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“I was too young to work out why Jason cheated on me that day. I caught him making out with someone else in the back seat of his car. It was right outside his house, and I’d shown up to surprise him after his baseball game. For years, I projected inwardly, thinking I wasn’t good enough for him. But then I got older and wiser, and then I met your dad. It still took me a while, but you know what I figured out in the end?”

I shake my head, my brain locked in and focused for the first time since Tyler’s text landed in my inbox.

“I don’t think Jason appreciated what he had. I don’t think he ever took a step back and thought about how sacred and precious those who loved and cared for us were. I don’t think he’d ever been shown or experienced what it was like to want for something like the security of trustworthy, loving arms.”

She falls quiet and meets me with her eyes. “Tyler Bennett gave me Jason Matthews vibes. So many times, I wanted to tell you to tread carefully, and sometimes, I felt like I’d overstepped your independent boundaries when I did hint at it. Tyler never made you happy or injected pure sunshine into your voice. Not like I heard that time on the joint call with your brother. You sounded light and full of life. It radiated from you. Even from thousands of miles away, I could tell.”

My senses sting with not just emotion, but realization. “And you think Jack makes me happy?”

She lifts one shoulder slowly. “I’m just saying that you’re right to be angry at Jack. You were right to be hurt, and your feelings are absolutely valid about that. What I also think is that you don’t need space at all. That’s not what you’re searching for. I think you want him toshow youthat he’s worth the fact that you turned down the UK and put your relationship ahead of a shotin the Super League. And for what it’s worth, I personally think that he is. Call it mother’s intuition.”

She releases my hand and rises from the bed, turning around to look at me.

Like finding the missing piece to a puzzle, something clicks into place.

Elliott.

Jack has watched his mother and family be manipulated by a man who I couldn’t stand the sight of, not for even thirty seconds. Maybe because of his asshole father, he’s grown to appreciate the important things in life.

Maybe I don’t need to worry about him hurting me at all.

Mom smiles as she watches me think everything over. “I hope there’s something helpful in what I said.”

Her eyes flick back to my nightstand, and she hands me my phone. “Someone named Darcy is calling.”

With my thoughts still whirling, I sit up and take it, and she makes a quick exit, allowing me some privacy.

“Hello?”

“Kendra? It’s Darcy.”

The sound of her soft British accent forces me to bite down on the inside of my cheek, emotions overwhelming me as I hear the natural kindness in her voice.

“So!” she says excitedly. “Guess who’s heading back to New York after Christmas? Long story short, I have another reading week, and I thought,What the hell? I’ll come back and see my favorite person. Along with Jack.” She giggles. “He has another game, and I figured we could go together again. Last time was kinda fun, and being honest, I haven’t seen him play enough.”

I swallow thickly. She doesn’t know. I guess she wouldn’t. Not even Jenna knows what’s happened. Only my brother and parents.

Working hard to hide my emotional crisis, I clear my throat. “That sounds great! I have a really stacked schedule around Christmas, but if I can make it, then I?—”

“What’s the matter?” she cuts me off dead in my tracks. “You sound upset.”

I shift my phone from one ear to the next, trying to figure out what to say. “I-I …”

“He didn’t break it off with you, did he?” Her voice is incredulous.

I shake my head. “No, no. We’re still together—well, sort of together. I’ve just had the worst twenty-four hours in history, and we kind of had a fight, and I came back home.”

“Wait … you’re at your mum and dad’s. Right now?”

I look around at my pink bedroom.

“I came home to think everything through,” I say on a broken sob that I can’t help. “It’s been a shitty twenty-four hours.”

She sighs softly into the phone. “Oh, babe. Jack called me earlier, asking for your exact home address. I figured he was going to send your parents something for Christmas. But now I’m thinking something else.”

“Kendra?” My door creaks open, and Mom reappears, standing in my doorway. Her face is flushed a little pink, and she wears an unmistakable smile. “Are you expecting visitors?”

She steps to one side, and a white sneaker appears, followed by the bill of a Blades cap.