Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

JETT

The officer who responds is easy to convince that all of it's a misunderstanding. Still, I get a few sideways looks from him, and he asks Ava twice if she's sure she feels safe. I'd tried multiple times to wipe the glare from my face, but I can't believe Jenna rented the house to Ava Lemmon, of all people, and didn't even say anything. Had, in fact, basically set me up to run into her.

I keep looking over at Ava, checking to make sure that it's indeed my ex-fiancée standing in the yard of Jenna's GetAwayHome. Her strawberry-blond hair hangs in a ponytail down her back, longer than the last time I saw her. In high school she wore it shoulder-length but started growing it out in college. The air is thick between us with so much unsaid—at least, on my side. Does Ava have any regrets about us?

When it's obvious the officer isn't going to leave until I do, I walk back toward my truck, looking over my shoulder at Ava. She meets my gaze, holding it for a moment with an expression I can't decipher. I used to know her so well. I could read every twitch of her lips or scrunch of her eyebrows. Her expression seems almost indifferent, but the tightness in her stance says she feels the crackling tension between us as much as I do. A few more minutes together and things could explode—and for a second I'm not quite sure what kind of explosion it would be.

She turns, breaking the spell, and pain twists in my stomach as I watch her walk away. I whirl around, yanking open the door of my truck and sliding in as quickly as possible. I feel stupid that I'm reacting to her like this when it's been seven years since I last saw her. It's not like I've been pining for her, waiting for her to come back into my life, never giving up on my love for her like this is some Blake Shelton song. I don't look toward the house, the door, or Ava as I pull out of the driveway too fast, considering a patrol officer is parked next to the curb, watching me go.

I stew over seeing Ava again the entire way home, my brain completely caught up in the softness of her voice and the way my heart stopped when she stepped into the light.

I call Jenna when I get home. "How could you send me over there and not tell me Ava Lemmon is the wedding planner staying in your house?" I try to feel bad about my tone, but it's been a long day and feels longer by the second, plus at this point, Jenna's basically become a bossy older sister who thinks she knows best. I can't believe she'd send me into some kind of matchmaking scheme to get me back together with Ava, but what else explains it?

She gasps. Pretty believably, although I wish she were already back from her trip to Dallas to get the rest of her grandma's things so I could confront her in person. "What?" she says.

"Jenna." I huff. I can't quite get the rush of feeling from seeing Ava again out of my system, and it makes me restless and jittery. After all this time, I thought I'd be fine when the day came that we ran into each other again. Yeah, we were engaged, just a few months from walking down the aisle, but I thought I'd put all that behind me. When I got drafted by the Pumas and came back to Houston, I wondered if I would see her. Our families still run in the same social circles. Our parents still go to church together. But I wasn't worried. I was sure I'd be totally cool about it.

"She said you approved her checking in tonight instead of tomorrow," I say. "At the least, you had to know your guest was going to be there when I came to check on the water. She called the cops on me, Jen. And then I threatened to call the cops on her. The chief, specifically." What a reunion.

A snort of breath sounds in the phone before she cuts it off. "I'm sorry. I promise that was a surprised laugh. About her calling the cops," she says in a rush. Okay, I can understand how if you weren't me, that might be funny. She takes a deep breath. "Jett, I swear to you I did not know that Ava was the planner. I didn't think she planned weddings, so it never crossed my mind that Gabriella had hired her. Why would it? I didn't even know they knew each other. And, I got that message about the guest checking in tonight right after I texted you, but Gabriella made it sound like it was going to be really late. I never dreamed you'd cross paths. I'm so sorry. Again, no idea it was Ava."

I relax for the first time since seeing Ava standing in the yard under that halo of light. "Okay. Today was just long and exhausting, and that on top of everything…"

Concern folds around Jenna's words the same way she wrapped her arms around me the first time she saw me after Ava left. "I'm sorry, Jett. I wish I could have warned you. Obviously, if I'd known it was Ava, I wouldn't have asked you to go check on the leak." Guilt trickles through her voice.

Jenna and Devin were the only thing that got me through the breakup, Jenna especially. That's really when she took over the role of big sister. They came to Reno as soon as they could, the weekend after Ava took off, and were just there for me when I wanted to give up everything and go home. No, I'm not still hung up on Ava, but it took a long time to get over her. How could it not when I thought we were going to spend the rest of our lives together ?

Jenna's words get quiet when she says, "Was seeing her pretty bad?"

"Well, we both thought the other one was trespassing, and she told the officer that responded that she'd used the phone's emergency dialer before she realized it was me. We didn't actually talk—there's nothing to say anyway." I glance out the window as I pace across my living room and roll my eyes when I see a patrol car parked on the other side of the street from my house. I grunt in annoyance.

"What is it?" Jenna asks.

"Officer Pollard followed me home. He's parked outside, I guess to make sure I don't go back and get into it with Ava again. He seemed convinced he was responding to a domestic dispute situation. If anything, I'm glad he's taking her safety seriously." I step away from the window.

"Send Garrett a text. Some football players may have bad reputations, but that officer doesn't need to waste his time," Jenna says.

"Maybe," I say. I don't like to take advantage of the chief, but Jenna's right that there's no reason for an officer to sit outside my house all night.

And I wasn't bragging when I told Ava the police chief is on my speed dial. We'd become friends right after I bought my house here. We're friends outside of him helping me when fans discover where I live and won't take no for an answer.

Devin says something in the background and Jenna says, "Dev wants to know if you're okay."

I smile. My older brother has always been quiet, a lot quieter than me, and when he met Jenna, she was happy to do all the talking for him. But he's still the supportive presence at her side, silently affirming her mama-bear ways with me.

"I'm fine." I've had plenty of time to come to terms with what happened over seven years ago. Who even knows where Ava and I would be today if she hadn't left?

Even in my anger at her, I know that's a lie. We'd be together. We'd have a family. We'd already started down that path before she left. I believed in myself enough to get to the top of my game. I broke records in college. I'm leading a team everyone says is going to win it all this year—and I intend to do just that. I believed in me and Ava and the plans we had that same way. If she'd believed in them enough, we would've had everything we dreamed of.

"Okay." Jenna doesn't push. She never does when it comes to Ava. Even when she thought I should've answered Ava's calls and texts all those years ago when she tried to stay friends. "I'll see you tomorrow," Jenna says.

She's not going to ask about the leak, and that says a lot about how much she cares about me. "There wasn't a leak in the bathroom. Everything's fine," I say before she can hang up.

She pauses, as though it takes her a second to move with the conversation shift. "Thanks, Jett. I really do appreciate it."

"Anytime. See you." I hang up and text Garrett as I cross the house to the back, hurrying off the wide deck to the beach below. I pull up the legs of my sweats as I get closer to the bay, bracing against the cold water when it runs up over my feet. I breathe in and out to the rhythm of the waves, letting them settle the uneasiness inside me. It doesn't matter that Ava is here, that I'm bound to run into her more than a time or two with her planning Colby and Gabriella's wedding. I'm a groomsman and Colby is one of my best friends. I swear softly.

I didn't realize how angry I still am at her until I saw her tonight. That even though I thought I'd said everything the night she left, protests bubbled up in my throat when I realized it was her and saw a face that hadn't changed. Warier, perhaps, but Ava had always carried the weight of the world around with her. The realist to my optimism, she would always say.

I sit down, not caring if my sweats get damp in the sand. Lights twinkle from the boardwalk up the beach. I don't relish the idea of being so close to the tourist attractions of the town, but Jenna convinced me that the private beach access was well worth it. Tonight the beach is worth it. The water has always been able to soothe me. Tough losses, aggravating teammates, stupid rumors—I've been able to let them all go here on the beach, a little at a time.

So I stare out at the water and just kept breathing. Ava Lemmon is the biggest thing I've ever had to let go, but the bay can handle it.