“If I had known you’d leave so late, I would have offered you a ride.” Billy lives in the same small town as I do. His father owns the Cedar Brook Falls Mill, which is one of the largest electricity plants in the State of New York.
“That’s nice of you, Billy, but my last yoga class was at four and I didn’t know what time I could leave.”
He nods, taking a sip of his wine. “Are you staying overnight?”
“Yes. Charlotte got me a room in the building for the night.”
“That’s good. Me, too. I wouldn’t want you driving by yourself for four hours in the middle of the night.”
“No. I wouldn’t think of doing that after the day I had.”
“What happened?”
“Ugh. Well, Mrs. Green came to one of the meditation classes, but she—"
“Hey, is that Casey Tucker?”
Billy’s eyes drift over my shoulder and a child-like grin spreads across his face. “It is Casey! I haven’t seen him in ages.” Then he turns and excuses himself before running off.
I’m not offended by his quick exit. I would have reacted the same way if I wasn’t paralyzed with fear at finally being in the same room as my celebrity crush, my baseball idol, and arguably the greatest player in the major leagues right now.
My body shakes and I curse my racing thoughts.Calm down, Sage. You should play it cool and just go over there and meet him. When will you get this chance again?
For a second, I think about the jinx—or at least the one I just made up a few minutes ago. It sounds silly now that I’m going over it in my head. It was only a coincidence that I haven’t met Casey Tucker until now. Maybe it was meant to be today. Maybe it wasn’t a jinx, but fate.
I’m about to step forward when the woman beside Casey shrieks.
“Shit!” Casey shouts as he jumps back.
“Oh, man. I’m sorry. Someone pushed me from behind.”
Casey stares horrified at the growing red wine stain on his white shirt. “What the fuck?”
“I’m so sorry,” Billy says again. “Let me help you.” He starts patting Casey’s chest with a crumbled napkin, but Casey pulls away.
“That’ll only make it worse.”
Charlotte steps in. “Casey, come with me. I’ll give you one of Caleb’s shirts while I soak this one.”
Casey glares at Billy as he follows Charlotte down the hallway.
My heart sinks when I catch Billy’s stricken face, and I console him with a pat on the shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry about it. It happens.”
“I feel like such an idiot.”
“If you’re an idiot, then so am I. I spewed my beer all over Charlotte’s dress earlier.”
He looks up at me skeptically. When I smile and waggle my eyebrows, he grins. “You did?”
“Yup. So, don’t beat yourself up over it. It happens to everyone.”
He chuckles. “I don’t know about that, but you and me, we sure do get ourselves into trouble.”
I act affronted, placing my hand on my chest in exaggeration. “Me? Trouble? Never.”
“Between me, you, and Frankie, I don’t know who’s worse at putting their foot in their mouths.”
“Probably me since I’m the most flexible.”
