Chapter Nine
The kitchen smelled amazing when JT walked in with the paper. Her siblings had made French toast for their kids and the whole room smelled of vanilla and cinnamon and sweetness. JT’s stomach growled loudly.
“Any left for me?” She craned her neck to see the plate warming on the stove.
Clark, Emerson’s husband, turned away from the stove. “Yes. There’s enough to eat it for dinner and maybe for breakfast tomorrow. Please eat some. My wife insisted I make like ten loaves’ worth.”
All three kids ran through the kitchen followed by Toby. They disappeared into the living room.
JT raised her eyebrows. “Everything okay?”
“The twins showed Brooke how to get Toby to lick the syrup off their fingers yesterday. It’s kind of gross, but it makes them all laugh so we gave up trying to make them wash their hands.”
“Of course.” JT grabbed a few slices of French toast and took the syrup over to the table. “Thanks for this. I’ll take Toby for a walk in a minute, but I’m starving.”
Clark followed her to the table and slid a cup of coffee toward her. “So, I hear we’ve got some competition this year?”
“Jesus, the rumor mill is fast. Yes, I’m entering the contest this year with Tommy’s sister.”
“Oh really?”
JT frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Emerson joined them at the table. “It means we all remember how you mooned over her as a teenager. That’s what.”
“I did not moon over her or anyone else!”
Emerson raised her eyebrows. “Mmm-hmm. I seem to remember you making a lot of excuses to go to the girls’ soccer games.”
“And basketball games and softball games,” Jonathan added.
JT sighed. “She is Tommy’s sister. Of course we were going to support her teams!”
“Oh yeah, you were definitely there to cheer on the entire team,” Emerson said, unable to contain her laughter.
Jonathan joined them at the table. “Oh yes, you were definitely there to hone your knowledge of basketball. Not to ogle the point guard.”
“I hate you both,” JT said, her head in her hands.
Their mom walked in, carrying a massive dish. “I heard you’re entering the contest with Tommy’s sister. I hope you know what you’re doing.”
JT gaped. “What on earth is that supposed to mean?”
“I can’t imagine it’s been easy to be divorced and still living here with her ex and her meddling mother.”
JT widened her eyes at her siblings. “A meddling mother? What’s that like?”
Her mom picked up a tiny potato and held it like she might launch it at JT.
“Careful, Jasmine. All I’m saying is Jean Porter has been trying to finagle the two of them back together since they broke up.
I don’t imagine she’s going to be pleased with Ali entering the contest with anyone who isn’t Kyle. ”
JT took a bite of her breakfast while she thought about what her family had said.
She hadn’t realized anyone had caught on to her schoolgirl crush on Ali.
At the time, JT didn’t really understand it either.
She’d thought Ali was the coolest girl in town but so had a lot of people.
She wouldn’t have been homecoming and prom queen if they hadn’t.
It was only once she understood she was gay that her feelings about Ali became more obviously a crush instead of simple hero worship.
Her family didn’t know that they’d hooked up last night. They didn’t even know that she’d driven Ali home.
“Did you know she bought Ms. Grant’s house?”
JT’s mom nodded as she cut the eyes out of the potatoes.
“She lives next door?” Emerson asked. “Since when?”
“Six months ago. Give or take. She bought the place when she got divorced. I like the paint she chose,” JT’s mom said.
Well, there was one thing JT and her mom agreed about. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Her mom didn’t look up from her work. “Didn’t know you’d care. It was in the middle of all the Olympic preparations. Must have slipped my mind.” She wiped her hands on a towel. “If I had told you, would you have come to visit sooner?” Her mom’s lips twitched into a smile.
“Mom, oh my god. It would have been nice to know that before Tommy asked me to give her a ride last night. It was a little surprising to find out that she’d been living in Ms. Grant’s house and no one bothered to tell me.
” JT immediately wished she hadn’t mentioned driving Ali home. Emerson looked ready to burst.
“What do you mean you drove her home?”
JT shoved a bite into her mouth, purposefully picking a massive piece of toast. Emerson drummed her fingers on the table and gave her husband a look that made it seem like they’d had a conversation about JT and Ali before.
“Tommy drove her to the bar. He met someone there who he wanted to spend a little extra time with, so I said I would give Ali a ride. It’s not a big deal.”
Jonathan stood up to investigate a crash in the other room. “I think the lady doth protest a wee bit much.” He swiped a piece of bacon from the stove on his way out.
JT took three more bites, annoyed but unable to respond in any way without sounding like she was protesting.
They didn’t need to know what happened between her and Ali.
They didn’t need to know anything at all.
It wasn’t their business and, honestly, there wasn’t much to tell beyond the ride home and the contest. It wasn’t her place to tell them she and Ali made out.
She had no idea if Ali was out around town, and she wasn’t going to be the one to make that choice for her.
Emerson and Clark followed once it became clear the crash involved multiple kids and possibly some smashed toys. That left JT alone with her French toast and her mom.
“I’m glad you have someone to enter the contest with.”
JT looked at her mom like she was an alien.
“Don’t make that face, Jasmine.”
God, why would she not call her by anything but her god-awful first name?
“I know you’ve wanted to enter in the past and I’m glad you found a friend to enter with.”
Good to know that her mom thought she was a pathetic loser who couldn’t find a date.
JT almost wanted to rattle off a list of the women she’d hooked up with in the Olympic village, but that was gross and not her style.
She wasn’t incapable of finding women to date, regardless of what her mom thought.
A voice in her head reminded her that hooking up in the Olympic village was not the same as having a real relationship. Instead of thinking about that, JT shoved the remainder of her breakfast into her mouth.
“I’m going to take Toby for a walk.” She put her plate in the dishwasher.
Her mom put a hand on her arm. “Ali is a great girl. Just be careful. Her mom is dead set on getting Ali and Kyle back together, and I would hate for you to get caught in the center of a Jean Porter tornado. That woman is a lot.”
JT couldn’t stop the laugh from flying out of her mouth. “Wow, the pot is really talking shit about the kettle, huh?”
Her mom swatted her on the leg. “You don’t have to listen to me. But don’t be surprised if Jean tries to meddle.”
“We’re just friends, Mom.”
“If you say so, honey.” She walked into the laundry room and let the conversation drop.
JT grabbed a tennis ball and a leash, unsure if Toby wanted a walk or was more in the mood to chase a ball.
Toby spun on the porch at the sight of the ball and took off like a shot when JT launched it as far as she could into the field.
She wasn’t shocked that Ali’s mom wanted her back with Kyle, but her mom’s words made her second-guess whether she wanted to be in the middle of that mess.
Then her mind drifted back to Ali’s lips against hers and she thought if a mess was the price of kissing that woman, that was a fair price for a little bit of heaven.