“What?”
With a start, I realize I haven’t buckled up yet. I fumble for it, my hands suddenly clumsy. He reaches across me and takesthe buckle.
I get another inhale of his aftershave, and my head spins.
“There you go,” he murmurs as he clicks the seat belt into place.
I just stare at him.
He huffs a laugh under his breath. “I’m a take-charge kind of guy.”
I nod.
“But you’re a take-charge kind of girl too, aren’t you?” He puts the car into gear. “I might not know much about you, but you’re bossy. And I say that as a compliment.”
I exhale, laughing nervously. “I guess so. Sometimes, that bossiness is a cover for just being impatient.”
“Oh?” He looks sideways at me with genuine curiosity. “Tell me more about that.”
I make a face.
“Don’t brush it off.” He shoots me another glance before returning his eyes to the road. “I really want to know. You ambushed me in my office and somehow convinced me to marry a giant grapefruit in the span of about five minutes. What was the impatience driving that ambush?”
I blow out my cheeks. “It’s kind of hard to explain. There are just these ideas I get that are like,we gotta do this right now.This is anof-the-momentidea.I can see the whole path to executing it well, but I need to get everyone on board, ASAP. The more confident I am in an idea, the bossier I get. It’s not that I like being in charge, exactly. Iactually don’t. But I need whoeverisin charge to get shit done.”
“Shit. That’s… impressive.” He grins again. “So what was the spark for the wedding idea?”
“I saw a little video online, a woman talking about how Valentine’s Day would be her one-year anniversary of being officially married to her husband of twenty years. How they’d never been able to afford to get married for real before, but the city clerk’s office held a free group wedding the year before, and it was the best day of her life. I thought we could pull some of that same magic in for our fans since our spring training started that same weekend.”
“And you managed to convince meanda hundred couples, in what, a week’s time?”
“Yeah.”
“Damn, Molly.” He puts so much praise into those two words my cheeks turn hot.
“Thanks,” I whisper. “Some people find it a lot.”
“You’re a whirlwind.” He says it like it’s a fact. But also says it like it’s a compliment. “That’s not going to be for everyone. Fuck anyone who doesn’t like it, though. Because it’s what makes you special.”
I suck in a surprised breath. “I like to think so. I know it sounds cocky, but some people tell me that I shouldn’t rush, that I should let things happen in their own time, and that’s so… passive.”
“That’s pretty wise for a young girl.”
“I’m twenty-three, not twelve. We’re allowed to have insights.”
“Twenty-three.” He says it like he’s testing the words. “Jesus Christ.”
I wince. Crap. I shouldn’t have reminded him of my age. I change the subject. “Now it’s your turn to tell me something I don’t know about you.”
He’s quiet for long enough that I think he might not answer. We pass a shopping center, a gas station, a billboard advertising injury lawyers. The highway stretches ahead of us. He wasn’t kidding when he said the taco place was on the other side of the city.
“I hate how far away my grandson is,” he finally says.
I underestimated him. That sounds like a real share of something honest. “Sinclaire’s son?”
“Yeah, Silas. He’s perfect. And they live in fucking Wyoming.” He drags in a deep breath. “I look at him and I think about all the ways I fucked up with Sinclaire, all the milestones I missed, all the times being a baseball player meant I couldn’t be there for moments that will only ever happen once. And now I get a second chance, except I’m even farther away, and I’m still choosing baseball.”
The rawness in his voice makes my throat tight. “You didn’t fuck up with your daughter. Shecame to watch you get married to amascot. She loves you.”
