People are already outside, and music wafts in from speakers in the backyard.
This should be a totally normal barbecue.
Except it’s not, because now we’re walking in together.
And something about that feels different.
I kill the engine and look over at her.
“You ready?”
She exhales lightly. “Yeah.”
She reaches for the dip.
Our hands brush again.
“Let me get the dip.”
“No. I got it.”
I open the door and step out.
We split off as soon as we get inside. Cassie heads toward the patio with the dip, already getting pulled into a conversation with Jackson’s wife, Ivy.
I watch her go for half a second longer than I should.
Then force myself to look away.
I head outside, where the music’s low and the grill’s going. People are scattered around with drinks like it’s the most normal Saturday in the world.
There’s something about it—so easy and domestic—that it feels…foreign to me. I didn’t grow up with a big family. Always idealized them, though. And this scene is exactly what I pictured.
Jackson’s at the grill, apron on, that saysI Like Big Buns and I Cannot Lie, flipping burgers like he’s running a five-star operation.
A flash of something I’m not expecting comes over me. It’s not exactlyenvy. Maybe it’s the thought that, yeah, the domestic life seems really, really nice. A strange thought for a wanderer like me, who has spent his twenties living in at least seven different cities. Only if you were doing it with someone you were head over heels for, though.
“Hey,” Jackson says when he spots me. “You made it.”
“Free food,” I say. “Hard to pass up. Minor league salary and all.”
He snorts and slaps my back. “Grab a drink. I’ll be done in a minute.”
I grab a Miller Lite, and we fall into easy conversation—sports, the team, the usual.
“So,” he says after a minute, lowering his voice slightly, “I heard there might be a different scout at your next home series next weekend.”
I shrug, taking a sip. “Yeah. Maybe. Isn’t there always a scout?”
“Maybe?” he repeats. “That’s a big deal, man.”
“Stuff like that falls through all the time,” I say. “I don’t spend much time thinking about it.”
That’s not entirely true.
But it’s close enough. Especially lately. With Cassie in the picture, she’s been a beautiful distraction from the X’s and O’s of the game that I usually take to an obsessive level. Maybe that’s why I’ve been playing so well since I arrived here. I’m playingloosefor a change.
Jackson studies me like he doesn’t buy it.
