Page 101 of No Place Like Home

“I don’t let anyone touch it,” I told the camera.

I did bring it up and showed it so they could get a good view of it. It had black glitter and white feathers. It looked dope.

“Is that a Christmas ornament?”

“Yes,” I said, lifting it higher. “So we have a tradition here. The whole town gathers around to decorate Christmas ornaments and add them to the town’s tree. This one…” I lifted my charm once more. “…was sold as a clear ball, and whoever bought it decorated it and inserted a wish inside it.”

“A wish?”

“I found this on the ground, so whoever made it must have dropped it.”

“Why didn’t you hang it up, man?”

It was a fair question, something I might have asked myself a time or two.

“Something had happened earlier that day, and I was kind of distracted and put it in my jacket. I had forgotten about it, and then I was holding onto it one day, and I got a call about the draft and I’ve just kept it with me ever since.”

“Now you Sunny Pines folk know if you lost your ornament, you can hit up your favorite quarterback for it,” he joked to the cameras. “You said it contained a wish?”

“I’ve never opened it,” I said, then looked at the camera and winked. “You’re secret is safe with me, and whoever this belonged to, I’m not giving it back.”

He then went on to ask me a few more questions, and when the cameras stopped rolling, I was relieved.

“You did good, man.” The producer patted my back. “You are at ease, and that's a good thing. People love you for a reason, and they’ll go crazy for this.”

Once they started to wrap up for the day, I grabbed my car keys.

“Where are you going?” Leo questioned.

“I need to run some errands,” I replied. “Come on, Simba.”

* * *

My hand was grippingthe steering wheel as I sped through town. I wanted to see her—fuck, I had been ready to see her since the moment I’d left.

Did this mean she no longer lived with Blake?

Why did she move out?

Fifteen minutes later, I was driving by the Dunnetts’ old home. I went back as Prescott had suggested, and there was a path done through years of driving on it. I took it, and then a small ranch-style house came into view.

My hands got sweaty, and a familiar old feeling swelled inside me. Fuck, it was that anxious, nervous feeling I would get before a big game. I wanted to see her, even if I told myself otherwise.

But even if I did, I kept lying to myself that this was business.

I got out of the car and walked up to the front door. It was open, and only the screen door prevented me from going further inside. My eyes scanned everything, trying to see the home Jess now had. I wanted to know how much she had changed since being alone.

Raising my hand, I knocked on the metal part of the door, since I couldn’t see a doorbell. I heard the tapping of feet against the wooded floor coming towards me. My heart accelerated, and then it fucking stopped.

Time ceased to exist. Nothing mattered, not moving and definitely not breathing since I was sure I had forgotten how to do it. I lifted my head for a fraction of a second when a different set of legs made their way down the hallway.

“Prescott?” her raspy voice questioned, and it was like music to my ears. Like hearing a favorite sad song that put me in a shit mood.

I was holding on to the door frame for support, or else I was sure as fuck I would have fallen. My eyes greedily took in all of her. In the last years, she had changed, and the evidence of all that change was standing between us.

She came to a halt when she saw me at the other side of the door. Her dark eyes widened, and her mouth parted in shock. Her gaze went from me to the little girl that had stolen my breath away.

“We need to talk right now,” I hissed through gritted teeth as my fingers gripped the wood beneath me.

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