Page 77 of If We Never Met

She glanced over her shoulders, seeing her friends gazing at them with unapologetic curiosity. "We could give them something to see."

He grinned. "I thought you'd want to keep our relationship private."

"Our relationship has never been private." She put her hands on his shoulders as she stole a much-needed kiss. "There. It's done."

"For now," he promised.

"For now," she agreed.

They stared at each other for a long minute, with the air sizzling between them, but a sudden cheer broke the trance they seemed to be in.

She turned toward the field as a fly ball headed straight for Hailey. She caught it and another cheer broke out. "That's Hailey," she said. As Hailey ran toward the dugout, she shouted, "Good catch, Hailey."

Hailey looked over at her with a big smile on her face as her team got ready to hit.

When she turned back to Dante, she saw a smile play around the corners of his mouth. "What?"

"Making the last out of the inning when you're on defense is always the best feeling."

"I bet. So, this isn't bringing only bad memories?"

"Surprisingly not. Her face was so full of joy. I remember that feeling."

"I'm sure you felt it a lot, considering how good you are at the game."

"Baseball is still a game of percentages. The best hitters in the league get out seventy percent of the time, and I try to raise that to a hundred percent of the time if I can."

"Hmm, I never thought of it that way. There's more failure than success."

"That's why the success is so sweet. It's a difficult game. But when you win, it feels amazing."

"I'd love to see you play."

His smile dimmed. "Maybe you will. Who knows?"

"I know," she said confidently. "I have faith in you."

"If I could will my arm to work, I would, but it's not that simple. It's not about desire."

"I understand, Dante. You have a real injury to deal with. But you're working hard, and you have a great rehab facility and an excellent doctor. I think you'll make it back."

"Hopefully. But I didn't come here to talk about my game. Why don't you introduce me to your friends? I know Hannah, but not the other two."

"Okay." They walked down the sideline, joining up with Hannah, Chloe, Gianna, and also Zach, who had just arrived. She introduced him to everyone, but there wasn't time for prying questions as Hailey came up to bat.

They cheered her on, but after two swings and two misses, Hailey hit a weak ball to the pitcher and was thrown out at first. Her smile turned into a dejected frown as she walked back to the dugout, and no amount of cheering and support seemed to change that.

"She's so hard on herself," Gianna murmured.

"I keep telling her it's just a game. She's here to have fun," Zach put in. "But that almost makes her angrier."

"I agree," Gianna said. "Last game, I said nice try, and she almost bit my head off."

"I hated when anyone said that to me," Dante said, drawing all eyes to him.

"Really?" Gianna asked curiously. "Why?"

"Because I was disappointed in myself. I couldn't hear what anyone else had to say. I just knew that I'd failed, and it pissed me off." He cleared his throat. "But your little girl is not me, so…"

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