Page 47 of The Riley Effect

“Of course, kid. Tell Ivy to give my number to your mom, and we’ll set it up.” There is no hesitation in his answer, and if that doesn’t cause tingles to dance down my spine and settle between my legs, I don’t know what will.

I shouldn’t be shocked that he is good with kids. I can’t wait until I find the thing he is bad at because right now, he seems damn near perfect.

“Caleb, why don’t you give me the phone and go finish dinner. I’ll be there in a second.” When Caleb hands me my phone, I lean down and kiss him on the top of his head.

When I look at Jalen, a mischievous smile pulls at his lips. “I feel like that look should make me nervous. What are you thinking?”

“I’m making you come skate with Caleb.”

“Absolutely not!” I protest. “I’m in the middle of my season, and there is no way I’m risking breaking my ankle.” There’s no way I’m putting my senior season at risk.

“Stop being a baby. You’ll be fine,” he jokes. When I don’t answer, he concedes. “Fine, I won’t make you skate, but you at least have to come and hang out with us.”

Part of me wants to protest just to keep up with the game we’ve been playing, but my heart wants me to stop resisting.

“I wouldn’t miss it for anything. I have to get back to dinner.”

“Okay, I thought we could go to dinner and see a movie tomorrow. We have an early morning practice, so I am free anytime.”

“That sounds good. We have practice at noon but a home game on Tuesday, so I don’t want to be out too late. If that’s okay.”

“Ivy, I get it. We are traveling to Michigan, so I’ll make sure it’s an early night”

“Okay, sounds good. Just text what time I should be ready.” Silence blankets the room for a moment. Neither of us is really sure how to sign off from this FaceTime. “I’m looking forward to tomorrow, Jalen.” And I can say that honestly.

A large smile covers Jalen’s face. “Me too, Ivy. Sorry, I interrupted your dinner. See you tomorrow.”

“You’re fine. And see you tomorrow.” I reluctantly end the call. A pit instantly forms in my stomach. I know I’m in trouble when I’d rather stay on the phone and talk with Jalen than return to the dinner I look forward to every week.

I ignore the smug look on my sister’s face when I get back to my seat and put my phone face down on the kitchen table.

“What did Jalen want?”

“Just to set up a plan for tomorrow, and your son has a hockey lesson sometime next week.”

She just nods, and neither of us says another word as we finish dinner. But we don’t sit in silence because Caleb talks about how excited he is for Jalen to teach him how to skate.

Ruby and I start the dishes when the kids go upstairs to get ready for bed.

“Now that we can talk in private, I want to make sure that you’re really okay. I know you’ve been embarrassed by your sleep terrors in the past.”

It was just the two of us for a long time, but Jalen makes me feel like maybe I can rely on other people and take some of that stress away from Ruby.

“I meant what I said earlier. There is something different about Jalen. He took the time to get to know me. When I had that panic attack in the bar, he came into the women’s bathroom and made sure I was okay. Last night, he tried to sleep on my bedroom floor when I drank too much. Then held me until I fell back asleep after a nightmare about Mom and Dad.”

When I look over to Ruby, the smirk that normally appears when talking about Jalen is replaced by a sad, soft smile.

“I don’t know Ruby, he’s not the person I thought he was. He makes me feel safe, and I think I can really trust him.” My sister nods understandingly. If anyone knows how much trust and safety mean to me, it’s her.

“I’m proud of you, Vee.” She looks me in the eyes. “It’s important that you live your life. We both know how short life can be.”

I wipe away the few tears running down my cheeks because, sadly, we do know.

Ruby puts the dish she was washing back in the sink before turning to wrap me in one of her famous bear hugs.

“I love you, Ruby,” I say before squeezing her tighter.

“I love you too.”

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