Page 5 of Hitting the Gap

“I’m being serious, Bay. It’s not a problem at all for you to move in. During the season, I’m barely home, so you’d practically have the place to yourself. You can stay as long as you like. Learn San Diego, get the lay of the land, figure out where you want to live. Wait till you find something you actually like so you don’t have to move a bunch of times.”

It would be nice to actually look at a place in person before she committed to moving there. Maybe she’d even be able to find something closer to the university, so she could walk to work and she could hold off on buying a car.

She chewed on her bottom lip and looked at Gonzo. “You sure you wouldn’t mind?”

“Nah, not at all.” He took a sip of his drink. “Why don’t we go check out my place? If you like it, we go find a storage unit and put your stuff into that so you can return the U-Haul. If you hate it, we start calling around to see if we can find you someplace to move. Either way, you need someplace to stay tonight, and my place is free.” He threw his garbage onto the tray.

“Free’s good.”

“Figures.” Gonzo snorted. “See. You haven’t changed that much after all.”

Twenty minutes later, Bailey walked into the apartment and scanned the open layout. Good lord. She knew Gonzo made a lot of money, but this was ridiculous. She wandered over to the row of floor-to-ceiling windows that covered the entire living room and looked out. The ocean spanned out for miles in front of her. The unobstructed view made it feel like her own private sanctuary. “Wow. That view sure beats looking at old man Peter’s lawn full of cars.”

“No shit.” Gonzo snorted. “Does he still have those?”

“Of course he does. Not much has changed in the old neighborhood.”

Bailey glanced back at the ocean view. “Seriously, Gonz, this view is amazing!”

Gonzo walked up beside her and nudged her with his hip. “It’s not bad, huh?”

“Yeah, you could say that.”

“You remember when we were kids and dreamed about seeing the ocean someday?” he asked.

“Yeah.” She smiled at the memory of the two of them sitting in the tree fort in her backyard, talking all big about what they were going to be when they grew up. She was going to be an astronaut and fly to the moon and Gonzo was going to be a professional baseball player. Over the years she’d changed her mind a million times, but Gonzo’s dream had never wavered. Looking at this apartment with the view of the ocean and the TV that took up an entire wall, it was like he’d gone down the dream list and checked off every box. Whereas her list had been lost years ago. As happy as she was for her childhood friend, she couldn’t deny there was a little part of her that was jealous. She’d busted her ass doing everything she was supposed to do and where had it gotten her? Alone in a new town, without a car, without a home. Honestly, it was kind of humiliating.

She glanced around the apartment. Even if she hadn’t broken up with Brad, she’d never have been able to afford to live in a place like this. And in her current situation, her budget ran more toward the apartment she’d just turned down. As nice as it would be to have a free place to live to give her a chance to save up some money, she couldn’t take advantage of Gonzo. He’d always been the kind of guy to bend over backwards for everyone else, even when he didn’t want to. Offering her a place to crash was just another one of those times.

“So you wanna see your room?”

She eyed the gaming system in the entertainment stand. This place screamed bachelor. Rich bachelor, but bachelor. “I appreciate the offer, but I can’t stay here.”

“Why?”

“Come on, Gonz, you’re off the hook. We both know you made that offer just to be nice, and I’m not going to hold you to it.”

“I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t cool with you staying. Come on, Bay, there’s no fucking way I’m going to let you move into some shithole just so you don’t feel guilty about crashing in my place. I’ve got lots of space. I’m barely here, anyway.”

She’d seen the way girls threw themselves at Gonzo growing up. She could only imagine it was worse now that he was a professional ballplayer. And Gonzo had never been one to shy away from attention. “Yeah, but I don’t want to cramp your style when you are home.”

“How are you gonna cramp my style?”

Heat ran up her face. She could practically feel how red her face was. Damn Irish genes. “I don’t know. Girls?”

“You’d have your own room, Bay.” He looked at her and grinned as she shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny.

“I promise to control myself when it comes to sex.”

She snorted. “Right, so you’re just not going to have sex?”

Gonzo’s eyes widened in horror. “Jesus, no. Of course I’m going to have sex. I just promise not to do it some place that will make you uncomfortable.”

“Geez, thanks.” She rolled her eyes. “Seriously, you don’t think having me sleeping in the next bedroom is gonna cramp things when you bring some random woman home? Most girls wouldn’t like it.”

“Not really worried about whether or not they like it, honestly.”

“Oh, my god. Please tell me you have not become that guy.”

---