“Yes.”
Shock warred with hunger inside me. Suddenly I was seeing all those things I’d pictured three years ago. Not just a ring and a white picket fence. In the last three years, my dreams about him had gotten really specific. I saw him holding out my morning coffee while our kids played with the dog. I saw vacations in Disney World to celebrate his World Series win. I’d put pictures of our kids’ graduations next to my Pulitzers. And in every dream, he was holding me, his arm slung casually about my shoulders while I gazed happily into his eyes. And that was nothing compared to the graphic fantasies I’d spun of our nights together.
I knew they were just dreams, but I wanted them with all my heart. Even though my brain kept listing logical reasons why this would never work.
“We’ve only been together for a few hours. Hell, a week ago, you didn’t know I existed.”
“I sure as hell did.”
Well, okay. Yeah, thanks to spring break, we both knew about each other. “You’d forgotten about me.”
“Never.” Then he squeezed my hand. “Had you forgotten about me?”
“Hell, no.”
“See? It’s like we’ve been dating for three years.”
No, it wasn’t. It was as far from dating as it was possible to get. And yet I wanted to be persuaded by him. I wanted the future I’d pictured in such detail. And if I ignored the far-fetched dreams, there were all the present moment things that tempted me. I wanted my money problems to go away so I didn’t have to go home a failure. I wanted to spend lots of nights in his bed living out my secret fantasies. And it was pretty exciting to think that I’d be the hot rookie’s girlfriend. But I wasn’t someone who leaped so easily. I was pretty surprised that he was.
“What about Brittany?”
He blinked, clearly confused. “What about her?”
“I saw how you were looking at her. They had your face in close-up. You can’t tell me that you weren’t thinking about her at the game. She threw her scarf at you.” I didn’t know if that was true. It’s just what all the commentators had implied. That she’d accidentally dropped it near the dug out right beore his turn at bat, so he’d be the one to pick it up.
“I wasn’t thinking about her. I was thinking about hitting a home run.”
“Sure you were,” I drawled as I leaned back. “Especially when you grabbed her scarf and held it up for the cameras. I saw your face—”
“Jesus, Heidi, I wasn’t thinking about her. I was looking at thepress box.”
It took a moment for his meaning to sink in. And once it did, certain facts lined up. In order for the TV to have such a beautiful close-up on his face, he had to be looking directly at the camera. Which was in the press box. Which is where he’d been looking when he got that hungry, wistful look.
Wow.
“So, um, you were thinking about…”
“I can’t look up there without my pants getting tight, and that’s a fact.”
Well, um, okay. “So you’re not dating Brittany.”
“No.”
“And you’re asking me to move in with you.”
“Yes.”
I wanted to say yes. Oh how the word lay on my tongue aching to leap out. I wanted to be that person who threw herself into possibilities and experiences, but that just wasn’t in my nature. I couldn’t do it. Not like that.
“How about a date first?”
He grinned. “I can do a date. How about tomorrow night, right here in Broken Bow?”
I nodded. I could handle that. “What are we going to do? Dinner or a movie?”
“Both. I’ll pick you up at six.”
“At six,” I echoed, rapidly thinking through my clothing options. I hadn’t brought a date dress, which meant I probably needed to go shopping. Which wasn’t something I could really afford. “Um, let’s keep it casual, okay? Nothing fancy.”
