I frowned. “You thinking about retiring?” This was not the conversation I expected.
He shrugged. “I’d be stupid not to. I can still hang, but let’s be real—I’m not the future of this team.”
I didn’t like hearing that. Tate had been the guy who took the rookies under his wing. The guy who never acted like he was too good for anyone.
“You got a plan for what’s next?” I asked.
He chuckled. “That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? I’ve spent my whole damn life being an athlete. No one tells you what to do when that’s not who you are anymore.”
I swallowed hard. That hit.
Because baseball had been my whole life, too. And the thought of losing it? Of not being this anymore? It was like staring into the fucking void.
“Brooks. I saw you and your woman together.” Tate’s voice was steady, cutting through my thoughts. “One day, the game’s gonna tell you it’s time to go, too. And when that happens, you’re gonna need something else to hold onto.”
I stared at him.
My mind flashed to Michelle.
To the way she made me feel like there was something more than just baseball.
I didn’t say anything, but Tate must’ve read the look on my face because he smirked.
“Yeah,” he said, lifting his drink. “Thought so.”
“Shut up, old man.” Thankfully, the music started, ending our conversation.
Watching Michelle walk down the aisle should have been illegal. The dress hugged her in all the right places, but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was the way she carried herself—shoulders back, chin up, looking like she was daring anyone to tell her she didn’t belong.
Except I could see the tension in her jaw.
She was fighting every instinct to run.
That was Michelle. Showing up for people, even when she didn’t believe she deserved to be there. And goddamn, I admired the hell out of her for it. Yet I needed to understandwhy.Who besides her family caused her to doubt her place with friends?
The second Fiona stepped into the church, everything else faded.
Michelle’s expression softened, her breath hitching just slightly.
And when Fiona’s eyes locked onto hers, smiling like she knew exactly what Michelle was thinking, something in Michelle cracked open.
It was the most unguarded I’d ever seen her.
The ceremony passed in a blur, and as soon as it ended, Michelle was at Fiona’s side as they neared the entrance to the church where I waited for my date. Michelle tackled her in a hug, gripping her so tightly you’d think she was holding her together.
“You did it,” she murmured.
“I fucking did,” Fiona breath.
Michelle exhaled slowly, like she was memorizing this moment. Locking it away somewhere safe. I wanted to be that safe place for her.
“You sound a bit surprised,” I said, hoping my easy smile let me join in on their conversation.
“It took her almost six months to even say the L word to him. The fact she agreed to marry him is incredible.” Michelle clicked her tongue and glanced up at me through her eyelashes—stopping my train of thought at how much passion was in her eyes. “So, did you cry, Madsen?”
I fake sniffed. “No.”
She elbowed me playfully and stood to head out, but I stopped her with a gentle tug of her elbow, the safest place for me to touch. “Ready, Mitch?”
