Winning Whitney, page 10
part #3 of Alaska Blizzard Series
“Hello?”
“Hey, honey.”
“What’s up? I’m leaving for practice soon.”
“This early? Since when?”
“What’s going on, Addy?”
“I wanted to talk about the settlement.”
“I’ve been more than fair.”
“I know. I just… I thought we could finalize everything in person.”
“Why?”
“Because we’ve spent nearly thirteen years together and I think I deserve a formal goodbye.”
“I disagree. You just want another chance to lay on some more guilt.”
She was quiet for a minute. “Have you already met someone?”
“Just sign the papers, Addy.”
“And then what?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, then what? We’ve been together since we were eighteen, Jake. I don’t know how to be anything but your wife.”
He let out a slow, steady breath. This was what she did, how she got him to come back time and time again. He couldn’t allow it. Especially not now that he and Whitney were making headway.
“I’m sorry about that, but we both know it’s for the best.”
“I want to come home, Jake.”
“You are home. We don’t have a home together anymore.”
“Please, Jake, I need to see you.”
“Addy, I’ve changed the locks and the alarm code. It’s not our house anymore, it’s mine. Please don’t do this.”
“It’s not yours until I agree to it and if I don’t sign these papers—”
“If you don’t I’ll go to the judge and he’ll sign off anyway, and you may not get as much as I’m offering.”
“Dammit, Jake, why do you have to be this way? I love you.”
“You love the idea of me, but you don’t really love me. Those feelings ended a long time ago. I can’t believe we’re still having this same conversation. It’s getting old.”
“Fine. Be that way. I’m not signing your stupid papers.” She disconnected.
He closed his eyes, breathing deeply, in through his nose, out through his mouth. He was seething, so frustrated with her ridiculous desire to hang on to what they’d once had and unable to accept the future that was inevitable.
“Jack?” Whitney’s voice was soft, confused, worried.
“Hey.” He turned slowly. “Sorry. That was…”
“Your wife.”
“She’s playing her usual games, threatening not to sign the papers, wanting to come visit.”
“You told her no?”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean anything. If I know Addy, she’ll be here in a few days.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “This is how she always gets me to go back. She makes the process of divorcing so painful, so long and drawn out, I’d rather do anything than keep fighting.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He reached out and took her hand. “Things are different this time. I need you to trust me, babe. I know that’s hard for you, but if this thing with us is going to work, you need to trust me to do what I’ve promised I’m going to do.”
She nodded slowly. “Okay.”
He frowned. “That’s it?”
“You asked me to trust you, so I am.”
“Just like that?”
“Well, yeah. Should I protest and accuse you of things? I mean, I could.”
He smiled, reaching out to hug her. “No. I definitely don’t want you to do that.”
“Just take care of things because it’s been a really long time since I’ve had sex.”
“Yeah?” He looked down curiously. “How long?”
“Since before I moved here.”
“That was, what? August?”
She nodded. “And I think the last time was May?”
“You are definitely in need.”
“I’m really hoping you’re the man for the job.”
“I better be,” he whispered, lowering his mouth to hers.
Chapter Fourteen
It was the first time he’d kissed her since they’re gotten reacquainted, and in spite of everything she kissed him back. It was quick, and the brush of his tongue against hers was more of an appetizer than a meal, but liquid fire shot through her and he pulled away far too quickly.
“Soon,” he said softly. “I promise.”
He went back to the kitchen and drank down the last of his coffee. He thanked them for breakfast and said he needed to make a few calls before practice. Then he was gone and Whitney busied herself at the counter.
“You okay?” Hailey asked her.
“Yup.”
“Whit.”
“What?”
“Are. You. Okay?”
Whitney turned slightly, glancing at her friend. “She wants him back. This is what I’ve been afraid of.”
“You just told him you trusted him.”
“What else was I going to say? Especially in my situation.”
“Stop being stubborn. Did anything happen last night?”
“If you mean sex, no.”
“You’re really going to make him keep waiting?”
“I was starting to think about giving in, but not now.”
“Oh, honey.”
“It’s okay. Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something, you know?”
Hailey squinted at her. “Yeah, that life is hard and sometimes you have to fight for what you want.”
“I really hope that’s the message, because what I heard was totally different.”
* * *
Jake laced up his skates without even realizing he did it. He was pissed off, distracted, and frustrated beyond belief. Addy would show up at the house in the near future, he was positive of it, and though he had no intention of getting back together, he didn’t know how to keep away from her if she came back to Anchorage. He didn’t understand her need to come back over and over again, especially when he couldn’t give her the one thing she desperately needed. They couldn’t conceive a healthy child and she wouldn’t even entertain the idea of a sperm donor or a surrogate. She needed help, but he’d never succeeded in convincing her of that so she continued her self-destructive behavior and dragged him along with her.
This time had to be different because of Whitney. He had a chance with her. Taking care of her while she’d been sick had changed things and she was starting to acknowledge they could have something special together. She’d said she was going to trust him, but he knew better. If Addy tried to insert herself back in his life Whitney would be gone and it wasn’t likely he’d get another chance.
“Who pissed in your Corn Flakes?” Aaron asked as they warmed up.
“Addy.”
“Uh oh.”
“She wants to sign the papers in person.”
“Shit.”
“I’ve just gotten Whitney to a point where she’s willing to spend time together and now Addy’s going to show up and fuck everything up.”
“I’m assuming you told her not to come?”
“What do you think?”
“You want me to talk to her?”
“Can you head her off at the pass? You guys are still close, aren’t you?” The three of them had been a tight-knit group since college.
“Somewhat. She was up my ass when she first went back to Kentucky, but it’s tapered off. I could call her, though, talk her off the ledge, tell her you’re not backing down this time.”
“Remind her that we genetically cannot have a healthy baby together.”
“Should I offer to impregnate her myself?” Aaron asked dryly.
“You willing?”
Aaron snorted with laughter. “I don’t think so, but I’ll talk to her.”
“Thanks.”
Jake managed to focus for the rest of practice but was in a bad mood again afterwards. Aaron had said he would try to call Addy as soon as he got home but that didn’t mean she was home or that she would listen. Fourteen years of history told Jake she was probably already on her way and he’d lied to her—he hadn’t changed the locks. He was going to, though, right now.
He found a locksmith willing to come right away, at an astronomical cost, and was gratified to see it didn’t take very long. In the meantime, he changed the code on the house alarm and had a brief conversation with his lawyer about his options if she tried to delay signing the papers. By the time he was done, it was dinnertime and he realized he hadn’t heard from Whitney all day.
It made sense. She was already a little gun-shy so this probably had sent her running for cover again, no matter what she’d said. He didn’t blame her, but the idea of losing her again made him a little crazy. He’d spent so long with a woman who made impossible demands on him, the main thing he wanted going forward was someone he truly connected with. On multiple levels.
Whitney was everything he wanted and more. The spark between them shone so bright when they were together, there was no denying it. She was much more than a pretty face. Degree from Harvard notwithstanding, she was the perfect combination of smart and down-to-earth. She cooked, cleaned, and took care of the twins as if they were hers, but also talked about starting her own line of cosmetics and dipping her toe in the corporate world. His friends all liked her and despite her confusion about her future, she didn’t seem to mind living in Alaska. People, feelings, and friends mattered to her more than anything else, something he now realized had never been a priority for Addy. It wasn’t until he’d started spending time with Whitney that he’d realized just how out of touch he’d been before. Addy wasn’t a bad person, but they’d been incompatible long before the miscarriages started. He’d just been too immature to realize it. What he’d begun to feel with Whitney transcended anything he’d had before and he refused to walk away without giving them a real chance to be together.
All she’d asked was for him to be completely single before they took the things to the next level and he respected that. Having Addy show up and screw everything up would piss him off. He still cared about her well-being, which was why he’d been so generous in the settlement, but he was done. The problem was going to be making Whitney believe that while keeping Addy at bay. He had a feeling neither of those things was going to be easy.
* * *
After a long, lighthearted phone call with Whitney, Jake felt better and was in bed watching TV when his phone buzzed. Aaron’s name popped on the screen and he winced at the message:
RED ALERT! She’s here. Called me from the airport and I’m on my way to pick her up. I don’t know how long I can keep her away from you but she’s here and already starting with the guilt trip. What do you want me to do?
Jake let out a string of expletives before picking up the phone. Instead of calling Aaron, though, he called his soon-to-be ex-wife.
“Jake?”
“I don’t know why you’re here or what you think it’s going to accomplish, but I’ve already told my lawyer you might not be willing to sign and he’s going to talk to the judge in the morning. I hope you don’t plan to stay here at the house, because it’s not happening.”
“You do have someone new, don’t you?” she asked sadly.
“It’s none of your business,” he said evenly, “but what difference would it make? We’ve been over for a long time, Addy. We should have broken up senior year of college and you knew it, which is why you stopped taking the pill. We did nothing but fight. I wasn’t even in the NHL yet and you were complaining about all the moving we’d have to do. Instead of all the oh-woe-is-me stuff, why not be honest for once. Tell me the real reason you’re pushing this.”
“I don’t know.” Her voice was a whisper.
His anger dissolved and he rubbed his hand through his hair. “Addy, you can’t keep doing this. It’s not fair to either of us. It’s no one’s fault we carry those genes but you’ve treated me like I somehow did it on purpose.”
“I saw someone. A therapist. We talked about a lot of things. Maybe…”
“Maybe?” he prompted, his gut telling him he wasn’t going to like this.
“Maybe we could adopt.”
Jake squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head even though she couldn’t see it. She’d tried this before, which was when she’d started poking holes in the condoms, but he still had to handle it firmly if he was ever going to break free of this cycle. “You don’t want to adopt and you know it. There were so many problems in our relationship and we ignored them because of the miscarriages, but we can’t ignore them anymore. There aren’t going to be anymore miscarriages—not with me anyway—so sign the papers and let’s move on with our lives.”
“I don’t know if I can.”
“You’re being irrational. Flying back to Alaska was both irrational and unnecessary. Not to mention expensive. The money train won’t last forever.”
“Don’t be mean, Jackson.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Why not?”
“Just don’t.”
“I guess I’m going home with Aaron then.”
“Be my guest. Have you asked him to get you pregnant yet?”
She gasped. “Jake!”
“Look, I’m done with this conversation. If you’re willing to meet somewhere to sign everything, let me know. If not, we’ll do this the hard way. Either way, we’re done.”
She was still talking when he disconnected. He needed a plan and he needed one now. Drumming his fingers on his lap, he texted Kane.
Whitney was surprised to see Jake at the kitchen door the following morning and she let him in with a curious smile.
“Hey. What are you doing here so early?”
“I have a proposition for you.”
“Okay. Coffee first?”
“Sure.” He followed her to the counter as she made a cup for him. “Thanks.”
“So what’s up?”
“We’ve been pussyfooting around this thing between us for months. Years if you count Boston. And I’m done. I want you. I want to spend time with you, take you out, cuddle with you, make love with you—and we can’t fucking do it for a thousand reasons that are starting to piss me off.”
“O-kay.” She watched him intently, unsure what was happening.
“Give me ten days. It’ll be unconventional, and not nearly as much time together as I’d like, but we have a chance to figure this out without personal distractions before our lives implode or something else goes wrong or whatever.” He was a little out of breath as he finished.
“What are you talking about?”
“The team leaves on a road trip in three days. I want you to come.”
“I can’t go on a road trip with you, even if I could leave Hailey, which I can’t.”
“You can. Well, kind of. I talked to Kane and we worked out the situation here. You’ll have to travel on your own and we have to keep things on the down low, but it’ll be a fun trip. We’re playing all the New York area teams, so it’ll basically be a week in Manhattan. I’ll pay for everything, and there will be a couple of nights off because of our travel days, so we can go out to dinner and stuff unless Coach starts losing his mind, but it gets us out of Anchorage, away from babies, crazy ex-wives—”
“She’s here.” She realized this had to be what had set him off as soon as he said it.
“Yes.”
“But, Jack—”
“Listen, please.” He gripped her hands in his. “I’ll let you talk to my lawyer, or take you to see him. Hell, I’ll let you talk to Addy and have her tell you it’s over herself, although her answers seem to change daily. But that’s how much I want you. How much I want to see where this goes. I don’t care about your crazy family or what the future holds. I’ve spent the last decade living a life I didn’t want and I want to enjoy the one I have now. Isn’t that what you said you’re doing? Isn’t that the whole reason you didn’t get a real job right away? Because you wanted to explore different opportunities and figure out what you want? Explore with me, Whitney. Give us a chance to see if this, us, is what we want.”
He was right, in ways he couldn’t possibly know. She couldn’t think of a reason to say no. She couldn’t even think of a response. So she leaned up on her toes and pressed her lips to his. He responded with light pressure, their mouths remaining closed as their eyes locked.
“I’ve spent four years wondering why I let you go. Why I’ve let her pull me back into that endless loop of misery, over and over. Maybe what you and I are feeling is all a fantasy, a magnetism fueled by the fact that we want what we can’t seem to have, but dammit, we can. If you’ll just give me a chance.”
“And if it turns out that the fantasy was better than reality?”
“I can’t even imagine such a thing,” he said softly, cupping her cheek with his hand, “but if that’s how it turns out, I’d like to think we can look back on it and smile because I smile a lot when I think about Boston.”
“I smile when I think about it, too.”
“So you’ll go?”
“It’s been ages since I’ve been to New York,” she murmured. “I could use some new shoes.”
He smiled and pumped his fist. “Yes.”
“But, Jack?” She kept her voice as firm as she could manage.
“Yeah, babe?”
“If I trust you, and you go back to her, you won’t get another chance with me.”
“Not going to happen.”
Chapter Fifteen
It had been two years since Whitney had been to Manhattan, and as she stepped out of the taxi in front of the hotel, she took a deep breath. She’d nearly pinched herself several times on the flight, still trying to relax and enjoy what was to come. After so many months of self-doubt and confusion, it was as if she’d been given permission to appreciate this opportunity. Jack had hit on a lot of points during their talk, but the one that had reeled her in was his comment about why she’d been flying under the radar since graduating from college.
