Page 34 of The Comeback

“Jett McCombs, watch your tone,” Miss Maggie reproves me softly.

I blow out a breath. “Sorry, ma’am. Sorry, Jen.”

“I’m not texting with Ava.” Jenna bends over to scrub at the table. “I haven’t talked to her since that game when we saw her in the family room. I know you’d be uncomfortable with that.”

Guilt now slides through me that Jenna feels like she shouldn’t renew her relationship with Ava because of me. I take a seat at the table and stare down at it. “It’s fine. If you want to, it’s fine.” When I look back up, Miss Maggie is watching me, so I address my defense of Hayden to her. “I’ve never seen Hayden be anything but kind. Anytime we go anywhere to eat, she pays for someone else’s meal and makes sure the restaurant promises not to tell who did it. That’s just the beginning.”

Jenna straightens. “Then everything will be fine. What are you worrying about?”

“I don’t know,” I mumble. Am I missing something? Why would Gabriella be so skeptical of Hayden? Why would Ava’s research make her worry? “This wedding is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard of.”

“Oh my gosh, Jett.” Jenna breaks into laughter. “It’s like you don’t even know what being famous is like. Of course the wedding is crazy.”

“If they want to get married in the middle of the season, they should be eloping, not throwing a big, overdone party for the publicity.” It’s probably unfair that I’m unloading on Jenna what I can’t say to Colby and Gabriella. Every time he says something about the conflict between me and Ava, I have to bite my tongue to keep from telling him it wouldn’t be half as bad if he’d waited until the off-season to get married. We’d probably both be more chill about Ava’s presence here if we didn’t have the stress of the season combined with this wedding hanging over us.

Jenna snorts, and when I turn to Miss Maggie, she’s smirking. “Perhaps you can suggest that to your future bride-to-be when the time comes,” Miss Maggie says. She goes to the fridge and pulls out a cake. I need to stop by here more with Miss Maggie around. “In any case, I’m sure you just want what’s best for your friend.”

“Yeah.” I do. And that means I should shut up and listen to him before he kicks me to the curb.

Jenna throws the rag into the sink and sits next to me. “Jett, it’s okay that you still have feelings and stuff for Ava. It’s not a surprise, given that you almost got married and then it suddenly ended. And how little you dealt with it.” She gives me a sad smile, and I can’t contradict her words. “But if you like Hayden, don’t overthink why that might be. And don’t worry about what anybody else thinks.”

“Amen,” Miss Maggie says, scooting a plate of cake in front of me.

Jenna makes it sound a lot simpler than it is, trusting my own feelings over those of the people closest to me. Colby’s my best friend, and though his opinion comes from Gabriella, she’s become a trusted friend as well. Ava’s opinion used to mean more to me than anyone else’s in the world, so is it any wonder I can’t get her worries out of my head even if I think she’s after Hayden for the wrong reasons? Even Jenna can’t hide her caution in her advice about Hayden.

The people I trust the most see a completely different person than I do, and I don’t know what to make of that. I sigh and stab my cake with my fork. The dinner party is in a couple of nights. I’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

CHAPTER 20

AVA

The team members’ wives are eyeing me as I walk across the grass with Gabriella, and I try not to let it get to me. When Gabriella first started dating Colby, she told me how hard it was to be friends with them. They’re an exclusive group, and they’re wary of letting anyone in until it’s a sure thing. Girlfriends don’t make the cut, but once Gabriella and Colby were engaged, they welcomed her with open arms.

I’m just an intruder.

Which is why I don’t know why Gabriella insisted I come with her to the team family picnic. She lured me in saying they needed some volunteers to help since the picnic includes a silent auction that the team does to benefit cancer research. A few million dollars will probably be dropped today amid burgers, cookies, and the shouts of children playing on a playground nearby. Gabriella hasn’t explained what type of volunteering she brought me along to do.

“There’s Colby,” she says, altering our direction to head his way. “With Jett, of course.” She grimaces at me. “Let’s go make nice. See if he’s still mad at us.” She waves at Colby, whose face lights up when he sees her. But he blinks when he sees me with her, his expression tightening for a moment before his smile returns. What’s that about?

“‘Us’?” I raise an eyebrow at her. “It was always just at me.”

She puts her arm through mine. “Come show him it wasn’t about jealousy.” She smirks.

“It wasn’t about jealousy,” I insist. I mean, I am jealous, but that’s definitely not why I don’t trust Hayden. “Besides, I thought I was here to volunteer. Not mingle.” I would not have agreed to come and mingle. Once upon a time, I thought stuff like this was my future with Jett. But I don’t belong here.

“We’re going to help serve ice cream to the kids, but that’s not until later.”

“You have to be kidding me.” Why did I let her drive me here from her apartment too? I should have foreseen getting stuck here and brought my own car. That way I could escape.

Gabriella laughs. “The food is always amazing, Ava, and you need to get out and do social things that don’t involve something you planned for me.”

“I do get out and do social things. I went over to the boardwalk yesterday and wandered around. It was delightful.” The Kemah Boardwalk is touristy but cute and picturesque. I’d waited until the evening since it’s too warm during the day, and it had been soothing to watch boats glide lazily past in the bay and to hear the laughter from the amusement park rides.

Gabriella pats my arm. “Good for you.”

My phone dings with a text, and I pull it out to see it’s from Kristen. We haven’t spoken since I told her about the viral photo, so I assumed things were good with Rutledge. My heart rate spikes in worry over what this could be about. “It’s Kristen,” I say to Gabriella. “I’m going to answer her really quick.”

Gabriella nods and continues walking toward Colby and Jett. That was a pretty effective way of getting rid of Gabriella. If only there were someone else here I could escape to talk to so I didn’t have to face Jett. Since there’s not, it makes my getaway useless.

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