I needed Tenny to stop making me fall for him.
“How’d he take the loss last night? I didn’t see any footage.”
My neck pinches at the memory of Tenny shaking his head the second Daphne and I entered the Waves clubhouse. It’d been the end of a seven-game winning streak, so only Patrick was open for an interview.
“It was disappointing for the whole team, but that’s baseball. No one wins them all. Only the best teams win more than half. The Waves are one of those teams, but I think everyone was hoping they’d get a longer run at the start of the season.”
“The Admirals are tough.”
The Waves had won against the Seattle Admirals in last year’s World Series, though they’d gone all the way to game seven.
“Yeah,” I agree, subtly checking the time on my phone screen.
My pulse ticks up. Tenny should be here any minute, and I really don’t want to be on the phone with my grandmother when he arrives. I’m already trying to establish clear boundaries with Tenny—and myunrulyheart—and the last thing I need right now is to have to pretend to be his girlfriend.
“Hey, I was in the middle of a run. Can I call you later?”
The lie makes my stomach twist, but I remind myself that I’ve been lying to my grandmother for months. What’s one more?
“Oh, sure. Talk to you soon.”
I hang up, closing my eyes for a brief, settling inhale. When I turn back toward the metal railing that separates the cementboardwalk from the beach, I nearly get clipped by an oblivious rollerblader.
“Hey! Watch where—”
The words die in my gaping mouth when I catch sight of Tenny. He’s striding up the boardwalk, hair ruffled by the ever-present ocean breeze. This time, it isn’t Tenny’s confident gait that’s rendered me speechless. What pulls my mouth into an unbridled smile is the inflatable dinosaur inner tube around his waist, the full snorkel gear over his face, and the hot-pink floaties banded around his forearms. All of this is layered over sweats and a hoodie since it’s sixty degrees outside.
“Who’s ready for a swim?” he asks through his snorkel, the words muffled slightly.
My face hurts from my gargantuan grin.
“We can’t swim today, you goofball.”
Tenny spits out the mouthpiece, smiling like a lunatic. “It never hurts to be prepared.”
The water is a chilly forty-three degrees, which means mandatory 6/5 wetsuits for both of us. Ideally, we’d start my part of the bargain in June, when the ocean temps get up to seventy, but Tenny was unrelenting in insisting we meet up today since he started working on his superstitions two days ago.
At the first home game, I helped Tenny tackle his Sour Patch superstition, having him eat a yellow and brown M&M instead. Beyond the mental work of dismantling a superstition, I foundthat doing the opposite helped prove to myself that the ritual doesn’t matter. Tenny’s first game against the Admirals and even yesterday’s loss—where he played flawlessly—proved to him that the method can work.
In exchange, I reluctantly agreed to walk near the water’s edge today. Baby steps and hypothermia prevention seemed reasonable on this chilly spring morning.
Tenny tugs the floaties higher before they pop off his corded forearms. With his hoodie sleeves pushed up to his elbow, he probably hasno ideahow distracting this unassuming part of his body is—especially when Tenny extends a floatie-clad arm my way.
“Shall we?”
Chapter 26
Alex
Like a proper gentleman, Tenny escorts me by his elbow down the handful of steps that lead to the beach. I let go as we turn north, casually striding up the packed sand. The beach stretches on for miles, to the point where it seems endless, even though it eventually ends at the gaping Chesapeake Bay. Tiny sandpipers scurry in front of us, racing back and forth to avoid the waves. Tenny’s dinosaur friend squeaks with every step, and it doesn’t take long before I’m laughing.
“What possessed you to create this ensemble?”
Tenny exhales a contented sigh, smiling into the distance.
“I was going to tell you that it was for a disguise so no one would recognize me, but honestly, I wanted to make you laugh.”
I chuckle. “Mission accomplished.”
