minutes early. Don’t forget that your papers on your choice of Annelid and its distinct characteristics are due on Friday at 5pm.
No exceptions. And of course, it would be lovely if some of you chose the less common of the species.
Leeches are very interesting to this professor! ”
Jason worked his way down the steps, while the students gawked and nudged each other. Just watching how he commanded the room as he descended had my heart beating wildly.
Like he belonged to me.
But that wasn’t true. Could never be. Jason and I might be sexually compatible but that was where the chemistry ended.
We had shared something special in that hotel room, an experience that produced a child and that I would treasure forever.
But I couldn’t let the emotions of that play into how I felt about him. There was too much at stake.
The students were slow walking their way out of the auditorium, partly because class had ended a couple of minutes early, but mostly because of fascination with my visitor. He nodded at a couple of them. One stepped forward as he made eye contact—Bella Corbin, a very pretty blonde.
Not that her prettiness or blondness had anything to do with it. Perhaps I was sensitive because she was similar in appearance to the woman photographed with Jason in that bar in Dallas over a week ago.
“Hi, Mr. Isner, I’m a huge fan.”
“Thanks, I appreciate that.” Barely looking at her, he carried on until he reached the floor.
Bella looked like she was about to swoon as one of her friends elbowed her to make tracks.
A couple of students stopped to ask me questions about the essay and how “hard” the submission date was.
While I wanted to answer—“What about ‘no exceptions’ is so difficult to understand?”—Jason signed a couple of autographs, even using the inside cover of Smith and McGowan’s Animal Biology textbook.
Finally, we were alone.
“Didn’t know you were such an expert on Annelida,” I murmured as I tidied up, anything to occupy my shaking hands.
“Wikipedia is my friend, though I’m sure you don’t approve.” He leaned against the podium as I shuffled my notes. “Is it true you can cut an earthworm in half and get two living worms?”
“That’s a myth. Depending on where the cut is made, the worm may be able to regenerate part of its body. But you won’t get two independent, living entities.”
“Always learning, Doc.”
That was me, the egghead educator.
“Why are you here?” It came out sounding a little brusque.
“We haven’t talked in a while. Except for a few texts.”
“Which I’ve answered.”
He folded his arms across that expanse of chest that made a great pillow. It shouldn’t have. It should have been hard and unyielding, yet my memory of lying there was indescribably fond.
“Single word answers. How are you? Fine. Anything I can do for you? No. Do you hate my guts? Probably.”
I gathered up my papers. “You never asked that last question.”
“What would you have said if I did?”
“I don’t hate anyone.”
“So a multiple word answer.”
“I’m not going to apologize for giving you the freedom to date whomever you like.”
He looked up at the ceiling, then down again. “That’s not what our fight was about, Doc, and you know it.”
“You shouldn’t have called me that in front of the students. It sounded too familiar.”
He stepped forward. “That’s what we are to each other. Familiar. Friendly. Fuck buddies, if you’d only accept that we have more chemistry than a Bunsen burner.”
“We have to draw a line.” Jason should have no problem moving on to the pretty barflies who loved a hockey player. Judging from that photo, he already had. I just wasn’t sure why he was so sore about it.
“Sure, we can draw a line. But you’re not going to cut me out of this baby’s life before it’s even started.”
“I’m not—”
“Dr. St. James.” A new voice cut in, as welcome as a cold toilet seat. Marcus stepped forward, his gaze cutting between Jason and me. “I noticed that your class ended early so I wondered if there was a problem.”
“No problem.” As if I needed to explain how I conducted my classes. As Marcus showed no sign of leaving, I added, “This is a friend of mine, Jason Isner.”
Marcus blinked up at Jason, who had a good eight inches on him. In all areas, a baser part of me whispered.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Dr. Bilson. How do you and our Dr. St. James know each other?”
Jason opened his mouth, but I got there first. “Jason plays professional hockey with the Chicago Rebels.”
“Old friend of the family,” Jason said, and it wasn’t my imagination that he moved closer to me. “Well, more than friends.”
The last thing I needed was my personal life put on blast. Marcus’s eyes narrowed, waiting for someone to explain what Jason meant by that cryptic statement.
“We’re about to head to lunch—”
Marcus cut me off. “I was hoping we could discuss your open access funding requests.”
“I have that on the agenda for our weekly meeting,” I said. “Scheduled for Thursday.”
“Right.” Still no sign of a departure, so I took the initiative.
“Let’s catch up later.” I moved toward the door while Jason watched our dynamic with interest. Then he raised an eyebrow and grinned.
“So, lunch?”