Busted (Promise Harbor Wedding) - By Sydney Somers Page 0,16

way out. By the time he reached his Challenger, he saw Hayley pull out of the parking lot. He dug out his cell phone as he slid behind the wheel and punched in Josh’s number. When his friend didn’t answer, he left a message to see if Josh needed anything, then hung up and headed for his parents’ place.

Buying them an RV had turned out to be one of the best gifts he’d ever given them. Retirement gave his dad the freedom to travel the way his mom had been looking forward to for years. They probably would have set their sights on returning to the harbor if they hadn’t seen him just a few weeks ago. Last he spoke with them, they were exploring eastern Canada.

On the way home, Jackson found himself slowing down as he passed the county hospital, but couldn’t bring himself to pull in to the lot.

Mitch Stone had cancer. Son of a bitch.

Why hadn’t he called Matt back all those times? He’d sort of assumed they’d catch up when he came home for the wedding. Just one more reason he’d been a complete ass. He probably deserved more of Matt’s attitude, but fuck if his life wasn’t already in the shitter to begin with.

Seventeen months since his career-ending car accident and he still didn’t know what the hell to do with himself. Coaching was a viable option, but it wasn’t playing the game he loved.

Shoving that thought squarely out of his head, he pulled into his parents’ driveway.

He lounged around watching a movie for a while, then thought about checking his email and catching the latest headlines on ESPN before getting ready. He quickly nixed both ideas when he found over a hundred messages in his inbox. Some were from friends, but most were just people digging for information surrounding his arrest last night.

He could have walked away. Probably should have. He’d known where it was all headed the second the guy walked over and started running his mouth about what an asshole Jackson was. “Can’t-shoot-for-shit dickhead” had been his personal favorite, though he’d heard far more original crap than that. His giant-sized pal hadn’t appreciated Jackson pointing that out.

Walking away after that first punch was easier said than done, and then Hayley ended up between them. How she’d moved that fast still made his head spin. What made his head spin even faster, though, was thinking she looked pretty as hell the whole time she was taking him into custody.

Scrubbing a hand over his face, Jackson decided to get his shower and shaving over with. And maybe more ice on his face. The swelling had gone down, but Allie wasn’t going to be excited about his appearance in the wedding pictures.

Maybe if he’d put himself right to bed last night after taking Josh home, he wouldn’t have ended up back at Stone’s. Instead he could have been at Josh’s in time to catch him and talk about the cold feet his friend had confessed to.

Hell, maybe it was better if they didn’t talk about whether or not Josh’s cold feet were anything to worry about. Or the way he’d gotten that weird look on his face the second he’d laid eyes on Devon.

Remembering how the two of them looked at each other in general was probably the one reason he should have talked to Josh. But what did he know about getting married and the whole cold feet thing? He’d barely been “engaged” before it had ended almost as fast as his days of playing professional hockey.

Suddenly annoyed with himself for revisiting shit best left in the past, he got himself cleaned up and dressed. With one final adjustment of his persistently crooked tie, he grabbed his wallet and keys and left for Hayley’s.

According to the dashboard clock he was almost half an hour early by the time he pulled up in front of her apartment building. She was probably still getting ready. Might even give him that cute annoyed look when she found him on her doorstep so soon.

Smiling at the thought of getting under her skin, he climbed out of his car. Bright, hot sunshine beamed down on him, sinking straight through the jacket to warm his skin. Stripping the jacket off, he left it in the car and shut the door.

He was halfway up the sidewalk when a red and yellow ball dropped in front of him. He stared at the toy, then tipped his head back and almost fell over