Jilted Jock - Rebecca Jenshak Page 0,6
New York, I’d gotten used to spending time by myself. Evenings, weekends, holidays. Not always, of course. We saw each other at least once a month and we’d been able to spend a handful of holidays and long weekends together. Plus, Chance and Aubrey lived close – less than a block from my house actually, so it wasn’t like I was a shut in. Aubrey and I did girl’s nights out, I went over for dinner or to watch CJ. My life wasn’t empty, but sometimes being in my house all alone it felt that way.
Later that night, I settled in my newly painted living room enjoying the bright pop of color and how clean and fresh it looked. It was amazing how much more at home I felt with such a small change. Richard and I had been planning on moving in together when he got the job opportunity in New York and since then my life had sort of been on hold. I’d put off making any changes waiting for the day we could make it ours or find a new place. I’d been looking at paint samples for over a year, telling myself it was silly to paint a wall I might not be looking at for long. Now, I wish I’d done it sooner.
I turned on the TV and then opened my laptop to check my work email and schedule for tomorrow. Then I went to my favorite recipe site. I was a terrible cook, but it was like window shopping for the shoes you could never afford. Except I perused recipes that I had no intention of making. I spent hours reading the most complicated and advanced meals and looking up words like macerate.
Tonight, I was learning how to make baked Alaska (A dessert that apparently took over six hours to make!) and watching Bear Grylls try to survive the Arctic Circle on TV. Recipes and survival TV were my guilty pleasures.
Bear stripped off all his clothes to cross Arctic waters and I was wondering, not for the first time, what sort of person did that without a real life/death scenario forcing them into it. Probably the same person who whipped up a six-hour dessert.
A box of raisins, a cup of tea... yeah, that was as much adventure as I was getting tonight. Maybe if I felt really wild, I’d stay up late and watch another episode or two. Yawning at the thought, my phone rang with an incoming call from Chance.
I answered, eyes still glued to the TV, “Did you know hypothermia happens at just three degrees below core body temperature?”
“Can you stay with CJ for an hour?”
I closed my laptop and set it on the coffee table. “Of course, is everything okay?”
“Aubrey is at the shelter and I need to take Finn to a hotel.”
“O-kay.” Why was Finn even still there?
“We think he’s allergic to the cat or maybe he’s sick, but I don’t think so.”
“The cat?”
“Finn’s cat.”
“He’s allergic to his own cat?”
“Not Finn. CJ’s allergic.”
Right. That made more sense. “I’ll be right down.”
I walked into Chance’s less than five minutes later. Finn paced the entry way, bag thrown over his shoulder. We locked eyes and my face heated. That tortured expression hadn’t left his face, but without the drunken haze around him it was so much more intense.
I looked away first and down to the adorable kitten circling his feet.
“Oh my goodness.” I rushed to get a better look. “She’s beautiful. What’s her name?”
Finn stared at me with a blank, uninterested glare. “She’s not mine.”
The kitten was absolutely beautiful. A Bengal, white with exquisite spotting like a leopard. I ran my hand over her head and down her back and she meowed and nudged my hand for more.
“Where’s the nearest hotel? You can just call me an Uber.” Finn’s voice, agitated and rough, sent chills down my spine.
“It’s fine, mate,” Chance said. “Adele will stay with CJ and I’ll take you.”
The kitten darted off and I went to where CJ sat on the couch and squatted in front of him. His eyes were red and glassy, and he held his stuffed goat, a mini replica of the family pet, tight against his chest. I knew he was out of sorts by the fact he was sitting still, but when he lifted his head and met my smile, my heart broke.
“Not feeling well?”
He sniffled. “Want Mommy.”
Chance swooped in and sat beside his son. “She’s going to be home real soon, little man. Aunt