by Piper Rayne
Her jaw shifts and I’d bet money she’s going to hit him. “Every pregnancy, my baby bulge shows sooner. I’m only nine weeks along.”
“Twins!” Kingston punches me in the arm. “I’m calling it right now. You’re my witness. You’ve got twins coming.”
She looks at her stomach with wide eyes for a moment, then cringes.
“One of us has to get them. It makes more sense for one of the actual twins to have them.” He looks at me and then at Harley.
Harley turns to me, obviously making a play to shift the attention off of herself. “When do you think you and Sedona will have another?”
I shrug. “Let me get her to agree to move in with me first. We’re on the baby step plan.”
I hate that there’s annoyance in my tone, but part of me feels as if Sedona’s not one hundred percent in this. I get her reasoning for wanting to go slow, but we’re doing great. What’s slow going to get us except exactly where we’re going to end up, just way later than I’d like?
“Well,” Harley says. “I probably would’ve gone slow, but I got pregnant.”
“Go figure,” Kingston says.
Harley gut-punches him. “I wasn’t trying to.”
He’s bent over, coughing. “Damn, I feel bad if Rome pisses you off.”
I high five her.
“I just keep pushing a little each day,” I say.
“Nothing like a little pressure to get her to move in with you.” Kingston rolls his eyes.
“I’m sure Harley has a great punch, but I promise it’ll hurt more coming from me.”
Kingston holds up his hands. “Since when can no one in this family take a joke?”
Some of the parents arrive to get their girls, so I head over to their huddle to wrap up practice. Palmer and Linus go play with Dion as I squat to talk to the girls.
“Okay, great job today. Now remember, we have our first game in a month. It’ll be at the new facility indoors. Yer making such great progress, we’ll be more than ready by then.” I put my hand in and all the girls put their hands in too. “Let’s go, Sharks!”
All the girls scream Sharks, their vote for our team name. I’ve never felt prouder of them than today. The hard work they’re putting in is starting to show dividends.
The girls file out and one of the dads calls me over.
“Hey Jamison,” he says. “I just had a quick question.”
This dad always has a question. He has older sons who play, and he’s either asking me to work with them or telling me how I should handle his daughter. In my short time of teaching kids, I’ve found that it’s the parents who are the problem most of the time.
“What’s up, Dave?”
“I just heard the news. Congratulations. But what happens now?”
“I’m sorry?” I tilt my head, hands on my waist, unsure what he’s talking about.
“If you go off to be an assistant coach in the Premier League, what happens here? Is it an off-season thing? Or is Kingston taking over? Because I know he knows baseball but—”
I put up my hand. “What are you talking about?”
Then we’re interrupted by Kingston yelling to me, holding out his cell phone. “Jamie, it’s Sedona!”
I left mine in my bag, so she must have called him. I hold up my hand to tell Kingston to give me a minute.
“The coaching opportunity. You’re on the shortlist. It’s all over the sports channels because they didn’t know if you’d want back in the scene again after, well… you know.” Dave shoves his hands in his pockets and rocks back on his feet as if he’s embarrassed.
I hate that my past is up for public consumption.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I say.
His eyebrows shoot up. “Well, according to the sports channels, you are.”
Kingston comes closer, phone still in hand. “Jamie, she’s demanding to talk to you.”
“I promise you, Dave, I’m not going anywhere.”
He blows out a breath. “Thank God. Just when I thought about asking you to give my boys a few lessons. We’re lucky to have you here. I want to take advantage of the privilege.” He claps me on the shoulder.
“Thanks.”
After waving goodbye to Dave, Kingston hands me the cell phone. “I think she’s upset.”
“Where’s Palmer?” I look behind me.
“She’s with the other kids.”
“You got her for me?”
He nods. “Yeah, go talk to Sedona. Something’s wrong.”
I rush toward my car to pack up. There’s no way she’s heard about whatever Dave is talking about. It’s not like she watches the sports channels. “Hey, lass, what’s up?”
“How could you not tell me you’ve accepted a job halfway across the world?”
“Give me the phone!” Phoenix screams in the background.
“I would have understood. I never would’ve kept her from you. Is that what you thought? That I’d be some horrible ex who never let you see your kid?”
“What is going on? Where are you?” I grab my keys out of my pocket and look toward the field where Palmer is with Calista as Calista shows her how to stop a ball with the toe of her shoe. Palmer does it and falls. Calista is quick to help her up, and she signs to Palmer how to do it again. My heart melts from witnessing their bond forming.
“It’s all over that you put your name in to be an assistant for Premier. How did you think I wouldn’t find out? Were you just going to disappear on us? Do what I did to you as some sick joke?”
“Sedona, none of that is true. I’m not going to Premier. Where are you?”
There’s a fumbling noise.
“We’re not telling you that! Pack your bags and get the hell out of Lake Starlight,” Phoenix screams and hangs up.
Fucking hell.
“King!” I yell.
He looks up from where he’s playing with the ball with Dion. I sign for him to grab Palmer and take her home when he leaves, and he nods.
I dial Sedona and it goes right to voicemail.
How could she think I’d leave her? She’s usually so secure. Even the Britani thing didn’t throw her. I slide into my SUV and drive to her apartment, almost running through a red light.
After racing up the steps, I knock and hear nothing. Using the key she gave me two weeks ago, I open the door, but there’s no sign of her.
I text the group thread I have going with her family to ask if anyone knows where she is. It sucks that they’ll all know something is up, but Phoenix would’ve told them anyway. All I get is a stream of messages telling me they don’t know where she is. The one who does would never tell me. Phoenix is probably loving this and talking me up as some monster to Sedona every minute that ticks by.
So I drive around Lake Starlight, hoping to find her SUV somewhere. An hour later, I’m back where I started. Until that same unknown number messages me.
Unknown number: Check where you first met her. Bring a pie and two forks.
Dori! How does she always know so much? I stop at Lard Have Mercy, buy a cherry pie, and ask for two disposable forks and napkins.
Then I’m out the door and driving to Lake Starlight High School. I walk around to the back of the school to the soccer pitch. Sure enough, Sedona’s there alone, in the same bleachers she sat in all those years ago while she waited to interview me for the school paper.
I could kiss Dori right now.
Thirty-Two
Sedona
I told Phoenix to go home. I didn’t want to listen to her told-you-so’s anymore. Kingston messaged me to see if I was okay and let me know that he had Palmer because Jamison was out looking for me.
I decided to come here, where I first saw Jamison and his love for the game. His smile when he darted around Miles with the ball during that first game has never left my memory. Although I know he loves me, I’ve often wondered if he had to choose, which would be his number one? There was a time when he didn’t have to choose, and he could have both. Now, he has
to decide about not just me, but Palmer as well. And maybe it’s Palmer keeping him here, not me.
I spot Jamison walking down the paved path to the bleachers in front of our old high school soccer field. His foot lands on the metal bleacher, and after the short climb, he sits next to me, putting a pie box from Lard Have Mercy next to him. We sit for a moment, neither of us saying a word.
Finally he says quietly, “I’m not going anywhere, Sedona.”
“Then why does the news say differently?” I look in my lap, unable to meet his eyes. All my fears that I’m about to suffer a heartbreak bigger than I did before, make me feel raw and vulnerable.
“I guess word never got back that I wasn’t interested. I swear no one has reached out to me. I would’ve told them if they did.”
“Told them what?” I glance at him and he holds my gaze.
“Told them my life is in Lake Starlight with my girlfriend and our daughter.”
“I think you should take the job if you can.” I walk down the bleachers to the fence line. “Your heart is on that field.”
He follows me, his footsteps so much louder than my own. “My heart is right here.” He presses his hand to my chest. “My heart is always with you.”
“You know, the first time I saw you here, you were this cocky new kid from Scotland. All the girls wanted to date you, and I think the guys wanted to be you. But all you cared about was playing the game. I think one thing I loved about you was how you loved something so fiercely. Watching you fulfill your dreams and get what you wanted after working so hard was amazing. I was always in awe of you, and I probably had you up on a pedestal for it.”
“Yer wrong.”
“About what? Soccer is your first love.” He can’t deny that. He’s told me as much.
“Yer right on that. Soccer was my first love. But then my parents signed me up to study abroad, and I showed up in this small town in Alaska and found my soulmate. Soccer was only my first love because I hadn’t met you yet. Yer my forever love.” He chuckles and straightens, staring at the field. “The first time I met you, Miles was talking about you in the locker room, saying how you wanted to interview me… I heard it in his voice.”
“What?”
“He had feelings for you. He was threatened by me on the field and off.”
My forehead scrunches. “What are you talking about?”
“I wanted to be a good teammate. I didn’t want to take someone else’s opportunity. But as arrogant as it sounds, I knew I was better than Miles. That his spot on the team was going to be mine. I figured I’d do the interview as a favor to him. That you’d be thankful and maybe date him.”
“Why am I just hearing about this now?”
He continues on as if he didn’t hear me. “When he introduced us, your gaze flowed down my body just like all the other girls. But the feeling of your eyes on my body was different. Then we shook hands and I didn’t stand a chance. You sucked me in.”
I give him my “yeah right” look. He’s got to be kidding. I knew Miles flirted, but he didn’t have a thing for me.
“Why do you think I suggested the diner? I could have done the interview during lunch. Or said to meet me after school one day I didn’t have practice.”
Maybe his attraction was instant like mine.
“I always felt horrible when we’d see Miles, but I couldn’t stop myself from being around you. Then we fell in love. Everything just fit. You didn’t care about me being the soccer hero. You cared about me, my hopes and dreams.” He grabs my hand. “I know I lost my way a couple years ago and I put us in jeopardy. I know you think it showed you that I would pick soccer over you, but that’s not the case. You win every time.”
I nod. “I’m embarrassed that I assumed the news was telling the truth. But soccer is something I always felt I couldn’t compete with.”
He puts his finger under my chin and urges me to look at him. “I love you, Sedona. My life is here, and I don’t want to be anywhere else. I know that’s hard to believe after what you witnessed when my career ended, but I’ve found another purpose in life.”
I walk into him, and he holds me against his firm chest while I hiccup out a sob. “I’m sorry.”
He runs his hands down my back. “You have nothing to be sorry for. This is all new ground for us.” He dips his head and kisses me lightly. “Move in with me.”
My shoulders fall and I step away. “We’ve been over this, Jamie.”
“Just hear me out.” He climbs the bleachers, sits, and grabs the pie, opening the box and handing me a fork. “Have some pie while I work my case.”
I follow him and sit. “You’re sneaky, using the pie.”
He places the cherry pie on my lap. The buttery crust does look mouth-watering. Then he stands at the bottom of the bleachers like a lawyer about to deliver his final argument. “You think that what’s mine is ours, right? Technically, in this moment, Palmer isn’t mine.”
I look blankly at him and he chuckles.
“Her last name is Bailey, not Ferguson.”
“We’re changing that,” I say.
“Yes, but she’s yours only. Yet you share her with me.”
“Pretty farfetched, Ferguson.” I fork the pie, my heart relieved because I jumped to conclusions and he’s not leaving.
“So what if I have more money? It’s our money. Because everything of mine, including my heart and body, are yours. They don’t belong to me. That goes for my bank account too. Plus, how will either of us succeed if we don’t tackle this parenthood thing together? What if yer working hard to get somewhere on an article and Palmer is there with constant interruptions? If we’re together in the same house, I can keep her busy while you work. Take her to the facility with me or something.”
I roll my eyes, but I can’t say that his argument doesn’t make sense. There have been so many times when I’m in the flow and I’m interrupted because I need to do something for her. Writing takes me at least twice as long as it ever did.
“During our lives, the role of breadwinner will probably flip and flop a bunch of times. What if you write some bestselling novel or your blog goes viral and everyone wants a piece of it? You could be the big earner between us.” He sits on the bench in front of me and places his hands on the outsides of my thighs. “Would you not want to share that with me?”
Damn him, he really does have a good case.
“Point made,” I say.
“So we can live together? You, me, and Palmer? Like a real family?”
I stare at him, the boy turned guy turned all man. How can I turn him down when I want the same things he does?
“Never let go of us again?” I say past the lump in my throat.
He takes the pie off my lap, places it next to me, then grabs my fork and puts it on the pie. Grabbing my hands in his, he squeezes. “I will never let you go again.”
I exhale as if I’m preparing to jump off a cliff into the darkest and deepest water. But having Jamison jumping beside me with his hand in mine says we’ll get through whatever life throws at us—together.
I nod.
His mouth crashes against mine and we make-out like teenagers—except we don’t hide under the bleachers, we make-out right there in plain sight. Go ahead and let Buzz Wheel report that I got my man back. I want the entire world to know.
Epilogue
Sedona
One Month Later
Today is the official opening of Kingston and Jamison’s youth sports facility. Palmer and I moved into Jamison’s house last weekend, and since then, we’ve had a hard time getting Palmer away from her dollhouse.
While Palmer naps, I’m in the kitchen, working on a post about staycations in the Anchorage area. With Jamison having to stay around to get the facility open, we can’t travel, and I’m not ready to leave them yet. It took having a family of my own for me to understand why my mom always took my dad with her.
I hear the door open, and since we’re meeting Jamison later, I’m not sure who
would just barge into my house. I realize my naivety when a blue-haired woman on a mission walks from the front door to my kitchen table.
“Hi, Grandma,” I say. “What are you wearing?”
She’s decked out in a long trench coat with the collar up covering half her face and a pair of Blue Blockers on.
“I didn’t want anyone to recognize me.”
I refrain from telling her that I’m pretty sure anyone who got within fifty feet of her would still know it’s her.
She lays a laptop on the table. “Sedona, we need to talk.”
I raise my eyebrows and shut my computer. She’s serious as she slides out the chair and sits down. She’s yet to ask where Palmer is, which is odd. “What’s up?”
“Have I ever told you I hate that expression? All I think about is that damn rabbit with the carrot whenever I hear it.”
I nod. I’m positive she didn’t come all the way here to tell me that, but I change my wording to appease her. “What can I help you with?”
“Much better.” She opens her computer, hunts and pecks with her pointer fingers, then turns the computer to face me. I’m shocked by the ease she seems to use with the laptop.
I lean forward, seeing the Buzz Wheel article that went live last night. It talks about Kingston and Jamison’s facility and how they turned a vacant industrial building into an indoor sports complex. There’s also a picture someone got of Jamison’s parents with Palmer by the lakefront. They came to visit last week and instantly fell in love with their granddaughter. The last bit of the article talks about the rumor that Phoenix is pregnant, and it speculates on whether she and Griffin got married on the sly.
“Yeah, I saw it.”
I’m not about to give her the intel she wants on Phoenix. Phoenix and Griffin did elope to Las Vegas last weekend while everyone else thought they were in LA. Maverick doesn’t even know yet. She finally accepted his proposal and he booked his private plane immediately, saying he wasn’t taking any chances. I’m disappointed I didn’t get to be a part of the ceremony, but I’m glad she finally saw the light.
