Page 5 of Salvaged Hearts

“You wanna go grab drinks with the girls after we both shower?”

“You know, a bubble bath is calling my name,” I answered, shaking my head.

She gave me a knowing look of sympathy, head cocked like a puppy. “Still stressed?”

“A bit,” I admitted. “Relieved too, though. I can survive anything for ten days.” Ten more workdays. Ten more days until I would walk away from the illustrious corporate career I’d always thought I wanted.

“You really want to head back to Mistyvale?” she asked as we walked between the other women in our Pilates class.

Shaking my head, I replied, “No, not really. I love it here. The sun, the beach, the?—”

“Lack of snow,” she guessed, grinning as we both fetched our bags from the cubbies against the far wall, moving on muscle memory. This little fitness studio had been my one haven in these last few years, if only because our phones were required to be turned off when I came in the door.

“Yes,” I admitted, lolling my head back with a groan.

“Can’t fault you there,” she said, rushing ahead to push open the door for me, the heat of a Southern California spring instantly embracing us. Leighton and her twin, Kaia, had come down the first winter after I moved to Emerald Bay. Kaia would pop in every winter and wait out the worst of our Alaskan weather, but Leighton never left. She fell in love with the boardwalks and collision of cultures, just like I did. And truthfully, I didn’t mind the company. Growing up as the eighth of twelve siblings, chaos had been an omnipresent vein of my existence, marbling through every childhood memory. Between our litter of kids, a plethora of cousins, and a prominent line of respected fishing captains, there wasn’t a citizen of Mistyvale who didn’t know the Rhodes name.

In the months I’d been here alone—save for the spontaneous drop-in visit from my nomadic siblings and friends—I’d missed the chatter of voices, the huddle around the coffee pot first thing in the morning, the support during trials, and even the ceaseless ribbing. Big family dynamics seemed synonymous with sarcasm as a love language, but I’d grown to love it. Missed it desperately when my only company came in the form of a snake plant. I would have loved a dog if my schedule would responsibly allow one. Maybe I’d finally get myself that Morkie I’d always wanted.

But their constant banter was why I didn’t bother to pull out my phone as it vibrated in my bag on an endless loop. Between Greyson and his bottomless list of needs and our siblings and their spouses’ constant chatter, my notification list was in a perpetual state of overwhelm. The obnoxious orange messagecount would send me into a spiral if I opened the screen now—the expectation of responding to all of them exhausting just to think about. It could wait.

“Do you think he’s bluffing? Wouldn’t hiring someone from the inside of a competitor’s organization be an asset?” I asked as we started walking down the street, the quiet hum of traffic now mindless background noise.

“I mean, you signed an NDA, so it’s not like you can run around swapping trade secrets. I can’t see why your perspective wouldn’t be considered an asset.”

“Maybe that’s the conflict—that Icould getinto trouble if I said the wrong thing?”

When silence was my answer, I looked up from where my eyes had fallen to the sidewalk, only to come to an abrupt halt when Leighton wasn’t beside me. Whirling, I found her gaping down at the phone in her palm. “Did you know about this?” She breathed.

“Know about what?” I demanded, panic slicing through what little Zen our class had just spent sixty minutes instilling in me.

“Sissy, look at your phone.”

“Leigh, what the hell is going on?” When I pulled it from my bag, Ididsee an astronomical count in that little orange bubble, but when I opened the messages app, it was ninety percent the Rhodes Family text thread. “Is this some kind of joke?” I demanded as heat coursed through me, my temper flaring behind my eyes as I scoured through my siblings’ sequential freakouts.

Jameson

Pax, my man. Congratulations on the trade.

Maverick

Hell yeah.

But also, can you please stop setting impossible expectations? My coach thinks just because I’m your brother, I’ll walk on water or some shit.

Finn

Woah, man. Congratulations. That’s an enormous change, though. You ready to leave your guys?

Rhyett

Warm weather, Alice and Leigh in town, and two hundred and fifty million on a five-year contract sounds like a fucking deal to me.

Elora

Already ordered Emerald Bay Bombers jerseys for Brod and me. Family reunion for Pax’s first game?

Heart in my throat,beating a drum of denial inside my arteries, I panic-scrolled up to the top of this chaos, where Elora had nonchalantly dropped an article into the thread with a colorful ‘Congratulations’ gif. Hand flying to my mouth, I blinked down at the headline before clicking the icon to follow it.

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