“Yeah.” I twirl her hair between my fingers. “I thought the most difficult part of the other night would be keeping up the playboy façade with the guys. I never could’ve imagined what would happen during that game.”
She wraps her arms around me, cuddling into me even more. Like she’s trying to consume my body in a comforting hug.
“Hey,” I mumble, causing her to look up at me, “I’m happy I have you. Thinking about his daughter made me realize I’m lucky to have someone.”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s all alone. Sure, Rhodes’ teammates are probably like family in some way, but I don’t know if she has someone to be with during this time. And it made me realize how lucky I am to have so many people that care about me. You know, if I lose my mom, I’ll have so many people in my corner. You included.”
“You got that right.” She kisses me. “I don’t plan on going anywhere.”
“Hmmm, so are you saying I’m stuck with you?”
“Completely.”
thirty-six
Avalon
Have you seen your mom recently?” Jay takes a bite of his sandwich.
“I saw her last week,” I respond. “It was just a quickhiandbye. It was like—”
“There was nothing wrong?”
“Exactly.”
“I know we talked about this a while ago, but maybe you should consider staying with me again. I hate the idea of you being alone and—”
“I haven’t been.” The words are out before I realize what I’m saying.
Jay shakes his head and waves his hands in front of his face, “I don’t want to hear about your sex life.”
“I’ve actually been seeing someone… kind of.” I stab my fork into my salad.
“Like an actual relationship?” He leans forward like maybe he didn’t hear me correctly.
Jay knows me well enough to know I’ve never been the relationship type. He saw the relationships I grew up around and knows I’ve done everything to avoid being in that position.
“I guess you could call it that.”
“What’s he like?”
“Um, I don’t know.” I didn’t realize how nervous I’d be talking about Zeke. I’ve never felt this way about a guy before, and we’ve been hiding it for so long that I never thought I’d be talking about him to someone else.
“You don’t know?” Jay laughs. “Does he have a name? Go to your school?”
“His name’s Zeke. He plays hockey for Rockford, and I don’t know, he just gets me.”
“A hockey player?”
“I know, right? Who am I?”
“When do I get to meet this Zeke?”
“That’s funny.”
“I’m serious,” he continues. “With everything going on with your mom, I would’ve expected your mood to be different. Whatever you have going on with this Zeke guy, it’s good for you. I want to meet the person that makes you happy.”