Page 160 of Restricted List

“No, it’s because you’re seeing one of my players. I know you are.”

My heart sinks. “What? No, none of the guys are interested in me, Dad.”

“Bullshit,” he chides. “I’m not as young as I used to be, but I’m not stupid. You’re seeing one of my players, and I’m going to find out who.”

I hang my head in defeat. “Please just let us be,” I say, so softly it’s almost imperceptible.

“I want you to be happy, but you deserve to be treated right. None of those guys are going to do that for you. They’ll hit up some random woman as soon as we travel to the next city.”

Anger floods my veins. “Then you don’t know your players as well as you think. Theonlything I’m worried about is how you’ll react if you figure it out. But I’m not worried about him at all. He loves me, and he wouldneverdo anything to hurt me.”

“You’re being naive. I know baseball players.”

“So do I!” I shout. “I’ve grown up around baseball players. It’s not the eighties anymore, Dad. People can keep in touch now. It’s easy to stay in contact with your partner when you’renot in the same city. Most of those guys in the clubhouse right now wouldn’t even dream of cheating on their partner. But you wouldn’t know that because you have it in your head that nothing has changed in forty years.”

“Then let’s hope you’re right. I don’t want to see you end up heartbroken over some guy that isn’t worth it.”

I take a deep breath, calming myself down so I don’t make this worse than it already is. With the most gentle voice I can muster, I say, “He’s worth everything, Dad. He’s not ‘some guy.’ He isn’t like you think, and I hope you’ll finally see that one day.”

My dad sighs as I stalk past him.

The clock is ticking, and it’s going to be absolute hell when he finds out.

“Everything okay, Rory?” Harlow asks as I slide into my seat. Cole got her and their parents season tickets right on the first baseline. Since there are four tickets and their parents don’t get to many games, I usually join Lo right here. Lucia sits with us when she can, but she’s still working when she does. Ella likes to stay back, but she’s joining us out here today.

I sigh and sink into my chair. “Just had a fun argument with my dad. The usual.”

Sage climbs into my lap as Ella looks at me in concern. “What happened?”

“Well, he knows I’m seeing one of the players for starters.”

“Oh, shi-… shoot,” Lucia says. “How did he figure that out?”

“He said that’s the only reason I would care so much about him controlling my love life. He still doesn’t know it’s Cole, but how much longer can it possibly be before he realizes it? He knows it’s a player. That narrows it down to the twenty-sixguys on the active roster. Half of them are married or in serious relationships. That just narrows it down further.”

Harlow leans over and drapes her arm around my shoulders. “I’m sorry it’s all happening like this. My brother is a great guy, and I hate that your dad is insinuating he’s not enough for you.”

“The funny part is that he told me specifically that Cole is the only guy on the team thatisn’ta complete pain in his ass. But that’s still not good enough for his ‘baby girl.’”

Lucia places a hand on my arm reassuringly. “I know this is tough,ricitos, but everything will work out somehow. He might be angry at first, but he’ll come around. And if he doesn’t, I’ll tell him exactly what I think. In Spanish. That way, he can be irritated over the fact he has no idea what I said.”

I laugh lightly. “I love you girls. Sorry, I’m not trying to ruin the mood.”

“You don’t have anything to apologize for, babe,” Ella says. “You’re going through a lot right now—we’re here to help.”

The fans around us start cheering, and we look over to see the guys taking to the field for warmups.

Cole doesn’t come over to talk to us like Knox and Josh do, but I think that’s for the best. We don’t need to give my dad any reason to believe we’re together.

He does smile at me, though.

And he does so a few more times during warmups.

And again, when he’s in position between second and third base, watching Knox pitch a 1-2-3 inning to start off the Stars’ season.

After that, the guys head back to the dugout, getting ready to bat in the bottom of the first.

My dad made some changes to the batting order this year, namely that our newest acquisition—Ari—is batting leadoff. He ends up with a full count on five pitches before he sends the ballinto the shallow outfield, flying just over the tip of the Chicago Windjammers’ second baseman’s glove.

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