Page 45 of Finding Jess

“Let me see,” she commanded, her face set in a stony expression.

Sam resisted the urge to laugh at her intensity. “It’s nothing,” she said, grabbing her water off the ground.

Jess stepped up to her, lifting a hand. Then it paused in midair, as she seemed to catch herself before dropping it back down to her side.

Instead, she moved to Sam’s side, leaning in to inspect her brow.

“Sorry,” Liz’s voice cut through the moment, jogging toward them with an unapologetic grin. “I forgot you’re not used to the way we play.”

Sam hummed, taking a sip of her water.

She didn’t mind the hard play. If anything, she actually preferred it. She enjoyed having a clear goal and fighting brutally to get it. And she enjoyed having Liz to play against. Someone who wouldn’t give her any easy breaks.

“If that’s the most you learned playing in college,” Sam said, “then I don’t think I missed out on much.”

Liz laughed as she sprayed water into her mouth. “Oh, that’s nothing. I was just warming up.”

Sam smirked, taking another drink of her water as Jess looked back and forth between them, not one ounce of amusement adorning her face.

She crossed her arms over her chest. “You wanna sit out the second half?”

Sam shot her a flat look.

“Just saying,” Jess mumbled, although her tone still held a sharp edge. “That’s not gonna stop bleeding if you keep running around out there.”

Sam grunted a laugh. “Don’t try to pretend like you wouldn’t keep playing if that happened to you.”

Jess’ mouth pressed into a firm line as she glanced out at the field. “You could have a concussion.”

This time, it was Liz who laughed. “If she did, it wouldn’t be anything new.”

Jess looked back at her, eyes questioning.

Liz swallowed down another gulp of water before continuing. “You thinkI’mtoo physical when I play, but you should’ve seen this one,” she threw a nod at Sam, “when we were kids.”

Sam averted her gaze, already knowing which memories Liz was recalling. And they weren’t the ones she was particularly keen on sharing.

Liz laughed again, shaking her head. “Wasn’t just on the field either. Man, I can’t even count how many times she picked fights with the kids at the school down the street from ours.” Liz snorted another laugh that grated on her nerves. “My mom would get so pissed at us every time we got home and Sam had some new injury that was bad enough she’d have to take her to urgent care to get checked out.”

Sam swallowed, heat rising in her cheeks.

She’d more or less blocked out those particular memories. The ones that would’ve probably made her hard for any parent to want.

Liz was right. Maybe she really could understand why her parents hadn’t wanted to take her in after her mom died.

“Guess that’s one thing that’s changed,” Liz said with a dry chuckle. “You don’t seem as pissed off as you were back then.”

Sam looked up finally, forcing a small smile of acknowledgment on her lips. “Guess so.”

She avoided looking at Jess as Liz stepped away, talking to some of the other players. A few yards behind her stood Tiana, completely absorbed in conversation with the woman who’d walked by them before the game.

“Looks like she’s having fun,” Sam muttered with a chuckle, trying to break through the leftover air of the prior conversation.

Jess hummed in acknowledgment, but kept her serious demeanor.

A twinge of anxiety ran through Sam’s chest, and she shifted the weight on her feet as a distraction. The thought of Jess imagining her as some rage-filled burden of a kid—the worst version of herself—was enough to send her brain reeling for a distraction.

She scratched the back of her neck, opening her mouth to say something—anything. But Jess beat her to it.

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