The word sparks something ugly in my chest.
“She’s doing her job,” I mutter.
“And I’m doing mine.”
Silence stretches between us before Brad exhales, “Are you hurt?”
“No.”
Notphysically, anyway.
“Good. Then there’s nothing to worry about. I’ll handle the noise, you take care of first base, and this will be nothing but a blip by the time the season starts.”
I stare down the hallway for a long moment after Brad hangs up. It sounds like Alex highlighted all the worst parts of the last few days. What stings the most is she isn’t wrong. My footwork was a little lazy. My half-second hesitation caused us valuable plays. When my focus splinters, baseball speeds up on me. Then it feels like I’m playing the world’s worst game of catch up, always a step behind.
The sound of a door clicking open a few feet away pulls me out of my thought spiral. I glance up to catch Alex softly closing her door behind her. My heart riots in my chest, not because I’ll have to explain why I’m here, but because Alex looksunfairlybeautiful today.
Her blonde hair tumbles over her bare shoulders in effortless waves. She’s opted for wide-leg trousers and a sleeveless mock-neck top that hugs her frame to a distracting degree. But it’s her sparkly shoes that get me. I have the oddest impulse to buy her a pair in every color—starting with Waves blue.
“Tenny.” Her surprised voice brings my attention up from her feet. “What— What are you doing here?”
Before I can answer, her phone rings in her hand with Brad’s caller ID.
“Should I get this?”
I shrug, my words more biting than I mean them to be. “You already know what he’ll say.”
“I was doing my job,” she tells me, tone icing over.
Though I obviously know this, though I’d defended her to Brad mere moments ago, my pride chooses this exact moment to flare into an unreasonable beast.
“You didn’t need to come at me as hard as you did. It was a handful of mistakes in a few innings. Who cares? It’scampfor Pete’s sake. I’m only out there half a game for live reps before giving the reserve players a chance on the field.”
Her chin juts up. “That doesn’t mean I can’t report on your performance—or lack thereof—while you’re out there.”
A dry laugh escapes my mouth. “Wow.”
Alex simply raises an eyebrow, not backing down.
Coming here suddenly feels incredibly stupid. My neck flushes as I push forward the fistful of balloons.
“Here. Take these. And these.” I pass the smoothie and pastries into her slender fingers. “I hope your back is better.”
I’m already two angry steps in the opposite direction when her voice stops me. “Tenny, wait. What’s all this?”
“Nothing,” I grit out.
If I can’t trust Alex not to drag me through the mud at the first opportunity, there’s no way I can ask her for help. On the drive over, I was actually looking forward to telling Alex about my superstitions, of having someone other than my younger sister to confide in. Realistically, she’d probably giggle with glee over my mental hangups and then beam an evil smile as she told the entire world how I get the yips if I don’t stick to my routines.
“Tenny.”
Though I feel Alex on my heels, I don’t slow down. Forgoing the elevator, I fling open the door to the stairwell and nearly barrel through a gray-haired woman. Her ring-laden fingers sprawl over the collar of her tangerine paisley dress.
“Oh, my word!”
“Sorry, ma’am.” I step to the side, holding the door so she can pass by.
Except…she doesn’t move, just stares at me with a wrinkled forehead.
