I cover the side of my mouth to stage-whisper to the women. “Muscles like that aren’t good for snuggling. You need a man built like Bruce toreallyget cozy. Forget couch pillows; all you need is—”
When I move to slap Tenny in the abs, he snatches my hand, interlacing our fingers and kissing my knuckles.
“If accepting you as you are isn’t true love, I don’t know what is,” he says, his voice artificially high and raspy.
Finally! Tenny has joined the chat.
However, he shouldnevertalk like that. It’s like nails on a chalkboard, and it’s taking everything in me not to put my fingers in my ears.
I gaze up adoringly, like Tenny using the L-word while kissing my hand didn’t send my insides into a confused tailspin.
Rein it in, body! We’re acting, remember?
“Oh…well.” The two women look at each other, perplexed. “I guess…have a nice day?”
“You too!” I beam with an exaggerated wave as they start to jog away.
“So much for your disguise working,” I say, bumping his shoulder into mine as soon as they’re out of earshot.
“I have to say. Idid notthink you had that in you.” Tenny doesn’t look at me, but his full-dimpled smile makes my jumbled stomach relax.
“I had to dosomething. They were going to ruin our…our session.”
“Is that what we’re calling it?”
I slap him in the abs with my other hand because he still hasn’t let go of my fingers.
Tenny mutters a softOwsound before saying, “Sorry. It took me a minute to find my character motivation.”
“You do that a lot, you know?”
His gaze finally finds mine. “Do what?”
“Talk like you’re in a movie or something. Why is that?” I’m voracious for details about Tenny—like he’s a puzzle I need to solve.
“Ah.” He grins off into the distance, squeezing my fingers like it’s the most natural thing in the world. “That would be a remnant from when I was Georgia’s scene partner. I spent so many years helping her learn lines from everything fromAnnietoCat on a Hot Tin Roof. Eventually, her theater-speak snuck into my vocabulary.” We walk for a few paces before he adds, “I actually miss running lines with Georgia. I should ask her to send me a script.”
A rope snaps tight in my chest.
Tenny does everything big. He plays each baseball game like it’s his last time on the field. He loves his sisters, unbothered if that kind of blatant familial affection might make him seem weak to others. He cares, and he lives out loud, anddarnedif there isn’t something admirable about that.
I want to be like that again, not this shadow version of myself. After years of guarding my body and my heart, I’m almost desperate for Tenny’s technicolor way of living.
So, instead of listening to the little voice that’s telling me I’m unsafe near the water, I let Tenny’s warm fingers be my safety net as we laugh and chat for miles.
Chapter 27
Tenny
Irace up the upper-level seating in the Waves stadium, taking the stairs two at a time. Hopefully it’ll give the anxiety coursing through my bloodstream somewhere to go. Alex gave me a break for the last three games, but today, we’re supposed to address singing “Born to Run” while lacing my spikes. I’m particularly fond of this superstition because it was my first. I’d sung this exact song before a breakout game that resulted in me being pulled from the Waves’ minor league feeder team to The Show.
Since then, I’ve sung it while putting on my shoes everysinglegame.
It doesn’t help that I’ve been a complete headcase since helping Alex take her first stroll near the ocean in half a decade.Afterward, I had to tell myself,You do not need to text the group chat to ask if holding hands means something. You are a first baseman for one of the best—no, THE best—MLB team. You do not need to ask your friends if Alex letting you hold her chilly hand during a pleasant walk on the beach is significant.
Iknowit’s significant, even if Alex isn’t ready to admit it.
The thing is…I can’t stop thinking about her.
