Chapter Twenty-Four
JT slipped out of the house with Toby before her siblings were awake.
She threw a tennis ball in the snow until Toby seemed plenty tired out to rest while she went to help Ali.
She didn’t know what to expect when she got there.
They’d had a pretty intense conversation the night before.
JT’s feelings had been raw, and now she felt a little embarrassed that she’d gone running to Ali with them.
She shouldn’t have said anything. She could have taken what Tommy had said and not shared with Ali.
But Ali deserved to know her brother knew about them.
Or about them kissing. Because she didn’t really know what they were to each other beside teammates in this silly contest and friends who liked kissing sometimes.
She tucked Toby back in her crate, grabbed a bagel and headed to Ali’s. She’d been an emotional whirlwind, but at least she could make herself useful today. Ali had furniture to put together and JT was a fucking wizard with an Allen wrench.
JT knocked and Ali opened the door, her hair up in a messy bun, a sweatshirt from their high school on over her pj’s, and the cutest nerdy glasses JT had ever seen.
“I didn’t know you wore those,” she said with a grin.
Ali held the door open wider. “Come inside before you make fun of me.”
“I’m not! They’re super cute.”
Ali rolled her eyes. “They’re super thick, but necessary. I can’t see much without my contacts, but sometimes it’s just too damn early to stick my finger in my eye. You know?”
JT shook her head. “I wouldn’t know. I have perfect vision.” She laughed.
Ali swatted her with the back of her hand. “Oh my god, you’re the worst. Not all of us were born to be elite athletes and fighter pilots.”
“True. Because some of us were born to be an entire town’s favorite teacher and inspire crushes from the time they hit puberty.”
“What are you talking about? I’m not a favorite teacher and no one crushes on me.”
JT shook her head and laughed. “I guarantee you that there is a huge bunch of kids at that high school who adore you and probably more who have massive crushes on you. You just don’t know it. And I know it’s not ‘no one’ because I had a crush on you from the time I was like twelve.”
“Oh really? Well, I want to hear all about that while we build some shelves.” She pointed to the pile of flat-packed boxes. “I think we need two or three in the office. Do you want to build them in the room or carry them in after?”
JT looked at the hallway. “Oh, build them in place, for sure. Then we won’t ding the walls.” She lifted one box off the ground like she was going to carry it herself.
“What are you doing?”
“Taking it to your office?” JT raised her eyebrows. How was this not obvious?
“It’s a two-person job. See the little people on the box showing that it’s a ‘team lift’? Let me lift one end.” JT protested. “Just because you can carry it on your own doesn’t mean you have to. Come on, let’s do this together so no one ends up injured.”
JT shrugged. “Whatever you want.” She waited for Ali to lift the other end of the box before walking toward the back of the house. “I can walk backwards if that’s easier for you.”
Ali followed her to the back room. It took them a few minutes to get all three boxes to the office. “Do you think we can get all these put together before the contest?”
JT nodded. “I think so. Bookcases don’t have too many pieces to put together”
Ali stood in the doorway. “Do you want coffee?”
“Yes, please.”
“Cinnamon rolls?”
JT laughed. “You didn’t get enough of them yesterday?”
Ali made a face. “No way. I could eat them all day every day. These ones are homemade. One of my students gave me them as a holiday gift.”
JT made a suspicious face. “Does this student like you or…”
“You’re the one who claims I’m everyone’s favorite teacher, but now you’re questioning if my student might be trying to kill me?”
JT laughed. “Fine, you got me. But seriously, this isn’t the one student who hates you or something, is it?”
Ali shook her head. “No, but I like that you’re nervous to find out. This kid’s dad is the baker at the inn. These things are going to be amazing.”
“Why didn’t you lead with that? Yes, I’ll take ten.”
They settled into the office and its newly yellow walls. JT thought it was cheerful but maybe a touch overpowering. Thankfully, the three bookcases were white and would break up the yellow a little bit. She thought it was going to look amazing.
Ali kept looking at the walls thoughtfully. JT couldn’t tell what was going on in Ali’s head.
“Okay, why do you keep looking around and making a face? I can’t tell if you hate it in here but refuse to say anything or those cinnamon rolls aren’t sitting right in your tummy.”
Ali sighed. “It wasn’t the cinnamon rolls.
I could eat a dozen and want more.” She looked around.
“It’s a weird thing to be in charge of a whole house.
Growing up in my family, there was always compromises and agreeing to things we weren’t psyched on.
Same when I was married to Kyle. Usually he won out, like with that ugly ass couch in the other room.
But now I’m in charge of everything, I don’t know, it’s not always easy to know if I’m doing the right thing or if something is really what I want or if it’s a voice in my head telling me what I should want. Does that make sense?”
JT nodded. “My parents let me choose the colors in my room when I was a kid. They made it pretty clear that they weren’t impressed with the choices, but they kept their word and painted it how I liked.
When I left for college, they painted over everything before my first trip back home.
” She shook her head and forced a laugh.
“My artistic inabilities are well-known.”
Ali cocked her head to the side as if trying to imagine how bad it could have been. “What did you pick?”
JT smiled. “I had them paint it in the school colors. I was going through a phase of idolizing the high school kids and told myself I’d make the hockey team one day and wear those colors.” She rolled her eyes. “Kind of pathetic if you think about it.”
“Not at all! That’s so badass. Not only that you wanted to be on the team but that you did it. So many of those kid dreams never come true. But yours did.”
“And what a dream it turned out to be. Half the town thought I didn’t belong on the team, the other half agreed but didn’t say anything, at least not to my face, so long as we kept winning. And that’s just the folks from town. Our opponents were way worse.”
Ali scooted across the floor and wrapped JT in a hug. “I’m sorry it was like that for you. I remember you being an absolute badass. Flying down the ice, Cox on your jersey and your ponytail flying.”
JT laughed. “Stupid to leave my ponytail out. Made me a target.” She paused to tighten the final bolt on the bookcase. “But it reached a point where I was like fuck it. They’re going to try to kill me anyway, why give them the satisfaction of looking like I was hiding.”
Ali shook her head. “You’ve always been such a badass.”
“Thanks. I’m not sure if that’s true or if I had no choice.” She stood. “Where do you want this one? Next to that one or on a different wall?”
Ali appraised her options. “There, next to that one. If we put them all on that wall it will look like a library with built-in bookcases. I’ve always wanted one of those rooms filled with books and maybe a secret door or something.”
“I don’t know about the secret room, but the bookcases I can do.”
Once they moved it into position, they started unloading Ali’s many boxes of books onto the shelves. “For now, put them anywhere, I’ll organize them later. But I want these boxes the hell out of here.”
They worked until it was time for them to go to their next event. They left the room looking nearly done. It needed a desk and a few odds and ends, but when school started again, Ali would have a place to work.
* * *
The assignment for the night was a gingerbread house.
Or, more accurately, decorating a house someone else had already put together.
JT was sure her siblings were going to kill her in this competition.
Emerson and Jonathan were professional artists, and even if their usual works weren’t done in sugar and candy, she was sure the skills would translate.
She, on the other hand, wasn’t known for her skill with anything so delicate as a paint brush, so she was hoping that Ali could save their team.
Ali climbed into the passenger seat of JT’s car when it was time to leave. “You sure you want to be stuck driving my ass home after the competition?”
JT told herself not to make the wildly inappropriate remarks about Ali’s ass flooding her brain. “I’m more than happy to drive you home. It’s stupid for us to take two cars when my parents live so close to you.”
“You’re sure you don’t want to ride home with them?”
JT laughed. “You’re hilarious. Imagine that ride where they discuss the subtle brilliance of their technique while treating me like a kid who hasn’t learned to hold her crayon correctly.” JT shook her head, imagining how annoying they were all going to be.
“Maybe they’ll surprise you.”
“Yeah, and maybe Toby will cook me dinner.” Her tone didn’t betray her annoyance. She’d learned not to expect too much from her family. She hadn’t learned not to care, but she’d figured out that going in with low expectations helped keep her from being disappointed.
They drove to the candy store in the next town over.
Its town center was slightly larger and would host a couple of the events in an attempt to get folks to check out everything there was to offer in the area.
JT used to ride her bike to the store as a kid.
She used to ride her bike pretty much everywhere before she got her license.
Most roads had no shoulder, let alone a sidewalk, and everything was too far away for walking to make much sense, anyway.