Chasing Jillian: A Love and Football Novel (12 page)

“So, Jillian. What’s this I hear about you having a special friend? You never told us you had a boyfriend.”

Several heads swiveled around.

“Huh?”

“We haven’t met him yet.”

“Why didn’t he come with you?”

Amy, ever the diplomat, blurted out, “Where is he?”

Jillian stifled a sigh. She should never have made up a story; now she was caught. She thought for a moment. “He had something else he had to do this evening.” She shrugged her shoulders and tried to look casual.

“How long have you been together?”

Jillian shrugged her shoulders again. She was busted, and there was no way out. “A few months.”

“Has he met Seth?” Brandon asked.

“No. Not yet.”

Emily looked up from nuzzling her husband’s ear. “How did you meet him, Jillian?”

“Oh, we met on Facebook.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No.” She let out a shaky laugh. “Kinda weird, huh?”

Matt and Brandon exchanged a glance, and Damian spoke.

“Well, that’s too bad. My friend Kiara, here, knows a guy at her office we wanted to introduce you to.” He slid his arm around his date’s shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “He’ll be disappointed.” Damian gave Jillian a wink.

Jillian waved one hand. “That’s so nice of you both to think of me, but things are fine. He’s kind of shy. Maybe he’ll show up at something soon and you can all meet him.”

Matt and Brandon were still exchanging looks. Jillian wished she knew what the two of them were thinking, but maybe she didn’t want to know. Brandon helped his wife to her feet, said something into her ear, and squeezed Jillian’s shoulder with one big hand as he passed by.

“Excuse me for a moment,” he said.

There was a short break before the next game started. Matt and Damian drifted off toward the bar. Jillian saw Brandon walk over to them, and Matt snagged Seth’s arm to pull him into their group too. The discussion was animated, but Jillian couldn’t hear any of it.

Amy moved over closer to Jillian, and Emily sat down on her other side. They both seemed to have as little interest in bowling as Jillian did.

“This is all Brandon’s going to talk about when we get out of here,” Emily said. “He’ll make sure the guy you’re dating is on the up-and-up.” She grinned at Jillian. “He lives for this stuff.”

“He’s such a meddler,” Amy said, but she smiled as she spoke. “I can’t imagine what’s going to happen if Emily ever has a little girl.”

Emily let out a groan, and all three women laughed. Emily did her best impression of Brandon’s deep, Southern-accented voice. “She’s not dating until she’s thirty-five.”

“That’s going to happen,” Amy said.

Dread curled sticky, uncomfortable fingers around Jillian as she chatted with Amy and Emily. Oh, God. She hadn’t thought of this. What would she do? She didn’t want to admit that she’d made up the whole thing, but she really didn’t want to tell them there was no boyfriend. She’d really stuck her foot in it this time. Maybe it was better that they think she was some kind of a lonely loser than find out that she’d deceived all of them.

“So, Jill—you don’t mind if I call you Jill, right?” Amy said.

“Of course not. Seth calls me that all the time.”

“You two are just friends?” Amy said.

“He really is a nice guy, even if sometimes it doesn’t seem that way,” Jillian joked. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Brandon and Matt appeared to be grilling Seth somewhat. Damian was looking on.

The three women fell silent for a few minutes.

“Jill, I gotta ask you a question,” Amy finally blurted out.

“Sure.”

“What’s with all the kids’ clothing we’ve seen in the back of your car? Do you have a family or something?”

Chapter Fourteen

J
ILLIAN BIT HER
lip while Amy continued.

“I don’t mean to be so snoopy, but Matt and I passed your car in the lot the last time he came in to have lunch with John, and we noticed what looked like a hundred sets of winter hats and gloves in the backseat.”

“My sister’s an amateur detective when she’s not running her flower shop,” Emily said. Amy made a face at her, and Emily laughed harder.

“Oh, come on. You want to know too,” Amy said.

Jillian wouldn’t be able to lie about this. She swallowed hard. “I volunteer with a local organization that helps foster children.”

“So they were donations.”

“Yeah. I saw a great sale, and I scooped up as much as I could afford.”

Jillian wrapped her arms around her midsection. Even more than envying Emily’s marriage, Emily and Amy made her wish she had a sister. What would it be like to spend time with someone who’d known you since you were a baby, someone who might fight with you once in a while but, on the whole, loved you? Their laughter and teasing were fun to watch, but it made Jillian’s heart ache.

“Have you volunteered for a long time? What organization is it, if you don’t mind my asking?” Emily took a sip of her club soda.

“I volunteer at Treehouse. Treehouse provides things and experiences that foster children need in order to have a better childhood. They also help the older kids with college applications or finding a job.” Jillian took a sip of her drink. “I’ve been doing this for a long time now.”

Emily draped one arm around the back of the bench.

“I’ve heard great things about Treehouse. They help a lot of kids, and they do it on a modest budget. What made you decide to pick this particular organization?” Emily said.

Jillian hugged herself a little more. “I was a foster child. Treehouse wasn’t in the business when I was younger.” She tried to smile. To anyone else, it probably looked like a grimace. “Maybe I can help someone else.”

Emily’s hand cupped Jillian’s shoulder. She squeezed. Amy was silent. Finally, Emily spoke. “You didn’t live with your parents.”

“No. My mom was killed in a car wreck when I was three,” Jillian said. “I never met my dad.”

“I’m so sorry about that,” Emily said.

Amy nodded. Jillian saw tears swimming in Amy’s eyes.

Jillian moved restlessly in the chair. She dropped her hands into her lap and fidgeted. Amy laid her hand over Jillian’s and hung on.

“I usually don’t tell people my situation. They don’t know what to say,” Jillian said.

“Kind of like us,” Amy muttered.

Emily gave Jillian’s shoulder another little pat. “Well, you’re in the right place.”

“What do you mean?”

“The guys here could fund that charity’s programs for a year with their walking-around money. Tonight. They’d never even miss it.” A fierce light shone in Emily’s eyes. “I can help too. What do they need?”

“I don’t understand.”

“Will you tell me how to get involved?” Emily asked. “I realize this is pretty spur of the moment—”

“You think?” Amy interrupted.

Jillian had to smile, just a little. The two of them were so funny together. She imagined that sometimes they disagreed, but the love that bound Emily and Amy felt like she could reach out and touch it.

“Well, I’m still a fairly new mom. I can’t imagine my babies all alone. I just can’t.” Tears glistened in Emily’s eyes. “Plus, I want to do this, but I also wonder if I’d go to the headquarters and want to adopt every kid I met there.”

“Like Brandon would be against that,” Amy told her. “He’d buy you a bigger house. Hey, Jillian, I don’t know if you’ve spent enough time talking with him to figure this one out, but he has a gooey marshmallow center. He’s a total pushover.” Amy let out a bark of laughter. “Ask him if you can borrow his black American Express card. He’d let you too.”

Emily let out a decidedly unladylike snort. “Oh yeah, and your husband is no different. Jillian, I’m telling you—I don’t know how your guy is, but one whimper from Amy, and Matt’s cleaning out Tiffany’s if it’ll make her smile.” Emily reached over and grabbed Amy’s wrist. “Do not tell me he bought you another ring. I
love
that! Baguettes and rounds? Gorgeous.”

“We’re pregnant. He wanted to celebrate,” Amy muttered.

“Oh my God. There isn’t any room left on your finger now. What’s he going to do when the baby makes an appearance?” Emily rolled her eyes. Jillian couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled out of her. “Listen, Jillian, Brandon’s coming back here any minute, but could we exchange cell numbers? I want to talk to you about this some more.” Emily whipped an iPhone out of her handbag.

Jillian didn’t have the sheer number of accessories her two new friends did, but she managed to exchange cell phone numbers with both Amy and Emily. Emily threw the phone back in her bag and got up from the bench.

“Hey. I’m really glad we had this chat, but I gotta go. Give me a hug. My husband needs to be dragged off to a hotel room.” Emily threw her arms around Jillian. “We are so having lunch.”

Emily hugged her sister too, and raced away minutes later.

“Is she always like that?” Jillian said.

“She’s jet-lagged, but she’ll be calling you. I have questions too, if you don’t mind.” Amy glanced around. “Where are the guys? The second game should have started by now.”

“They’re probably talking with some fans or something.”

“Probably.” Amy pulled a chair around to face herself and put her feet up on it. “So, Jillian, how do you like working with this bunch? I know some of them are harder to deal with than others. Plus, how did you get to know Seth?”

Jillian thought for a few moments. “Yeah, some of these guys are more challenging than others. Most of them, though, are nice. Just hanging around Seth was really surprising to me. People approach him everywhere. It doesn’t matter what he’s doing. He said he was in the men’s room the other day, and some guy asked him for an autograph.”

“That’s happened to Matt before.” Amy grinned. “The last time we went to the OB/GYN’s office, the radiologist asked him if she could get his autograph for her brother while she was smearing that cold goo on my belly.”

“Does it bug you?”

“Matt’s pretty used to it. I don’t like it when it’s obvious someone wants to talk to me because they want to meet him.”

Jillian wondered how Seth’s girlfriends coped with this. She didn’t talk about where she worked when she was outside of the office, because people tended to ask for tickets or if they could meet a team member. The team gave her two tickets for each home game. She was always up in the suite with John and the other VIPs, so she donated them. If she ever found a real-life boyfriend, he’d probably want to go. She heard footsteps behind her, and Seth sat down on the hard plastic seat next to her.

“Hey. You miss me?”

Amy smothered a laugh behind her hand. Jillian glanced over at him.

“Where’re the guys?” Jillian said.

“Well, McKenna took off out of here with his wife. Amy, Matt was signing autographs with Damian. I don’t know if they’re going to bowl the next game.” He slung his arm around Jillian’s shoulders. “Want to go to a party with me later?”

“I have to go to work tomorrow—”

“Just for a while. We’ll have fun.”

Amy watched them with a speculative look on her face. Jillian never did answer the question about how she’d met Seth, and Jillian knew there had to be questions about what they were doing together. She also wondered if Seth wanted her to go just so he could drink and she could drive him around.

Matt materialized a few seconds later. “There’s my beautiful girl. Fifi, let’s go home.”

Jillian couldn’t help herself. “Why does he call you ‘Fifi’?”

“It’s my alter ego,” Amy told her. She slowly rose from the chair. Matt slid one arm around her waist.

“Well, Jillian, Amy’s parents were . . . inventive. Yeah. That’s what she told me the night we met.” He brought Amy’s hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. “Little did I know.”

Jillian got to her feet and hugged Amy good-bye.

“I’ll call you,” Amy said into her ear. “Let’s have lunch, okay? We’ll bring Emily along.”

“I’d like that,” Jillian said.

“Great.” Amy nodded at Seth. “Don’t let him keep you out too late.”

Jillian got a hug from Matt; he shook hands with Seth, and he and Amy walked away.

“So,” Seth told her. “Let’s get out of here. I have things to show you.”

S
ETH WALKED JILLIAN
through a courtyard to an elevator bank in the same building the bowling alley was in. She was a little overwhelmed by the numbers of people she saw moving through the corridors of the bowling alley, movie theaters, and multiple restaurants in Lincoln Square. She felt Seth’s fingertips brush the small of her back.

“I won’t lose you,” he teased. “We’re going to hang out with a bunch of the guys and their guests. We’ll have some drinks, we might play some pool, and you can relax a little.”

“Me? Excuse me. I can’t believe—”

Jillian was interrupted by the rapid tat-tat-tat of someone in high heels behind them.

“Aren’t you Seth Taylor?” a feminine voice cooed.

Seth took Jillian’s elbow. He had a choice: turn around and talk to a woman who was now trying to catch up with them, or pretend he didn’t hear her. Even better, he heard another pair of high heels on the highly polished floor. He pasted a smile on his lips he didn’t feel and turned to face them.

The two women who came to a complete halt well into his personal space obviously didn’t see Jillian—or they disregarded her. It was all there—the artfully rumpled, highlighted blonde hair, far too much makeup, breasts that were definitely aftermarket and shown off to their best advantage, tight jeans, and stiletto heels. A few months ago, he probably would have had a drink with them, at least. The difference between them and Jillian was pronounced. Where they were done up—hair, makeup, and clothes strategically seductive—Jillian wore jeans and had her long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, with a natural pink flush on her cheeks. He was fairly sure the women in question felt positive he would choose them over her. It would have been amusing if he didn’t know it probably wasn’t going to end well.

“So, Seth, where you off to?” the taller one asked. She gave him a sultry glance. In other words, all this could be his.

He could see Jillian smiling at them out of the corner of his eye. He wasn’t sure if she knew this already, but they were trapped. The elevator bank was behind them. The escalator wasn’t going to work. Any Shark who went out into the public area of Bellevue’s Lincoln Square right now was going to get mobbed. There were thousands of people in the area’s restaurants and movie theaters tonight.

“Ladies, we’re off to a team meeting. It’s nice to meet you, though.” He stuck out his hand. The woman who’d tried to catch up with him brushed it aside.

“A handshake? How about a hug? I’m a big fan.” Her friend moved forward too. He wasn’t getting out of this. The elevator doors behind them opened, and Jillian tugged on his sleeve.

“Excuse us,” she said to the two women. “Are you ready?” she asked Seth.

The women followed them into the elevator, as he could have predicted.

J
ILLIAN LEANED AGAINST
the elevator wall. The two women who joined them inside were doing whatever they could to get Seth’s attention, up to and including one of them rubbing her breasts on his forearm and asking if she could buy him a drink. The scent of their perfume was almost overwhelming. She wondered what it would be like to have that kind of bulletproof self-confidence.

“I appreciate the offer, but no, thank you,” he told them.

Jillian wondered what would have happened if he had had this encounter while she wasn’t around. They were also stuck in the world’s slowest elevator. How long did it take to go up three floors anyway? She remained amazed at how much hair-tossing, hip-thrusting, and breast jiggling had already happened. Maybe she should have cut them some slack. After all, if she saw Seth walking around in public, she’d want to talk with him too, but this was getting a little ridiculous.

“Well, how about you buy us a drink?”

The elevator stopped on their floor. It took a moment for the doors to slide open, but he was ready. He gripped Jillian’s hand and bolted out of the car, pulling Jillian after him. “We’re already late. Nice to meet you,” he called over his shoulder.

“Wait! Wait!” one said. Jillian was fairly surprised that anyone could run in stilettos on a highly polished floor, but these two obviously had practice. “How about an autograph? My nephew just loves you.”

“Yeah. My little brother is a huge Sharks fan too.”

Seth was still moving. “If you’ll write to Sharks headquarters, I’ll make sure they both get an autographed photo. Tell them I said hey.”

He was heading toward the front door of an upscale pool room, which Jillian had read about but had never seen. It seemed she was about to.

The guy at the door nodded at him and waved Seth inside.

“They’re in the back room.”

“Thanks, man.”

Jillian could hear people calling out to Seth, see the heads of people in the lounge area swiveling to see him, but he didn’t stop. He hauled her down another dimly lit corridor. Another doorman sat at the entrance.

“Tyrone.”

“Hey, Taylor.”

“This is Jillian. She needs a bracelet.”

“Of course.” Tyrone wrapped a neon-blue Sharks insignia plastic bracelet around her wrist and fastened it with a snap at one side. “There you go, Jillian.”

Seth fist-bumped with Tyrone. “T., you’re going to be here, right?”

“Yeah. You got followed, didn’t you?”

“I might have.”

“I’ll take care of it. Have a good evening.”

He opened the door for them. Seth ushered her into another huge room, but this one wasn’t as crowded. Current and former Sharks, the team’s cheerleaders, and their guests milled around talking, laughing, and settling in to have a few drinks.

T
WO HOURS LATER
, Jillian escorted a somewhat buzzed Seth to his Escalade and drove him home. Luckily, she only had to drive a couple miles in a vehicle much larger (and much more expensive) than the one she was used to.