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But she was the one who had blurred the lines. The number one rule of ‘no strings attached’ was ‘don’t catch feelings.’ Her aching heart was proof that she had already broken that rule.
She knew the bar and dining room would be getting busy by now, and she needed to make her rounds. She hoped that keeping busy with work would take her mind off Noah, but it didn’t seem to work. The more she thought about how she’d ended their conversation, the worse she felt. Maybe she just needed to show him that he had nothing to fear. Maybe she should fight for him.
Seeing that Shelby had everything under control, she headed back to the office. She picked up her phone and called Noah. Her excuse was that there were a couple of Slap Shot issues she wanted to speak to him about, but she also wanted to touch base as a friend, since he hadn’t stopped in on his way to the game. The one thing she didn’t want was for things to become awkward at work.
Her call went directly to voicemail.
“Great, not even answering my calls now.”
She didn’t agree with his ghosting her, but she could see his point. Ending things was upsetting. He’d grown on her, and he was her friend.
At the tone, she left a message. “Noah, I don’t agree with you, but I can see your point. You’re my friend and I don’t want to lose that.”
Jordan didn’t like leaving that on a voicemail; she would’ve felt better hearing his response.
In any case, Noah would have to stop in sooner or later. Tomorrow there was a game, and he usually came in before and after.
She busied herself in paperwork for the next hour, then took a trip out to the bar. She checked around the room, and everyone looked happy. Full house again. She had sat at the bar and was looking over the inventory on her tablet, when her phone buzzed.
She quickly retrieved her phone, her heart anxious that it was Noah.
Instead, it was a text from Jared: We need to talk.
Was Jared going to warn her off as well? Too late, because it was already over. Ignoring his message, she went back to work.
One of the television screens had a local sports channel airing a pre-game show. She was busy working on the tablet, so she wasn’t paying any attention until they announced that Noah was a scratch for tonight’s game.
“What?” She looked up at the screen. She turned to Mo. “Do you know why Noah isn’t playing tonight?”
“Nope.” He shook his head. “I haven’t seen him since this afternoon. Maybe Jared knows?”
Jared? Then it dawned on her that Jared had tried to get hold of her. Suddenly a rock formed in her stomach, and she couldn’t shake the bad feeling that came over her.
Suddenly her phone rang, startling her so much she almost spilled her water. She answered the phone without looking to see who it was.
“Noah?”
“Jordan, it’s me,” Talia said.
“Talia, hey. Sorry. I thought you were Noah. We had a disagreement earlier today. I was hoping to—”
“Jordan,” Talia said, “I hate to interrupt you, but there’s not a lot of time.”
“Not a lot of time for what?” She didn’t like the concerned tone to her friend’s words. Her heart rate sped up. “Talia? What’s wrong?” All the worst-case scenarios ran through her brain. Was Noah hurt, or worse? Taking a breath, she tried to hold off on pressing the panic button until she had all the facts.
“Jordan, Noah’s dad was in a car accident. It sounds bad. He called Harrison to let him know he was going home. Obviously, the team gave him a leave of absence.”
That was why he wasn’t playing tonight. Jordan sat speechless. As if their earlier discussion never happened, all she wanted to do was to be with Noah and make sure he was okay.
“So, his Dad?” She knew what she wanted to ask but wasn’t sure how. Almost as if saying it out loud would make the worst be true. And she didn’t want that.
“I don’t know much. Harrison said Noah sounded pretty frantic on the phone. He just said that his sister had called, that the accident was bad and he needed to get there right away. I wish I had more to tell you.”
Maybe that was what Jared wanted to talk about. To give her that message.
“Tal, I have to run. Thanks.” All she could think about was running home for an overnight bag and finding a flight out of Pittsburgh.
Quickly she dialed Jared’s number.
