“Oh my gosh, yes, you’re right!”
“Anyway, enough about me,” she says before turning to face Jax. “I came bearing bad news and wanted to offer it to you in person.”
“And what news is that?” Just as the question leaves Jax’s lips, his phone starts buzzing on the coffee table. When he moves to pick it up, Alexa rushes over to sit beside him and places her hand over his to stop him.
Irrational jealousy I know I have no right to feel fires through me, heating my skin and twisting my stomach in knots.
“Oh, come on. It can’t be that bad. What’s going on?” Jax slips his arm playfully over her shoulder and brings her into hischest almost as if he’s putting her in a headlock or some type of wrestling move.
With her head trapped between his bicep and chest, I’m barely able to hear her murmur, “Calvetti signed a four-year contract with Minnesota.”
Jackson lets go of Alexa’s head as soon as the words leave her mouth. “You’re joking, right? If this is a prank you and the guys are playing on me, this isn’t funny.”
Calvetti? God, why does that name sound so familiar?
Alexa sits up and after glancing at me out of the corner of her eye, she faces Jackson. “I’m unfortunately very serious. I caught wind of it about an hour ago and the station likely will be breaking the story on their eight o’clock broadcast that starts in a few minutes. I’m guessing that was Bennett calling to inform you of the deal.”
“Wait, how would Bennett know?” I ask as I take a seat on the far edge of the sectional, attempting to give them their space but too curious not to ask. Jackson is far too worked up right now for this to not be a big deal.
With his head in his hands, he runs his fingers through his curly locks, gripping onto the strands and looking like he’s about to pull it all out.
Alexa looks at Jackson as if she expects him to answer my question, but when he doesn’t after a moment, she takes it upon herself. “As you know, Bennett just got married. You did an amazing job performing their first dance song, by the way.”
“Thanks,” I reply sheepishly, suddenly filled with guilt for Jax missing the rest of his brother’s wedding reception on my behalf. Also, confused why Jax would rush to the hospital with me and then leave his girlfriend in a foreign country with his family.
“Anyway, Bennett married Scarlett Carlisle who recently became the owner of the Minnesota Wolverines. I believe she’s been in talks with Calvetti for a couple weeks now. The one thingMinnesota is lacking currently is a solid goaltender who can play in high stakes games—” she pauses to nudge Jax’s shoulder. “You and I both know that even though there’s history with the two of you, signing Calvetti was the right thing to do. You guys may have made it farther in the playoffs than ever before this year, but one of the main reasons you lost is because you don’t have a goaltender with playoff experience. Calvetti has won a cup with LA, and for most of his seasons playing with them they made a deep playoff run. Whether you like it or not, you’re stuck with him for the foreseeable future.”
Jackson’s head shoots up. “Four fucking years? How could Bennett let her do this? It’s bad enough he was my sister’s celebrity dance partner this summer but there was nothing Walker could do about that.Thiswas Bennett’s choice to sign off on.”
“Come on, Jax. That’s not fair to either of them. Bennett doesn’t get a say, and Scarlett has a business to run. Do me a favor? Before you talk to Bennett, try to set aside your beef with Calvetti and see it from Scar’s perspective. Regardless of what you think, he’s a top-five goaltender. You played with him at Harvard almost a decade ago, I’m sure the guy has done some growing up over the years just like you have. Or at least, I think you have.” Jax grunts at her, and Alexa rolls her eyes in exasperation.
My world comes to a screeching halt as I finally realize why the goalie’s name sounds so familiar. It was the goalie Jackson played with his freshman year at Harvard. He was also the teammate of his that was almost a little too happy to help me find him at one of the house parties in Boston.
Fuck, I don’t think I can sit here and listen to Alexa console Jax any longer. Especially not before I’ve had any coffee in me. Excusing myself, I make a quick cup of coffee before escaping to my bedroom to finish packing.
Thoughts of the two of them sitting out there together have me spiraling as I toss my essentials for the trip into my luggage. Each rift of laughter I hear echo down the hall has me shoving things unnecessarily hard into my suitcase.
She’s put together, professional, and everything I’m sure Jackson’s family would want and expect out of their daughter-in-law while I’m sitting here throwing a jealous fit, about to become infertile, and attempting to fight cancer.
Yeah, I’m a real fucking catch. More like a disaster—the train wreck you can’t look away from.
11
Now
“What do you miss the most about living in Minnesota?” Jackson asks me, and I pause warming up my vocal chords for my morning soundcheck.
I’m pretty religious about my vocal exercises and rest the day before and day of a performance to prevent strain or damage. But having Jackson accompany me to the Summer Stampede Festival has slightly thrown me off my routine. For one, I’ve been completely scatter-brained since spending our entire flight steering conversation away from anything and everything even remotely ‘Lex’ or goalie related. And now, instead of complete vocal rest for twenty-four hours leading up to my soundcheck, he has me answering silly little questions like this one to get to know me again. And against my better judgment, I’ve played along because I’ve felt sorry for him since Alexa broke the news to him of Calvetti signing with the Wolverines.
“Probably the food,” I admit somewhat reserved as I scroll through my playlists to find the perfect song to cover. Typically during my soundchecks, I like to cover an old favorite of mine, or a current hit from the charts.
“What? How is that possible? I love when we’ve got a game in Nashville and I can get some hot chicken,” Jackson tells me.
“I’m not much of a spice girl,” I murmur, continuing to scroll on my phone. My slight irritation with him is highly irrational, I realize this—somewhere in the back of my mind, I’m trying to remind myself I have no right to be jealous of the fact he’s moved on. Hell, I should’ve done so by now too. But it doesn’t stop the green monster from rioting within me.
“Oh, I remember.” He lets out a deep chuckle and I wonder if he’s remembering the time we went to get his favorite curry for his nineteenth birthday only for me to be sick to my stomach the rest of the afternoon with him having to take care of me. Jackson’s always taken care of me. And in only a few days’ time, I’ll have to depend on him more than I ever have in my life.
My only saving grace is that Ryan was able to get some time off work to stay with me at Jackson’s house for a few days. I’m not sure what I’d do if I needed to depend on him to help me immediately post-op. Or my dad, who only just found out I have cancer before we left. I couldn’t bring myself to tell him in person, so I left him a voicemail when I knew he’d be teaching confirmation classes.
