Page 4

Four

Henry

I can’t believe it’s her.

Jade .

In the flesh.

When I was midway through turning around, I thought Tweetie was just messing with me, and I regretted telling him about her earlier, thinking he was making a joke of me. But she’s here… my Jade. She’s standing in front of me. Unless someone spiked my drink, and I’m hallucinating, but from the uneasiness in her stance, I’m pretty sure I’m not out of my mind.

“Hi, Henry,” she says as if it’s any other day, and it hasn’t been three years since we’ve seen each other or talked.

The room quiets, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Simple Man” in the background now the only sound. All attention is on us. And how can I blame them? None of my teammates have ever seen me with someone. And I’m sure it’s clear there’s more than a passing familiarity between us.

My gaze runs down her body. She’s not the girl I first asked on a date over a decade ago. She cut her dark locks shorter so they’re only a little past her shoulders, and her brown gaze doesn’t sparkle with the same kind of uninhibited thirst for life it used to, as if life has stolen some of the shine from her.

I step closer, unsure how to react. Shaking hands is too formal, but hugging doesn’t feel right either. “Hey,” I say softly as if the entire room can’t hear me.

She sips her dark drink I’m fairly sure is whiskey. When did she start to drink whiskey?

My gut twists over how many things I probably don’t know about her anymore. “What are you doing here?”

She looks around the room, and her cheeks pinken. This is so weird. Glancing over my shoulder, my assumption is confirmed when I see the entire group staring at us.

I take her by her elbow, guiding her to a small table along the wall, away from everyone. My teammates take the hint and talk to one another, but I still feel their glances our way.

“I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have…” She sighs, and her shoulders drop a bit. “I’m here for Aubrie’s birthday.”

“Aubrie?” My eyebrows draw down. Is she talking about Chelsea and Dean’s daughter, Aubrie? She must be.

Jade nods. “She’s outside. Well, not outside outside. She’s in the regular room.” Her smile suggests she’s already noted the fact that all the Falcons hide out in here.

“Ruby helps us to actually enjoy our night, so we don’t have to sign autographs and take selfies for hours.”

She holds up her hands. “No. I get it. You’re a celebrity.” Something crosses her face before a sweet smile emerges. “Congratulations, you have everything you wanted.”

My chest almost caves in. Jesus, does she really think that’s true? I run a hand through my hair. She’s so wrong, but it’s not the time to tell her. If I had everything, I’d have her.

“Thanks.” I clear my throat. It’s unbelievably awkward, and I hate this distance between us. “When did you get back?”

The when isn’t my business, and I need to drive down the hope inside me that she’s back for me. As if her suitcase is outside the door because she came straight here from the airport.

“About a week,” she says.

My heart cracks wide open. Instead of running to me, she’s been within ten miles of me for seven days. I can’t lie. The fact that she’s okay with that guts me.

“You picked the worst time of year to come back,” I say, trying to lighten the mood and my heart. Chicago winters aren’t for the weak.

“Yeah, I heard there could be snow tomorrow.” She sips her whiskey and licks her bottom lip after she swallows. Fuck, she’s still so mesmerizing that she captivates all my attention.

“Hey! Alvin and the Chipmunks, get outside. There’s a table of three ladies out there, and one’s wearing a birthday sash. They want some hockey dick tonight,” Tweetie shouts across the room.

“I’m not gonna pass that up,” Simon says. He’s part of the trio who got tagged with the nickname because they’re inseparable. It was a twist of fate that they all got brought up to the Falcons after playing junior league together.

Jade’s eyes stray from mine for the first time since she walked into the back room, and I want to throw Tweetie to the floor for stripping her attention off me.

“Speaking of… I should probably go. I told Chelsea I’d watch Aubrie tonight. It’s her twenty-first birthday.” She steps back, and panic squeezes the air from my lungs.

God no, she can’t leave now.

Jade must be following Simon with her eyes, and I’d be a moron not to figure out he’s about to walk by us. I hold my arm out to stop him before he passes.

“What’s up, Daddy?” Simon asks.

I turn away from Jade, and just as they always are, the trio is lined up one after the other, following Tweetie’s instructions. I stare down each of them.

“Listen, Aubrie, the birthday girl, is really fucking important to me. If anything bad happens to her, believe me, you do not want to hear from her mom. So, you’re all her fucking babysitters tonight.”

“Henry,” Jade says, figuring out quickly that now that she’s in front of me, I’m not letting her out of my sight. At least for as long as she’ll allow.

“If word gets back to me—and it will—that one of you didn’t keep an eye on her, and make sure she makes it back to her apartment safe and sound—alone—you’ll deal with me.” I pull my wallet out of my back pocket and dig out a few hundred dollars. “Show her a good time.”

Simon smiles at his friends behind him. “You got it.” Swiping the money from my hand, he steps forward, but he’s stopped by Jade.

“When he says show her a good time, that doesn’t mean with your dick.” She raises those eyebrows that always draw up when she’s pissed.

“I’m not sure who’s scarier,” Theo mumbles.

They all skirt around Jade and me, disappearing through the door into the main part of the bar.

“Want to have a seat?” I ask, gesturing to the table for two along the wall.

“Are you sure you can trust them?” she asks.

“Do you think I’d chance Chelsea coming at me with a butcher knife?” I swipe my beer from the big round table in the middle of the room, earning a few curious glances and one big smirk from Rowan.

She’s already sitting on a stool across from the one I slide on. “I’m sorry.”

That could mean a lot of things.

“I shouldn’t have let Tweetie bait me back here, and I shouldn’t be ruining your night.” She sips her drink and stares into the glass, moving it around in her hand.

Is she for real? Jade’s the best part of my night. She just made my mediocre night feel like we made the playoffs.

“It’s good to see you,” I say because fuck… it is. It’s been three long years since I’ve seen those dark eyes that I swear see into my soul. But it’s the way my body feels around her. It’s not a feeling I can explain.

She gives me a wan smile. “You look good.”

My eyes lock with hers. “You look beautiful.”

Her gaze returns to her glass. “I hate how weird this is.”

“I know.” And it is, but I’m positive we can get back to being friends now that she’s here. “Listen, when I?—”

“Not here.” She shakes her head and glances to where my teammates and friends are.

She’s right, this is a conversation for another time, but I can’t help but worry that there won’t be another time.

“Are you home for the holidays?” Thanksgiving is coming, and that will run up to Christmas.

“No. Well, yeah, but it’s more because my mom has to have macular hole surgery, and with Waylon and Owen’s busy schedules, she asked me to come home to help. And I was… never mind.”

I really want to ask her to keep going, but the fact she cut herself off from wherever she was going with that says we’re nowhere near where we were before.

“And Reed’s been busy these days,” I say.

She nods. “Yeah, that’s what Mom said. He’s got some big case.”

“He always seems to have a big case since he became the district attorney.” There’s a bit of an awkward pause, so I add, “Waylon and Owen are playing awesome.”

“Do you go to their games?”

Waylon and Owen are her twin brothers and freshmen in high school. Both of them play hockey. The hockey circuit is way more dog-eat-dog than it was when I was coming up, so I feel like they’re a lot busier than I ever was.

“Sometimes. Bodhi… my son.”

The corners of her lips tick up for a second. “I know.”

“I didn’t. I mean…” I take a long pull of my beer. “We haven’t talked, and I didn’t know if you’d remember.”

She nods. “I do.”

Of course she does. “Well, he loves Waylon and Owen, so he begs me to go to games all the time. I think it’s mostly because they parade him around the rink like he’s the next Gretzky.”

“That’s sweet.”

Silence descends, and both of us take a sip of our drinks. I have so many questions I want to ask her, but I fear I’m intruding on subjects she might not want to talk about. When we set our drinks back on the table, and neither of us says anything, I figure, fuck it. Who knows when I’ll have this chance to get answers again?

“I saw you were in Hawaii.” There. It’s out.

Yes, I stalk your Instagram like a teenage girl and her boyband crush.

Her eyes flash up to meet mine. “I was.”

“It looked beautiful.”

“It was. Everything about it.”

“And the guy? Is that your boyfriend?” I never actually saw a guy, but the signs were there in the pictures. In a way, I feel as if I’m baiting her, but my desperation pulls rank on my usual restraint.

The way she stares into her glass confirms I’m right. There’s someone important in her life. And with that confirmation comes the feeling of a swift kick to the nuts. Shit, I am so fucking jealous of this mystery guy.

“He was. We broke up.”

“Oh, really.”

She giggles for the first time, and it lessens the uncomfortableness. “Don’t sound so happy, Henry.”

My own chuckle escapes. “Sorry, I didn’t mean…”

She shrugs. “It’s fine. I’d probably be the same, but your social media isn’t really personal, so I can’t ask anything back.”

So, she checked up on me too?

“I pay someone else to do it,” I confess. I was never really into any of that shit, but I’m happy to know she sought out info on me like I did her.

“Tell me something about your life,” she says.

“Not much to say. I still play hockey, and I have a six-year-old son, Bodhi. They’re my life now.”

Her smile twists into a frown, but she recovers fast, sipping her drink and setting it down.

“Tell me about the places you’ve been,” I say, my selfishness clawing to keep her here as long as I can.

She abides by my request, though she seems a little reluctant, and tells me about some of her travels and all she’s seen and done since we last spoke. Though she quickly turns the conversation around to ask me about my time in the league.

Conor slips by our table with refills now and then, never stopping to introduce himself.

As the room empties, I start to think about where we might go from here. I really want to see her again. Hell, I want to take her upstairs and really reconnect, preferably with her legs around my waist or my neck, but we’re far from that happening. Shit, we may never be there again.

Cool your jets, man. It’s been a few hours after a long drought.

“I should go,” she says eventually, sliding down from her chair.

“Can I have your number?” What I’m really asking is, can I use the number that’s been stored in my phone for decades. Is that still your number?

“You have it, Henry.”

And I’ve been an idiot for not using it for three long years, only allowing my thumb to hover over that green circle on my phone screen while I second-guess myself.

“Can I use it?”

Her shoulders drop, and she meets my gaze. “You can.”

Fuck. Finally. Something stitches back together in my chest.

I have no idea what my plans are for when I use it, but for some reason, tonight feels a little like fate.

“But Henry… after Christmas, I’m leaving again.”

There goes that magic I felt, blowing away in the wind. There’s no way I’ll stop her from leaving. I’d never keep her from what ultimately makes her happy, but now that she’s in front of me, I can’t let this be the only time I see her in the next couple of months.

“Okay,” I say, and she remains quiet. “I’ll walk you out.”

I follow her out the door. None of my teammates who are still here say anything to either of us. I don’t spot Aubrie as we make our way through the bar. I’ll have to send the chipmunks a text to make sure they’re doing what I asked.

Jade requests herself an Uber, and we stand close in the cool autumn air until the car arrives. I open the back passenger door for her, and she slides in.

“It was good seeing you,” she says, staring up at me from the seat.

“Thanks for a great night.”

Shut the door, you idiot. But I can’t.

“Good night.” She gives me a smile that appears half sad, half hopeful.

“Let’s go. It’s Saturday night,” the Uber driver barks.

“Welcome home, Jade.”

I slowly shut the door and step back from the curb. The sedan pulls away and is soon swallowed up by the other vehicles.

It takes every ounce of my willpower not to chase it down the block, but I remind myself that our time was a long time ago. There is no future for us. Not the kind I really want anyway.