19. Jake

Gatherings at Jesse's Frosty Harbor cabin have become something of a team tradition over the years. The entire team is off for our bye week, and the usual suspects have gathered in Frosty Harbor to celebrate. Me and Jesse showed up first, welcomed by Andi, Amelia, and Jude. Once Jesse was done making out with my sister in front of me and greeting his kids, Amelia took my hand and dragged me to her room. I spent half an hour sitting cross-legged while she brought me every flavor and shape of wooden food. If I didn't make my "nom nom" sound enthusiastically, she whacked me with a wooden chef's knife.

Scary kid, but adorable.

The guys showed up throughout the day, little by little. I knew Caroline wouldn't come until the evening when her duties at the BB could be put on pause for the day.

Even when she leaves, she has her phone on standby so her guests can call if they need anything. It isn"t entirely uncommon to see her rush off for half an hour because somebody can't find the muffins she left out or got locked out of their room.

I'm playing battleship with Carter on the patio while Liam and Maddox sit idly at the table, phones in their hands.

It's chilly but comfortable and the atmosphere is always pleasant here. Mountains stretch as far as I can see over the balcony railings and birds chip as a soft breeze rustles the leaves.

Carter cackles as I plug a little red peg into one of my ships.

"That's a hit," I say, voice dry. I'm not a fan of this game, but Carter always wants to play. Probably because he's too impatient for poker and too stubborn to admit he doesn't understand the rules.

Carter claps and rocks in his chair like an excited kid. "You're so fucked."

I grin. "B-4?" Whether I like the game or not, I enjoy days like this. Just hanging out with the guys. I try to remind myself in my darker moments that this isn't going away. Even if everybody retires, we'll still have this.

"Miss!" Carter shouts.

Liam looks up from his phone with a dark expression.

"You good?" I ask. "It sounded like you were trying to break your locker in half after yesterday"s game." My normal instinct would be to leave it alone. I know he's pissed about something. But my team captain"s instinct is to pry because unresolved issues show up on the ice, and part of my job is making sure everybody is on the same page when we go out there to play. It's part of why keeping such a big secret from everybody but Jesse is eating at me so much.

"It's nothing," he says. "Just this girl…"

"Ahhh," Carter says, narrowing his eyes wisely. "Girl trouble in paradise, Liam? Speak your problems to me, and I'll make them a memory."

"You'll what?" Maddox asks, setting his phone down and looking up. "His problems are already a memory. That's how memories work. If you have the problem, then you remember having it… Or were you trying to say you'll do nothing? Because then… I guess that'd be true."

"No, dude," Carter lifts his hands like two blades, leaning toward Maddox. "I will fix his problem. And then he won't have a problem anymore. He'll just have a memory. Get it?"

Maddox shakes his head. "No? Couldn't you just say you'll take away his problems?"

"That wouldn't be as cool, though," Carter complains. "I'll make them a memory is the kind of thing you say before popping on some shades and firing off finger guns."

"It really wasn't cool, either way," I note.

Carter looks at me with evil in his eyes. "D-2."

Glaring, I pick up a peg and stuff it into one of my ships. "Hit," I say.

"That's right, bitch," he smirks. "Now, as I was saying, Liam–" He frowns, noticing Liam has got up and walked inside during the argument. Carter shrugs, pursing his lips. "See? I told him exactly what he needed to hear."

"Or he was escaping while you were distracted," I suggest.

Carter purses his lips in disagreement. "Speaking of ladies, what are you doing here with us? Shouldn't you be at the BB with your lovely little family?"

"Yeah, man," Maddox says. "Honestly, it's kinda shitty of you. Coming straight here like this instead of seeing your woman and your kid."

"I texted when I got here a few hours ago. Walker was asleep, and Caroline was dealing with some plumbing issues. She said it'd be easier for me to just wait at Jesse's until she could come."

"Oh," Carter says, eyes darkening. "Plumbing issues, you say?"

"Yeah, why?"

He shares a look with Maddox, and they both shake their heads sadly.

"What?" I demand.

"Well…" Carter starts, making a show of looking reluctant. "I'm just putting the pieces together. She tells you to stay away. She says the kid is asleep. And she says she's got a guy over in her house right now laying pipe for her? I'm no math teacher, but I think I can solve this equation."

"He's right," Maddox says. "Sometimes, two plus two just equals four."

"Two plus two always equals four," I say.

"Usually," Maddox agrees, as though he's still leaving the door open for other possibilities.

I get up, chair scraping against the patio deck. "I think I'm getting dumber by the minute with you two."

"I wasn't going to say anything," Carter agrees. "But you have seemed a little dumber lately."

I reach over to his side of the game, look at where his ship is, and lock eyes with him. "C-7. Direct hit."

"Oh, sure, Jake. Real mature. It's one thing to take shots at me, but when you cheat and strike my ships like that? You've crossed a line. Those sailors you just sunk had families. Wives and children, dude. Monster."

Ignoring him, I go inside and join the others. I pause mid-step when I see Caroline coming in with Walker in her arms.

The sight of them together makes my breath catch. Her wild, curly brown hair is tied back, and she's wearing clear-framed glasses today. Her dress hugs her curves in a way that I think is supposed to be modest, only there's nothing modest about her body. The hints her dress gives just make me even more tempted to get her alone.

Except I know I won't because we've been in some kind of cease-fire.

"Kiss, kiss, kiss!" Carter starts to chant.

I walk over to her, smiling. It's not hard to look happy to see her. I am happy to see her. Walker, too. I just…

She lifts her eyes to mine, licking her lips. There's a heartbeat of hesitation between us that I doubt anybody else would notice. Then she goes on her tiptoes, and I kiss her.

I mean to just peck her, but I can't help myself once I feel the soft warmth of her lips against mine. I kiss her deeper, slipping my tongue in. She moans softly against me.

"Alright, alright," Jesse says, clapping loudly. "Save it for the wedding."

We break apart as everyone chuckles, but there's a spark of something in Caroline's eyes. Something I feel, too.

Maybe we're both ready to end the ceasefire? I've got no clue if easing the sexual tension would make things less strained between us, but I can't imagine it would hurt.

"Oh, honey," Andi says softly. She gently pulls Amelia's teddy bear away, which is getting a toddler version of French kissed, as Amelia was apparently taking notes.

"See what you pervs did?" Jesse asks, motioning to his daughter. "Now my daughter is trying to make out with her stuffed animals.

"What make out?" Amelia asks. "Like dis?" she chases after Maddox, who feigns terror and runs in slow motion.

Paisley comes in a moment later, arms full of bags. "Just the people I needed to see!" she says. "I talked to the wedding planner. He asked me to bring some color samples over. Just to get an early feel. You know… a not early, early feel? Since two people are dragging their feet and not locking in anything about the wedding, even though it's screaming towards us?"

Carter pretends to snore as he scoops Amelia up, holding her at arm's length while she makes kissy sounds and giggles at Maddox. "Wedding stuff is so boring, Amelia. Don't ever get married. It's a scam."

Jesse whacks Carter on the back of the head. "Don't listen to him, honey. Carter is just sad that nobody will marry him."

"I could've married that one girl. Remember? She actually asked me to marry her."

"You mean that woman who was like twenty years older than you? The chain smoker who smelled like cats?" I ask.

Paisley has already dragged Caroline over to the kitchen bar and started spreading out booklets full of colors and pictures of sample venues.

"She was eighteen years older than me," Carter corrects. "She was trying to quit, and she only had three cats. One of them was just spraying because it was making a fuss about a new perfume she was wearing. The other cats weren't technically hers," he adds. "They came in through the cat door and just liked to visit for play dates or something."

I shake my head at him. "Do you even hear yourself?"

"I could ask you the same thing. You know cougars need love, too, right?"

"Yeah?" I ask. "Then why didn't you marry her."

"Well, marriage is a scam. She was like twenty years older than me. Do you think I was qualified to care for her cats if she kicked the bucket a few weeks after we tied the knot? At her age, the grim reaper could've come knocking any day."

Maddox snorts with laughter. "That's so messed up, dude. You were just defending her! What happened to ‘she was only eighteen years older than me'."

"Hey, man," Carter says matter-of-factly. He sets Amelia down, who immediately charges Maddox again. "Death waits for nobody. I was happy to make her night, but I'm not about to be the father to three cats. I couldn't even keep that succulent Mia gave me alive."

"You killed it? You said it was doing fine!" Mia complains.

"Uh," he says, as if just now remembering Mia is in the room. "Did I say it died? I meant it ran away…"

"If you're done over there," Paisley calls. "We could use the groom-to-be. I need to hold these colors up to your face and make sure none of them clash with your complexion."

I sigh and drag myself over.

Paisley has about six hundred shades of blue laid out and the same number of whites.

"White and blue?" I ask. "Seems safe enough."

"White and blue?" she asks, fingertips to her chest in outrage.

"That's French blue," Paisley corrects, pointing to the swatch Caroline's holding. "And that's ivory."

"Right, okay. Seems good." I clap my hands. "Case closed!"

I take one step away from the counter before Paisley grips my sweater and stops me. "Not so fast, big guy."

Caroline smirks at me while she struggles to keep Walker from eating the little color swatches.

I scoop him out of her arms, grateful for a job I can handle.

Paisley holds one of the blues up to my face, closes one eye, tilts her head, and frowns. "Hmm… I don't know." She sets it down to pick up another that looks identical to the previous blue, and her eyes light up. "Now this? This might be a keeper." She turns, holding it up to Caroline, and then shakes her head sadly. "But no… Not meant to be."

I meet Caroline's eyes and widen mine slightly, silently asking her if Paisley is serious.

Caroline just lifts a finger to her lips, smiling.

And so my evening continues. The guys go out to the driveway to play a game of pickup hockey once Nolan arrives with Mia. And me? I'm stuck in color swatch hell.