“Admit it, you miss me.” Dustin cradled the phone between his jaw and shoulder as he gathered his clothes from where he’d dropped them around the hotel room in St. Louis. The All-Star break was the best week of his life. He helped Zander in the morning, which didn’t feel like a burden because Zander worked right alongside him. It was like old times. He had workouts and practice in the afternoon with the team, which meant he got to play baseball every day. And his evenings were filled with Clover, which made leaving town difficult.
Clover laughed. “More like I’m relieved you’re gone. I can finally catch up on the important things in my life. You are sooooo high-maintenance.”
He grinned, almost dropping the phone in the process.High-maintenance my foot. They’d fallen in love with a crepe place and ate there at least three times in six days. He’d watched a movie on her lumpy couch, not even caring that a spring jabbed him in the thigh, because Clover was in his arms.
“What’s so important that you had to kick me out of town?” he joked. Knowing Clover would be in St. George when he got back made being here seem almost futile.Almost,because he was playing ball, and next to playing at home, playing ball anywhere was awesome.
“My jobs. Laundry. The dishes you left in my sink …”
He snorted. Both times they’d shared a massive banana split at her apartment, he’d washed the bowl.
“The Lean Cuisine in the freezer isn’t going to microwave itself,” she added.
“One demanding moment after another.” He scanned the bathroom to check for his wallet before he headed down to the bus that would take the team to the field.
“Well,” she sighed into the phone, and he was reminded of the other types of sighs she made—the kind that came out when he kissed her slow. “Someone has to live my life, and I am the most qualified.”
“Did you notice how I didn’t take a swing at that sinker you threw out there about me being high-maintenance?”
“I thought for sure you’d chase that ball.”
“Naw, I saw that one coming.”
“The truth is easy to spot.”
He grabbed his wallet off the counter, tucked it into his back pocket, and headed for the door. “I’m still waiting to hear how much you miss me.”
“Aren’t you late for your bus?”
“You miss me and you know it.”
“I know no such thing. I do know that you have four games in St. Louis and your first one starts in three hours.”
His grin could have stretched from St. Louis to St. George, it was so wide. He loved that she kept track of him. “Yes, I do. And when I get back, I’m planning on taking you on a real date.” He wanted a reason to see her in that a dress again, and his sister-in-law’s advice on wooing a woman wasn’t too bad.
“Have we been pretend dating so far?”
“I’m talking about a paint-your-toenails kind of date.”
“Will you wear red or pink?”
He shook his head. She was on one today, giving him a hard time and being all sassy. He made sure the hotel door shut behind him and headed for the stairs. “You’regoing to paint your toenails, and I’m going to admire them.” And your legs and …
“That doesn’t sound like a very exciting date.”
He laughed. “You worry about your toes, and I’ll worry about the rest.”
“Maybe we should reconsider this idea if there’s so much worrying involved.”
“Are you always this difficult to ask out?”
“Pretty much. I like to think of myself as an intriguing challenge.”
“You’re a pill.” He borrowed a phrase from his mother’s playbook.
“That too.” He could see the satisfied grin on her face. “Gotta go. I just pulled into work.”
“Me too.”
