Wait.
“You’re going ring shopping? When?”
“When I get back to Chicago. It’s time, my dudes.”
I look at my watch. I need to be on my way in one minute. Coop is telling me he’s proposing to my sister right now, and I only have sixty seconds to be part of the conversation.
“Where have you been?” Logan asks me. “Coop mentioned this the day after we showed up for Spring Training. Haven’t you wondered why he was talking about finding a bigger place in the fall? And, you know, marrying our sister?”
Guilt hits beneath my ribs like a sucker punch.
“It’s okay,” Coop tells me, sounding more understanding than I deserve. “We’ve been talking about it for a couple of months. We want to get married as soon as the season’s over, so it’ll be a short engagement.”
“Yeah, I knew that,” I say, my neck and ears hot. “I guess I just didn’t put the pieces together that it wasthisyear.” I feel so dumb. How often have they had these conversations where I’ve been thinking about Scottie? Trying to sneak away to steal an extra minute? And here I am, doing it again. “So is this you asking our permission?” I ask, trying to keep it light.
“I don’t think that’s a thing,” Logan says.
I scoff. “Of course it’s a thing.”
My mental countdown tells me I’m at time, and a quick glance at my watch confirms it.
Thing is, I kind of want to stay.
This is the closest I’ve felt to Logan and Coop all month.
I could text Scottie. She’d understand.
I wipe my mouth off with a napkin and drop it in the middle of my plate. “I’ll give you my blessing if you hit a homer off me in live BP.”
“Phew,” Coop says. “I thought you were going to give me an actual challenge.”
I grin while I debate my next move. Scottie expects me soon, but if I leave now, it’s going to make my brother and future brother-in-law even more frustrated with me.
But …
Scottie.
“I’m sorry, guys, I gotta use the facilities.” I stand up, and Logan looks at me like I’m leaving the wedding itself.
“Just come back when you’re done.”
“I would,” I say, “but I need to get to the training room. They want to look at my shoulder before we split.”
Logan nods, because the lie is all too believable, and that only makes the guilt hit harder. My mouth goes dry, and the words stick coming out. “Coop, I’m really happy for you guys. Tell me about it on the bus today, okay?”
“I’ll tell you tonight,” Coop says, giving me a knowing look I hope Logan knowsnothingabout. There’s something else there, too, though. I hope it’s not disappointment.
Please don’t let it be disappointment.
I’m throwing my trash away when I look back to the table and see Logan and Coop talking like I was never there. My sister’s boyfriend is talking about marrying her, and I’m sneaking away to make out with the girl I’m secretly in love with.
Logan and Coop have grown closer than ever over the last couple of weeks. And somehow I’ve never felt further from my twin.
I swallow, but this feeling won’t go down.
Five more days. Then I stop lying to my brother.
***
