Page 60 of A Heart Worth Finding
Jessica supposed there was a big piece of the story she was missing. Add it to the mystery that was Nate Jean.
“So wait, her name is Zayas?” Jessica asked dumbly.
“No,” Nate corrected, sliding onto a stool next to her. “It’s Mariela. But I call her by her last name.”
“He likes to conveniently forget that there’s a ‘doctor’ in front of her name, too,” Berkley piped up.
“Regardless,” Nate said, shooting his pregnant sister-in-law a death glare that would’ve withered anyone with less steel in their spine than Berkley, “I’m not in love with her. She’s a pain in my ass.”
“Probably because she’s a better doctor than you,” Brent said as he walked into the room.
“Fuck you,” Nate said, though there was no heat behind the words.
Jessica smiled into her coffee as the rest of the group continued to volley insults. She’d been blessed in the sibling department with Berkley and Logan, but the addition of Brent, Nate, and Mackenzie to their crew really had been the best thing to happen to any of them.
Later, after a day filled with board games and picture taking, the Daniels and Jean families were once again gathered around the dining room table, a full Thanksgiving feast laid out in front of them.
“This looks incredible, Michelle,” Sandra Jean said to Jessica’s mom as she scooped a heavy portion of mashed potatoes onto her plate.
Brent and Berkley had hosted the day’s festivities, but with Berkley pregnant and Brent spending a large part of the day working out and doing administrative tasks for FLEX—even though he had a team of people to do that for him—the mothers ended up splitting the meals. Sandra had prepared breakfast, and her mom had prepared dinner.
“Thank you,” Jessica’s mom replied, cheeks pinkening with the compliment.
Conversation halted as everyone dug into their meals with gusto. There was enough food laid out that she knew each of them would be taking home several containers of leftovers, but Jessica didn’t mind. In fact, she preferred it. She was, after all, a broke college student.
Thanks to the trust funds their parents had set up for her, Logan, and Berkley, tuition and living expenses were covered, but any “fun money,” as her dad liked to call it, was up to Jessica. It’s why she’d taken a job tutoring local high school kids in everything from English and Spanish, to history and geography classes.
She stayedfaraway from math and science. Neither of those was her forte, and she wouldn’t subject poor, unsuspecting students to a tutor who had no idea what she was doing.
As everyone finished eating, or slowed significantly, conversation resumed.
“How are things with Aiden?” Berkley asked Kenzie, and immediately, Jessica saw Kenzie’s hackles raise.
Brent’s grip on his fork turned white-knuckled, and it seemed as if everyone at the table collectively held their breath, waiting for some sort of outburst from the oldest Jean sibling.
“They’re good,” she said. “The last few weeks have been pretty insane now that he’s playing again, but yeah. We’re happy.”
“How’s he looking on the ice?” her father, Ron Jean, asked.
“I wouldn’t know,” she said quickly, then slapped a hand over her mouth. “Shit.”
“What do you mean, you wouldn’t know?” Brent asked.
“Well, they’ve been on the road, so I haven’t had a chance to see him play,” Kenzie said quickly. Jessica knew her friend well enough to know she was lying, but judging by the deep, centering breaths she inhaled through her nose and the way she sat on her hands—presumably to hide the shaking—whatever Kenzie wasn’t sharing was making her anxious.
Her brother, unfortunately, was like a dog with a bone, and had picked up on the same thing Jessica did. “There’s something you’re not telling me,” Brent said.
“There’s a lot I don’t tell you,” Kenzie retorted. “In case you forgot,that”—she pointed at Ron—“is my dad. Not you.”
Brent opened his mouth to respond, but Sandra said, “Brent,” in a low, warning tone, and her oldest child snapped his mouth shut.
“Enough about me and Aiden,” Kenzie said suddenly, turning her gaze on Jessica. “Let’s talk about you and Jack DeLuca.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Jessica said, though her flaming cheeks said otherwise.
“Really?” Kenzie said, raising a brow. “Because that day at the tailgate, the whole, ‘Jess, is that you?’ moment really said something different.”
“Jack?” her mom asked. “Like…the boy from Mexico?”
