Page 4 of Forever Wild
“Go. Enjoy your vacation. Don’t worry about me or your house. I’ll take good care of it. Especially the pool. And I promise not to throw any parties with more than fifty to a hundred people.”
“No parties.” He laughs like I’m joking, then his expression goes serious. “And no boys.”
Piper and I both roll our eyes at him.
After I leave my brother’s house, I head to Ash and Bridget’s place. It feels beyond weird pulling into the abandoned driveway. He and several of the other guys live in the same neighborhood, but with all of them gone it’s eerily quiet.
I check the mail and then as I’m letting myself in, I get a call from Bridget.
“Are you watching me on your door cam?” I ask.
“No,” she says the word slowly. “Are you at the house?”
“I just walked in.” I set the pile of envelopes on the kitchen counter. “Your junk mail is safe and sound.”
“Oh, thank goodness,” she says with a small laugh. “But that’s not why I called.”
“What’s up?” I ask, noting the hint of concern in her voice.
“Have you seen any of the guys?”
“I just left Ty’s place.”
“Anyone else?”
She’s acting strange, but I go with it.
“Before he left on vacation yesterday, Leo stopped by to give me the key to his mailbox.”
A beat of silence hangs between us as I turn and lean against the counter.
“What about Jack?”
“No.” I walk toward the living room window that looks out toward the hockey team captain’s house. All I can make out from here is his driveway. A red van is parked behind his SUV. “Why would I see him?”
“I got a call from a nurse friend of mine. She does scheduling for the home aide service he’s using and she wanted to see if I was available for adifficultclient.”
I snort. “Nobody is less surprised than me to learn he’s not sunshine and rainbows after his surgery.”
A twinge of sympathy fills me as I think about him laid up. His car accident a month ago brought a devastating end to the season for him and the team.
“That’s not all. I texted Scarlett and she said none of the guys have seen him since the surgery and he’s barely responding to texts or calls.”
I’m not really that shocked. Jack is great at being there for other people, but he tends to shut everyone out when he’s dealing with things or in a bad mood—which is often.
“What are you going to do?” I ask because I know she’s trying to figure out how to help him. When Bridget sees someone hurting, she’s incapable of standing by.
“Nothing. I offered to stay and help before we left, but he wouldn’t hear it. He didn’t want to ruin my and Ash’s vacation plans.”
“Sounds like Jack.”
“I should have stuck around a little longer. At least until he was back on his feet.”
I hear the regret in her voice, but she’s being too hard on herself.
“You offered and he said no. We both know that when he makes up his mind, there’s no changing it.”
“Yeah,” she says, but her tone tells me she still isn’t sure she did the right thing. Bridget has a good heart. She’s much nicer than me, which is probably why we’re friends. Every nice girl needs a mean friend. It’s just facts.
