Page 68 of A Heart Worth Finding
Silas stared at her expectantly, surely waiting for the outburst of rage and indignation, for the tears to fall, for her to react exactly as any normal girlfriend would in this situation.
Instead, she surprised them both by saying, “Okay.”
“Okay?”
Jessica nodded. “Okay. Look, things between us haven’t been great for a while. I don’t know that they ever have been, honestly. I want to be happy, Silas. Not arguing about stupid shit or going days without speaking because one of us feels slighted by the other. And I want that for you, too. I’m not that girl for you anymore.”
“So we’re…breaking up? That easy?”
“That easy,” she said, the rightness of the decision settling over her like sunshine warming her skin after a storm.
In a rush, Silas stepped to her and wrapped her in his arms, one last time. “I want you to be happy, too, Jess,” he said into her hair.
Then he was gone.
NOW: December 31, 2023
Two days after theGreat Lakes Invitational championship game—which the Spartans won for the first time in fifteen years—Jack found himself staring down the possibility of spending a New Year’s Eve alone.
When he’d called Jessica two days before as a favor to Aiden, he hadn’t expected her to sound so excited to hear from him, or her little, “you better” in response to him telling her he’d call her later, which really had only been him attempting to save face in front of his teammates.
As he’d left, Aiden had said something about how they didn’t have time to deal with whatever he had going on with Jessica, but the thing was…there wasn’t anything to deal with. Jessicawas still with Silas, and outside of a few random texts from her congratulating him on their recent wins, and her showing up at Suburban Ice last month, they hadn’t talked.
Having had quite enough of his own little pity party, Jack rose from his bed and made his way down to the kitchen, where Asher and Luke were setting up for their New Year’s Eve party.
“What’s the plan for tonight?” Jack asked.
“What do you mean?” Asher responded. “We’re gonna get drunk and hook up. Exactly like we do every party.”
Neither Jack nor Aiden had done any hooking up—save Aiden with Kenzie—at a party in ages, and Jack found himself warming to the idea. Anything to get his mind off Jessica Daniels.
“But we could do that at the bar,” Jack protested, suddenly experiencing the urge to get out of this house and lose himself in a crowd for a few hours tonight.
“Youcould do that at the bar,” Asher responded. “I’m saying here, and drinking all of this.” He walked to their refrigerator and pulled it open. Where the shelves had once been filled with Tupperware containers full of the boys’ weekly meal preps, the wire racks were now lined with cans and cans of alcoholic beverages.
There were, of course, cans of domestic beer such as Bud Light and Miller Lite, as well as some Labatt, Corona, and Heineken. The entire bottom shelf was lined with White Claw, Truly, and High Noon in every flavor imaginable. It was a bar’s worth of booze, and Jack was afraid to ask who had forked over the money for it.
“Luke and I went halfsies,” Asher said when Jack reluctantly posed the question.
His shoulders sagged in relief. “Good. I was worried you guys used the can money on this mess.”
“It’s not a mess,” Luke said, speaking for the first time since Jack came downstairs. “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve everseen. And, frankly, DeLuca, I’m offended that you think I would do such a thing. As your captain, I hope you find me more honorable than that.”
Jack snorted. Luke must already have a few drinks in him, because only then did he start talking like a stuck-up prick.
“Okay fine,” Jack acquiesced. “I’ll stay in tonight. Who all is coming over?”
“The usual suspects,” Asher said.
Jack fought back a groan. That meant his house would be teeming with their underclassmen teammates, and they would inevitably wake up in the morning and find said teammates passed out on every flat surface.
“I should warn you that Sofia will be here,” Luke said. “I was out getting the mail yesterday and she walked by. I told her she and some of her sisters should come over.”
This time, Jack did groan. “What made you think that was a good idea?”
Luke shrugged. “Maybe the fact that you didn’t even tell us you guys broke up for ages, and you don’t seem all that torn up about it.”
“Bro, she dumped me. Of course I’m upset about it.”
