He grinned and tossed the ball. Her heart thrummed as she tracked the white leather with such concentration she could count the laces. She caught it, laughing as she did so. A few people clapped for her.
She smiled at Jane. “See? Friends now.”
Jane patted her knee. “I think the whole stadium can see that.” She pointed to the JumboTron. Clover slowly turned, afraid of having a stadium full of people see her mooning over Dustin Colt’s ball. What she saw surprised her. She saw a woman who looked put-together in her long black skirt and white tee with her hair draped over one shoulder. She might even say that she looked … pretty, which was a surprise, because she’d never thought of herself as pretty before.
She held the ball in the air and waved before quickly sitting down. Her whole face was on fire from the attention, but she wasn’t embarrassed about what they’d seen, because all traces of the malnourished, homeless child she’d been only a few short years ago were gone. Relief flooded her system, making her arms feel weightless. Jane had once told her that she could be anything she wanted to be, and for Clover, that was like telling a hippopotamus it could be a ballerina. Really, all she’d ever wanted to be was normal and average. From what she could see on the screen, she fit right in with the people around her, and that was amazing.
The camera switched to someone else. Clover leaned over and drew in deep breaths. She’d been told her whole life to be invisible, which made her feel invisible. Well, she hadn’t been invisible today, and it felt good. Dustin had seen her—he’d picked her out of the crowd. And a whole stadium of people had seen her and no one looked away, embarrassed by her dirty clothing or pleading eyes. No one had frowned with sympathy. But more importantly, Clover felt no shame. Instead, she’d felt pride in being herself.
She gripped the ball tighter, feeling the laces under her fingers. Baseball. Baseball was magic and romance and a gift she didn’t know she wanted.
And Dustin? She began to turn the ball over and over in her hands. If the whole stadium was empty, she would stay because Dustin was on the field. She liked watching him play more than watching the game itself.
The revelation was almost as scary as being on the big screen.
“What’s that?” Jane grabbed her wrist to hold the ball still.
Clover glanced down at the ball and saw a blue pen. Turning it slowly, she read out loud: “Text me when you get off work.” Dustin’s phone number was written inside the laces. Clover gasped.
Jane laughed. “Friends, huh? Yeah, right.” She put her arm around Clover, who was so shocked she hadn’t been able to close her mouth.
“Well?” Jane asked. “Are you going to text him?”
Clover pulled the ball to her chest and held it there with both hands. “I have to.”
Jane’s eyebrows shot up. “Have to?”
“Yeah.” Clover stood, gathering her purse from under the seat. “When someone throws you a ball—you catch it.” She said goodbye to a confused and bemused Jane before hurrying up the stairs toward the concessions stands and gift shops filled to the brim with Redrocks gear. She’d have to come early to the next game and buy herself a shirt or hat. A hat would be great for keeping the sun off her face. Once through the shopping area, she negotiated another set of stairs to the large, slowly turning to sticky tar parking lot. Her car was hotter than the inside of a bread oven, but the engine groaned to life as if it had been sitting in a frozen tundra.
She made it to the hotel with thirty seconds to spare before her shift started.
“Hey, how was the game?” asked Maddie. She held a dust rag and a can of Pledge. They were supposed to dust the lobby daily.
“It was awesome!” In her rush to get to the computer and sign in, Clover set her purse on the edge of the counter and it tipped over, the ball spilling onto the floor on the opposite side of the desk along with the blush-pink lipstick she’d bought that morning to wear to the game.
Maddie picked them both up for her.
Clover bit her lip and set all her attention on the screen. She’d planned on telling Maddie about the phone number ball, but she was going to lead into it since Maddie was already emotionally invested in Clover and Dustin.
“There’s something on here.” Maddie gasped and then gave an under-the-breath squeal that was totally appropriate for the lobby of a midscale hotel. She reached across the counter and grabbed Clover’s arm, giving her an excited shake. “Are you kidding me?”
Clover pressed her hands to her chest and grinned. She still hadn’t wrapped her head around the idea that Dustin had effectively picked her up at a baseball game he was playing in! This was uncharted territory. Like the dark side of the moon uncharted. “What do I do?” She hugged herself.
Maddie rolled her sweet brown eyes like she couldn’t believe she was about to ask this question. “Do you like him?”
Clover was getting closer and closer to having a panic attack. While being on the JumboTron was fun and had given her a new way to see herself, she wondered if she’d be able to handle that kind of microscope on a daily basis. Did Dustin? All she had to do was glance at the big-screen television, where the eighth inning played out, to answer her own question. He was a professional athlete—he’d chosen that course and knew what he was getting himself into.
Then there was the way they met. His money and overconfidence needed to be taken into consideration when deciding if she liked him. “Most days he drives me insane.”
“So you don’t want to see him again?” asked Maddie, her adorable heart-shaped face scrunching up.
Clover tugged at her hair. He’d taught her to play catch … at one in the morning … in his backyard.
Maybe even more important than the fact that he was willing to give up sleep for her was the way he’d introduced her to his friends—like she was one of them. She’d been a fringe person her entire life. That didn’t mean that’s who she was inside. She got why people had kept her out of their circles—a dirty face and unwashed clothes didn’t exactly lay a welcome mat to her life. Under the direction of Pastor Paul and Jane, she’d changed those things, valued them. Maybe that’s why Dustin’s soapy clean smell woke up the butterflies in her stomach. “I want to see him again.”
“Then text him.” Maddie shoved the ball at Clover.
Clover pushed it back with all the strength of her insecurities. “And say what?”
