Page 12 of Score to Settle
Jake looks between us, a question knitting his brow, but thankfully Mama calls us all to help with dinner and Chase launches into telling us about his life with the Kansas City Trailblazers. It isn’t long before the kitchen table is filled with plates piled high with food. Roast chicken and chunks of fresh bread. Potatoes and steaming vegetables, and huge yellow cobs of corn glistening with butter. My mouth waters as I realize how hungry I am.
“How long are you back for?” Dylan asks Chase as everyone digs in, reaching over each other for spoons and handing dishes back and forth.
“Just tonight. I fly back tomorrow afternoon.”
A thought hits me and my head shoots up, eyes finding Chase as I gasp. “Your room.” I clamp a hand to my mouth, thinking of my clothes over the back of the chair, my notebook open on the bed. I’ve made myself at home. “I can move my stuff,” I say quickly.
Chase grins. “Don’t worry, I’ll sleep on the pullout in Jake’s room. It’ll be like old times sharing a room together.” He punches his brother lightly on the arm, but it’s not enough to wipe the look of annoyance crossing Jake’s face. Just when I thought he couldn’t hate me more.
“Please,” I say. “It’s your room. I can take the pullout.”
Chase cocks an eyebrow, all mischief and trouble as he looks from Jake to me. “You wanna take the pullout?”
I start to nod.
“In Jake’s room?” he continues with a wicked grin.
Heat burns my cheeks. Did I really just offer to share a bedroom with Jake?Kill me now!“No,” I fire the word. “I didn’t mean that… What I meant… I just…” I sigh. Why does this feel like high school all over again, me tripping over my words around cute guys? All I need is Mia at my side, jabbing me in the ribs and pointing out what a fool I’m making of myself. I take a breath and get a hold of myself. I’m not a lost teen anymore. “I will not be sharing a room with Jake at any point, but I can take the couch. It’s your room, Chase, and you should have it.”
Dylan and Chase share a look and burst out laughing. Dylan claps a strong hand on Jake’s shoulder. “Well, it had to happen sometime.”
“What?” Jake groans like he knows what’s coming.
“Being turned down.” Dylan grins. “Most women can’t wait to share a room and a bed with you. That must hurt a bit, hey, Jakey?”
“Harper’s not most women,” Jake replies before turning his attention to his plate of food.
I can tell by the looks shooting between Dylan and Chase that they don’t know if Jake’s comment is a dig or a compliment. Obviously it’s a dig, although I’m happy to be different from the women Jake knows.
“You boys gonna take Harper out tonight?” Mama asks as she looks over her boys. “It will do you all good to head to The Hay Barn and see Flic. Get you out from under my feet while you’re at it.”
I’m certain she doesn’t mean that last part. Mama hasn’t stopped smiling all evening. It’s easy to tell she lives for these moments.
I shake my head. “I probably shouldn’t,” I say before Jake can pitch in with some jibe about being stuck spending more time with me. “I don’t think I brought anything to wear.” And I really need to spend the evening reading theFootball for Dummiesguide I bought on my Kindle. Jake’s comment earlier was way too close to the truth. If he finds out I know nothing about the NFL and calls Tim, I’m as good as fired. This might be the worst assignment I’ve ever had, but at least I still have a job. The thought causes another fluttering of anxiety in my chest. I can’t believe the career I love is hanging by a thread, and the likes of Jake Sullivan is the one holding it.
Mama smiles and shakes her head. “Girly, in those Levi’s and tee you’ll fit in just fine. Especially with…” She stands and disappears into the mud room by the back door before appearing again a moment later with a pair of cowboy boots. “These.”
My resolve to stay in my room and read disintegrates at the sight of the boots. They’re the most gorgeous cowboy boots I’ve ever seen. Soft tan leather etched with an intricate stitch pattern and a low heel. “Mama, thank you, but I couldn’t,” I say, feeling strangely close to tears. It’s the kindness, I think. I’m not used to it. Growing up with a journalist father who barely remembered me from one month to the next and then following in his footsteps into the most cutthroat industry in existence hardly leaves room for kindness. “They’re too nice,” I say quietly. The comment comes with the familiar pang of grief for a mother I don’t remember.
She throws an arm around me, pulling me close and squeezing me to her side as she presses the boots into my hands. “Nonsense. You can and you will. My days of wearing them are long gone. And if I’m not mistaken, they’ll be the perfect fit.”
Later, when I slip my feet into the boots, I realize Mama was right. They’re perfect. I just hope she’s right about Jake opening up to me if I give him time. She might have faith in him being a good boy at heart, but I don’t. When he opens up, he’ll reveal all I need for the sort of feature I have planned. He’s not capable of anything else…
Ifhe opens up, I correct. Because unless that happens there won’t be a feature. Somehow I need to convince Jake I’m on his side, even though I most certainly am not.
SIX
JAKE
After dinner I slide behind the wheel of my truck and the others pile in. Dylan, then Chase, then Harper. I’m reminded of a hundred trips I’ve taken with my brothers. To high school and Stormhawks games, and more recently, like tonight, to The Hay Barn. It feels easy and uncomplicated, which is just how I like things. With Chase home, even Dylan doesn’t look so close to killing someone—namely me.
It’s a squeeze with four of us and I find my gaze dragging to where Chase’s leg is touching Harper’s, not liking it one bit. Chase needs to focus on his game, not women. I don’t want him making the same mistakes I did, building a reputation I can’t take back. Mama is convinced Harper’s feature will be the key to the bad-boy-turned-good story she’s trying to build for me. Except she has no idea Harper hates my guts. And I have no idea why, but it feels like it’s about more than me turning up late for our first meeting.
We chat about football on the journey. Chase and Dylan bickering over plays and when to punt. Like always, Chase falls right into Dylan’s goading.
“When you’re in the fourth down, you gotta go for it all the way,” Chase says with an exasperated sigh. “That’s football 101, man!”
Dylan groans. “That’s a rookie move. On the fourth down, you punt it and then you pin them back. Let your defense work!”
