Page 25 of Sliding Into Love
Ivy groaned internally as her phone dinged with a low battery alert. She needed a new charger.Add it to the never-ending to-do list, right after finding a job and achieving self-actualization.
Jase returned to send another message. “He said thanks!” His grin lit up the room more than the sunlight streaming through her curtains. Ivy watched him scamper off with her phone just as she remembered the last text she sent Ethan was vaguely flirty with an old-school winky face emoji. She groaned again, out loud this time.
“I’ll make you coffee!” Jase called from the kitchen.
Sweet boy,she thought.
If he woke up before she did, he always set up a mug and coffee pod for her, even though at ten, he wasn’t old enough to drink the coffee he made. But every time he made her coffee, Ivy’s heart squeezed in affection.
The sound of her phone drew Ivy out of her bedroom to join Jase where he sat at the kitchen table, going back and forth between staring at Ivy’s phone and scribbling in the program he’d gotten at the first Hawks game.
“What’s that?” Ivy tapped the screen.
“It’s the stats for the Raiders.” Jase didn’t look up from his note-taking.
“Do you want to see if we can find the game on tv?”
“Yes!” Jase jumped up and hugged Ivy, and her heart burst at the uncommon display.
When her phone vibrated where Jase had left it, Ivy picked it up and thumbed open her messages, reading the exchange between Jase and Ethan.
Hi, Ethan. It’s Jase. I wanted to tell you good luck before you play the Raiders today.
Hi, Jase. Thanks! I’ll try; the Raiders are pretty good this season.
Ivy snorted into her coffee over Ethan using a semicolon in a text. He’d probably even used it correctly.
Well I’m sure you’ll beat them! Go Hawks!
Thanks, buddy.
Hey, tell Ivy she owes the swear jar from last night.
What?
Scrolling further back to reread their texts, Ivy saw that yes, dammit, she’d cursed a lot last night. She texted him back.
This is Ivy. I refuse to put money in the jar for swearing over text lol, but you still have three curse words left from last time.
Ivy’s phone made a sad chirping sound to let her know the battery was even closer to dying, so she rummaged through the end table catch-all drawer.
“Hey, Jase, did you see my other charger?” she called when she didn’t find it.
“Yeah, but it was missing the base.” Jase’s eyes were glued to the tv screen, watching someone talking about RBIs and stolen bases.
Maybe Lily had a spare cord.
Rustling came from Janna’s room, and Ivy set out cereal and milk for her. Jase followed Janna into the kitchen while Ivy ignored the sugar content on the side of the box as she shoved a handful of the sweet, crunchy goodness into her mouth. Ivy was eternally grateful for kids who, like her, would eat anything put in front of them. Even Ivy’s truly horrific cooking.
Besides, weekend mornings were for sugary cereal; everyone knew that.
When the National Anthem played over the TV, Jase jumped to attention with his hand over his heart. He’d gone into his room to grab his Hawks hat, and he held it behind his back like the players on the screen. Ivy snapped a picture of Jase with the TV showing the game in the background to send to Derek…and maybe Ethan, too, but her phone died as she pressed send, so there was no way of knowing if it made it through.
As the game progressed, Ivy found herself seeking out Ethan’s tall frame on the screen. Jen and a few other players were as tall as him, but Ethan was so…broad. The camera panned over him leaping to catch a ball, and Ivy wondered how the buttons of his jersey held together as he reached up and snatched it out of the air. Beside her, Jase jumped up and cheered.
“Did you see that catch?” he yelled at her.
Ivy gulped. “Oh, um, yes.” Heat flooded her as she remembered Ethan’s touch on her wrist and how gentle his large, calloused hands had been on her skin.
