“I don’t—”
“Then where is she?”
I didn’t have an answer. It’s not like I could confess to what had actually happened. Not with the press less than ten feet away. “I, um—”
My father abruptly pushed forward. He was the reason I was late—I hadn’t wanted to leave him alone at the hotel. He’d take off, and I’d spend the rest of the day looking for him, dreading what I’d find. It was easier to haul him along. But getting him up and dressed had taken most of the morning. He’d been a huge, grumpy pain in my ass until he found out that Ellie had bailed. At that point, he decided he’d be a father and hand out relationship advice.
Suddenly I was hearing far too much about how he’d felt when Mom left. As if I hadn’t been there to see it firsthand. He offered to buy me a drink to help me get past the pain. I heard all the platitudes, about all those fish in the sea, and so on. And every word out of his mouth made me want to plant my fist in his face. And now he was about to turn his grumpy charm on Gia.
Pops tried to step between Gia and me. I’d made him wait in the hall, but when she brought us out here, he obviously felt he could interfere. And he did so with a charming smile.
“You don’t need that silly girl,” he said as I grabbed his arm and tried to keep him back.
“Pops, I got this—”
“Now listen here. I’m Jake’s dad and I got a million stories about my boy. About how he struggled with hitting until I showed him how to hold the bat right. It wasn’t in his hands, you see. It was in his feet. And then there was the way he moved when he caught the ball. His coach helped him there, and my boy listened. Quite the story. Good father. Good coach. And a boy who listened.”
Gia turned her tiny frame toward Pops. Her smile was tight and her eyes hard, but she spoke gently to my dad. “That is an interesting story, sir. And you’ve got a right to be very proud of your son.”
“That I do. That I do.”
“But I’m afraid this story is about Connor.” Her eyes drilled back to me, pinning me with her hard glare. “Connor, who is in the All-Star Game. Connor, who has his own story to tell. And Ellie was supposed to be here, as his cousin. And then you would get some lucky press, too.” She folded her arms tight across her chest. “But that can’t happen without her.”
“Um, yeah,” I said. After all, I already knew this. “We had… I mean, she had—”
“Look, the girl flaked out on him,” Pops interrupted. “It happens. I’m trying to help you out here. Give you a way to salvage the interview. Trust me, little girl, I can be right charming.”
I winced. If there was anything I knew about Gia, it was that she hated stupid nicknames. Sweetie, darling, honey, and most especially little girl. Thankfully, she didn’t unleash her fury on Pops. She reserved that for me.
“What did you do?” she asked, her voice low with threat.
“I… Um…” I swallowed. “Look, it’s personal. And I need to work it out with Ellie. But I’m afraid—”
She held up one long manicured finger in front of my face. I knew what that meant. I buttoned my lip as she pulled out her cell phone and dialed. A moment later, Ellie answered the phone.
“Hello?”
My heart lurched. My body did, too, but there wasn’t any place for me to go. I started to speak, but Gia flicked my lip with her pointy nail, and while I was recoiling from that, she started speaking.
“Ellie, it’s Gia. You’re on speaker. I’m here with Jake and his dad.”
“Oh. Um. Okay.”
Her voice sounded tentative and a little raw. As if she’d been crying. Or laughing.
I flinched from my own thoughts. I knew Ellie was a sweet person and that I’d been the one to screw up here. But what woman abandoned you after one screwup? I’d gone back to apologize. I was willing to talk this morning, only she hadn’t been there. She hadn’t been answering her phone, either.
Guilt and fury churned inside me, and I felt my temper start to fray. “Ellie, where are you?” My tone was harsh, too demanding. I’d heard it from my father a thousand times when he’d been in the wrong but didn’t want to admit it. He’d turn simple questions into accusations, and here I was doing the same thing.
Gia shot me a warning look, but she didn’t interfere.
“Um, I got back to Indy this morning.”
Yeah, that much I’d figured out. But before I could give voice to my sarcasm, Gia interrupted.
“Did Jake tell you about the interview this afternoon? The one with Connor?”
I heard Ellie gasp, and I knew she’d forgotten. “Oh crap. Oh, Gia, I’m so sorry.”
