Page 130 of The Foul Out

Rather than shake it, I yanked him in for a hug, chuckling.

“What’s so funny?” he asked as he pulled back.

“Remember back in high school, when Bill joked about me marrying your sister?”

“Ugh, you were giving Dani shit about her braces, and Bill said it was because you liked her.” He barked out a laugh. “I called his idea a foul or some baseballish shit like that.” He rolled his eyes. “We ate, slept, and breathed baseball back then.”

“Some of us still do.” I pulled the burger patties out of the outdoor fridge. “You declared it would be a foul out. At the time, I agreed. Dani was never going to be the girl for me.” I smirked. “But.” Over my shoulder, I watched Harper where she sat, smiling at my mom.

She tucked her braid over her shoulder and wiggled her fingers in my direction.

I blew her a kiss. “I’m going to need you to change your mind, because I’m marrying your sister.”

I might not need his blessing, or anyone’s, for that matter, but it felt good when JJ smiled and nodded.

Harper

I glancedup from my phone as we pulled behind a building I didn’t recognize.

Although I preferred to drive, especially since I’d fallen in love with the SUV Kyle had gotten me, he had insisted that Cam pick me up from Boston Lights and drive me to meet him today.

“I thought we were going to lunch. Where are we?”

“Don’t worry.” Cam looked over his shoulder at me and smiled. “He’s inside.”

I sighed. “This seems like another harebrained scheme.”

Cam barked out a laugh. “You know our boy is full of them.”

After we’d returned from Florida, Cam had been a lot more relaxed around the kids and me, even when we were at Kyle’s place. Which was more often than not, these days.

I pulled the door to the Escalade open. And before I had both feet on the asphalt, the heavy metal door of the brick building opened, and Kyle stepped out.

“Hey, Crabby.” He moved to my side and greeted me with a kiss. “I missed you.”

“It’s been six hours.” The kids and I had stayed with him last night, and although he had crawled out of bed at six to get to practice, it was barely noon.

His hand found the small of my back. “Feels longer. I can’t wait for the season to be over.”

“You don’t mean that.” I laughed. The Revs were leading the division and would be heading into the playoffs as the top seed.

“I’m not saying I don’t want to win the World Series. Because we so are this year.”

Smiling, I nodded. The farther we got into September, the more important it became that I agreed with his assessment that the Revs were going to win it all.

“But I’m ready for more time with you and the kids. Baseball is a bitch when you have a family at home.”

I peered up at him and gave him a reassuring smile. “It hasn’t been that bad. We have a system.”

A lot of which revolved around FaceTime. Especially since Kyle spent a good 50 percent of his time outside of Boston. But we were making it work. And when he was home, he was all-in with the kids and with me.

“Come on. Coach only gave me an hour off.” He led me into the back door, where two armed security guards stood. Past them was what looked like a cage door.

“Where are we?” I asked, apprehension skittering through me.

“The back entrance to Tiffany’s.”

My heart stuttered. “What?” I breathed, peering over my shoulder. Tiffany’s didn’t have a restaurant inside, did it? Therewas that movie,Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but I always thought that was more of a joke about eating there.