Every one of us is silent as we stare out into the distance in disbelief.
“I just hit a homer off Kai Rhodes.” Milo’s voice is laced with awe as he looks around for our approval, but we’re all still staring out over four hundred yards away.
Emmett looks to his former ace pitcher. “You take anything off that?”
Kai shakes his head, brows raised and thoroughly impressed.
“I just hit a homer off Kai Rhodes,” Milo repeats.
“Hell yeah you did,” Emmett says. I can almost see the relief wash over him. “Now do it again.”
Milo’s energy is instantly lighter as he resets himself for another pitch.
“That’s how he looked the day we went and watched him play in Vegas,” I say quietly to the man next to me.
“He’ll get back there. He’s just having a crisis of confidence.”
“I know a thing or two about those, don’t I?”
Emmett chuckles, head resting on his crossed arms when he looks over at me. “You look good.”
“I’m feeling better.”
“Good.”
I knock my shoulder into his and it does absolutely nothing to move the brick wall that is Emmett Montgomery. “This is sweet of you, by the way. To do this for him.”
“Yeah, well, I’d be lying if I said he was my motivation here.”
He did this for me.
His soft smile as he looks at me is enough to flip my stomach in the most irresponsible of ways.
He told me the other night to trust my gut, and right now, my gut is telling me to give in already. And he’s making it awfully hard to remember the consequences of that decision.
“If you could try to make me like you a bit less, that’d be really helpful, Em.”
His grin is lazy on his lips as he looks at me. “Can’t help it, I guess. I think we both know I’d do anything for you.”
There’s not an ounce of me that wonders if that’s true or questions his motives as to why.
And it’s a liberating, yet terrifying, realization. Because I’m pretty sure Emmett Montgomery is everything I wasn’t ever planning to go looking for.
29
Emmett
I collapse into the couch in my office.
The heaviness from the week pushes my body down, and I quickly realize what a terrible idea it was for me to sit.
I didn’t notice how exhausted I was. How wrecked I’ve been from worrying about Reese this week. How concerned I’ve been about Milo not playing up to his potential. But now that I’m paying attention to the stress, it’s evident in the way it’s locked in my shoulders and twined around my spine.
She looked better today. Brighter. More herself.
I can physically feel some of the worry beginning to melt away, sliding right off me as I sink into the couch cushions.
I really should get up though. I need to go home and get ready for Arthur’s retirement party tonight, the same way Reese and the guys have already left to do the same.
