Page 30 of Hitting the Gap

“Yep.” Max thrust a package of red licorice at her. “Want a piece?”

Bailey eyed the package of candy. “Absolutely.” She reached over and grabbed a piece of the red rope and took a bite. “Mmm, thank you.”

“Are you Gonzo’s girlfriend?” Max asked.

“No, just his friend.”

Max shoved a piece of licorice in his mouth. “Me too,” he said as he chewed.

“I know. I’ve heard all about you.”

“You have?” Max’s eyes widened. “What’d you hear?”

Bailey grinned at the woman sitting beside her, who she assumed was Max’s mom, Kia. “I heard that you’re a Mario Kart fiend.”

“I am.” Max nodded.

Bailey leaned in a little closer and dropped her voice. “Gonzo told me he gives you the bad controller, so he has a chance of winning and you still beat him every time.”

“He gives me the bad controller?” he squealed.

“Yep, but don’t tell him I told you. So next time, make him switch controllers with you.” She winked at the little boy.

Max shoved another bite of licorice into his mouth. “I will.”

The brunette woman smiled. “Hi Bailey, I’m Kia.”

“Nice to meet you.”

The two women on the other side of Max, who’d been staring at her openly, grinned back at her. The blonde flashed a wave. “Hi, I’m Peyton and this is Kendall.”

The woman at the end of their group waved. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you,” Kendall said.

“You too.” Good lord, could these women be any more attractive? She’d expected them to be gorgeous. They were dating professional athletes after all, but she’d had a picture in her mind of what they’d look like and these women were not it. They were much more natural than she’d been expecting, which just made how pretty they were all the more startling.

She pulled her Gonzalez jersey away from her body, instantly aware of exactly how much larger she was than these women. It made sense they’d all be tiny. She’d seen the women Gonzo brought home and the women he’d been photographed with. Not a double digit in the mix.

Thank god, she wasn’t trying to date in this world because she sure as hell wouldn’t fit in.

“That’s a great jersey. Is it a special edition one?” Peyton asked.

Bailey eyed her shirt. “No, this is old. It’s from Gonzo’s first season.”

“That’s sweet that you’ve been supporting him throughout his entire career.”

The second the jerseys were on the market, Gonzo had mailed her entire family jerseys. Her family had gone over to the Gonzalez house for the first game with everyone wearing their matching jerseys. Her parents still watched opening day with Gonzo’s parents every season. It was sweet how into Gonzo’s career her dad was. He bought a new jersey every season. Somehow he’d convinced himself that those jersey sales landed directly in Gonzo’s pocket. Like that one jersey was going to make all the difference in the next contract negotiation.

“Gonzo said you two grew up together,” Kia said.

“We did. We’ve been neighbors our entire lives.”

“That’s so cool. So, were you always friends?”

Bailey nodded her head slowly as memories of growing up next door to the Gonzalez family swarmed her brain. “Yep, you didn’t mess with the Gonzalez-Reynolds kids. We were like a little gang.” She laughed.

“How many of you are there?” Kia asked.

“I’m one of four and Gonzo is one of six, so we were quite the crew on the block.”

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