She nods slowly. “Of course we are, I’d hardly be back here again in a matter of months, would I?”
I want to ask her about that, too. There’s something going on with her, and I think Tanner knows it, too. She passed on the message he called when I was in the shower, but I texted him back instead to say I’d call him later. I am hoping Jade and I can grab a bite after the dance lesson and can talk some more.
“Just checking.”
She reaches out to swat me on the arm, but I dodge and do a circle on my skates.
“Show off,” she mutters, but she’s smiling again, so I figure that must be good.
“Best lap out of three?” I cajole, taking a long slide away from her, trying to get the upper hand this time.
“Hey, wait!” she calls after me. I turn around to face her, skating backward again, as cocky as ever on my feet. But this iswhere I feel alive, and this is where I know what to do. It comes so naturally, I don’t even need to think about it. I spin back around and glide forwards, laughing in my wake.
And just like that, I think we’re okay again.
CHAPTER 6
Jade
On the way to the botanical gardens, we sip coffee and Jay jokes about old times.
We say nothing else about the little incident with one of his many admirers back at the rink, thankfully that seems long forgotten, too.
Something about their whole exchange annoyed me. And that in itself makes no sense at all, well, it kinda does since Jay has been at the forefront of my waking thoughts for months now. But I’ve chosen to brush it aside.
It shouldn’t come as any surprise. Jay has always been popular with the female kind, and I know from the way Tanner has spoken in passing about Jay that he hasn’t had any serious relationships for years. He always seems to go from one puck bunny to the next. It serves a purpose, I suppose, but there’s a larger part of me that wonders why he doesn’t have a girlfriend. Maybe he’s just happy with that whole arrangement and it works for him.
Part of me wonders, though, if it doesn’t stem from the past. His rocky upbringing was no picnic. I don’t know why, but my mind flicks back once more, as it often does, to that night of the storm when Dad brought him home. Dad’s words to my mom are something I’ve never been able to forget….
“On the cliff’s edge?” My mom’s voice is a high-pitched shrill, like she’s trying to keep it contained so none of us kids hear, but her shock at whatever my dad just said is greater than the latter. Yes, I’m eavesdropping, but I didn’t mean to. It’s late, and I walked out to grab a glass of water when I heard them talking about Jay in the kitchen.
He’s down in the basement with Tanner, where he sleeps with Robbie.
“What the heck was he doing there?” Mom continues.
“It looked pretty ambiguous to me. He was waving a bottle of alcohol around moments before I got there, he reeked of it.”
“That poor child,” Mom’s voice dropped several octaves. “We can’t let him go back to that household, Billy. Tanner said Jay doesn’t get along with his mom’s new boyfriend, and he’s pretty sure the black eye he had came from him.”
“Jay said that happened during practice.” Dad’s exasperated sigh sounds desperate, it’s laced with a type of concern that’s new to me. My parents are the best, and they think the world of Jay, even though he’s only been here since the start of the year. Jay and Tanner have been as thick as thieves ever since his first day.
“I think we need to report it and get the authorities involved, Billy.”
“I think so, too,” Dad agrees.
“Maybe we can get Jay to talk to the school counsellor if he doesn’t want to talk to us.”
“That’s a good idea.”
My heart is thudding so damned loud hearing their conversation, it’s ringing in my ears. It’s a wonder they can’t both hear it. I’m keeping deftly still, frozen against the wall, plastered to it in fact, straining to listen even though I know it’s wrong.
“Do you think he was going to jump?” Mom whispers.
And my heart shudders, literally, right in the center of my chest. I hold my breath, not knowing if I want to know the answer. I want to let out a cry, but I muffle it with my hand over my mouth.
Jay jumping off a cliff? What the hell?
Dad lets out a breath. “I don’t know, Ellen, I really don’t. I’m just glad we got there in time. Tanner said he hadn’t seen him in a few days and I became worried. Granted, the storm came in fast. I was scoping the area on the way back from the park. I know he and Tanner like to hang out at that particular spot.”
