Chapter Thirty-Three
It was a beautiful, clear, sunny day for the human dogsled race.
It was also fucking freezing, but JT was not about to let a little cold stop her from demolishing the competition.
She might be terrible at icing and art and every delicate thing the contest had asked her to do, but she was going to crush this task.
There had been another fresh snowfall last night, so she checked how slippery and deep the snow was when she took Toby for her morning walk.
The old snow packed pretty well but, because it was so cold, the new snow was really powdery and light.
It kept getting blown around by the wind.
She tried making snowballs to throw for Toby, but the snow just disappeared from her hands like a cloud.
She needed a plan for how to use the conditions. She’d been ready for packed snow that would be rock-hard and would make pulling the sled somewhat easy because it would glide over the snow. This powdery stuff was a different story.
She pulled out her snow boots and a pair of sneakers.
“It’s freezing out there, Jasmine. You need boots.”
JT sucked in a deep breath and willed herself not to yell at her mom at 7:00 a.m. “It is cold, but I don’t know how I’m going to get any traction with these. Do you have those Yaktrax things? Can I borrow them?”
“Ask your father. My feet are too small. Wait, is this for the competition? We can’t give you an advantage over your siblings.”
Emerson wandered into the kitchen and headed straight for the coffeepot. “I think the advantage is that she’s an Olympic gold medalist with muscles on top of her muscles and I’m an art prof. You could tie a stone to her back and she’d still kick our asses.”
JT smiled. She wasn’t sure she’d ever loved her sister as much as she did right then. Emerson waggled the coffeepot in JT’s direction.
“Thanks, I’d love some.”
Emerson handed her a cup. “You know, I’d wear boots if you can stand them. I think there are multiple heats, and if you wear sneakers your feet will be ice blocks. Actually, never mind. Maybe you should show up barefoot. That might give the rest of us a fighting chance.”
“Are spikes off-limits?”
Emerson nodded. “Last year some dummy wiped out and cut himself with them. They changed the rules to try to keep anyone from needing stitches. I actually think it’s more to ensure that everyone wipes out. The spectators like a good laugh.”
JT felt stupid for not knowing the rules.
She should have asked Ali or even her siblings.
She hated feeling like she was the only one who didn’t know something.
It was how she felt at all her family dinners when the rest of the group started talking about museums and the shows currently touring the country.
Half the time she didn’t even know what city they were talking about because she didn’t know all the museums by name.
“How did you know this?” JT asked with more annoyance creeping into her voice than she’d intended.
Emerson rolled her eyes. “It’s on the contest website. Did you do zero research before signing up?”
“Whatever,” JT said before slurping a too large sip of her too hot coffee and burning the shit out of her tongue. She made a strangled groaning noise in her throat and knew instantly that everything was going to taste like nothing for a few days. She was such a dumbass sometimes.
Emerson watched the entire display of impatience and petulance with an air of amusement. “Why are you so worked up over an event you know you’re going to win? Jonathan and I are the ones who should be anxious. Our lack of athletic talent could end our time on Survivor: Hart’s Landing Edition.”
JT shook her head. “I don’t know. I suck at the delicate little tasks that you guys are good at. This feels like my only shot to contribute, you know?”
Emerson sipped her coffee while keeping her eyes on JT. “You really like this woman, don’t you?”
JT jerked her head up, spilling coffee on her shirt. “What? No. Who told you that?”
Emerson laughed. “Oh my god, you’ve got it bad. I thought you were just having a little fling or something, but this makes so much more sense. If it was just a fling you wouldn’t be over there at seven a.m. to put her furniture together or whatever you claim you’re doing.”
JT scowled. “Are you saying you don’t think I would go help someone unpack and fix up their house if I wasn’t getting something in return? That’s what you think of me?”
Emerson shook her head. “No, I’m saying I think you’ve had a crush on Tommy’s big sister since you first discovered girls and it makes sense that if you got the chance to date her or whatever you claim you’re doing, you’d take it.
Hell, if I were single and my first and best crush walked in and asked for my help, I probably wouldn’t say no. ”
JT shrugged. “I don’t really know what this is but it’s fun and I like her.”
Emerson pushed herself away from the counter and walked toward the door. “Anyone who organizes an entire event to celebrate you as the badass hockey player you are is all right with me.”
JT smiled. “You heard about that?”
“Yeah. After the fact, or we would have been there. But I get why she didn’t tell us. Maybe if they do another one, we can all go.”
Once she was gone, JT wandered down to the basement to get dressed for the event. It was cold outside but she didn’t want to wear so many layers that she wouldn’t be able to run. If the price for winning was a little cold, she could handle it.
She settled on her team warm-up pants over a pair of leggings and several layers on top.
That way she could easily take them off if it got warmer or if the “dogsled” rigging was bulky or annoying.
She left for Ali’s house half an hour before they needed to be on the green and was greeted with a sweet kiss and a mug of cocoa.
“Rumor has it you like cheap cocoa and marshmallows.”
JT grinned and took a sip of cocoa out of the cap of the thermos. “I do, but this is not the cheap shit. You made the good stuff.”
Ali looked proud. “Yes. I tried to re-create the kind we made in the first contest. But I made sure to get the tiny marshmallows you like from the supermarket. Those things were on sale so I promise there’s nothing bougie about them.”
When JT kissed her, Ali tasted like cocoa and sugar with just a hint of vanilla. “This was so nice of you. And probably necessary since it’s like ten below out there.”
Ali made a face. “I think you’ve gotten soft, Cox. It’s in the twenties. It’s barely below freezing, let alone below zero.”
JT pulled out her phone to check. “You’re right. In my defense it was colder earlier when I took Toby out.”
“Mmm-hmm.” Ali didn’t sound convinced, but her sexy smile was worth the skepticism.
JT drank the rest of the cocoa and then handed the cap back to Ali. “Ready to go?”
Ali nodded. “The car is all warmed up, so your muscles will be ready to go when we get there. Can’t have the Olympian pulling something in our little town contest.”
JT laughed but nodded. “Getting injured because I tried too hard in the human dogsled race is definitely something I would do. And then my teammates would tease me about it forever.”
Ali climbed into the driver’s seat. “Teammates, huh? Does that mean you know where you’re playing next season? Your fans are curious. They have merch to buy and jerseys to wear in your honor.”
JT looked at the footwell. “Uh, no. I don’t know where I’m going to be next year. The league is so new they’re figuring out how to divide the national team players to make the teams as equal as possible.”
JT could feel Ali looking at her. She braced for the question she didn’t want to answer. But Ali let her off the hook.
“Well, I hope it’s somewhere close by, but even if it’s not, I’ll figure out how to watch all your games.”
“Thanks,” JT said, her voice low. How could she ask the league to put her on a team far away from Ali?
But they weren’t exactly serious enough that she should be asking for a spot close to home.
They were just messing around, right? Asking for a different team when they were basically friends with benefits was insane.
Ali would think she was a weirdo clinger for sure.
JT watched Ali’s face as she drove. She really liked that face and Ali’s laugh and this time together. But Ali wasn’t serious about her—how could she be? No one was ever serious about JT. She was fun, that was it. Good for a laugh and a short-term thing, nothing more.
As they drove to town, JT stared out at the beautiful scenery with the snow dusted on the trees, fence posts and houses.
When they got to the center of town, the green was set up with flags and barriers denoting the sled track.
A couple volunteers had set up a table by the bandstand with coffeepots and carafes that steamed in the cold.
Ali parked in one of the designated spots for contest participants. “This is a nice touch. Although I’m not sure how many people are going to brave these ‘subzero’ temps to watch us be silly in the snow.” Ali grinned at her.
“It’s cold out! You sound like a Boomer telling me how much colder it was in your day.”
Ali laughed. “God, it’s too easy to tweak you.”
JT crossed her arms over her chest and faked pouting. “If this is your way of antagonizing me into performing better, you should know it’s absolutely going to work.”
Ali leaned against the headrest. “I want to win, but I’m not going to try to manipulate you.
I don’t do that.” Ali stared out the windshield.
“Besides, if I’m right, Kyle being a jackass will be more than enough motivation for both of us.
” She pointed to Kyle climbing out of his giant truck with “Canterbury Landscaping” painted on the side.
JT found the display annoying but had to admit that he drove a truck for a reason and not simply to mask his insecurities. Probably the truck helped with that, too, but at least it was legitimate for his kind of work.
Sharon hopped out of the passenger’s side without Kyle offering her a hand. She landed in a snowbank that was deeper than she’d expected and yelped at the snow falling into the tops of her boots.
“So nice of him to help her avoid having frozen feet all day.”
Ali rolled her eyes. “Care for others isn’t high on his priority list.” She rested a hand on JT’s. “You ready to set a track record?”
JT’s eyes lit up. “They keep track of the times? Oh my god. Yes.” She tied her boots. “Do you know the fastest? Who has the record?”
Ali laughed. “You’ll just have to be the fastest ever to find out.”
“Oh my god, you’re messing with me again. I promise I’ll do my best, but be honest, are there all-time records?”
Ali leaned across the center of the car, brought her mouth an inch from JT’s ear and whispered. “I know how you like to be on top. Maybe we can celebrate together later?”
JT’s mouth dropped open. “Ali!”
Ali laughed and opened her door. “I told you I wouldn’t manipulate you, but I didn’t promise not to offer incentives for winning.”
JT hopped out of the car and followed Ali to the table with the volunteers to check in. She told herself not to get distracted by how cute Ali looked in her hat and mittens or by what she’d said in the car. They needed to win this thing. Then she could worry about spending the day with Ali, naked.