Page 65 of A Heart Worth Finding
Jack understood this, and she could see why the kids so obviously loved him. The way he coached was a far cry from the first impression Jack had made on her, when he had taken a little game of water volleyball far too seriously. Instead of treating them like lesser, like children, he viewed the kids he coached as equals. Jessica was willing to bet that, if she asked him, he’d tell her he learned just as much from them as he taught them.
Halfway through practice, when one of the goalies missed several shots in a row and responded by chucking his stick at the ice and ripping his helmet off in frustration, Jack’s reaction said it all.
Instead of feeding into the temper tantrum the kid was clearly having, he skated over calmly and placed his hands on the kid’s shoulders. After a friendly exchange, Jack wrapped the kid in a hug, and it was obvious from the boy’s shaking shoulders that he was sobbing.
Jessica had seen enough, and quickly gathered her things and rushed from the rink, not looking back once.
NOW: December 2, 2023
Jessica and Silas’s anniversaryhappened to fall during the first week of December. They considered their anniversary not when Silas asked her out that first time, which would’ve been in mid-October, but when Silas officially asked her to be his girlfriend.
This year, it also happened to be the same night as the winter ball his frat was hosting with Sofia’s sorority.
After her conversation with her mom, and another with Kenzie over lunch a few days previously, wherein she straight up lied through her teeth when her friend asked how things with Silas were, Jessica was trying to keep an open mind about the evening.
It helped that she got to dress up.
The sorority girls took outfit choices for these theme parties seriously, and Jessica hadn’t wanted to show up looking frumpy or casually dressed in comparison. She may have gone a little over the top, but when she’d laid eyes on her dress during a random thrifting trip she’d taken to Detroit with Kenzie early last month, she couldn’t resist.
The dress was actually more of a gown, with spaghetti straps and a deep V bodice that cinched at the waist before flaring out in a full, floor-length tulle skirt. Upon first glance, the dress was pale blue, but as she moved, the skirt became almost opalescent, shifting between a myriad of colors that made it look as though it was snow sparkling in the sun. The bodice was sheer across her upper stomach, and the entire top was decorated in hundreds—probably thousands—of glittering gems and sequins. She’d curled her hair into soft waves that cascaded down her back, wore a simple pair of silver diamond studs, and found a faux-fur shawl to drape across her shoulders and ward off the chill.
When she stepped foot onto the landing at the top of the stairs in her house, Silas let out a low whistle. Carefully, she descended, and he extended his arm to her.
“How did I manage to have the most beautiful girl on my arm tonight?” he asked, giving her a soft kiss on the cheek.
“Guess you’re just lucky,” Jessica said.
She yelled goodbye to her roommates and let Silas lead her out to the car.
When they arrived at Grewal Hall at 224 and walked inside, Jessica’s breath was stolen from her lungs.
Originally built in 1926, Grewal Hall at 224 had recently been remodeled into a premiere event space like no other in the Lansing area. Jessica knew it had to be costing the fraternity and sorority a pretty penny, but it seemed they’d spared no expense when it came to this party.
The large main hall greeted them with an open-architecture ceiling and exposed steel trusses. Two floors of entertaining space included a second floor mezzanine that overlooked the open concept main floor, and the lower level, where the bar and other hospitality spaces were set up.
But the typically industrial space had been transformed into, well…into a winter wonderland. Each of the exposed steel trusses had been wrapped with icy twinkle lights, as had the railing on the mezzanine and the banister on the staircase. Fifty or so round tables had been set up across the mail floor, draped in white cloth and adorned with centerpieces of fresh white and pale blue flowers. At the back of the room was a stage where a DJ pumped bass-heavy music over the already wild crowd.
“Are we late?” she asked when she noted how many people had already gathered on the dance floor.
“Of course not,” Silas said. “Everyone else was simply early.”
“Did you…just quotePrincess Diariesto me?”
“Maybe…” he said, offering her a sheepish smile, and she lightly pinched his bicep. “Okay, okay, fine. I did. Little sis made me watch it with her over Thanksgiving.”
Jessica laughed, reminded that despite his outward arrogance and sometimes chilly demeanor, Silas was still the kind of guy willing to spend a night watching chick flicks with his little sister.
“Well,” she said, gesturing to the dance floor. “Should we dance first? Get some food and find a table? Grab a drink?”
“What do you want to do?” he asked.
“Drinks, then dancing,” she said. “If my feet aren’t screaming at me by the end of the night, my shoes long gone, I don’t want it.”
“What the lady wants, the lady gets,” he said in a horrible British accent, and Jessica giggled as he led them to the bar.
Atop the counter was a menu with signature cocktails created specifically for this evening. In addition, there were also severalbeer and wine options, but Jessica opted for one of the fancy ones.
“I’ll have a White Witch,” Jessica said. The cocktail, named obviously for the villain in the firstChronicles of Narniamovie, combined whipped cream vodka and soda poured over a piece of fluffy pink cotton candy and was served in a heavily frosted martini glass.
