Page 25 of If Tomorrow Never Comes

“About four years. Ever since I got back from Arkansas.”

“Arkansas? I thought ... Didn’t you say you’d always been in Omaha?”

She’d remembered that detail, huh? He stretched his legs out, leaning back on his hands. “I guess I did, didn’t I? It’s true when I’m giving the abbreviated version of my life story.” He gave a humorless laugh. “Or when I’m trying to impress someone, since Arkansas was a failure. My senior year of college I was drafted for pro baseball, but it didn’t work out in the long run.”

Elliott frowned. “I’m no baseball expert, but my dad’s a huge fan so I watched it a lot by proxy. I didn’t think Arkansas had a team?”

“They’ve got minor league. Most players don’t go straight to the major leagues out of college, no matter how good they are. The minor leagues are there to prepare us, but even then, a lot of guys never make it big. The Royals Double-A team is in northwest Arkansas. I was lucky and moved to Triple-A pretty quick and got to come back to Omaha to play. I got injured not long after that, though.” He’d been disappointedat first, but in hindsight it worked out for the best. “Minor-league pay sucks, so I’d been working at my friend’s garden center during the offseason the whole time. When I was cut from the team, I got my certification and started doing it full time.”

She paused her ministrations with Hank. “I’m sorry you got hurt.”

He shrugged. “It happens. I enjoyed playing, but there’s a lot about the pro-athlete life I don’t think I would have liked. I was never into it like some other guys were, so it’s probably better this way. I climbed trees way before I ever picked up a baseball glove.”

She glanced at the midsize maple at the edge of the dog park. “I don’t think I’ve ever climbed a tree.”

His mouth dropped open. “Never?”

She shook her head.

“We—” He caught himself. “You should remedy that. If you can find a good one with a spot to sit and just look out on the horizon, there’s nothing better.”

“I think I might be past my prime for that,” she said with a laugh. “I’m more of a ground dweller, anyway.”

“Got a thing about heights?”

“If by ‘thing’ you mean bone-crippling fear, then yes.” She looked down and added quietly, “I have several of those.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask what she meant, but at the last second he went with, “My sister hates heights, too. It’s funny ... That’s actually how I ended up in my first tree. We were flying kites as kids, and hers got caught in one, and she started crying because she was too afraid to go after it.” He grinned at the memory and that ladybug kite that was too torn up by the branches to be used again anyway, which had caused a whole new round of tears when he’d gotten down. “I should thank her for inspiring my eventual profession, probably.”

“You should.” She met his gaze for a beat, then cleared her throat and stood. “I’d better go.”

“Oh.” He scrambled to his feet as well. “Sure.” Hank tugged on the leash, and Jamie tightened his grip. “See you around?”

“Maybe,” she said with a nod, then disappeared into her building.

Jamie and Hank made their way back home, and he realized after the initial awkwardness, he and Elliott had had a nice conversation, almost like they were friends. His first inclination after seeing her last night had been to stay away, but after that?

Maybe he had nothing to worry about, after all.

Chapter Nine

Elliott

The second Elliott was back in her apartment she called Yuka.

“Well?” Yuka demanded by way of greeting. “How did it go? I can’t believe you didn’t call me last night.”

“Sorry, I thought you might be asleep.” Elliott, on the other hand, probably only got a total of three hours by the time she’d finally shut her mind off. For once, her thoughts had been consumed by something other than rogue leukemia cells sneaking around in her blood, just waiting for the right moment to explode, but she wouldn’t go as far as to say it had been a good distraction. She’d been this close to driving back to Lincoln but somehow talked herself into staying put.

Yuka squealed. “Out that late, huh? Please tell me it’s because of a man.”

“I did meet a guy named Stephen, but nothing wild happened because it’s me. He seems nice.”

“And?”

“He’s attractive. Very, actually.”

“Details, woman. Hair color, eyes, hand size? Don’t hold back.”

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