Read Online Worth the Fall by Mara Jacobs - Free Book Online

They’ll make the announcement tomorrow.”
    “ Oh, that’s a shame. They’ll miss you on the blue line.”
    Petey felt a lump form in his throat, and his good-natured aww-shucks comeback died on his lips. Holy shit, this was for real. Lizzie ’s group would take care of the details, but he was going to be bombarded with looks like Mr. Jukuri was giving him right now.
    It wasn ’t quite pity—who would pity a hockey star making two mil a year? It wasn’t just compassion. He didn’t know what the hell it was, but suddenly he was grateful he’d be hiding out at Alison’s for the next week and be able to dodge all of it.
    Speak of the devil—in she walked. And dressed in red, too. The smile she directed at her father faltered when she saw Petey sitting in the wheelchair next to the older man ’s bed.
    “ What are you doing here?” she asked him as she took off her red coat, draped it over a chair, then moved to the other side of her father’s bed and kissed his wrinkled cheek.
    “ Stretching my legs,” he answered. Mr. J laughed, but he got a “humph” from Alison. “Doc said I needed to move a little, so I walked with crutches and the brace to the chair.”
    “ How’s the pain?”
    Like you wouldn ’t believe . “Manageable.”
    She looked closer at him. She started to say something then stopped. Turning to her father, she asked in a much nicer voice than she ’d used with Petey, “And how are you today, Daddy?”
    “ Fine, dear, fine.” He gave his daughter a warm smile and Petey noticed the brief look of melancholy that flitted across her face.
    That sweet, round, almost angelic face that contorted with near pain as she climaxed beneath him.
    “I was just talking hockey with Petey. Sounds like he’s hanging up his skates. But you probably already knew that.”
    “ I did, yes.”
    “ I guess we all grow old,” he said, then let out a weary sigh. “I’m feeling pretty good today, Alison, are there things we should go over?”
    “ Should I leave?” Petey asked and made to move the wheelchair.
    “ No, no, you’re fine,” Mr. Jukuri said. It looked like Alison was about to trump her father’s choice when he added, “I’ve enjoyed our chat and would like to talk some more if you have the time.”
    Petey could see Alison warring with wanting him out of there—wanting him gone, in general—and her father ’s enjoyment. She finally shrugged, turned around and pulled the guest chair up to the side of the bed and sat down.
    “ I’ve got nowhere better to go,” Petey said and made a show of reclining a little and putting his hands behind his head. Shit…even that hurt.
    “ Sherry’s coming in tomorrow. I’m going to pick her up at the airport and bring her to the house to see Mom. Then she’ll have your car to come see you tomorrow evening.”
    “ Oh, that’s wonderful. Is she bringing the babies?”
    Petey watched Alison open then shut her mouth, a sadness coming to her face, which she quickly tried to hide. Al ’s sisters were much older and had grown kids of their own. “No, Dad, the babies are grown up. Jake got married two years ago. And Taylor just graduated from college last spring. They’re both out east, like Sherry.”
    Charles Jukuri looked at his daughter with concentration, then looked over to the wall where someone—it had to have been Al, right?—had blown up a family photo of the Jukuri clan from whenever they ’d last been together.
    The photo looked to be a few years old, with Mr. Jukuri looking much healthier than he did now. It ’d been taking in the summertime on the front lawn of what had been the old Jukuri cabin. Alison had taken it over about ten years ago and slowly refurbished the whole thing. It was on the small side, but it was cozy and on the lake.
    And had no stairs.
    “Yes, that’s right. Sherry sent us video of Taylor’s graduation from Rutgers.”
    “ Yes, yes she did,” Alison answered her father with near glee in her voice at her