“Not at all. You need to leave.”
“Not yet, mama.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“You prefer babe?”
“I prefer you to?—”
“Hello, lovebirds!” Mom sings, charging back into the room, followed by Lizzie and Waylon then Mamaw and Danny. “Time to meet the mysterious fiancé!”
Nico winks at me then takes my uninjured hand, lacing his fingers through mine, whispering, “We got this.”
CHAPTER 5
NICO
Hockey is all about teamwork,and I’m nothing if not a team player. All of us as kids dreamed of being a top recruit, thinking we’d be the star player, hoisting the Cup above our heads after scoring a hat trick in the final championship game. When reality is, the few of us who make it to the big league will spend most of our time on the bench, relegated to backing up the top-line players. We may not be the lead scorers, but we’re the ones helping to keep the energy of the team up, giving our all for the ten or fifteen minutes of ice time, so the first and second lines can rest. While I may not be the most valuable player, I bring value to the team. I know my place and why it’s important.
And Jo? She has no idea.
From only these few minutes, I can see she doesn’t know her worth. She’s clearly been pushed around in her past, and I’m not going to let that happen anymore. She’s got me on her team now, and even if this engagement is fake, our little burgeoning friendship is not. And I refuse to let her take this L, when I can at least make it a draw.
As her family files into the room, I stand, keeping her hand firmly in mine, clocking the tall dude’s attention on our fingers.I’m going to need more in-depth information about all these people, but his slight frown makes me curious. To test him out, I lean down and place a kiss on Jo’s temple before tossing a smile his way. He immediately stands straighter, pushes his chest out.
Douchebag.
But Jo stays quiet, so I clear my throat, cueing her to say something and introduce me. She’s frozen, leaving me to take over. “I’m Nicholas Tremblay, but everyone calls me Nico.”
“I’m Tonya.” The woman who I can only assume is Jo’s mother hugs me once again. Where she has dyed platinum-blond hair and sun-damaged skin, Jo’s long hair is dark brown, her skin creamy yet pale. With a little mole by the left side of her mouth.
“I can’t believe it’s taken Bucky landing in the hospital for us to meet,” Tonya says, letting me go.
“Bucky?”
“Josephine,” she corrects with a smile, and I shoot Jo a confused look, but she merely shakes her head, so I shrug and move on to the gray-haired woman Tonya motions to. “This is my mother, Delia.”
“You might as well call me Mamaw,” she says with an Appalachian accent, opening her arms to me.
I accept her hug. “Okay, Mamaw.”
She embraces me tightly, her hands moving too close to my ass for comfort, and I donotlike that, so I hop out of her grasp. Then Tonya introduces me to Danny, Jo’s older brother, who has some weird grudge against Jo from the way he sneers at her, Lizzie, Jo’s pretty younger sister, and Lizzie’s boyfriend, Waylon, whose face looks like he’s trying to hold back a fart, eyes darting all over the place, permanent scowl in place.
In short order, I learn Jo’s father Ron couldn’t take time off to make the drive with them. Danny’s married with a kid on the way, but according to Tonya, “as soon as he heard his sister was hurt, he had to come.” Jo rolls her eyes at that. “And Elizabeth took off time to come. Isn’t that nice?”
I nod along because I feel like that’s the polite thing to do, but I’m not fully comprehending what’s happening here. It doesn’tfeelright. I mean, they’re her family. She’s hurt, so theyshouldcome check on her, right?
At least, that’s how I always imagined families to be. I don’t have a whole lot of experience with my own, only with Sheffy’s. But they would go anywhere and do anything for each other, so this thing Tonya’s doing to make sure Jo knows exactly what everyone gave up to come here doesn’t sit well with me.
“I had to cancel some appointments,” Tonya goes on, sitting in the chair next to Josephine’s bed, “and Judy threw such a fit. That woman is in my chair every week. You’d think she could wait another day or two, but noooo.”
“I heard her husband’s been making some side trips,” Mamaw mutters.
“Side trips?” Lizzie asks, typing away on her cell phone. “He’s sleeping around?”
Mamaw presses her hand to her heart. “Well, you know I wouldn’t accuse anyone of doing something like that. That’s between him and the Lord, but I’d be doing some extra repenting if I were him.”
Danny sighs. “All right. Enough gossiping. What’s the plan?” He turns to Tonya. “Are we taking her home or what?”
