Page 70 of Nailed at Home Plate

Pulling away the lid and a layer of tissue paper, I was greeted with the vision of the gorgeous special edition team hat that I’d been eyeing up all season. I kept my excited squeal internal.Okay, maybe this wasn’t so bad. Employee perks and all.

I lifted the hat out of the box and quickly set to work adjusting the cap to fit my head. But this was a rather large box forjusta hat. Glancing down, my heart came to a complete and utter stop.

Carefully folded inside the box was a Jamie Rheems jersey.

My head shot up. Like a hawk after its prey, I found Jamie in an instant, as he caught a hell of a fastball from the pitcher during warmups. Did he do this? Did Jamie orchestrate all of this? Or was it just some cruel prank?

There was also something else tucked in the box. It must have shifted in transport as it was sort of off to the side of the jersey. It was an envelope and what looked like a velvet box.

Skipping any sort of decorum as my hands trembled, I tore open the envelope. The paper had the team’s letterhead at the top along with a handwritten note.

My brow furrowed as I read his letter over and over again. It was disbelief mixed with elation. Was I dreaming again?

I wanted to hug the piece of paper to my chest and never let go. Jamie and a grand romantic gesture. It wasn’t flowers but to a baseball-loving girl, it was the best fucking thing.

Blinking back happy tears, the black velvet box drew my attention next. He mentioned some sort of token from his game in his note. Could this be it?

With trembling hands, I carefully opened the box. Choking back a sob, I covered my mouth to muffle any more embarrassing sounds. I wasn’t an overly emotional person, but Jamie certainly had taken me through the wringer with this one.

Inside the box was a necklace. But it wasn’t some jewelry store necklace, oh hell no. It was a custom-made pendant. In a frame of white gold was a piece of dirty baseball leather in the shape of a heart.

Then it hit me.

It was his first hit ball with the Sillys. The ball that ended his post-injury no-hit streak. The hit that he claimed was all because of me.

Holy fuck my heart couldn’t take it right now.

Sniffling, I gingerly pulled the jewelry piece from the box and fastened it around my neck. My heart started singing as soon as the cool metal hit my flushed skin. Now I had to fucking deck myself out head to toe with all of Jamie’s gifts.

Fussing with the gift box, I shoved it off my lap as I pulled the jersey from the confines. Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t one of those cheap knock-off ones, it was a wearable,embroideredgame-use-onlykind of jersey. This had to be from Jamie’spersonalstash.

Fuck.

It even smelled like him beneath the hint of laundry soap. What the hell had I become? And in public no less? Here I was, with a front-row seat to my favorite baseball team,huffingmy favorite player’s jersey.

As I slipped it on, I remembered our conversation at dinner before his first road trip. That he wanted something as simple as seeinghis girl, wearing his jersey, cheering for him in the stands. The jersey was the equivalent of me advertising the man on a billboard in Times Square.

“Cady!” The shouted pet name hit my ears like a welcoming balm. Cramming the heels of my hands into my eyes to brush away the tears, I looked up. My eyes met the look of pure and utter joy on Jamie’s face as he jogged over to my seating area. The rest of the team headed to the dugout to my right.

He leaned over the padded field wall and pressed his face into the safety net. The vision of him turned my heart into a puddle of goo. “You made it! Andhell,” He sighed happily as he drank me in. “You lookfucking fantasticin my jersey. You found my special gift.”

Myjersey.

Hisjersey.

Hislucky charm onmyheart.

“I can’t believe you did all this…” I whispered as I met him at the wall. I quickly glanced around, hoping I wasn’t drawing attention. Having a player this close to the seats was something reserved for small kids asking for autographs. “Why didn’t you call? I’ve been a mess worried about you and—”

“I know. But I wanted to do agrandgesture. The Sillys convinced me.” Jamie stopped to catch his breath as his words tumbled out all at once.

“Wait…the Sillys?MySillys?” My hand fell to my chest that was still sporting my team shirt under Jamie’s open jersey. My guys had something to do with all this pomp and circumstance?

“They helped.” My eyes looked to Jamie as his voice softened. “I should have told you this long before I got called back up to the majors. The truth is…” Leaning in closer, his fingers wiggled through the netting to grasp onto my hand. “The truth is I didn’t know how to tell you this. I didn’t want to do it over the phone.”

“T-Tell me what…?” I whispered, my voice shaking.

“Cadence,” The sudden seriousness had me locking eyes with his. He took a step closer, his field cleats against the padded field wall. “I love you.”

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