Chapter Seven
Lying in the dark, on the couch her family hadn’t bothered to make into a bed for her, JT stared at the ceiling.
Where had she gone wrong? She’d thought things were going well with Ali.
She had kissed Ali Porter. It was a literal teenage dream come true.
Ali’s lips felt like the world’s most perfect pillows and tasted like heaven.
But then everything went sideways, and JT couldn’t decide if Ali really cared that much about the state of her house or was simply looking for a gentle way to tell JT to get out.
Had she taken it too far when she backed Ali against the wall?
She’d been careful to give her space and not to make her feel trapped, but maybe that was it.
Or maybe kissing JT had been a massive disappointment.
JT sighed and put one of the pillows over her mouth so she could scream without waking up the house.
Why was she such a fuckup? Tommy was going to kill her for kissing his sister, and Ali was going to avoid her like the plague.
Nice going, Coxie. Home for twelve hours and she’d royally fucked up. What was it about coming home that made her more of a mess than her normal life? It was like the scrutiny of her family turned her back into a stupid teenager.
She eventually fell asleep but only after remembering that her siblings were, for sure, going to enter the annual town couples contest and she’d be left out. Because she was single with absolutely no prospects in sight.
Gold medal loser.
* * *
JT woke up to the sounds of footsteps above her head. There were quick running feet and the heavy footsteps of several adults. She stared at the ceiling, wondering how long she could stay hidden.
“Jasmine,” her mother’s voice called from the top of the stairs.
JT groaned. She had been perceived.
“I need you to get the paper from the store. Your father says he can get it, but I need him here.”
Normal people who read the newspaper in print every day would have arranged to have it delivered.
It was the twenty-first century, and they had the technology to have a paper delivered even in rural New Hampshire.
But not JT’s dad. JT knew that what he really liked was having a reason to get the hell out of the house for a few minutes every day and because he’d developed a taste for the mochas they made at the store.
When he discovered that he could sneak in a little treat every day if he told his wife he was going to get the paper, he’d suddenly become devoted to the crossword.
And if he ran into some folks at the store, so much the better. He could kill the better part of an hour gossiping with the other men who had their own reasons they gave their families for having to zip into town.
JT didn’t know why her mom wasn’t letting him go this morning, but she was happy to have an excuse to take a drive.
“Wanna go for a ride, girl?” JT asked an excited Toby when she got upstairs. Toby wagged her tail and followed JT to the door. “Just the paper or do you need other stuff too?”
JT’s mom handed her an envelope with a short list scribbled on it. “We need more milk and eggs, and a loaf of bread if the bakery delivered this morning but if not, skip it.”
JT took the list and swiped her keys from the rack by the door.
“Be back in a bit.” Toby hopped in the back seat and lay down.
JT wondered if Ali was awake or if she was sleeping in.
She hoped she wasn’t too hungover from the drinks or from their kissing.
Nothing about Ali’s little house answered those questions when she passed it on the way to town.
She’d made the drive to town so many times her body anticipated the curves in the road and the dips that made her stomach drop.
She passed the town green, complete with bandstand, and rolled onto Main Street.
The center of town boasted a post office, town hall, the inn, the general store, the café and a few other shops, interspersed with beautifully maintained two-hundred-year-old houses. It was something out of a postcard.
As she drove down Main Street, she stayed well under the speed limit.
She didn’t want a ticket, and the old folks who frequented the store had a terrible habit of pulling into traffic without looking.
She waited for one of them to back out of the space before pulling in and cracking the windows for Toby.
It was cold but she liked to sniff the breeze.
“I’ll be right back, okay?” JT said, patting Toby.
The general store was red with white trim on its front porch.
The newspapers were set out in piles on the porch, so JT grabbed one before walking in.
She passed the wall of fliers advertising everything from snow shoveling to pottery classes and paused in front of the flier for the town’s annual holiday festival competition.
It was for couples to enter a variety of events, with prizes along the way and a grand prize for whichever couple was judged best. The general idea was to get folks to visit all the shops in town and to drum up business and maybe even attract a few tourists, who came to Hart’s to enjoy the holiday postcard vibes.
JT stared at the flier, which proudly stated that this year any two people could enter together, couple or not.
She thought of Tommy and wondered if he would be up for it.
Emerson and Jonathan had been entering with their spouses since before any of them had gotten married, but JT had never had someone important enough to bring home for Christmas.
She would relish the chance to kick her brother’s and sister’s asses at something.
And it would be a reason to get out of the house.
“The prizes look good this year,” the person next to her said.
JT turned to find Ali. She couldn’t help but smile. “Dinner for two and a night at the Hart’s Inn for New Year’s. Seems like a great prize.” She pointed at the flier. “But do you think they came up with the prizes before they decided noncouples could enter?”
Ali laughed. “I’m sure there are rooms at the inn with more than one bed.”
JT nodded. “Sure, but how many of those are called the honeymoon suite?”
Ali put her hand over her mouth to cover her laugh. “Oh my god, you’re right.”
“Hi, Ali,” a deep voice said behind them.
They turned and found Kyle standing next to Ali’s doppelg?nger from the night before. “Hi Kyle.” Ali stuck out her hand to the woman. “I’m Ali.”
The woman extended her fingers in what looked like her best impression of wilted lettuce. “Sharon.”
“Nice to meet you,” Ali said, her smile tight. JT could tell she was trying, but it was possible the effort was killing her.
“Sharon and I are entering the contest. The prizes look sick.”
Oh my god, how had Ali endured this ding-dong for so long? “Totally,” JT said, sarcastically.
Kyle put an arm around Sharon. “Having a good partner makes all the difference.”
JT saw anger and hurt flicker across Ali’s face. Fuck it. “That’s just what I was saying. Wasn’t it? That’s why Ali asked me to be her teammate. Winning is kind of my thing, you know.”
Kyle blinked. “Who are you?”
Ali interjected. “This is JT Cox. She won gold in the Olympics. But I’m sure you knew that. Her picture has been up all over town. I don’t know how you could have missed it.”
JT stared at Ali and tried to stifle the smile threatening to split her face apart.
“That was you?” Sharon asked, her voice sounding giddy. “I thought you looked familiar. I follow you on social media, you’re hilarious.”
JT smiled. “Thanks.”
“We watched you guys win that final. That was amazing!”
Kyle looked annoyed. “Oh right. Congrats or whatever.” Kyle steered Sharon toward the deli. “See you around, Ali.”
JT waited for them to make it past the cereal aisle. “You all right?”
Ali shrugged. “Thanks for covering for me. It’s going to suck to miss the competition this year. Especially if he’s entering with Sharon.”
“Why would you miss it? I think I just told him you and I are teammates.” She smiled, hoping Ali couldn’t sense how nervous she was.
“It was sweet of you to say that, but you don’t have to enter with me. It’s fine.”
JT placed her hand on Ali’s arm. “If you don’t want to do it or you don’t want to do it with me, that’s fine. But if you want to enter, I would be psyched to kick his ass with you.”
Ali narrowed her eyes. “Really?”
JT grinned. “I’ve been wanting to kick Jonathan’s and Emerson’s asses in this thing for years, but I’ve always been single.
But now that they’ve changed the rules… If you’re in, I am.
” Partway through her sentence she realized how that might sound to Ali.
“Not that I… Shit. I am not making assumptions… Last night was fun…” Someone squeezed behind JT, bumping her forward toward Ali.
“Sorry. I’m making a mess of this.” She held up the paper. “Give me a second to get all this stuff for my parents and then maybe we can talk outside.”
Ali nodded. “Yeah, okay.” She hurried down the aisle away from JT.
Perfect. This was why JT was perennially single. She was a complete disaster when it came to talking to women instead of just flirting.
JT grabbed everything on her list, paid, and then found a seat on the porch to wait for Ali.
What was she going to say? There was no way Ali wanted to do this very public competition as a couple.
Not after one night of a little bit of kissing.
But would it be weird for JT to make it clear that they were doing this as friends?
Would Ali be offended because they had kissed the night before and had maybe been on their way to more?
JT didn’t live here and she wasn’t the kind of person women were interested in seeing long distance unless it was for a hookup here and there.
She still had no idea what she was going to say when Ali walked onto the porch and stood next to JT.
“So…”
JT opened her mouth, hoping that she’d figure out the right thing to say as she spoke.
“I’m in,” Ali said before JT could speak. “I love this competition, and I was so sad about not getting to do it this year after the divorce.”
“But?” JT asked.
“But I think we should enter as friends. Is that okay?”
JT smiled and patted the seat next to her.
Ali sat, balancing her bag of groceries on her lap like protective armor.
“Totally okay. I wasn’t trying to imply we were anything else.
I was too caught up with Kyle’s bullshit.
I would be very happy to compete as friends.
And my offer to help you with your house stands.
If you want help moving boxes or unpacking or anything else, give me a call. ”
Ali handed her phone to JT. “Well, you better give me your number, then. Because I would love some help. Honestly, just having someone to keep me company would be nice.” She gave JT a shy smile. “I love living on my own, but…”
“…sometimes you want a buddy. I get it. Why do you think I got Toby?” JT pointed to the car where Toby had her nose poking out the top of the window, sniffing the air.
“Oh my god, she’s adorable. Can I meet her?” Ali asked.
JT smiled and led her to the car, where she rolled down the window so Ali could greet Toby without the dog hopping onto the sidewalk. She was pleased to see Ali wasn’t shy about the dog greeting her with kisses. Ali reached her hands into the car to rub Toby’s ears.
“I love her.”
JT laughed. “It’s hard not to.”
Ali continued to pat the dog but turned back to JT. “Okay, so we’re good?”
“Ready to kick some serious ass. You should know that if you enter this thing with me, we’re going to have to win. I am a terrible loser.”
Ali laughed. “Kyle and I never won in the years we entered.”
“Well, that’s because you didn’t have me as your partner. This is our year.”
Ali adjusted her grocery bag. “I expect nothing less from our resident Olympic champion. See you later, JT.”
JT watched her walk away, enjoying the way Ali said her name too much for a couple of friends. She was in dangerous territory, but if they were going to be nothing more than friends that was fine. As long as they kicked the ever-living shit out of Kyle and her siblings in this competition.