Jilted Jock - Rebecca Jenshak Page 0,56
the lump in my throat. Taking action was so much easier than sitting around, but I respected him too damn much to go against his wishes.
“Will you just tell her I said hello?”
“Of course.”
We stood and he walked me back through the house and to the front door.
“I’ll call you when we get back.”
“Yeah, alright.” I waved to Aubrey. She stood in the kitchen biting her lip and looking worried. I didn’t have a read on her, but the expression on her face had me leaning toward worried I’d blow up Adele’s life. “Have a safe trip.”
Finn
The following week, I was finally cleared to workout with the team. I had to take it easy and I wasn’t ready for games, but I was getting there. I threw myself into recovery as a distraction. On Thursday, the day the team flew to Seattle for another away game, I spent the whole day at the practice facility. I worked myself to exhaustion. That night I slept like the dead. Ten hours straight. My body ached like I hadn’t moved since my head hit the pillow.
I laid in bed, stiff and knowing I needed to move, but with everyone I knew gone, I had nowhere to go.
Which is why I was especially surprised to wake up to a missed call from an unknown number and a new voicemail.
Marshmallow curled up at my feet, I put the phone to my ear to listen and closed my eyes.
“Hey, Finn, it’s Aubrey. Listen, I’ve only got a few minutes. We’re in Pennsylvania at a rest stop letting Pixy get some air, but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about everything you said. Chance means well, but he forgets what it’s like when you’re fighting for someone you’re not sure feels the same way. This road trip reminded me of that.”
My eyes flew open and I sat up.
“Chance and I had our share of ups and downs at the beginning, too. You wouldn’t even believe me if I told you all the things he did to win me back and prove how much he cared about me.”
Her light laughter filtered through the phone and then cut off quickly and her serious tone was back. “I don’t know how Adele feels about you, but I know she hasn’t seemed herself since she went to New York and now that I know what happened between you two, I can’t help but wonder if that isn’t part of it. She and Richard were in California for Christmas and she just seemed… off, not as happy as I expected for someone who’d just been engaged and moved to an awesome new city for adventure. She should have been telling us about all the amazing things she’s done since getting to New York and how much she loves it there. At least for a few more months before she realized she’s a California girl through and through. I’m rambling.”
“We should get to New York late tonight or tomorrow, but I couldn’t go another day without reaching out. Here’s her address. What you do with it is up to you.” She rattled off the address which I memorized by repeating over and over in my head while I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a pen and paper.
When I was satisfied I’d written it down correctly, I hung up and braced myself on the counter with both hands. Now what? She’d left the message late last night so maybe they were already there. Should I wait to hear from her again?
I shuffled through the rest of the morning like a zombie. Part of me wanted to run to Adele at Aubrey’s urging, but the other part was still considering Chance’s words. I didn’t know which was right.
I petted Marshmallow for five minutes straight while she ate up the attention and I talked out my predicament.
“What do you think I should do?” I asked. She looked at me and meowed, which I took to mean I should absolutely go to Adele.
I left out enough cat food and water for a month and sent an email to my agent to see if he could find someone to stop in and check on Marshmallow while I was gone. I had two days before I needed to be back. Theoretically she should be fine by herself, but I didn’t want her to be all alone.
“Wish me luck,” I said as I gave her one last pet.
I took the first flight to New York and checked into