Page 69 of Walk Off

Chapter 18

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Kyle

The gift didn’t work.

He’d thought for sure that she’d see that old music box and fall at his feet.

What a fucking idiot he’d been. Was he wrong? Did she really not want to be with him?

Maybe she really didn’t love him and the sex they’d had was just scratching an itch. Was it possible that all the looks and longing had been in his mind?

No. He knew her. She was scared. She loved her daughter and wouldn’t do anything to hurt Jasmine ever again. She wasn’t pushing him away because she didn’t love him. She was doing it to protect both her and Jasmine's hearts.

She hadn’t lied about that.

She was being completely honest and he needed to do the same. Shawn was right. Plans went wrong. He had to stop beating around the bush and tell her what he wanted.

She needed to hear the words from him.

He loved her and Jasmine, and wanted to be in their lives, as a father to Jasmine and a husband to Celia.

Yes, he wanted to marry her. He wanted to be beside her every day, until the end of time.

There was only one problem, he refused to tell her he loved her over the phone. He needed to say it in person, and that couldn’t happen until he had a day off.

Sunday. He had a day off on Sunday, which was four days away.

He could wait four days.

Probably.

Luckily, he had baseball to keep him busy.

The next day, he got up for an early run, meeting up with Heath and Noah, since their teams held spring training in the same town.

“This is too early,” Noah complained.

“You fucking complain about everything,” Heath said, as they ran along a trail at a local college that Heath had apparently found a few years back. “On the way here, you were complaining about the coffee in the lobby not being strong enough.”

“It wasn’t,” Noah exclaimed.

“I see you two are at it as usual,” Kyle said, completely used to their bickering ways after spending time with them in Valley Falls.

“Noah’s just mad because last night at the bar, no women talked to him.” Heath smirked. “They all wanted a piece of me.”

“Maybe I didn’t want them to talk to me,” Noah said. “And if you were so popular, why the hell did you go home alone?”

“I’m selective,” Heath said.

Listening to them talk was a great way to keep his mind off Celia and his future. They chatted and argued for another thirty minutes before they ended their run at the start of the trail.

Breathing heavily and bent over at the waist, Heath said, “Jesus, I’m getting too old for this.”

Kyle patted him on the back. “Nah, you just have to get back in the swing of things.”

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