So when we reach the other side of the pool, I just spit it out. “How do you get brave enough to date a guy when your career is all you’ve ever wanted and your schedules don’t line up at all but he makes you happy except you don’t trust happy in relationships because you’ve been so screwed before, but he’s giving you all of the right signs and signals that he’s willing to be patient until you work out all of your own shit because he likes you that much and he knows the good and the bad andstill likes you that much?”
Her lips briefly plump out in anObefore she grins at me. “Normally I’d tell someone to breathe after a sentence like that, but I think I need to tell you to drink instead.”
I don’t disagree with her assessment, so I pop the lid and take a swig of cider.
“That enough?” she asks me.
“Unlikely.”
“One more, and then Dr. Waverly is at your service.”
I crack up, but sober quickly. “I’ve never had good relationships or good relationship examples,” I say quietly. “I don’t believe they exist. I don’t knowhowto believe they exist.”
“Even when you’re surrounded with that every day?” she says, nodding to the group across the pool.
Luca Rossi has one arm tucked around his long-time girlfriend’s waist. They have two babies together, and I suspect a third on the way, though it hasn’t been confirmed yet, and Luca’s mom is traveling with them to help watch the adorable little minions.
Brooks Elliott is wearing hisI’m not listening to a word you’re sayingface—and yes, I’mveryfamiliar with that expression from him, which is fine so long as he keeps hitting the ball.
And why is he wearing that face?
Because he’s staring at Mackenzie, his wife, across the group as she baby-talks Cooper and Waverly’s baby girl.
Emilio Torres is joining the party, carrying a fresh wine cooler for Marisol, his wife.
And Max Cole, who’s retired now, but married to Cooper’s sister, Tillie Jean, is standing behind her with his arms looped around her waist. They show up frequently at home games, but less frequently at away games.
Harder to travel with their two little ones as well.
I’m guessing the fact that Cooper and Waverly are here is the biggest reason they showed up. Uncle Cooper’s a good babysitter, and odds are high at least one of the Rock parents are here too.
Especially since the last couple in the group is Cooper and Tillie Jean’s oldest brother, Grady, and his wife.
“I wasn’t around whenanyof them met,” Waverly says quietly, “but Cooper’s told me about them. You’d know betterthan me, clearly, but can you point out which one believed in love when you met them?”
“Emilio,” I say without hesitation, even though we both know that’s a cheating answer. He and Marisol were practically engaged already when I started with the team.
“And?” Waverly says.
“And Cooper.”
“Cooper’s a unicorn who believed in love but not necessarily for himself. Who else?”
That’s it.
That’s it.
Brooks was pissed as hell at being traded to the Fireballs because the team historically sucked. He didn’t want forever. He wanted to lose his virginity and catch up for all of the years he didn’t sleep around because of a superstition that his bat would go to hell if he got laid.
And yes, I do regularly wish I didn’t know that about him.
Luca didn’t do relationships. Between his own very relatable family issues and the fact that he was more or less the most-traded player in the game when he landed with the Fireballs the first season that I was with the team, he was a dedicated bachelor who would’ve rather spent his free time renovating his house than having anything to do with a woman. Especially a woman who believed so strongly in love that she writes paranormal romance novels for her day job and who often has to do interesting research that leads to more pets—of all varieties—entering his life.
The only guy on the team who had him beat for never wanting to be involved in a relationship was Max. He was battling mental health demons and had no intentions of ever settling down.
And yet here they all are, completely and madly in love with partners they’ve all sworn to love forever, whether they’ve made it legally binding or not.
As for the last couple, after spending several winters in Shipwreck, where Grady runs a bakery, I’ve heard stories about how he and Annika reconnected years after being secret best friends in high school. Not the easiest romance, but they made it work, and I’ve never seen them anything but happy together.
