Chapter Thirty-Four
“Ali Porter and JT Cox checking in,” Ali told the woman holding a clipboard. She took the number and safety pins and handed them to JT.
“Those go on whoever is pulling the sled.” She reached behind the table. “And this goes on whoever is sitting in the sled. Everyone has to wear a helmet.”
Ali nodded. “Of course. Anything else we need to do before our turn?”
Dolly, according to her nametag, pointed to the starting line.
“When you’re ready, go over there. They’re going to announce the order and the rules before the start.
But you can help yourself to coffee and cocoa if you want.
” She lowered her voice. “But there’s only porta pots and they’re wicked cold so you might want to wait. ”
“Thanks for the tip, Dolly,” JT said, and Ali could have sworn she winked but maybe that’s the way JT’s charm worked. She didn’t even have to wink, and women would feel like she was flirting with them.
JT walked away from the table. “You wanna risk it?”
Ali made a face. “Nope. No coffee is worth having to use one of those things in, what did you say it was, ten below?”
JT slumped. “Oh my god, you’re never going to let me live this down, are you?” She handed Ali the safety pins. “If you’re going to give me shit, can you at least help me with these while you do it?”
Ali pulled off her gloves, exposing her hands to the wind and cold. She couldn’t complain, though, after giving JT grief about whining about the cold. She opened the safety pins and then waited for JT to position the number across the front of her coat.
“Pin me,” JT said with a sly grin.
“Later if you give me the chance.”
JT’s eyes sparkled with mischief when Ali looked up at her. “You know, you send a lot of mixed signals to people who you’re friends with. Almost like you’re not sure how you feel about me.”
Ali fastened the pins to JT’s jacket, her hands pressing into her torso a little more than strictly necessary. “I know how I feel about you, but I also know how you feel about Hart’s Landing. I’m not sure if those two things can coexist.”
Ali looked up at JT, squinting into the sun peeking out over the trees. JT’s mouth curved into a tiny smile. “And how do you feel about me?”
Ali fiddled with her gloves for a moment, buying time to consider whether holding JT’s hand was something she wanted to do in this public place.
She settled for holding JT’s arms and pushing her back so she could look at the number.
Anyone seeing them from a distance would think Ali was making sure the bib wasn’t crooked.
“I like you a lot. I like you as a person and would want to be your friend even if I didn’t think you were the hottest woman I have ever seen in real life.”
JT grinned, pink creeping onto her cheeks. “So there are hotter women you haven’t met?”
“If Zendaya showed up here and asked me on a date, I wouldn’t say no.” Ali tugged at JT’s sleeves, pulling her closer. “But in terms of women I know, have met and have even a remote chance with, you’re the hottest.”
JT laughed. “I want to be offended by all those qualifiers, but honestly, I can’t compete with Zendaya. I wouldn’t even try. I’d offer to drive the two of you on the date.”
Ali really liked JT like this. She was light and carefree and so quick to laugh it made Ali feel like anything was possible.
“I don’t know how you think two girls have any chance of winning this.”
Ali knew the voice behind her. She spun with her best teacher-on-the-edge-of-losing-her-temper smile. “Kyle, good morning. So nice of you to barge into our conversation with your toxic masculinity.”
“It’s not toxic, it’s nature.”
Ali stepped toward him, but JT stopped her.
“Kyle, the number of guys who have thought so much of their skills that they told me, to my face, that they could kick my ass on the ice is pretty fucking high. The number of guys who actually could, zero. I don’t see any reason why today should be different. ”
Kyle puffed up his chest and spit in the snow. “I don’t know if you’re aware, but I’m not some guy who sits at a desk all day.”
JT nodded along. “Yeah, I know how driving your daddy’s truck from job to job is pretty strenuous.”
Kyle sneered and looked at Ali. “Is that what you told her I do?”
Ali laughed. “Kyle, I don’t talk about you at all.”
His face burned a deep crimson. “Maybe you don’t remember, but I was captain of the football team.”
JT covered her mouth.
“Yes, you were, and JT just won a fucking gold medal at the Olympics this year, so forgive me if I take my chances with the only world-class athlete in the contest.” Ali grabbed JT’s arm. “See you on the starting line.”
Ali pulled JT along with her. She was pissed and ready to kick Kyle’s ass. JT didn’t seem nearly as worked up, though.
“Ali, do you know how many times some high school hero has tried to take a run at me during a pickup game? Or how many guys think that they can beat me because they ‘played a little’ back in the day? It’s fine.
It only makes kicking their asses more fun.
” JT threw her arm around Ali’s shoulder like they were teammates.
Ali liked the weight of JT’s arm and the way it made her feel like they belonged together. Not necessarily in a romantic way, but as a team. They were a pair and together they were going to destroy the competition. If it was going to be Ali against the world, she was happy to have JT by her side.
They waited at the starting line for the rest of the teams to assemble. Emerson and Jonathan stood off to the side talking with their spouses, but they both waved to Ali and JT. JT looked over Ali’s head and scanned the crowd.
“Looking for someone?”
JT shrugged. “Thought my parents might come to watch. But maybe they only come to the art events they know I’ll lose spectacularly.
” She had her hands shoved deep into her coat pockets, her shoulders rounded forward, and with the sad air of a teenager forgotten at school pickup.
Like she knew she was too old to be this bummed out but it still bothered her.
“Maybe they’re watching the kids?” Ali asked, hoping she was helping by injecting an alternate possibility for the lack of parental support. “I mean, it’s pretty early still.”
JT nodded but looked unconvinced.
“Contestants, please make your way to the starting area for your instructions,” the announcer said into a megaphone so everyone in the crowd could hear.
“Each team will have one turn around the track on their own to get a baseline score. Then you will be placed in heats. The top finisher for each heat moves on until we have two teams racing each other. The winning team earns a gift certificate to Watson’s Hardware Store, and the team in last place will not continue to the next task. Any questions?”
Kyle raised his hand. “Do the girls get a head start? You know, to be able to compete with us?”
“All teams compete on an even footing in all of our events. This is no different.” The announcer looked at Kyle. “I will say, in the past, there were some male contestants who would have done well to understand their limitations and not gotten overly cocky prior to the races.”
Ali laughed but covered her mouth to muffle the sound. “Man, Kyle’s going to be so pissed.”
JT’s face was stoic. Ali wondered what she was thinking but didn’t want to ask in case this was the way she was getting prepared for the races.
It made her wonder what JT was like in the locker room before games.
Was she serious, or the fun, goofy woman Ali was enjoying spending time with?
She had seen a little of JT’s serious side and she knew how competitive she was, but this locked-in version was something new.
Ali thought it was kind of hot.