Jane stiffened a little, wondering if it would be rude to say no. Cole glanced at her, clearly trying to ascertain if it was okay to accept the invitation. CC looked from one to the other, a little frown between her brows. “Oh, hey, honey…” She smiled at Wade. “I’ve got a better idea. Why don’t you and Cole go to Jack’s and catch up for a bit?”
Wade frowned, looking at his wife. “Because the beer here is free.” He glanced at Cole, then at Jane, then back at his wife. His brow also started to crease like he might be finally catching the stilted vibe.
“Wade Carter, you’re richer than god. Take this man to a bar.”
There was a moment or two of silence when Wade glanced around the group again several times, then back to CC.
“You can talk as much football as you want,” she said, nodding encouragingly, “and Jane and I can talk about cracked nipples and episiotomies.”
Wade blinked. “Episi what?”
She patted his shoulder. “It’s where they cut—”
“Okay.” Wade quickly shut his wife down, looking a little green around the gills. He turned to Cole. “You up for Jack’s?”
Cole looked about as up for Jack’s as Wade did, but he nodded anyway. “Sure. Why not.”
“Okay then.” Wade dropped a kiss on CC’s forehead, then gestured to the stairs. “After you,” he said to Cole.
Jane and CC watched them walk down the stairs, down the path, and out the gate before CC moved. “Shall we go in?” she suggested gently, sliding a hand under Jane’s elbow like Jane was the pregnant one requiring assistance.
Lordy…she must look bad.
Jane nodded, and they walked inside, CC shutting the door behind them. “Please tell me to mind my own business if this is a giant overstep,” she said as Jane stopped in the middle of the entrance hall and CC had to step around her. “But…are you in love with Cole Hauser?”
Jane sucked in a breath as the truth sucker punched her. “Yes.”
God help her, she was. She didn’t know when it had happened, but she couldn’t deny it any longer. She couldn’t label it as something else. It was pure, old-fashioned, smack-you-upside-the-head, hit-you-like-a-ton-of-bricks love.
And she promptly burst into tears.
Chapter Fifteen
Cole was far too distracted to register much of Wade’s conversation as they walked to Jack’s.
A ball of dread churned in his gut; anxiety charged through his veins. He hadn’t been sure how Jane would react to seeing him again. He’d hoped she’d throw herself into his arms and tell him she loved him, too, but given her level of withdrawal in Denver, he’d thought she might be a bit standoffish.
He hadn’t expected an outright rejection.
He hadn’t expected her to be so adamantly against him. Refusing even the possibility that he might know his own feelings and what he wanted. Sure, he understood falling in love in two weeks wasn’t the norm. He got that she and others might even think he was a little bit crazy.
But surely she could see it was possible.
She’d looked so certain, though; so sure. So distant. And he was worried sick he wouldn’t be able to reach her. As a rugby player, he knew all about obstacles. He knew how to dodge them and how to go around them and even how to bust right through them if required. He’d done it on the field, and he’d done it in his recovery with his injury.
But that wasn’t going to work here.
Reaching Jane, convincing her to let him be part of her and Finn’s life, was obviously going to require delicacy and negotiation and patience. Not something rugby players were known for. But he knew about persistence, about the long game, and if that’s how he had to play it, he would. If he had to leave here empty-handed and keep checking in on her, keep dropping by as a friend to visit her and Finn, show her he wasn’t going anywhere, show her he could be a constant in her life, be someone who was there for her and Finn, then he’d do that, too.
Now, thanks to Doug Swan, he could play the long game.
“Wade!”
Cole realized, as Tucker’s voice rang across the bar, they were inside Jack’s. Fuck…he really was distracted.
“I heard you got in this morning,” Tucker said as he came out from behind the bar. “Was wondering when you were going to get your ass here. Or are you too good for us now, with your fancy magazine shoots?”