Page 14 of Fierce-Gabe

“Early enough,” his mother said. “You always did.”

Jocelyn shrugged. She’d been the planner of the family. Not him. He got up and figured out his day as it happened.

He wanted to say that was what he did with his life too. Why bother to plan things when they didn’t turn out the way you wanted?

Not that he had a lot to complain about. At least he didn’t think he did.

“What works for me doesn’t for other people,” he said. “I bought donuts. That doesn’t count?”

“I don’t eat donuts,” Jayce said. “That shit clogs your arteries.”

“Not mine,” he said. “I burn it off. But then again, I don’t wear nice fancy clothing and sit at a desk all day long either.”

“I don’t spend that much time at a desk,” Jayce said.

“More than your brother does,” his father said. “Gabe barely sits his butt down to eat lunch half the time. Not sure how he does it.”

Jayce did promotions or something for the Charlotte Hornets. He was on the road at games and traveling too. It wasn’t the life that Gabe would want. Not the traveling.

There’d been a time he thought he could do it. Or give it a try. Then he realized he was just a homebody.

You can’t have one dream when there were major parts to it that you didn’t want to do. He couldn’t get enough people to understand that.

When his mother got cancer early in his senior year of high school, he was home to help out as much as he could.

That was when he realized that he couldn’t leave it all to his father.

His dad was running the business and taking his mother to chemo and other appointments. His mother worked for the business too, but she didn’t at that time. Or what she did, she’d done from home.

He was driving his siblings around and doing things in the house to help out along with everyone else.

Going to college four hours away had been a hard decision for him. He’d known where he wanted to go but almost backed out to stay local at Duke. He’d been accepted in both places.

His mother pushed him to go and live his life. That she’d be fine.

She finished her treatment. She’d been in remission for over eighteen years now.

She’d been right, he’d gone away. But he’d come home every chance he could for a long weekend.

He didn’t have one regret and he couldn’t get people to understand that.

At least in his career. Maybe in other areas of his life he had regrets, but there was only so much he could do about it now.

“It’s part of the job,” he said. “But I get to lay my head on my own pillow at night. For a guy that hates to order out or get fast food, you have to eat a ton of it being on the road.”

“Nope,” Jayce said. “The team has chefs. A lot of the players follow strict diets. I get to eat with them.”

“You stay in hotels though,” he argued. “How the hell do you get food like that?”

“Most hotels have restaurants,” Jayce said. “Geez, Gabe. Get out of your bubble. Arrangements are made for them to prepare certain foods. I eat healthy. How do you think I stay in shape?”

“Got to be the food because it can’t be anything physical with your ass in a chair.”

Jocelyn laughed. “I sit in a chair all day and I’m in good shape. I’d say it’s more about good genetics.”

His sister was a bit of a health freak like Jayce was. Maybe it was something the twins just shared.

“I don’t have time to exercise like you do, Jocelyn. But if you want to bring me in some healthy food at times I’ll eat it.”

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