Chapter Thirty-Seven
After all that buildup, the race was over in the blink of an eye.
Kyle puffed out his chest and tried to talk shit, but JT didn’t listen.
She focused on the track and her footing, and in the end all her worries that Ali might get hurt if the race was close were pointless.
Kyle kept it close until the first turn, but after that JT left him behind with every stride she took.
He was half a length back by the second turn, and then she was finishing before he hit the third turn.
No one in town had seen anything like it before.
But, then again, they’d never seen anything like JT Cox before either.
But they hadn’t appreciated what they had, a shooting star, Halley’s comet, the northern lights, something rare and fleeting and beautiful. Awe-inspiring.
Ali jumped out of the sled the moment they crossed the finish line and threw herself into JT’s arms.
“Easy there.” JT panted and gulped air to catch her breath, her heart hammering and her legs burning.
“You did it!”
JT laughed. “We did it. It’s a team sport, remember?”
Ali shook her head. “My only job was to hold on for dear life. You’re a marvel, you know that?”
JT gave her a stern look. “If the other events were team efforts, then so was this. I know I didn’t contribute much to the gingerbread house, so I’m glad I could do better today, but whatever we do in this contest, it’s as a team.”
Ali hugged her. “I really want to kiss you right now.” She said it into JT’s ear, so low JT wondered if she’d heard her correctly.
“Really?”
Ali squeezed her harder. “Yes, but I don’t really want to have to talk to my mom about it. Or Kyle or any of my fellow teachers who are standing around watching.”
JT pulled back. “Totally get it. I feel the same. I mean, I’m less worried about your teacher colleagues, but I don’t really want your mom murdering me or your ex throwing a fit.”
Ali looked past her. “He doesn’t look like he has enough energy to pitch a fit.” She giggled. “I thought beating him would be fun, but I never imagined it would be this fun.”
JT heard footsteps and turned.
Ali’s mom stood in front of them. “Well, I hope you’re happy. Look at him! You’ve broken his spirit.”
Kyle, who was being consoled by Sharon, did not look like a broken man so much as a guy who’d overestimated his physical capabilities and had maybe pulled a muscle.
“Mom, come on. Kyle’s fine. And even if he’s not, why on earth would I give a shit?”
“Alexandra! Language!”
Ali rolled her eyes. “Mom, I’m twenty-eight years old. I swear. Get over it.”
JT snorted and then tried to cover her laugh with a cough.
Mrs. Porter glared at her. “I suppose this is all your idea of fun? You come here for a few days, cause a bunch of mess and then leave, right?”
JT felt like she’d been punched in the gut. “What? No.”
“You come home maybe once a year and then you’re gone, avoiding your folks and this town. But now you’re here causing trouble and then you’re going to leave again.”
JT opened her mouth but couldn’t think of a thing to say.
She was going to leave. She didn’t live here.
She’d asked the league to put her on a team far away from home because it hurt too much to have her family ignore her career.
It was too much to know they didn’t think anything of her hard work.
And now Ali’s mom, Tommy’s mom, was screaming at her for protecting herself from the pain of having parents who couldn’t be bothered to watch her win a gold medal.
“Mom, leave her alone. You’re not mad at her. You’re mad at me.”
Mrs. Porter stepped toward Ali. “You’re right, I am. You’re throwing away your future for some fun? A laugh at Kyle’s expense?”
Ali closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
For a second, JT thought she was going to cry.
Instead, she opened her eyes and looked at her mom.
“Mom, I don’t know why you think Kyle is in my future.
I have been very clear that I have no intention of ever getting back together with him.
I’m not interested in him. Not for a date, not for a minute of my time.
He and I are done. If that’s a tragedy for you, I suggest you find someone else to talk to about it.
” She grabbed JT by the elbow and dragged her toward the judge’s table.
JT sputtered as she tried to keep up with Ali. “Ali, what is going on?”
Ali stopped in front of the announcer’s table. “You and I are getting our prize, and then we are getting the hell out of here before I say something to my mom that she regrets.”
JT shifted uncomfortably. She’d had plenty of unpleasant run-ins with her own parents and random people but never with Tommy’s mom.
She’d always been nice to JT, even when the rest of the town had thought a girl shouldn’t be the captain of the boy’s hockey team or shouldn’t be on the team at all. She’d never seen this side of her.
The announcer took the bullhorn and let everyone know that JT and Ali were the winners, then presented them with their gift certificates to the hardware store.
“These will come in handy with your new place,” JT said, trying her hardest to lighten things up.
Ali still looked ready to do a murder, so JT shepherded her toward the car and then back home.
The drive was too short for her to come up with anything to say, let alone the right thing.
She didn’t know how to reassure Ali that she wasn’t a flake, especially because she didn’t have an intention of sticking around their hometown.
Or she hadn’t when she first came home for Christmas. After spending this much time with Ali, she got the feeling that home might not be as bad as it had been in the past. Maybe Hart’s Landing had changed. Or maybe JT had.