She smirked. “No. You’re gonna come home with me. I’m not doing a walk of shame past my brother’s place.”
“Shame? I assure you, I’m only gonna feel pride leaving your place.”
She shook her head in amusement.
“Well, hello, you two,” said a tall, lean, dirty-blond man as he approached the table with a petite blonde woman. The woman reminded Javi of that lady with the morning talk show that his mother liked to watch. The one who’d been on a soap opera.
Cami went to stand, so Javi did as well.
“Hey, Uncle Brett,” greeted Cami as she hugged the man. She then moved on to the woman, hugging her as well before turning to introduce Javi. “I’d like to meet my date tonight, Javier La Costa. He plays baseball with Cal.”
Javi shook hands with the couple as Cami introduced them. “This is my uncle, Brett Callahan, and his date tonight, Mrs. Gwendolyn Muir.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” said her uncle.
“My son, Weston, told me about you getting called up to the team. He said that Cal told him that you’re the best batterymate he’s had,” commented Mrs. Muir.
“I hope he keeps that opinion,” joked Javi.
“Look, Pa and Granna are here,” said Cami and she waved her hand out to a distinguished-looking elderly couple making their way to the table. When they arrived, introductions began again and a few other stragglers that had been invited also joined their table.
They were served a tasty dinner while the president of the bar association gave an address to the assembly, then the winners of the annual awards were announced while dessert was served.
“And the Excellence in Mentorship award goes to Richard Anderson Sr.,” announced the bar association’s president.
Applause sounded throughout the room, and they watched as Richard made his way to the podium.
“Camdyn, did you nominate Richard?” asked her grandpa.
“I did. I enjoyed my internship with him; he’s been a good boss,” she replied.
“That was kind of you,” commented Javi. He didn’t know the guy, but from everything Camdyn had said, he must be a decent fellow, minus the setting her up with his son part.
“I’m glad he won. It makes me feel better about leaving,” she said.
Javi smirked and leaned over to whisper in her ear, “Speaking of leaving, how much longer do you think this thing will last?”
CHAPTER 9
A fellow has it—or he hasn’t it.
– Ed Barrow, Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, 1953
Camdyn smiled as she watched Javier dance with her grandmother. Granna loved events like these. Well, she loved any excuse to dress up, but the dancing was her favorite part. And she was obviously chatting Javi to death, but he didn’t seem bothered. Rather, he seemed interested in whatever she was telling him about.
Even from where Camdyn sat, she could see the happiness in his eyes and how his full lips curled into a soft smile. He really was good looking, and he moved with such a natural, fluid grace. He was also incredibly confident and that made him even more alluring to her. She was surprised by his openness, like when he’d admitted to past dance lessons. Not many men would have owned up to that, and yet she couldn’t shake the thought that he was right about dancing being innate for him. She was sure that was one of the reasons he excelled so well as a catcher. It was a demanding position that required him to command the team’s defense, so it shouldn’t have been surprising that he could bebossy, like when he’d christened her with his own pet name for her. Just another thing she found attractive about him.
As they turned on the dance floor, Granna caught her eye and winked. She’d be calling Camdyn tomorrow to chat. By the time they finished dancing, Granna would have a personal opinion of Javier, and probably his full life story. She’d be sure to share it all with her granddaughter. She’d done just the same with Ricky, only Granna had never cared much for him. She felt he was pretentious. When Granna had described Ricky that way, Camdyn hadn’t agreed. She’d thought he’d just been trying to impress her, but clearly Camdyn had been wearing rose-colored glasses, because looking back…that was a great description of Ricky.
Her uncle walked back up to their table, where Camdyn was sitting alone, and slid into the chair next to her. “So you’re dating your brother’s teammates now?”
She turned to him with a smile. “Not really. I was kind of put on the spot by Ricky while I was meeting with Cal and Javier to discuss Javi’s family problem.” Camdyn didn’t miss her uncle’s grimace when she mentioned Ricky.
“I heard about the girl in Cuba. Pa said he’s taking it on, but he’s letting you do all the work on the case,” he commented.
She nodded and glanced back at her grandmother and Javi.
“Do you think you’ve got enough free time while you’re finishing up at Anderson to be working on that, too?” he asked.
