Chapter 21

CHAPTER 21

JETT

As hard as I try, I can't get the picture out of my head of Ava holding Ruby, and Ruby with her chubby fingers gently stroking Ava's hair. I draw a hand down my face as though I can somehow erase it from my mind.

It's a comfort to know that she was affected too. Maybe just by Ruby and her cuteness, but when Ava walked up, there was a look in her eyes that held hunger. I know the feeling, but how can I want something that's so bad for me? It didn't help that I felt Colby's stare on me the whole time, so I had the added pressure of acting totally normal. When he spotted Ava walking toward us with Gabriella, it was obvious he didn't approve of the invitation, which makes me wonder if he's talked to Gabriella about his concerns about me and Ava being able to play nice. Probably not, if Gabriella's still trying to get us to hang out at every possible opportunity. It's almost funny how completely different hers and Colby's methods are for handling me and Ava.

I focus on helping Jenna round up food for Miss Maggie and the kids, using that as a distraction to keep from thinking about Ava too much. But just as I sit down at the table Jenna has her kids all settled and waiting at with Miss Maggie, Devin shows up. Jenna's kids are the easiest I've ever seen to begin with, and with three other adults at the table, they don't need me. My brain goes back to spinning over Ava.

"No Hayden?" Devin asks from where he sits between Hudson and Ian. I guess that's one way to try to get my mind off my ex.

I shake my head. "Not serious enough to bring her to a team thing."

"We haven't even met her," Jenna says wryly. "Is she serious enough for anything?"

"What's the rush? We're taking things slow." I shift in my seat. Just another conversation I want to get out of. Good thing my parents couldn't make it. It would be an ambush.

"Chill, Jett," Devin says. "Just wondering why we haven't met her. Seems like that means something."

I stand up to go grab some food for myself. "Just means I've been busy." But I don't say anything about rectifying that. I do like Hayden. I like hanging out with her. I like her personality. I like the time we spend together.

Why is it just like and one look from Ava holds more feeling than the entire three weeks I've been seeing Hayden? It's frustrating. And more distraction than I need, especially on top of everything else. We're playing the Nashville Blues this weekend, and I need my focus now more than ever. They're our rivals, and I'm hungry to beat them after losing to them the last five years.

Just after I fill my plate with a burger, fruit salad, pasta salad, and a brownie, Greg Miller meets me before I head back to the table to eat. He's the husband of one of our trainers, Alyssa. He's a great guy and friendly, but he'll want to dissect last Sunday's game play by play. Maybe that's what I need right now. I mean, if I didn't want to eat all the food I just got…

"How about that Rays' offense?" he asks with a grin. "It's good, but of course, nothing compared to you guys."

"Thanks, man." I settle in and stab my fork at the fruit on my plate .

"That pass you threw in the third quarter. What was that? Fifty yards?" His eyes widen with awe.

I hold back a chuckle. "Forty-two."

"Still impressive." Greg whistles.

My gaze goes over his head, back to Jenna and Devin's table, as Greg talks about a sweep play we ran right before the half to go up on the Los Angeles Rays by two touchdowns. Gabriella, Colby, and Ava have joined the table, and Ava's sitting next to Miss Maggie, her face lit up with laughter over something Miss Maggie is telling her. Heat ignites in my chest at her joyful expression, burning me so much I might need to pour a glass of ice water over myself.

Ava looks up, meeting my eyes, and I quickly tear my gaze away from her and focus my attention back on Greg. He's moved on to talking about how Colby caught a pass and then hurdled a defender for a thirty-yard gain. All he needs is a few "Mm-hmms" from me to keep going. The heat fades slowly, not helped by the picture of Ava in my mind's eye.

"And, man, the way they were rolling their coverage into a cover three right before the snap?—"

"Jett?"

Ava's voice at my elbow surprises me so much I almost drop my plate as I turn to her. "Hey?"

"Miss Maggie was wondering if you would mind getting her a chocolate-chip cookie, one of the ones you got Ruby." She glances over at Greg, who looks like he's holding back the most important comment of our conversation so far. "There are a couple of different plates, so I'm not sure which one she wants."

My lips start turning up. I glance over at the table, but Miss Maggie is talking to Colby now, not looking my way. Whether this was her idea or Ava's, the fact that they were conspiring to rescue me tugs at my heart.

I put a hand on Greg's shoulder. "Guess I gotta go. See you later?"

He nods, his smile falling a bit, but turns to scout the area around us, probably for someone else to discuss the Rays game with. I walk ahead of Ava back toward the table that holds all the food everyone brought and the plate of cookies I took one from earlier when I was getting Ruby food.

"He's not wrong," she says off-handedly a few steps away. "The Rays coverage was impressive—best I've seen all year against you guys. And yet you scored five touchdowns. No one's going to stop you."

There's so much of the girl I fell in love with inside this woman in front of me that I want to cry for the shame of it. How is the one person who's perfect for me the one I wasn't enough for?

"What?" she asks when I just shake my head at her.

I smile in spite of myself. "I don't mind if you go back to hash out the game with Greg."

She laughs and shoves at my shoulder. "I just might," she threatens.

The spot where she touched my shoulder burns, but I ignore it. Letting myself get wrapped up in how I react to her touch won't do me any good. I step away and reach for a cookie. Miss Maggie is lucky. There're only a couple left.

"Whose idea was it to rescue me?" I ask as we head back to the table where my family and friends are gathered.

"It was a combined effort. I noticed you being detained; Miss Maggie came up with the story that she wanted the cookie." Ava has settled into step beside me, far enough away that there's no inadvertent touching as we walk, but close enough that her presence is almost suffocating me.

"Greg's not too bad," I say, forcing a smile at her. "Just … enthusiastic." I think of how she said she was the one who noticed. Good. Hopefully this electricity snapping between us is as difficult for her to manage as it is for me. I kind of feel bad for wishing that on her, but it wouldn't be a problem if she hadn't left.

She shoves her hands into her pockets, tilting her head toward where Greg has settled at a table with a couple of the offensive linemen. They're nodding and grinning at whatever he's telling them, and I chuckle.

"You've got a great offensive line, and Greg's probably letting them know that." She watches, a small, warm smile growing on her lips. I spend a few seconds too long staring at them, and she catches me when she turns back. Her cheeks turn pink and she looks away. We're almost to the table, and she hurries ahead to sit next to Gabriella.

I take a seat by Miss Maggie, teasing her about the cookie as I hand it over and then taking Ruby into my arms when she reaches for me from Devin's lap on the other side of me. It's everything I can do to keep my mind off Ava, sitting so near and yet not in the spot I always thought she belonged—next to me—but I have to try.