The boys were already suited up and forcing down granola bars by the time Viv snatched her Red Sox cap off the hook.
“Let’s get going,” she said.
“Is Duke going to start coming to our practices?” Dante asked.
“He can’t come to the practices,” Viv said, “but he talked about coming to your games.” She wanted to talk about Duke with more certainty, but the fact was, Viv was inwardly worried that she’d scared him away. Sure, he’d done something amazing to give her that incredible gift this morning on live TV. He loved her, he cared about her, and he would not want her career to be negatively affected.
But what if being in a relationship with someone so…quick to consider letting it all go was too much for him?
She’d only told him she needed time, Viv assured herself, but it didn’t do much to calm the growing fear that she might have scared him away. She only hoped, as she pulled up to the baseball diamond where Duke and the twins first met, that he’d be willing to give her another chance.
Chapter 24
Viv stared out over the field as knots of nerves twisted in her gut. A simple phone call. Just one quick tap of a button and she’d be seconds away from talking to Duke.
So what had her so scared?
The small baseball players, suited up in their matching uniforms, lined up to practice their throws. Viv watched the interaction, recognizing the give and take it took to get a successful catch.
Love was that way too. There was giving—tossing the ball to their potential partner—and there was catching, receiving that love. Viv knew in her heart that neither of them had stopped loving the other in a matter of days.
But she did worry that, despite that, Duke might second-guess getting involved. She was sure to have her freak-outs from time to time. Paranoia over sheltering her boys and preserving the privacy she’d grown accustomed to.
Viv tucked the phone back into her pocket and headed back to the bleachers. It’d been over thirty minutes already; the boys’ practice would be over in another fifteen. Perhaps she should simply wait until they were back home. It was sort of loud out. A little windy too, she decided.
They weren’t the real reasons she wanted to wait, but they were reason enough just the same. Viv stepped past the cluster of moms in the front corner and moved up the metal seats until she got to the very top. She spun in place, caught sight of the boys on the field, and smiled when Dante sent her a wave.
She waved back with a grin. The boys were such good medicine for her. She could feel the anxious parts of her calming already.
Things are going to be fine.They were. She’d call Duke, explain how she—
“Is this seat taken?” came a masculine voice from behind.
Viv’s eyes widened as she realized whose voice that was. She shot a look over her shoulder and gasped at the sight. Duke had climbed up the back of the structure and was clinging to the back railing while his feet balanced on a thin framing bar.
“Duke,” she breathed. “What are you doing?”
Duke hoisted a leg over the railing, and suddenly he was on her side of the bar and taking a seat beside her.
“This seems familiar.” He nudged closer, and Viv reveled in the warmth of his touch on her skin.
She recalled the time she’d found him on this very set of bleachers a while back. “Yeah, I guess it does,” she admitted with a dose of chagrin. “Duke, I’m sorry for being such a…a worrier, I guess.”
She shook her head, trying to organize the things she’d wanted to say to him. “I think I took pride in staying single this whole time. I told myself it made me a more devoted mother. A more responsible mother. A more…fill-in-the-blank with whatever positive attribute you can think up.”
She turned to face him then, noting the thrill that shot through her when his blue eyes met hers. “But there’s another side to it too. It’s more layered than I wanted to admit. I noticed, when all of this happened, that I was fine staying in the shadows, letting Veritå give a bunch of brave souls their second chance with the often fickle public. But I never wanted to end up there myself. Who would?
“When that happened at the gala, I was faced with something I’d determined to stay clear of—that public spotlight aimed right on me. I freaked out, and I had to take the time to see where my boundaries lie. How far I was willing to be dragged into that light, if that’s what our relationship might entail.”
Duke nodded slowly. An audible gulp sounded. “And?” he asked quietly. “How far are you willing to go for us?”
It was then Viv realized that Duke was as nervous as she was. She gave him a warm smile as the answer came. “As far as it takes.”
The grin that came over his lips told Viv that was the answer he’d wanted to hear. He leaned in at once and pressed a fervent kiss to her lips. It was, in a way, the answer she’d been waiting to hear from him too.
Yes. He wanted to pursue it as well, their catch and toss game of love.
“Thank you for doing that today,” she said between kisses. “For initiating that tribute on Samantha’s show. It’s one of the best gifts anyone’s ever given me.”
