Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Canceling a circus of a wedding was even more painful than planning one had been. Two weeks after “the incident” and Lucy was utterly exhausted.

Her mother was devastated, her father was his usual neutral self, and her brothers all wanted to kick Blake’s ass. It was a sweet gesture, but…her oldest brother Charlie was a dentist who was married with two kids. There was no way he could fight anyone without coming off as a bad influence, not only to his kids, but his patients. Wyatt was a hothead and always up for a fight, even though he was always complaining about how no one took him seriously. And Ty? Well…he just couldn’t. An accident in his senior year of high school had left him with some serious disabilities. He’d come a long way since then thanks to multiple surgeries and physical therapy, but there was no way she was going to encourage him to go and fight Blake.

Gemma was still willing to go all Tae Kwon Do on his ass, but Lucy had reeled her in. Although, just envisioning her best friend walking up to Blake and kicking him in the throat made her smile.

And there wasn’t much to smile about lately.

“Hey, Lucy! Your eleven o’clock is here!”

“Thanks, Trish!” Finishing her coffee, Lucy rinsed her cup before leaving the break room and went out to meet Paul Gibson and his parents. The poor kid recently had a torn ACL repaired, and now it was time to start physical therapy. He was thirteen and played ice hockey, and she knew he was eager to recover and get back on the ice.

Younger kids didn’t really have a concept of time when it came to therapy, but teenagers did. And while none of her patients particularly wanted to be there with her, Lucy took her time with them and made sure they were fully recovered before releasing them back to their pre-injury activities.

Smiling, she walked out to the waiting room. “Hey, Paul! Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Gibson! How’s everyone doing?”

Paul shrugged and looked mad at the world, and his folks looked at her apologetically. Obviously they were being sensitive to their son’s emotions, so Lucy did her best to put everyone at ease. “Why don’t we head back to the table in the back corner, Paul? We’ll start with some knee extension.” Then she smiled at his parents. “You guys are welcome to stay here and wait, or maybe go next door and grab a cup of coffee. We’ll be done in an hour.”

Nodding, they thanked her and left, and for the next hour, she did her best to coax a smile out of the sullen boy. By the end of their time, she managed to get one brief grin out of him, but saw some definite improvement in his mobility.

“Keep doing the exercises and using the ice,” she told him as they walked out to join his parents. “When you come back on Thursday, we’ll see about limiting your time with the crutches and work on walking without them.”

“Really?” Paul asked, his eyes lighting up for the first time since she’d met him.

Lucy nodded. “You keep doing the exercises like I showed you, and we’ll see how you feel.”

“I’m gonna work so hard on this!”

“But don’t overdo it,” she cautioned. “You don’t want to aggravate the injury and end up taking a step back in your recovery. Just do the repetitions on the printouts I gave you. No more, no less, okay?”

“Okay,” he mumbled.

Smiling at his parents, she said, “He’s doing great. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.”

After that, she met with three more patients and updated all of their files before reading an email from the clinic owner. Maddie Channing had a large and very in-demand clinic in Raleigh, but also several smaller ones throughout the eastern part of the state. Lucy’s clinic was the only one that was dedicated to pediatrics and once a week, Maddie would reach out to see how things were going and if she needed anything. It was very sweet of her, but sometimes Lucy wanted to ask for more equipment or inquire about them moving to a bigger location where they could offer more, but ultimately, she never did. So she sent her boss a quick and positive update before glancing at the clock. She was just about to call it a day when her brother Ty hopped up on her table.

“Ty! This is an awesome surprise! What are you doing here?”

“I came to see my favorite sister!”

“I’m your only sister. Try again,” she teased.

“Okay, fine. I’m having some hip pain and I swear you’re the only one who knows how to help,” he told her. He was smiling like this wasn’t a big deal, but she hated that he still didn’t have his life back 100%. The accident was over a dozen years ago, but he was going to feel the ramifications of it for the rest of his life.

The thing was, he had a physical therapist and an orthopedic doctor he went to, but for some reason, whatever therapy and treatments they did with him didn’t give any long-term results. She used to argue with him about it and then carry on about how unfair it was that he was injured while his friends all walked away unscathed, but it was only causing a wedge between the two of them, and she hated that. So, whenever he showed up now with an issue, Lucy gladly helped him out and kept her annoyance with his reasons for being here to herself.

“You know the drill,” she said with a smile. As her brother got situated on the table, Lucy grabbed the mobilization belt and strapped it around her waist.

“Tell me what this torture device is?”

Every time.

“It lets me mobilize the hip joint to improve range of motion and decrease hip pain. Using the belt just allows me to use my body to produce the force rather than pulling with my arms, so it is more efficient for the PT,” she replied as she began manipulating his hip. “What did you do this time to aggravate it?”

He shrugged.

“Ty, come on. We both know you’re going to tell me, so…”

“I went out to a job site today,” he said after a loud huff.

“Why? You’re the real estate guy. Why are you going out to job sites? That’s not your department.”

“We’re looking at the adjacent property and then I went over to see how things were going with construction.”

She shook her head. “And just looking hurt your hip?”

“They needed an extra hand moving materials, so…”

Groaning, Lucy gave his leg an extra hard tug. “What is wrong with you? Do you enjoy hurting yourself?”

“I don’t know; do you enjoy hurting me? Because that’s what you’re doing!”

For a moment she felt bad, but quickly got over it. “Sometimes therapy hurts, Ty.” She worked on him in silence for a bit. “I just don’t get why you do these things.”

“Because not everyone knows I have issues, okay?” he snapped with a grimace. “If I just walked away, I would’ve looked like an asshole. Besides, I really didn’t think it was going to mess with me.”

This wasn’t a new conversation and honestly, she was tired of it, so she changed the subject.

“What else is going on in your life? Anything exciting?”

“Not really… ow! Damn, Luce! This is supposed to make me feel better, not worse!”

“No pain, no gain,” she said with a wink. “So? You were saying…”

“What? Oh, right. Um…not really. Work is the usual. Went out on a date with Tara from accounting Saturday night.”

“And…?” she asked hopefully, because her poor brother had the worst luck with relationships—worse than she did, and that was really saying something.

“And…nothing. It was all just…fine. She was clearly interested in taking things to the next level, but…”

“The next level?”

“Sex, Lucy. She wanted me to go home with her. Sheesh.”

“Ew! Gross! You could have left that part out!” As much as she wanted to sound outraged, she ended up laughing. “Yeah, sorry.”

Fortunately, Tyler was laughing too. “No worries. We both know you were going to ask if I slept with her.”

“I was.” Taking off the belt, she placed it on the chair behind her. “Do you want heat or ice today?”

“Ice, I think.”

“I’ll be right back.” And two minutes later, she was placing a large ice pack on him. Sitting in the chair, she asked, “Anything else going on?”

“I was texting with Jax the other day,” he said casually, his eyes closed. “After seeing him and his teammates all over the news with the party scandal, I wanted to check on him.”

Lucy felt her entire face scrunch up with disgust. “Why?”

But her brother didn’t even flinch at her harsh, sarcastic tone. “Because he’s my friend and it seems like the whole thing got blown way out of proportion.”

She knew the proper thing to do was to ask if Jax was okay, but honestly, she didn’t care. Watching him look miserable on all the news reports had been the highlight of her week.

“He seems to be doing okay,” Ty went on. “They suspended them for three games—which Jax said they expected—but it just sucked. He had an excellent record on and off the field.”

“Yeah, poor baby,” she mumbled.

That tone got Ty’s attention. Turning his head toward her, he opened his eyes. “It wouldn’t kill you to show a little empathy. No one’s asking you to be his personal cheerleader, but what happened was a big deal to him.”

So many snarky comebacks were on the tip of her tongue, but she let them go.

Yet another topic that needed to be changed…

“Anyway…are you coming to dinner Sunday at Mom and Dad’s? Charlie and Bree are taking the girls to some indoor water park place, and I’m still afraid to be alone with Mom.” It killed her to admit that, but Tyler knew how tense things had been.

“You shouldn’t be afraid, Lucy. I get that Mom doesn’t quite seem to understand why you won’t simply kiss and make up with Blake…”

“Because she lacks empathy?” she mused, but her brother didn’t get the humor in her words.

Pushing up on his elbows, he studied her. “They’re from a different generation and even with that, she’s very old-fashioned. In her mind, Blake apologized and that should be enough.”

“Do you think that was enough?” she asked, and hated how defensive she sounded.

“Hell no! I’d still like to go and kick his ass.” He paused. “Or maybe I should say I’d love to stand back and watch someone else kick his ass. I still can’t believe you walked out of there that day without scratching the photographer’s eyes out.”

Slouching a bit, Lucy sighed. “It’s my biggest regret. I play that entire scene over and over in my head more times than I care to admit, and in each one, I do some serious damage to both of them and then trash her studio.”

He chuckled. “I could totally see that.” Another pause. “Have you heard from Blake anymore?”

“Last time was a few days ago.”

“And?”

“And…nothing. He was confirming the last of the cancelations—our honeymoon—and he gave me another token apology and said he regretted the whole thing, but…” She shrugged. “He didn’t ask me to take him back either. So…progress?”

“Did you want him to ask you to take him back?”

“No, but I guess I wanted him to keep groveling for a bit longer.” She snorted. “How twisted is that?”

“If you ask me, you dodged a bullet. You weren’t really in love with Blake, and you deserve to be with someone who treats you like a damn princess.”

Fighting the urge to roll her eyes, she smiled instead. “Don’t be a dork, Ty…” But secretly, she kind of loved that he thought that about her.

“Since I know you’re never getting back with him, I know I can tell you that I hated him. He was a smug, cocky, arrogant…”

“Those all mean the same thing…”

“He was the worst, okay? Totally not the guy for you.”

What she said next was out before she could stop it. “What if there isn’t a guy for me? What if…what if I’m not…you know…lovable? Or…or…”

Tossing the ice pack aside, Tyler sat up. “Hey,” he began softly. “Don’t say stuff like that. Of course there’s a guy out there for you. You just need to take this time to get over all of this and not try so damn hard.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

He arched a brow at her. “Seriously? You give like…a thousand percent of yourself to everyone. You take care of all the people you care about, but you never take any time for yourself. When the right guy comes along, let him do some of the work.”

Tears stung her eyes because that was…that was…

Standing, she leaned over and hugged Tyler.

Hard.

Luckily, he hugged her back just as tightly.

When she finally pulled back, she gave him a watery smile before wiping away those tears. “Quick, tell me about some construction project until I get my emotions under control.”

Tyler shook his head even as he laughed. “There’s nothing wrong with showing emotions. And I meant what I said, Lucy.”

“I know,” she said with a sniffle, sitting back down. “Just…projects. Anything good coming to our little town?”

“Old Mr. Ramsey passed away last month and his family is looking to sell the property on the east side of town.”

“Wow! Really? What do you think will end up there? Houses? A business? A mall, maybe?”

“Not sure. I have a meeting with them on Monday to talk about it. It’s a little under four hundred acres, so they can sell it all as one piece of property or sell it off to multiple people. Personally, I don’t see houses going on the site. There’s not a need for it here in town. We need more businesses first, and then the residential builders can come in.”

“Why not both then? Half and half?”

“Like I said, I’m going to talk to them on Monday and see what they’re thinking. For all I know, they may have some stipulations for the sale. The property can be zoned for both residential or commercial, so I’m curious to explore all the options.”

They sat in companionable silence for several moments, before Lucy glanced at the clock on the wall. “Hey, how about grabbing a burger with me at the pub? Ever since I called off the wedding, I’m enjoying eating like a normal person again.”

Grinning, Ty hopped off the table. “Sounds good, but I’ve got to warn you, there’s a game on tonight. You know the pub is going to have all the pre-game stuff playing on the TV and Jax is sure to be highlighted since it’s his first game back since the whole incident.”

Lucy wanted to argue that her incident was worse than Jax’s, but she kept that to herself.

“Then I’ll sit with my back to the TV,” she reasoned. “You just need to promise to focus on me and not your buddy’s stupid face.”

Laughing, Tyler wrapped his arm around her as they moved away from the table. “Deal.”

A week later, the Warriors won their game and Jax sat through the post-game roundup before quietly picking up his duffel bag and heading out to the parking lot. His mood was definitely somber, as were Travis and Declan’s as they made their way out to their cars. No one mentioned going to Bruno’s—or anyplace else for that matter—and it kind of sucked.

“How’s the new truck?” Declan asked him when they approached the brand-new Dodge Ram.

Shrugging, he said, “It’s fine. I’m still figuring out half the options on it. I really liked my older one, but…”

“But the dunk in the lake really destroyed it,” Travis finished for him with a derisive snort. “Man, I warned you.”

Jax groaned. “Can we just…you know…not? I screwed up! I get it! And believe me, I paid the price. More than either of you.”

Luckily neither friend argued with him.

Tonight’s game went into overtime, so it was late and this time he was definitely going home to soak in his hot tub.

Alone.

“I’ll see you guys at practice Tuesday,” he said, and with that, Jax headed home.

It was a relatively short drive to his house, and most of the ride was spent decompressing from the game. By the time he pulled into his driveway, most of the tension he was feeling earlier was gone.

Until he climbed out of his truck—then he felt every ache and pain all over again.

“It was a rough game. This doesn’t mean I’m old,” he mumbled as he walked through the front door.

The house was a sanctuary and it had been a bit of a status symbol for him when he’d purchased it five years ago. He’d dated the interior decorator and while everything was nice and top-of-the-line, it never felt like a real home.

At least, not what he thought a real home would feel like.

Hell, he still went back to his childhood home and even slept in the room he grew up in from time to time, and even though he didn’t have a lot of great memories of it, there was just a…a feeling of comfort he got as soon as he walked through the door. It was probably more about his mom and the love she put into raising him and his brothers, but Jax had always thought that someday he’d get that same feeling in a place of his own.

So far, it hadn’t happened.

Walking around, he contemplated calling for some takeout, but ultimately opted to make himself a sandwich. Throwing together a turkey club, he wolfed it down before changing into a pair of shorts and heading out to his hot tub. The massive screened-in porch had a seating area, fireplace, TV, an outdoor kitchen, and the hot tub. Normally he turned on the TV when he was out here, but tonight, he just wanted to enjoy the silence.

As soon as he sank down into the hot, bubbling water, he let out a low moan. It felt better than he even imagined, and as he got comfortable and closed his eyes, his mind instantly went to how much he’d screwed up and why now more than ever, he needed to get serious about where he envisioned himself when the season ended.

Could he play for another season? Absolutely.

Did he want to? Well, that was a bit trickier.

Financially, he knew he could retire and move on to a new career. Part of him wanted to coach either high school or middle school football. The only thing stopping him was the fact that the Warriors were having some of their best years lately and Jax was a high-profile player. If he retired and tried to teach at a public school, he had no doubt the press would be a bit overbearing and appear at every practice or game. So maybe that was a career option a few years down the line.

He was a spokesperson for a brand name sports drink, a national gym, and a sporting goods company. It wasn’t like he was going to need to find a job after retiring, but he certainly should have some options ready.

If he expressed interest, he could probably become a color commentator for one of the networks and be very comfortable watching the game from the sidelines. A lot of players went that route after retiring, but it sounded boring to him.

Basically, he kind of wanted his cake and to eat it too. He wanted to be hands-on, just not on the professional level, and he also wanted to be out of the spotlight so he could just be—at least some of the time. Right now, here in Wichita, he was in a gated community where several of his teammates lived. His neighbors all knew him and no one bothered him. If he decided to move back to North Carolina—because that’s where most of his family was—would he still have his privacy?

So many thoughts were swirling in his brain that he was no longer relaxing. Muttering a curse, he climbed from the hot tub, grabbed his towel, and went back inside. After changing into sweats, Jax picked up his phone and called the only person who could talk him off the ledge.

His older brother Noah.

Noah was a financial whiz and the person in charge of handling all of Jax’s money. They’d been talking about what the future was going to look like, but nothing was ever solidified.

Maybe it’s time for him to really start thinking seriously.

Except…it was late. So maybe he’d reach out tomorrow.

Walking over to his pantry, he grabbed a pack of chocolate chip cookies and took them to the couch with a weary sigh. It seemed pathetic to be home alone eating cookies on his couch, but it wasn’t like he hadn’t done it before. His other brother, Simon, was on the West Coast, so he’d be awake, but he was seriously living his best life right now and wouldn’t understand what Jax was feeling.

“I could still call just to have someone to talk to…”

But before he could do that, his phone dinged with an incoming text.

Ty: Hey! Congrats on the win tonight! It was good to see you back on the field!

He and Tyler Dawson had been best friends since they both started playing pee wee football in kindergarten. They’d been inseparable and there wasn’t a person alive who knew him better than Ty. Growing up, they both dreamed of going on to the NFL together, but an accident on grad night changed that. It still killed him that he was living his dream and his buddy wasn’t.

And the guilt that he carried over that night never went away.

It should have been him.

That was definitely a sliding doors moment, where one seemingly small decision changed the course of both of their lives. Jax should have been the one injured and Tyler should be playing pro ball.

Raking a hand through his damp hair, Jax let out a shaky breath. It had been twelve years and yet it still seemed like yesterday. There wasn’t a day that went by when he didn’t think about it, but there wasn’t anything he could do to change what happened.

Ty: That was a bullshit call in the third quarter. I can’t believe you didn’t give that ref hell!

Laughing softly, Jax stared down at the phone and decided to give his friend a call.

“Hey! I thought you’d be out celebrating,” Ty said with amusement when he answered.

“Yeah, well…kind of trying to stay under the radar for the rest of the season. Plus, I’ve already had to change all my security codes and buy a new truck. I’m done going out for a while because clearly I have poor judgment.”

Tyler laughed. “To be fair, she was hot. How could you know she was crazy too?”

“Because everyone warned me, but I was too stubborn to listen!” They both laughed at that one.

“Yeah, I’m familiar with your stubbornness, but I still don’t think anyone could have predicted the way things played out. Did you press charges?”

“Personally? No. The coaches and team lawyers all said it would generate bad PR. But the cops got her on other charges, so…there’s that. But basically, I’m screwed and can’t get her to pay for the damage to the truck. It was totaled, and that just pisses me off.”

“For what it’s worth, I haven’t seen anything about it in the press for about a week now, so I guess it all just blew over.”

But Jax shook his head. “Just good PR. Simon’s fiancée is a master at that sort of thing and got most of the pictures scrubbed.”

“That’s awesome!”

“It is, but she strongly suggested we do something to generate some good PR. Soon.”

“Like…?”

“That’s just it; I’m not sure yet. The guys and I can go visit sick kids in the hospital or donate to a charity, but it’s going to look like we’re trying too hard, you know?”

“O-kay…but what else can you do?”

He paused for a moment. “I’m going to tell you something, but you have to promise not to laugh.”

“I’ll try.”

“Ty…”

“Fine, fine, whatever. No laughing.”

Another pause. “I’ve been thinking a lot about retirement and…”

“Wait, you’re retiring? When?”

Letting out a long breath, he leaned back against the cushions, closing his eyes. “That’s the thing. There’s a part of me that thinks I’m ready to retire at the end of this season. Then I start second-guessing myself and wondering if it’s the right thing to do.”

“Damn. What do you think you’d do with yourself? Would you do the sideline reporting thing?”

That made him chuckle. “Absolutely not. Public speaking isn’t my thing at all and I can’t imagine sitting there trying to make sure I sounded professional when I’d really like to be screaming about whatever play we’re discussing. Hard pass. Seriously.”

“Okay, so then…”

There wasn’t anything he couldn’t tell Tyler, but this felt like it might be awkward.

“One idea that keeps coming to me is a camp,” he blurted out.

“A camp? Like a sports camp? A football camp?”

“Sort of? But more like a sports camp for kids with disabilities,” he said carefully. “I don’t know if it’s feasible or even something there’s a need for. When I do think about it, I envision there obviously being football and having some of my teammates coming in and volunteering. We’d have different facilities so we can offer a variety of sports and obviously I’d reach out to professional athletes from all of them and make that part of the draw.” He paused, waiting for Ty to say something, but he didn’t. “Of course, I know this would be a massive investment with both time and finances. I have no idea where I’d want the camp to be or anything like that. It’s all just been there in the back of my mind.”

“Why?”

That one-word question spoke volumes.

“Because I remember, Ty, okay? I remember the look on your face when you knew you’d never play football again,” he gruffly admitted. “I remember visiting you in the hospital and they had you in the pediatric unit and seeing all those kids who were never going to play any sport of any kind because of their limitations.” Swallowing the lump in his throat, he went on. “This isn’t something I just came up with; it’s something that’s always been there. I’m just at a place in my life where I think I can make it happen. I need to sit down with Noah and figure out a way to do it.”

“What would you say if I told you I had a piece of property that would be perfect for you?”

Jax let out a small laugh. “Seriously? In South Creek?” Another laugh. “Come on, Ty.”

“You might not believe this, but most of the property and jobs I estimate and manage aren’t only here in South Creek.”

“Okay, so then where is it?” His heart started to race a bit because this was the first step in making this dream a reality.

“South Creek,” Ty said with a small laugh of his own. “I’m going to look at it tomorrow. It’s Mr. Ramsey’s property. He passed away last month and his family is looking to sell. We’d have to see what it can realistically be zoned for and if it can be used for what you’re thinking of, but…that’s just a matter of some phone calls and getting it all assessed and inspected…permits would have to be submitted to the town…”

“I think we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves,” Jax interrupted. “How big is this property? What are they asking for it? And, again, is there even a need for what I’m proposing?”

“The property is a little under four hundred acres, so that is seriously more than enough space for what you’re thinking of. Price? That I’m going to find out when I meet with them on Monday. And as for a need? I’m going to say yes. Lucy’s a pediatric physical therapist and it seems like she has a full schedule all the time. There aren’t a lot of PT places that are geared for kids, so the fact that South Creek has one is pretty amazing. She says that people travel up to two hours each way to come and see her.”

“Wow, I had no idea…”

“She’s great at what she does.” Then he chuckled. “As a matter of fact, I go and see her sometimes because I prefer the way she does things instead of my regular therapist.”

“Dude, really? You go to a kiddie physical therapist?” he teased. “That just seems wrong.”

“Yeah, well…Lucy’s got a gift. If I go to my usual therapist with an issue, I’ll leave there not feeling a whole lot better. But when my sister works with me? I’m fine the next day. I can’t explain it.”

“Whatever works, right?”

“Exactly.” Tyler grew quiet for a moment. “I know we’ve had this conversation like a million times, but…you know that we’re cool, right? Like…I don’t want you to think that you have to do something like this—the camp—because you owe me something. It wasn’t your fault, Jax.”

They did have this conversation close to a million times, but Jax was never going to accept the fact that he wasn’t responsible.

“I should have been driving,” he said firmly. “I was supposed to be driving!”

“And I shouldn’t have offered to drive!” Ty countered. “I knew I’d had a few drinks and had no right to get behind the wheel, but I did it anyway! It was my decision!”

“But if I hadn’t been drinking…”

“Jax, enough! I was the most sober out of the group of us. Looking back, sure, we probably could have found someone else to drive, but…we were kids. Do I hate that this happened to me? Of course! But you know you’re not the one to blame, okay? Promise me we’re never going to have this discussion again, because I…I can’t. I get up every day and I’m reminded of my limitations.” He paused. “But I’ve got a good life, and I’m happy. We both know I was never going to get drafted in the NFL like you did. You were always a better player.”

“No. You would’ve been right there with me,” he murmured. “That’s how it was supposed to be. And if it weren’t for…”

“Not you,” Ty said adamantly.

Nodding, Jax continued. “If it weren’t for my father , none of it would have happened.”

Because…yeah. The accident that had nearly killed his best friend had been caused by Jax’s father, whose blood alcohol content was three times the legal limit at the time of the crash.

It was literally the worst night of his life.

And the old man never seemed to care.

Growing up, Jax had kind of idolized his old man. He’d never been comfortable with the fact that his father was so awful and almost abusive to his older brothers, but Greg Wylder had put him up on a pedestal. His father used to play football in high school and college and had dreamed of playing professionally. But he and Jax’s mom got pregnant while in college and all his dreams were replaced with having to take care of a wife and baby.

Needless to say, he wasn’t thrilled and seemed to take it out on everyone.

Except Jax.

As an adult, now he could see how his father tried to live vicariously through him—reliving the glory days of playing the sport he loved.

After the accident on grad night, their relationship changed—that was Jax’s doing. He’d been horrified to find out his father was the drunk driver who hit them—and that the woman his father was cheating on Jax’s mom with was in the passenger seat. Tyler had almost died and he’d borne the brunt of everyone’s anger.

He was supposed to be the one driving.

It was his father who hit them.

And he’d walked away and went on to the career he and Ty used to dream about.

“Jax,” Tyler said, breaking into his reverie. “Don’t do this for me. Don’t do this because of me. You worked hard to get where you are and you should be doing something in your retirement that you’re genuinely passionate about.”

“That’s just it; I am passionate about the camp. Doing this isn’t going to erase what you’ve been through, and it’s not something you’re going to benefit from. This is because I met those kids in the hospital, and I’ve seen dozens more over the years on team visits to hospitals. I think this is something I can do to maybe clear my own conscience—no matter what you say—and…and maybe get some of that good PR Simon’s fiancée is talking about.”

“That would be a good thing. And think of the great spin if you announce that you’re doing it in your hometown.”

The wheels in Jax’s head were already spinning.

“Call me with the info on Monday and I’ll talk with Noah to see where my finances are at. And if it all seems feasible, I’ll talk to Declan and Travis to see if they’re in.”

“And then to your future sister-in-law.”

“Exactly. The sooner we can get Juliette working on this and getting the word out, the more successful we can be.” He knew it was too soon to get excited, but…he was. “Hey, do you think Lucy would come in and consult on the project? I mean…if she’s a pediatric physical therapist, she’d be the perfect person to weigh in on what we should and shouldn’t incorporate.” Pausing, he laughed softly. “Wow, it’s hard to imagine Lucy being all grown up and having such an impressive career. The last time I saw her, she was like…what? Twelve? Thirteen?”

Tyler quietly laughed with him. “Something like that. I think the last time you would have seen her was before you left for college, so…yeah.”

“Do you think she’ll come and join us if we put something together?” When his friend didn’t respond right away, he prompted him. “Ty?”

“Um…I’ll ask her. Usually her schedule is pretty hectic, but I’m sure I can at least get some info from her, even if she doesn’t join us in person.”

That seemed a little odd, but Jax shrugged. “How cool would it be if we could make this happen and we were all involved? You, me, your brothers, my brothers, Lucy…it will be like when we were kids!”

Another laugh. “Dude, it would be a miracle if we made that happen.”