“Take some warm-up hacks, Brooks, and I’ll get with you next,” Coach Kessler says, making it clear the jokes are over.
“You got it,” I say, clearing my throat as I make eyes at Jake. We mirror each other’s smirks, like schoolboys caught talking about cute girls in the back of the class.
After a while, my hands buzz from the hundreds of swings I’ve taken with Coach, so I pull my gloves off and tear away the tape on my wrists to let the blood flow. Jake pulls his gloves off and tosses them on his gear bag, then flops down on the bench next to me before spraying water in his mouth from a plastic bottle. He hands it to me, and I take it and spray my whole damn face.
“Okay, we’re showering now?” Jake teases.
I spray a shot into my mouth, swish the water around, then spit it out to the side. I hand the bottle back to him, then lean back, squeeze my eyes shut, and pinch the bridge of my nose.
“I’m so damn tired. I should start taking dips in the ice bath before practices and games.” It’s not my worst idea.
Jake slaps my thigh, and I pop my eyes open.
“You need to get a nanny is what you need to do. I’m not sure how you’re pulling this shit off, dude. This life out here takes everything, and being a parent takes everything. That’s two hundred percent if my math is right.”
Jake gets to his feet and starts to count on his fingers. I chuckle.
“I actually do have a nanny. Just not twenty-four-seven.”
“Welp, time to up that contract, buddy. You can’t play middle infield if you’re yawning when some guy hits a screamer at your face.” He scoops up his hitting gear. He’s got a bullpen to catch today. All I have left is some cardio. I’m starting in tomorrow’s game, so it’s a light day for me, other than taking hacks.
“You know the Blackwoods, right?” Jake grew up out here, and I’m pretty sure he played high school ball for Lindsey’s dad. I remember Hunter saying something about that. And the way Jake chuckles at my question signals he might know the Blackwoods well.
“You talking about Lindsey Blackwood?” He quirks a brow at me and smirks.
I haven’t shared my nanny arrangement with many people. Hunter knows, since it was his idea to connect me with Lindsey. But other than Jake’s dad, Roddy, I haven’t shared the who and what of my situation. It was hard enough to let the team know why I was running my ass all over Sweetwater to patch together childcare and set up an appointment with a family lawyer. Just because someone leaves a baby with you and says it’s yours doesn’t make it so, according to the government.
“What about Lindsey?” I decide to feel his direction out before giving away mine.
Jake stands tall and adjusts his bat bag over his shoulder as he pulls his lips in tight.
“Man, what’s not to say about Lindsey. I mean, I heard she finally up and left that asshole she married in college. Bradley, or?—”
“Brandon,” I finish for him.
He pauses and flashes his gaze to me as his lips spread into this annoying grin.
“Oh, so you know Lindsey. I see.” He chuckles and waggles a finger at me, like I’m guilty of something. I’m sure I am, I’m just not sure what yet. Other than kissing her, of course. That was definitely off script.
“Hunter introduced us,” I add with a shrug. “She needed a gig, and I needed a nanny, so?—”
“Ha! Well, shit! You should definitely turn that into a twenty-four-seven job for that woman. And then start walking around in your best cologne all the time and do things like make dinner for the two of you.”
I tilt my head. Now I’m smirking.
“You got a little thing for Lindsey Blackwood, Jake?” I tease.
“Dude, there isn’t a guy from this town who wasn’t in love with that girl at one point. She’s a couple years older than me, but damn, what I wouldn’t have done to have her give me the time of day back in high school. Her sister scared the shit out of me, but Lindsey . . .” He looks up, his eyes all dreamy-like. “She was this light in a bottle. So sweet, and funny. Smart, too. She had this confidence about her. She was our student body president. Won homecoming queen and all that. When she came back home married and pregnant, every heart in a fifty-mile radius broke.”
I let the picture he paints sync with the girl I know. I can definitely see flashes of that woman in there, but the confidence he’s describing has definitely taken a beating. Bad people have away of stripping away spirits, and I get the sense that her ex is one hell of a bad guy.
Jake holds out a fist, so I drop mine on top of his.
“All kidding aside, you should get as much help from Lindsey as you can. Sounds like she needs the steady pay, and you definitely need the support to get through the season.”
I meet his gaze and take in his serious expression before nodding.
“You’re probably right.”
