“You’ll have moved on by then—clearing out another locker.”Then I step back, brushing past him.Conversation’s over.“Better stay close.”
Torres cracks up.
I can feel Reston still watching me, still stewing over the exchange he started.
Foster fires his pitch, and the ball cracks off the bat, shooting into the gap.
Reston takes off, thinking I’ve got no shot at it.
I dive, glove out.
I catch it and fire it to Torres at second base.
Double play, and the Colts take the game and the series.
Reston stands on third, staring me down.
“That’s what you get,” Torres mutters, jogging past.“Don’t poke a man about the woman he loves.”
Decker and Torres laugh as they head into the dugout.
I join them, but Reston did what he wanted to.He scratched an old wound, making me second-guess where Hadley and I stand.Take the sex out of it for us—where does that leave two people afraid of the word commitment?
All my teammates congratulate me, some of them doing the ESPN highlight wheel jingle.
We file out of the dugout and into the locker room and take showers, and I’m selected to go into the media room.
I’m antsy the entire time, wanting to get out and celebrate with my family.
By the time I make it to the family room, I’m the last Colt to arrive.
My mom is rocking Tanner to sleep.My dad is talking with Decker, Hayes, and Foster.Hadley is sitting at the table with the other wives and fiancées.
I stop for a moment, realizing how much I like this.Having someone to come to the family room for.Someone to walk back to the condo with.Someone who is on Team Easton.
Hadley either senses me or she just happens to look up, but our gazes meet and she smiles.That smile kills me every time, as if she’s been sitting there waiting for me to appear.
I break across the room, but my mom intercepts me with Tanner.
“He’s about to fall asleep.”She nods, and I see that he’s one breath away from passing out.“Your dad and I wanted to talk to you and Hadley.”
“About?”
“You’ll see.”She smiles.“Did you want to take him?”
“Do you want me to take him?”
“Is that even a question?”She laughs and walks away, rocking him as I imagine she did me.
I walk over to the table and sit on the arm of the chair Hadley’s in.“Hey.”
I lean down to kiss her on the cheek, but she tilts her head, and our lips meet.Neither of us pulls away, and if we didn’t have an audience, I’d be chancing some tongue action.
“Get a room, you two,” Callie says.
“They have one,” my mom says.“Austin.”
My dad breaks apart from the guys.Hadley looks at me as though she doesn’t understand what’s going on.
