Page 56 of Breakaway

He was so patient with Ryan, even though Ryan was having a bad day. He made the boy laugh at something, and her chestconstricted. She blinked and tried to focus on the other kids. Her throat felt tight and achy and she just wanted this to be over, much as she loved spending time with her students. She was going to go throw herself in Jase’s lap in a minute.

She tried to breathe, in and out, until finally the clock on the wall said the reading program was over.

The kids were in no rush to leave, though, talking to Jase, taking their time getting their belongings together. “Don’t forget your homework!” she reminded one.

And Jase seemed in no hurry to leave either.

Finally the classroom was empty and quiet except for the two of them.

Jase sat on one of the small desks. She hoped it would hold his weight.

“Thanks,” she choked out. “Again. You were great with them. Especially with Ryan.”

“He’s a good kid.”

He was still looking at her strangely. She put a hand to her hair to make sure it wasn’t sticking up or something. “Yes, he is.”

“You told him he’s smart.”

She blinked. “Yes. He is. He’s a very smart kid.”

“He has ADHD.”

“Yes.” Her brow tightened. “How’d you know that?”

“Never mind. Remi.”

“What?”

“Don’t push me away, Remi.”

Her body went soft and hot and her ears buzzed. She swallowed through a painfully tight throat. And then she was in his arms, climbing up his body, kissing him, feeling the wetness of her tears on his face. “Oh, Jase. This is crazy.”

“Yeah, it kinda is.” He held her face in his big hands and kissed her so gently, so tenderly, she trembled. “Come home with me.”

“Yes.”

Remi could not believe Jase had talked her into this.

It was Saturday morning and she was getting off a plane at LAX. Jase’s last road game had been last night against the Kings and he didn’t have to be back in Chicago for a practice until Monday, so he’d convinced her to fly to Los Angeles for a weekend with him.

Jesus. Who did things like that? Flying to L.A. for the weekend.

Apparently she did.

She couldn’t even imagine how much the airfare had been. She tried to put that out of her mind.

She walked out of the gate, pulling her small carry-on which was all the luggage she’d brought, looking around for where to go. Follow the crowd seemed the best plan. Everyone was heading for a set of long escalators. This was all new to her—despite her parents having travelled the world, she never had. New and scary and exciting because she’d always wanted to travel. She’d never been able to, never had the money, never been able to leave Kyle and Jasmine. Even when she’d had the opportunity when they were older, there was always that fear that if something happened to her, like what had happened to her parents, she’d be leaving them all on their own and the fear of doing that to them had been paralyzing.

But here was she was in Los Angeles and her stomach quivered with excitement. She turned her cell phone back on in case Jase tried to call her as she rode down the escalator, then searched the crowd at the bottom for him.

There he was. A smile broke across her face at the sight of him, taller than everyone else, broader than everyone else, dressed in jeans and a grey T-shirt. Bare arms in early April. Awesome.

He spotted her too, sending her a big grin, and caught her at the bottom of the escalator in a big hug.

“Congratulations,” she said to him after he’d kissed the wits out of her. “You won last night.”

“Yeah.” He grinned. He took her suitcase in one hand and her hand in the other and started toward the exit. “I got two goals.”

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