Page 17 of Winging it with My Ex
She rolls her eyes. “No, you didn’t.”
“I enjoy spending time with you. Even when you’re mad at me. Maybe especially then.” I take an errant strand of her hair and tuck it behind her ear. “I always have.”
“Jett, I was a downright jerk tonight. There is no way you enjoyed having dinner with me.” She sighs. “I did get two desserts… Would you want to come inside and maybe eat one?”
More time with her? “I never turn down dessert.”
Her smile reaches her eyes, and her teeth capture her bottom lip. “Okay.”
twelve
. . .
hadley
I can’t believeI racked up a dinner bill half the size of my house payment. I just wanted to be so obnoxious that Jett would regret ever going out with me. I don’t even know why.
Fine. That’s a lie. I had to do something to make him ticked at me.
We almost kissed.Kissed!
And by all that is holy, I want it. I want his lips on mine. I want his arms around me. I want him. All of him, all the time. Forever.
Even now.
It’s like the last fifteen years never even happened.
Like I never received that text.
Never bawled my eyes out.
Never stayed in bed for months after.
Never felt like I was the walking dead.
All of that happened, and I can still feel the grip that grief had on my heart… sort of. Now it’s more like that ache is a ghost, slowly walking toward the light.
Since it’s the start of hockey season, Jett and I are making our debut as an official couple at the first Bobcats game.
It’s been forever since I’ve been to one. I just couldn’t after…
I couldn’t enter without feeling him there. It was too hard. The only way to break free of him was to separate myself from all the things that made us, us.
My heart is nearly beating out of my chest as I find a seat on the bleachers. I’d been offered a VIP seat, but it feels right to be in the middle of all the cheering and action. I feel the air whip around me as the players fly by.
Then I see him.
Jett glides across the ice and takes his position on the wing with the same intensity and grace he had back in high school—only now, he's stronger, sharper, fully grown into the player he was always meant to be.
When the puck comes his way, he controls it effortlessly, weaving through defenders before sending a perfect pass across the ice. The crowd erupts, but my breath catches in my throat. This is the version of Jett I tried to forget—the one who made everything look effortless, the one who made me believe in magic.
And now he's right here again, and it's so much harder to pretend I don't feel anything.
Vivi finds me and parks herself. “Wow. This feels almost surreal, huh?”
“Yeah.”
Warden Cameron appears to my left, a massive grin on his face. “Got my math test back. Aced it.”
