Oh, sometimes he—I huff a breath. “Yes, I’m aware of that.”
“Good, ’cause I was thinking—possibly—I could find a place up in Boston,” he says, picking up his fork. “I don’t plan on getting rid of this house, but I meant what I said—I will keep living for myself and your mother. I want to be at more of your games, travel to some of the away games too when I can. I’m not jumping to any conclusion on what’s happening here, but you know…I want to be around for it.”
Jensen’s hand finds mine on her leg as I’m sure she can see the mix of emotions written all over my face.
“Yeah, Dad, we’d love that.”
Chapter 33
Jensen
A month later
“I think it looks perfect, Ems.”
I watch as Emma tilts her head side to side looking at her work on my wall. With the contractor finishing all our renovations, I decided to let Emma loose on my wall next.
She painted “Tinta 222” in an old-school tattoo font and took my sketch from the tapestry Stella got me when I moved here and repainted it behind the logo.
I had planned on simply hanging the tapestry here, but Beck insisted it go up in our room.
“Are you sure you like it? I feel like this one line?—”
“Emma, it’s perfect!” I cut her off. “I get it—you think you see a crooked line or small imperfection but you’ve been looking at it for hours. You did this with the side room, remember? Take a few days and come back.”
Emma scrunches her nose as she looks over to the small designs she did for the piercing room. We wanted it to stand out without it being overwhelming so she painted some stars and witchy elements that my sister sent over. Beck, naturally, had to add cherries, the pool balls, and baseballs to the mix.
Emma was sure it was going to come out to be this chaotic mess of a pattern on the wall, but it turned out so fucking cool.
Her shoulders drop as she lets out a sigh. “You’re right, I know. Paint brushes down and step away.”
I snort a laugh. “Good girl.”
Emma whips one of her braids back behind her shoulder. “I am, aren’t I?”
“Just not as good as my girl,” Beck says, walking through the door with Dottie in tow. He’s at my side in an instant and planting a kiss to my lips.
Emma sticks her tongue out. “It was funny at first, but now I’m afraid this will turn gross.”
Beck looks her dead in the eye. “I was referring to Dottie, Emma. Geez, relax. Jensen’s not a good girl, she’s?—”
“Ah, stop it,” Emma squeals and plugs her ears. “I knew you’d make it gross.”
Shaking my head, I lean back onto Beck’s chest and his arms come around my waist. “Anyway, you’re coming to our place tonight, right? Reagan and Julie can’t make it, and Blake’s still out of town. Mia has to work so I’ve got you paired up with my sister Stella as your partner for the pool tournament.
Emma throws her canvas bag over her shoulder. “Yeah, I’ll be there. Need me to bring anything? I think Tripp is picking me up, and we can get something on our way.”
“You’ll get something of his up,” Beck mumbles, to which I quickly send my elbow back to his stomach. “Dammit, Jennie.”
Emma’s face goes flat. “What’d he say?”
“Nothing,” I reassure her.
Emma’s quickly gotten over any comments that have to do with her and Tripp being anything but friends. She’s stood strong on her stance that they missed their opportunity to be more, so being friends is all she’s interested in now.
“You don’t have to bring anything—we’ve got it covered.”
“Alrighty, sounds good to me.” Emma walks over to her case of paints and supplies then wheels it to the door. “I’ll see you all tonight.” She raises her hand over her head with a wave.
