Glide

Chapter thirty-two

The gravel crunches under my shoes as the sun beats down on us from a cloudless sky. It's mid-October, and at home, we can expect snow within long, but it still feels like summer here.

I'm sweating bullets in my nice suit, and looking at my teammates, I can tell they're uncomfortable in the heat as well. Sophie, for one, takes the change in temperature in stride. Still, she's uneasy, almost skittish, and Jayden has a strong hold on her hand. In the other, she's clutching Ollie.

She never wanted to return here.

There are a few other people on the gravel pathway, all clad in black, but we're early, so there isn't a long line to greet the deceased's loved ones.

Referring to Jen's father like that still feels surreal.

As the white church looms over us, I spot her standing by the entrance beside her mother and sister.

Wearing a long-sleeved black dress like it isn't 73 degrees and her hair falling in wavy curls around her head, she looks so different from how I'm used to seeing her. However, it's mostly her expression. Eyes red-rimmed and glassy, and her mouth turned up in a practiced smile; she looks devastated.

My heart squeezes in my chest. In the six days since she got the phone call from her mother, I've barely spoken to her. Unable to comfort her from across the country as she went to Oklahoma to grieve with her family.

Jen looks up, catching the seven of us standing a few meters away, and her eyes widen. Sidestepping the man speaking to her mother, she approaches us with quick steps, eyes locked on me.

I meet her halfway, clutching her to me, as she sniffles into my shoulder.

"I know, love. I know," I mumble, placing a kiss on her hair. She's fisting my suit jacket like she's afraid I might disappear as some form of heat-induced mirage.

"What are you doing here?"

Jen leans her head back enough to make eye contact, a slight frown on her face.

"What do you mean?" I ask, cupping her face, my thumb sweeping over her cheekbone and scattering the tear lingering there. "We're here for you."

She glances at Mitch, Saltz, Jayden, and Kimmy standing behind me, then back to me. "But practice..."

"Screw practice." My voice is stern, the same way it'd been when I called Coach Matthews and told him the five of us were taking a few days off to go to a funeral three states over. He hadn't bothered arguing. "Did you really think we wouldn't drop everything to be with you when you need us?"

The unsure gleam in her eyes tells me she did, and it makes my heart break all over again for her. It wasn't enough for her to lose her father. She thought she'd have to face his funeral by herself.

After what feels like seconds but is probably minutes, Jen untangles herself, stepping forward to greet our friends. When she reaches Sophie, the two of them just look at each other for several long moments, an entire unspoken conversation passing between them. Raw emotions swim in Jen's eyes when she finally grasps Sophie's shoulders, hugging her best friend.