One More Shot (Hometown Players #1) Read online

  “I know I missed the funeral. I couldn’t get here any sooner,” Chance explains, adjusting the brim on his hat. “I had to cover a game last night. And I have to head to New York tomorrow night to cover a game between Brooklyn and Phoenix, but I wanted to come and see you in person. See if you’re okay.”

  She shakes her head. “I’m fine. You shouldn’t have come.”

  “You know, you could have told me you were dating him,” Chance says quietly, and glances at me. “No need to keep secrets.”

  “You think I’m with him?” Jessie says it like Chance just suggested she was dating a prison inmate or something. “Why the hell would you think I would be dating him?!”

  Chance looks confused and his icy eyes dart to me again. “Well, I mean, he’s been after you since we were together and I kind of assumed, when you said you were moving to Seattle, he would try something.”

  If a two-headed alien marched into the room and bitch-slapped me across the face, I would have been less shocked than I am by what Chance Echolls just said.

  “Seattle?” I repeat, and turn to stare at her. And suddenly I know why she’s wearing a Sea-Tac Sports Therapy shirt. It’s a facility in Seattle not far from our arena. And she has a kinesiology degree. She must be working there. “How long have we lived in the same city, Jessie?!”

  “You didn’t know, Garrison?” Chance smiles and I ball my fists at my sides to keep from punching him. “Jessica didn’t tell you? Wow. She really does hates you.”

  Jessie and I stare at each other. She says nothing to combat Echolls’ assumption. Why would she? She does hate me. I jump off the counter and a sharp short pain shoots up my leg. I wince but ignore it and storm past Chance, swinging the door open and turning to face her one last time.

  “I’ll talk to you later.”

  I’m reeling as I jump in my truck and pull out of her driveway.

  She lives in Seattle. Who else knew that? Did my parents know? Did Luc? Cole? Devin?

  Yeah, I know made a complete mess of everything when I was a kid, but so did she. So why did my family always seem to rush to protect her? Everyone seemed to think that I owed it to Jessie to come here, but they didn’t owe it to me to tell me we were living in the same damn city?

  Screw them all.

  Chapter 9

  Jessie

  Six years earlier

  I listen to Leah Talbot and Phoebe Horvath’s conversation and smile to myself as I carefully pour hot water over the powdered hot chocolate mixture in the four Styrofoam cups in front of me.

  “He hasn’t asked me out on an official date. Not yet anyway,” Phoebe is saying.

  “He will. Cole told me he’s interested,” Leah says, and even with my back turned, I can hear Phoebe sigh in relief.

  I turn and place two of the steaming cups on the counter in front of them.

  “Thanks!” Leah grins, taking the steaming cup from the counter and brushing her platinum bangs from her face with her mitten-covered other hand.

  I turn to gingerly lift the next two cups of hot chocolate off the back counter—the cups the girls purchased for Cole and Luc, who are on the ice with the peewee hockey team right now, teaching them drills. When I turn back around, both my sisters are standing with Leah and Phoebe.

  They’re both grinning like maniacs.

  “What?” I ask as I carefully place the hot chocolates on the counter.

  “You have mail,” Callie says in a high-pitched, excited voice I have never heard her use before.

  “What?”

  Rosie jumps up and down excitedly, her big dark eyes suddenly brimming with tears. “It’s big! And it says congratulations on the front!”

  Callie pulls a large white envelope from her crazy tie-dyed crocheted purse and places it on the counter next to the hot chocolates. I look down at it. Just like Rosie squealed, it has the word Congratulations! in red ink diagonally just above my address. The return address is the University of Arizona.

  “I got in,” I murmur, and start to smile.

  “YOU GOT IN!” Callie yells, then reaches across the counter to yank me into a hug. One of the hot chocolates starts to teeter. Leah reaches out and grabs it before it can do more than leave a wet brown drop on the counter.

  “Congrats, Jessie!” Leah smiles brightly.

  “Jess, that’s awesome!” Phoebe says with a giant smile that might be fake. I happen to know Phoebe didn’t apply anywhere because her family can’t afford for her to go to college, and she doesn’t have the grades for a scholarship.

  “Your first choice!” Callie goes on, squeezing me so hard it hurts. I push her off me gently and pick up the envelope.

  I meet her happy gaze and Rose’s overjoyed one with a calm eye. “I got in, but it doesn’t mean I got the scholarship.”

  I tear open the envelope and pull out the letter. I skim the words so quickly my brain can’t absorb all of it, but I catch the important words: accepted; Kinesiology & Sports Therapy—Full Scholarship. There’s also information about campus jobs and summer sessions if I want to start classes early.

  “So?” Callie yanks the papers from my hand. She reads it and screams.

  Rose bursts into happy tears the way I would have expected her to. This is a dream come true—a dream that was such a long shot I didn’t dare dream it. I should be ecstatic, and I would have been…before Jordan.

  “Everyone calm down,” I insist, but I’m smiling. It might not be my dream now, but it was my dream very recently, and I achieved it. I let myself revel in that feeling of pride and accomplishment.

  “This is so awesome! You’re getting out of this craptastic town and you don’t need a fucking hockey player to do it!” Callie claps, and then her grin falters for a second. “I mean you have one, but you don’t need him.”

  Phoebe gives Callie a cool stare and then turns her brown eyes to me with a warmer, more inquisitive look. “A hockey player? I thought you and Chance broke up.”

  “We did.” I nod and then freeze. I haven’t told anyone except my sisters about Jordan and me. And before I can even decide if I should tell anyone, Rose does it for me.

  “She’s with Jordy now. Finally,” Rosie says dreamily like she’s talking about some star-crossed couple on the latest teen angst TV show.

  “Jessie, you should be more excited!” Callie tells me sternly, waving the Arizona papers at me. “If you’re worried about leaving Rose and me, don’t be. I’ll be fine. I’ll make sure she’s fine.”

  “She means I will make sure she’s fine,” Rosie interjects, grinning. Callie ignores her, those big brown eyes still piercing into me.

  “Arizona is your dream school,” Callie reminds me.

  “It was only because it has a good program and a great scholarship…” I shrug and take the package and place it under the counter on top of my jacket. “But I…I’m thinking I might wait and start in the winter semester. At a different school.”

  “Why the hell would you do that? What other school?” Callie demands, anchoring her tiny hands on her curvy hips.

  “Jordan?” Phoebe repeats, and then I see something weird cross her face. “Jordan Garrison?”

  I nod and glance at her pretty if overpainted face. She looks confused. I move my eyes to Leah. Her ever-present smile suddenly disappears. The lack of it makes her usually wide, bright eyes look panicked instead of happy.

  “Jordan Garrison. Cole’s brother Jordan?” Leah says.

  Callie ignores the girls and stares at me imploringly. “What school are you going to go to if not Arizona? And you applied for fall everywhere. If you delay, you’ll lose the scholarship.”

  I suddenly feel uneasy with Phoebe and Leah both staring at me. The uncomfortable looks on their faces makes me think they know something I don’t—and that it isn’t good.

  “Jordan is dating Hannah,” Phoebe says matter-of-factly.

  “He broke up with Hannah,” I say firmly but quietly, because I really don’t want to talk about it.

&nb
sp; “Umm…when? Because I just saw her yesterday and she didn’t mention it,” Phoebe says. I turn and stare at her and she goes on. “Considering she acted like she was going to marry him, you think she would be upset or something.”

  I’ve talked to Jordan twice since he left for Minnesota two days ago for the NHL draft. Both times he sounded tired and very nervous. He said the draft, which is a weeklong event filled with hockey scrimmages, fitness tests, press events and agent lunches, was way more intense than he thought it would be. He was overwhelmed. He missed me. He admitted he was lonely and although he didn’t admit it, I knew he was scared.

  He couldn’t wait until his parents, Devin, Luc and Cole flew out to join him for the actual draft. He wished I could fly out too, but there was no way I could afford a plane ticket. We talked more about the future. He’d all but convinced me to go with him to whatever city drafted him and let him pay for school. I hadn’t told him I would do it for sure, but when I lay awake at night trying to think of life somewhere he wasn’t, I didn’t like it one bit.

  Never once did he mention Hannah, and he told me to my face before he left that he broke up with her. Jordan has never lied to me, and I believe in my heart he isn’t doing it now. Phoebe must just be confused, or Hannah isn’t telling anyone yet.

  “Well, he broke up with her,” I say more firmly this time.

  Phoebe and Leah exchange glances but both say nothing. Then suddenly Luc and Cole are there. Luc starts to say something but sees Rose’s teary face and his cocky smile drops. He pulls her into a hug. “What’s wrong? Are you okay? Did something happen?”

  Callie laughs and rolls her eyes at his overprotectiveness. “She’s fine!”

  Luc puts his big hands on my sister’s little shoulders and pulls her off his chest to look into her face again. He seems skeptical. “Rose?”

  Her face flushes a delightful pink and she lowers her coal-colored eyes. “These are happy tears. Jessie got into Arizona!”

  Luc sighs in relief and looks up at me, his cocky grin back in full force. “Way to go, smartypants. So next time I get injured, you can fix me up?”

  “Please, you’re unfixable,” Rose interjects, batting her long dark eyelashes and giving him a playful shove. He laughs at her and messes up her hair.

  Callie and I exchange glances. When did Rose learn to flirt?

  “Congrats! But Arizona is pretty far away,” Cole says as he leans across the counter to hug me. “And it’s a Garrison-free zone. Why would you want to live in a Garrison-free zone?”

  “I don’t,” I admit, and then grin.

  “Jordan will be happy to hear that,” Luc says with a smile and a wink.

  “Jessie!” Callie looks genuinely upset.

  I ignore her and hand the boys their hot chocolates before shooing them all away. “Can you all wait for me outside while I close up?”

  “Yeah. No worries.” Luc nods and wraps an arm around Phoebe. It makes Rose’s bright eyes darken. “Let’s go to Bill’s Pizza and celebrate!”

  I nod and watch them go. Callie stays behind for a second, giving me her classic Callie death stare, until Rosie grabs her arm and drags her away. As soon as they’re all out of sight, I climb onto the counter, grab the latch and roll down the metal gate that closes up the front of the concession stand.

  Inside, alone, I dig my phone out of my jacket. I know Jordan’s probably busy and has his phone turned off but I decide to text him anyway.

  “I got into AZ. Full scholarship. Go me!” I type and add, “I miss you.”

  I finish locking up and as I’m shrugging into my jacket, my phone buzzes.

  “Proud of you! Check your email ASAP, ok?”

  My heart flip-flops. Check my email? Is that good or bad? Is he going to tell me Phoebe is right? He went back to Hannah? Did he change his mind and he doesn’t want me to go with him next year? I’m suddenly so worried I’m teetering on the edge of a panic attack. I’m just so used to everything going wrong in my life.

  I jog through the darkened, empty arena and wave a good-bye to Mr. Milner, the janitor, before joining my friends in the parking lot. It’s a dark, cool June night in Silver Bay. The threat of rain hangs low in dark ominous clouds that cover half of the crescent moon. The group is gathered around Luc’s pickup and my old Honda Civic hatchback. Still fumbling with my phone, I toss Callie the keys.

  “Practice?” I ask, and she looks stunned. She has her permit but I haven’t let her drive much. Mostly because when she does, she scares the crap out of me.

  “Really?”

  “Well, no matter what, I won’t be here next year. You’re going to have to get your license,” I tell her. Rose gets into the backseat and I slide into the passenger seat while Callie jumps behind the wheel. Leah and Phoebe wedge themselves in between Luc and Cole in the cab of the Luc’s pickup.

  “Remember, the tires suck and the brakes scream if you stop too hard,” I warn her, pulling up my email on my phone.

  “You have to go to Arizona, Jessie,” Callie says as she makes her way toward the parking lot exit, faster that I would have liked. “This is your dream.”

  “I’m going to be a physical therapist,” I promise her. “I’m just thinking about going to another school, which isn’t a big deal. Arizona wasn’t my dream. It was just a school with a free ride.”

  “Which you got! Which you need!” Callie cries. “And you can even start in the summer! You could be out of this craptastic town right away! Besides, where else would you go?”

  “I don’t know yet…” I see his email, open it and hold my breath. Please don’t let me down, Jordy…

  J,

  My agent came here for the draft. I guess that’s what agents do. Anyway, I told him about you. About us. I had him get this info for you. Attached is stuff on the best sports therapy programs at schools in Jacksonville, Quebec City, Ann Arbor, New York and Sacramento. I’ll likely be in one of these places and so I’m hoping you will be too. Please say yes. I promise you won’t regret it!

  Love you, J.

  “Callie!” Rosie screams, and I look up to see my sister cutting a sharp turn in front of oncoming traffic. Our tires screech and the other driver slams on the horn.

  “He had the right of way!” I holler at her.

  “Relax. We didn’t hit him. I know what I’m doing.” Callie glances at me and her eyes land on the phone in my hands. “What are you reading?”

  “An email from Jordan.” My smile is so big it hurts my face.

  “I love that you two are together.” Rosie sighs dramatically from the backseat.

  “Stop flirting with Big Bird and tell me where you think you’re going to go to school if not Arizona,” Callie demands.

  “Well, I’m going to go over the curriculum at schools in Quebec City, Sacramento, New York and maybe—”

  “No.” Callie cuts me off, her voice deep and grave. She slams on the brakes, causing Luc to slam on his brakes behind us, swerving to avoid rear-ending us.

  “Oh my God, Callie, you suck at driving!” Rose wails. “You’re going to kill me next year.”

  Callie ignores her, staring straight at me with a look of disappointment she’s never directed at me before. “You’re following him.”

  “I’m thinking about studying at a school near him,” I explain slowly, like what I’m saying is incredibly different from what she’s saying. Well, it is. In my heart, it truly is.

  “You’re going with Jordan?” Rosie presses, her voice excited. “Oh, Jessie, that’s so romantic!”

  I glance into the backseat and see the look of pure support and happiness on my littlest sister’s face; it causes a surge of happiness in my own. I smile. Callie glares at me.

  “Don’t do this. Don’t rely on a guy,” Callie hisses. “Don’t be that type of girl.”

  Luc honks behind us.

  “Umm…I don’t understand what’s happening here, but I don’t like it,” Rose murmurs cautiously, inching forward so she can see our faces.

/>   “I don’t need Jordan to get out of Silver Bay,” I remind Callie, pulling the acceptance package from my bag and shaking it in her face. “I got out all on my own. But I want to be with him. I’ve needed him for years and he’s always been there for me. Now I want to be there for him. And he wants me to be.”

  “Be his girlfriend, Jessie, fine. But do the long-distance thing,” Callie barks. “You don’t need to rush into this. You’re too young to be so attached to someone.”

  “Just because you don’t want a serious relationship doesn’t mean I’m wrong to want this,” I argue back hotly.

  “So what? You’re just going to move in with him? Really?”

  “Or live in a dorm…I mean, we haven’t gotten that far.” We really haven’t. That’s something to talk about.

  Am I ready to live with him? Although he spends so much time at our place now anyway and he’s spent whole weekends over and everything, but…

  “You gave in. You gave up. You’re letting him take care of you.”

  “Maybe it’s about time someone did!” I shout, and then let myself out of the car, slamming the door behind me. I stomp down the gravel shoulder of the road. Leah calls to me from the window of Luc’s truck, but I ignore her.

  I start the long walk home by myself.

  Three days later, I walk into the living room carrying a bowl full of chips, dodging the bodies sitting on my floor in front of the TV, and place the bowl on the coffee table. We’ve got a full house here tonight. I invited about twenty people over to watch the NHL draft. Some are Jordan’s teammates from the Silver Bay Bucks, some are friends from school. I just didn’t want to be alone with my sisters for this since things with Callie and me had gone from bad to worse. I wanted to be around people who were happy for Jordan and me, not angry.

  I sit on the floor in front of the La-Z-Boy recliner Rose is in, even though there is a perfectly acceptable space on the couch between Callie and Leah.

  Callie and I haven’t spoken since she found out I wanted to move away with Jordan. Rose looks up at me, gives me a sweet smile and squeezes my arm. She hates when Callie and I fight, and although she’s not publicly taking sides, I know she’s on mine. Rose thinks Jordan and I being together is, in her own words, “the most perfect thing in the universe.” For once, Rose’s sappy, unwavering belief in love doesn’t confuse and worry me, it comforts me. Now I see that she’s been right all along. We, the orphan Caplan kids, are all capable of being loved. We deserve to be loved. There are perfect romances out there and any of us can have one. Jordan and I are perfect for each other. We’ve always been perfect for each other, and now that we realize it, why would Callie want me to walk away?