A deep V had formed on his forehead as he listened to me. "Huh."
I cringed, worrying that I'd either said too much or just said the wrong thing. I busied myself tossing the salad. "Is that an annoyed 'huh' or…a good 'huh'?"
"It's a good 'huh'," Chase said. "I think you might be on to something. For a long time, I thought I deserved what I was getting with Jess. Because I'd misread her."
"Sort of like a penalty?" I asked.
He nodded. "Exactly. I messed up and I was paying for it."
"You misjudged her," I said. "I don't think it's worth beating yourself up over. You've been penalized. Resume regular play."
"Football talk, huh? Are you trying to charm me?"
I shrugged. "Only if I'm actually doing it right."
"It was close enough that I understood." He inspected his wine for a moment.
"You seem okay about her being gone," I ventured, "and mostly okay about her being with Pax. Aside from the nuisance factor."
"He got to me at practice. I shouldn't have gone after him like that, but he pushed my buttons hard." Chase scrubbed his hands across his face. "But since then, it's just been a couple of nasty texts from Jess and those selfies on Instagram. That's not worth freaking out over. But we'll see what they pull next. Jess usually has plans."
I nodded. "But at least you're out in front of it. I'm sure she doesn't like that one bit—that you've been photographed out and about, and that you're getting more attention." I'd read the news online; the sports community was largely condemning Jess and Pax, but they seemed to be enjoying Chase's post-split lifestyle. The mom we'd met at the swan boats had made the nicest Facebook post about meeting us and posted an adorable picture of Chase with the boys; it'd been shared about ten thousand times.
"I'm sure it's driving her crazy. Which is fine by me." He looked hopefully at the oven. "Is dinner almost ready?"
"It'll just be a minute," I said, checking the bread.
"So…enough about me. Tell me something else about you. Tell me more about your sister."
"There's not that much to tell." I groaned inwardly. I would much rather discuss Chase's ex than my sister. "She's older than me. Her name's Lila."
"What does she do?" Chase asked. He sounded genuinely curious.
"Um…her last job was at Jamba Juice. It didn't really work out."
"Why's that?" he asked.
"She…she's just not great at being responsible," I finally admitted. I wanted to be as honest with him as I could without getting into too much gory detail.
"So she's not working?"
I didn't look at him. I just shook my head. "Not right now." She's off spending my emergency fund on weed and high-end cosmetics.
"You said she lives with you. Do you…take care of her? Pay for everything?" Chase didn't seem to want to let this go.
I shrugged. "Just till she gets back on her feet."
"Is that why you're working for the service? I'm guessing you're not making a fortune at the good old Sizzling Ranch..."
I swallowed over a lump in my throat and just nodded. I was worried I wouldn't be able to get any words out.
"What about your parents?"
I shrugged again. "My mom died my senior year of high school. My dad…I don't know my dad." When I laid it all out like that, it sounded so…bleak.
"Aw, I'm sorry," he said. "What happened to your mom?"
"I just told you. She died." She overdosed my senior year. I found her after school.