I roll my eyes at my teammate and disconnect the call. “No one likes a show-off, Jack.”
Scott has met some of the guys on postgame nights out. Eachtime, he’s hit it off with Jack. That said, everyone gets on with our captain. He’s the golden retriever and glue that sticks the team together. Aside from my former teammate, Sawyer Bryce, he’s the best captain I’ve ever played under.
Jack releases a heavy exhale, reclining his seat once we’re in the air and the seat belt signs are turned off.
“What’s eating at you?” I ask, surprised over his change in mood.
He closes his eyes, folding his hands over his chest. “Nothing.”
“Oh, well, that’s definitely convincing.”
Jack cracks an eyelid and looks at me. “I’m not happy about being away from Esme for four nights, and neither is Kendra.”
Esme is Jack’s seven-month-old daughter, and Kendra, his wife, is Jenna’s best friend and teammate. All the bridal party flew out to Lake Garda two nights ago.
“You could’ve brought her along,” I say, having zero clue how hard it is to travel across the world with a baby.
Jack shakes his head, his British accent more obvious than normal as he replies, “Nah. The jet lag we’re all about to have will be hard enough to overcome, never mind having to do it with a baby. I’m surprised our general manager signed off on this trip, to be honest.”
“As long as we bring our best game next Saturday, the GM will only see it as good for team building.”
Jack nods his head once, brown hair flopping over his forehead. “Did you ever think that we’d be going to Tommy’s wedding?” He snorts a laugh. “This time last year, I wouldn’t have attended his funeral, and now he has us all wrapped around his finger and Sawyer as his best man.”
He isn’t wrong. Tommy Williams, formerly Tommy Schneider, was the guy on the team everyone hated, and he loved it. It felt like every game he played in, we lost because he couldn’t keep his gloves on or his fists out of opposing players’ faces. But then he met Jenna, and once they sorted out their differences,sparks flew for all the right reasons. He’s a good guy and precisely why so many of the team are on a flight to go celebrate the rest of his life with the woman he loves.
As the attendant hands me a beer, I push away memories of my own wedding day in a Vegas chapel. I genuinely thought that I was in love with my college sweetheart, and neither I nor Maria could wait to get hitched and call it forever.
I hope Tommy and Jenna’s marriage doesn’t go the way ours did.
“How are you doing?” Jack asks, likely sensing my discomfort over our conversation. He’s always been intuitive like that.
I shrug and take a pull from my beer. “What can I say? My marriage didn’t work out. It is what it is.”
Bringing his seat back to an upright position, Jack looks unconvinced. I don’t want to talk about Maria, but I get a feeling that I won’t have a choice.
“Is there anyone else?” he asks me cautiously.
My beer very nearly ends up in the next row of seats as I fight to swallow it. “Are you for real?!” I laugh at the ridiculous notion. “No, there isn’t anyone.”
He doesn’t look surprised at my response, and I can’t see a day when I’m not single. Sure, I’ve slept with a couple of people since Maria, but only because I’m a man with needs and away series can get really fucking lonely at times.
“I think I’d actually pass away if I didn’t have Kendra.” He looks pained at the thought alone. “We should’ve been dating when we were in college. Thank fuck fate eventually brought us back together.”
A part of me thinks that if I’d met Maria after college, then we wouldn’t be dealing with the prospect of rebuilding our lives separately. There’s no chance that we would’ve hit it off in the same way. Even in our mid-twenties, we were different people from what we had been in school. I’m ready to argue and tell my captain that it was a good thing he and Kendra got together whenthey were a few years older when I’m interrupted by my phone vibrating on the tray table. A message coming through via Wi-Fi.
Billie
This is probably the most random and out-of-the-blue message I’ve ever sent, but Dad just told me you’re planning to stop by for my birthday. Seriously, you don’t have to do that. I’m a mess, and no one wants to see me right now.
Hi, BTW. It’s been a while.
Billie’s right. This is the most random and out-of-the-blue message, but it pulls a smile from my miserable fucking brain nonetheless.
“Who’s that?” Jack asks, dropping his eyes to my screen, lips curling into a grin.
“My niece,” I tell him.
He looks horrified at his own inappropriate thoughts. “Shit, sorry.” His expression turns to confusion. “Wait. You’ve never mentioned having a niece before?”
