Chapter Twenty-Nine
Emerson and Clark were sitting in the kitchen when JT got back to the house. She reached for the leash but Emerson stopped her.
“We took her for a walk when we got home. Hope you don’t mind. Brooke wants a dog so badly so we borrowed her for a test drive.”
JT hung up her coat and leaned against the counter. “Thanks for walking her. I’m sure she loved it. What’s the verdict? Is Brookie getting a puppy?”
Clark laughed. “Not yet. A toddler is enough of a handful for now. Can you imagine her with a puppy? Adorable but pure mischief.”
“So, I figured you two would be out celebrating your big win. Did you shame Beth and Jonathan into going to bed early?” She checked her watch. It wasn’t even eight.
Emerson looked at Clark before responding. “No. Mom and Dad were being so weird, we didn’t want to go out with them.”
JT waited for her to explain more.
Emerson sighed. “I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but they’re so over the top about the stupidest things. This is a small-town holiday contest and they’re talking about how they can see that our ‘work’ derived from great art movements. I’m like, ‘Mom, it’s candy and icing.’”
JT laughed. “Can I be here when you tell her that? It can be my birthday present for the next decade.” JT couldn’t believe that her sister was complaining about the things her parents did that drove JT crazy, too. She always thought Emerson and Jonathan basked in the attention.
“You think it’s weird, too?” Clark asked.
“Of course I do. Imagine what it’s like to be me—with zero artistic talent—in a family where that is the one thing that matters.”
“But you’re a superstar,” Emerson said, like she’d never considered how much this might bother JT.
“No, you and Jonathan are superstars. I’m your artistically inept little sister who plays sports.” JT hadn’t meant for her voice to sound angry, or for her words to come out with such force, but it was hard to talk about this without the hurt creeping in.
Emerson pushed her chair away from the table, walked across the kitchen and gave JT a hug.
She was tiny next to JT. JT was almost six feet tall and built for power and speed, while Emerson was barely five foot five and slight.
Even though she was five years older, people sometimes thought she was JT’s younger sister based on the size difference alone.
She squeezed JT tight and muttered an apology into her shoulder. “I didn’t think you cared. You’re always rolling your eyes at them, and I thought you had an okay relationship with their bullshit.”
JT nodded. “I’m doing my best to let it go, but it’s hard when all they care about is your career and Jonathan’s and they act like the Olympics were some cute thing they could skip to see museums and Jonathan’s show.
Not like the culmination of all my hard work and the hours they spent driving me to rinks. ”
Clark walked over. “Can I join?”
JT laughed and opened her arms. He joined the hug. He wasn’t a big guy. Taller and bigger than Emerson but that wasn’t saying much.
“I’m sorry, JT. Being in the Olympics, everything you’ve accomplished as an athlete, it’s amazing.”
Emerson stepped out of the hug. “You took the boys’ team to the state championships in high school. Do you have any clue how badass that is?”
JT shrugged. “I think I’m really fucking badass but…
imagine if you were like this art show is the best thing I have ever done.
I have worked so hard to get here and then Mom and Dad missed it because they wanted to go to a Red Sox game or something.
” JT paused. “I know that’s not fair. But they skipped my gold medal game to make it back for Jonathan’s show.
That thing was going to be open for months!
My game was only a few hours long!” Her voice cracked with emotion, and she fought to get back under control.
“Look, it’s fine. But it wears on me, you know? ”
Clark and Emerson shared a look. “I’m sorry that my pergola brought out the worst in them today,” Clark said.
Emerson bumped him with her hip, but JT laughed. “Clark, never apologize for your truly majestic pergola. It looked amazing and delicious and I would have taken a giant bite out of it if we’d been allowed to sabotage our competitors.”
He laughed. “I don’t know how good it tasted after I slathered all that icing on it. But for what it’s worth, Em and I tell everyone we know that her sister and my sister-in-law is a gold medalist. Even if your parents are…whatever, we’re super proud of you.”
Emerson squeezed her arm. “What he said. And also, we had to win tonight because you’re going to kick everyone’s ass in the human dogsled.” She looked at Clark. “I mean, do you think this guy is going to be able to pull me around that track very fast?”
Clark feigned indignation. “Wow, way to assume I’d be the one pulling. I was planning to lounge in the sled while you showed off those running skills you were bragging about the other day.”
Emerson made a face. “Can your fragile male ego handle being the one in the sled when all the other pullers are dudes?”
“Ahem? Did you forget about me?”
Emerson shook her head. “You’re not a dude, obviously, but you’re the biggest stud athlete this town has ever seen. You’re in a category all your own. Honestly, they should give you a time penalty to even out the field.”
“Like they gave you and Jonathan a disadvantage in the contest today? I don’t think so. If you get to use your professional art skills, I get to use my speed and power. May the best sled puller win.”
After another hug, Clark and Emerson said good-night, and JT spent a few minutes sitting with Toby and giving her belly rubs before going to her “room” in the cellar.
She was struck, again, by the glamour of her current surroundings.
It was annoying when she was going be there for maybe two or three nights but agreeing to the contest meant staying longer and her parents had made no move to upgrade her accommodations.
But the couch and the cobwebs in the corners of the cellar couldn’t dent her happiness when her thoughts drifted back to Ali.
The way she sounded, the way she tasted, the way she wrapped herself around JT.
Every bit of it brought her so much happiness that it felt like her chest was filled with sunshine.
There was clearly no way this was going to last. Not as long as Ali lived in Hart’s Landing and JT lived anywhere but Hart’s Landing.
JT was set to play professional hockey for any team that wasn’t in Boston.
She didn’t have anything against the city, but it would be much better to play in Minnesota or Montreal if it meant not feeling like she should check the stands for the family who would never come.
But now this thing with Ali, whatever it was, made her question if maybe it would be good to be close to Hart’s.
Maybe if she were nearby, that hot blonde woman would come watch her play.
She drifted off to sleep thinking of the way it would feel to look up and see Ali waving at her and, even better, what it would be like to have Ali waiting to take her home afterward.