AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Jack followed her into the living room, nearly bowling her over as she abruptly stopped and faced him. He caught her by the arms.
“I’m sorry!” she said.
“No, I’m sorry. I was following too close. Are you okay?”
She nodded. “Yeah.” The word came out breathlessly as their eyes met.
The proximity scrambled his brain, and the staccato beat of his heart pounded in his ears. He wanted to hold her, kiss her, and never let her go.
“Um…” Her cheeks flared pink. “You can let go now.”
He shook his head and dropped his hands from her arms. “Oh, sorry,” he said and raked his hand through his hair. “I, uh, you wouldn’t…” Sheesh. Tongue-tied? Him? “I mean, if you want, you could hang out for a minute. You don’t have to eat and run.” He smiled.
“Okay, sure.” She curled up on one end of the couch.
Jack nearly fist-pumped the air. More time with her was a super win in his book. He plopped down on the other end of the couch, laid his hands in his lap, and searched his brain for topics.
Silence filled the space, and he kicked himself for not thinking the whole thing through a little more.
“Did you ever consider leaving Wishing Well?” she asked.
Thank goodness she spoke up. A sigh of relief, but he played it off. “For about two seconds.”
“That long, huh?” She giggled.
“After my injury, I needed help getting around. It took a while to get the okay from the doctor to be on my own. They were afraid that I’d reinjure my leg, and it could be bad. By the time I was well again, I just didn’t want to leave.”
“I found a video of the play. It looked bad.”
He rubbed the spot over his heart. “It was. The pain was excruciating. Trying to learn how to walk on it again, even worse. I had six surgeries in as many months. Doctors thought I’d use a cane the rest of my life, but I worked hard, so that didn’t happen.”
“Surgeries? As in plural?”
Tugging on his sweatpants leg, he hiked it up far enough to show off the beginning of the thick scar running from his hip and down his thigh. What most people in the town didn’t know was just how much that injury had changed things. He’d been headed down a dark road, and as painful as it was, looking back, he wasn’t disappointed that his football career ended. His life had actually started with that accident.
She sucked in a sharp breath and moved closer. “Oh, Jack. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.” She reached her hand out, skating her fingers over the last inch or so of the scar. When she lifted her gaze to his, there were unshed tears glistening in her eyes. “That must have just been awful.”
Tears for him? He didn’t even get that from his girlfriend at the time. She’d stepped into the hospital room and did a one-eighty. “It’s all in the past. Sometimes, if it’s cold or if I’ve worked hard, it can get stiff, but for the most part, it doesn’t bother me anymore.”
She pulled her hand back as he pushed his pants leg back down but didn’t return to the end of the couch. Resting her arm on the back of the sofa, she held her head in her hand. “I’m glad.”
Silence hung in the air a moment.
“That accident saved my life.” It was the first time he’d really voiced that to anyone outside of his family.
“What do you mean?” Her eyebrows knitted together.
He inhaled and exhaled slowly. “I was the guy everyone looked up to. I was under a ton of pressure to be perfect, and I felt this weight of maintaining my reputation because people were depending on me.”
Jo’s hand covered his. “I bet you were.”
Smiling, he said, “I was already cracking before I left Wishing Well, and when I got to college, I wasn’t Jack Turner. I was just some freshman that no one knew. I found myself surrounded by people who didn’t care about me at all.” He cleared his throat. “So, by the time I got hurt, I’d had two close calls with alcohol poisoning, a near miss being arrested by campus security, and bar fight, and if I hadn’t injured myself, I’m pretty sure I would have ruined more than my career.”
Her mouth had slowly dropped open as he spoke. “Oh, Jack. I can’t imagine that level of expectations and pressure. I’m so sorry.” She moved closer and reached out to hug him. “That breaks my heart.”
Jack accepted, tucking his face against her neck, he inhaled and savored being held by her. Not that he felt sorry for himself, but he appreciated her compassion and understanding. He’d always been hesitant to tell anyone for fear of being judged.
When she finally leaned back, she held his gaze. “That wasn’t fair. To put all that on you. I’m surprised you ever wanted to come back now that I know how you felt.”
