Page 54 of Batter Up!

“Of course!” she said with confidence. “But you’ve never missed a single day at the bakery. Are you okay?”

I walked out into the family room to hear Tyler’s side of the conversation.

Tyler was saying, “I know, man, but you seriously owe me….. Yes, you do! ….. You made my girl cry and think I didn’t remember her.”

“I’m okay, but something has come up, and I promise I will tell you everything.” Once I knew what was going on, I thought to myself. Tyler was talking to his brother very early in the morning for a reason.

“I got you, babe,” Penelope said.

“You’re the best!” I exclaimed and then just blurted out what I had wanted to talk to her later today about. “Do you want to be promoted to manager?”

“What? Are you fucking serious?” Penelope asked, and then I heard another voice before Penelope groaned, “Yes, Peyton. I’ll put money in the swear jar.”

I had to laugh, “Good morning, P! You’re up early, young lady.”

“Hi, Molly!” I heard Peyton say into the phone.

“I would love to be manager,” Pen said. “But I need to give the diner a two week notice. They were the only ones who gave me a chance when I was fifteen and pregnant with this brat’s brother.”

Peyton laughed, and I could hear her say, “I’m not a brat!”

“Of course!” I said. “I respect that.”

I looked up to see Tyler leaning against the open door and smiling at me.

“Pen, I’m going to let you go. If you need help today, call Cash or Lilly. Good luck, and thank you again. Oh, and go ahead and hire Janel on a part-time basis, if that’s okay with her. I think she’d be a great addition.”

“I’m guessing she agreed to be manager.” Tyler said.

“She was so excited. She’ll be perfect for the job,” I explained to him.

“I just got off the phone with Coach Mack. I explained that something came up and asked if I could miss morning practice as long as I would be at warmups and be ready for the game tonight. He said I’ve worked harder than any other player on the team, so he figured I’d be okay missing one practice.”

“Wow. That’s awesome. Was Carter pissed that you called him so early?”

He gave me an adorable lopsided grin, “I love that you knew I was talking to Carter. Speaking of my brother….” He came over and sat next to me on the bed and took a deep breath. “This first crush of yours ... .did his brothers look just like him?”

“Um, I’m not sure. He did have two brothers who also played baseball. I’ll be honest that I only had eyes for him. It’s so silly, but when we locked eyes, I felt butterflies. I remember making fun of some of my boy-crazy classmates for getting butterflies around cute boys, and then I understood what they were talking about.”

“I have one more question for you, Molly,” he said very seriously.

“What’s that?”

“Did this take place at the Little League World Series?”

“How did you know that?” I asked quietly and just stared at him because I felt like I had been struck by lightning.

Tyler pulled out his phone and handed it to me. On the screen of his phone was a picture of three little boys and their mom in front of the ‘Welcome to the Little League World Series’ sign made from hedges.

“My papaw took this picture,” I said in a stunned whisper. I looked into his grass-colored eyes and saw so much passion and love. “You’re T.”

“And you’re my Strawberry Shortcake. You were my first crush, too,” he admitted and leaned down to give me the sweetest kiss. I wrapped my trembling arms around his neck and held on tightly to him. I couldn’t believe it was him. No wonder we had such an instant connection. I loved the feel of our tongues sliding against each other, and I moaned in appreciation. He pulled away from me and leaned his forehead against mine. “I can’t believe I found you. You’re the reason I’ve always been obsessed with redheads.”

I had to laugh, “And I’ve been obsessed with making allergy-free baked goods.” I kissed my way down his jaw and back up to his mouth.

Turns out, falling in love does not take as long as we think. It is proven that you can fall in love in as few as four minutes.

I couldn’t believe it was her. No wonder we had such a connection. I couldn’t wait to tell Landon and Carter because they had teased me like crazy after the Little League World Series about being the first of us to have a girlfriend. Julia had pointed out that one afternoon together and not getting her name and number meant she wasn’t a real girlfriend, but my brothers still liked to tease me. Now, here she was in my arms. I could hear the faint chime of the bakery’s bell from here, and I was glad she was able to take the day off. Waking up next to her had been amazing, and I had never slept better. I leaned down and kissed her small baby bump. “Hi, little one,” I said.“ I’m very glad to hear that you’re not giving your mommy morning sickness anymore.”

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