Page 63 of Fall for Me

“No, it’s a good thing,” I said. “It’s really sweet what you’re doing with Jack.” It was. But tears have a way of connecting to other things, and I had to swallow to keep myself presentable in the busy restaurant. I could already count a handful of people who’d been glancing our way throughout our meal.

Jude leaned forward, reaching for my hand. “Hey, how’s it going, Chelsea? Really? I know you don’t like to talk about yourself, but we’re all worried.”

My stomach bunched up. “We?”

“Yeah, all of us. You haven’t exactly responded to our invitations to hang out. You keep canceling plans you do have with us. After the hospital, you just kind of… fell off the map.”

I swallowed. He was right. I’d been neglecting the rest of my family. In only a few visits, I’d spent more time with Seamus than any of my siblings, or my dad, who I had the ability to see now that he was back in town.

“I… I’m just trying to figure things out,” I confessed. “The crash was a… I know it sounds cliché, but it was a wake-up call. A metaphor for the train wreck of my life.”

The words came out slightly sharp, but Jude only lifted his eyebrows.

“So now you’re trying to figure out who you are on the other side, right?”

I blinked, surprised Jude had understood completely. But of course he had. With that injury, Jude had lost his whole shiny pro-tennis life, where he traveled all over the world winning matches and flitting around dating whoever he wanted.

“I’m sorry I didn’t check in on you,” I said suddenly. “When you got hurt.”

“You did,” he said. “You all did.”

Jude had been on the other side of the world when the doctors said his career on the court was over. We’d tried to get him to come home. More accurately, Mom had, but he’d said he was going to stay away for a while.

“Getting off the court was both the best and the worst thing to happen to me,” he said. “I always thought of Jack. I’d wake up every morning thinking of him. He’d be on my mind during every match—I said they were all for him. But I wasn’t a part of his life. I was hiding from him. Sometimes I think getting hurt like that… I think it was an act of God. His way of bringing me to Jack.

Now it was my turn to raise my eyebrows. I’d never heard Jude talking about God before.

“I’m not heading to Sunday school, if that’s what you’re thinking about. I just felt like there was a kind of… divine push. And I’m super fuckin’ grateful for it. So maybe that’s what that crash was for you.”

“Maybe,” I said. I hesitated, thinking about the conversation I’d had with Seamus about work. “I’ve actually been toying with the idea of maybe… not coming back to the Rolling Hills.”

Jude raised an eyebrow. “No shit!”

“It’s not official, but… I kind of miss the creativity of what I did back on the coast. At the resort, it’s mostly conferences.”

I told Jude about my idea of going into business for myself, and he practically hooted. “Shit Chels, that’s awesome!”

“But I’d be disappointing Cass and Eli. Also… starting a business is a ton of work.”

Jude shrugged. “First, they’d get over it. They’d have to. Second, you’re one of the smartest people I know, Chels. You’d figure it out.”

My heart swelled. This was why I shared things with Jude. He had such faith in me.

Kind of like Seamus.

I swallowed.

The server, a pretty redhead I didn’t recognize came over with the pot of coffee.

“Thanks,” Jude said, giving her a wink, and I swear the girl’s entire body went crimson.

I had to stifle a laugh. But when I looked back at Jude, he was looking into his coffee. “Maris started her own modeling company. She looks happy.”

Maris was Jude’s ex. Jack’s mom. The one who’d left Jack with her parents.

“She called me,” he said as he slurped on his coffee.

He looked down at his food, and I realized it wasn’t just the cipher he’d wanted to talk to me about. He’d been waiting to talk to me about this—he just hadn’t had a reason to bring it up.

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