Page 6 of Fielder's Choice

“I’ll give you my name next time I see you.”

She looks at me in surprise, but I see the hint of a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth. “You seem pretty confident.”

“Very confident,” I wink as she starts to back away toward the door. “See you around, Liv.”

With a small wave, she walks out of Urban Grind, and I let out a breath, resting my hands together on the back of my head.

Ari looks at me and smirks.

“What?” I ask.

“Nothing at all,” he chuckles. “It’s kinda fun to see this Lane. I only know you as Daddy Lane.”

My lips turn in disgust. “Donotcall me Daddy Lane.”

He throws his head back and laughs. “If Pierce wasn’t on his honeymoon right now, he would’ve loved that.”

“Thankfully, he’s in Aruba then,” I grumble.

Cole actually just had his wedding over the weekend, though he got married to Rory Fisher last spring.

Well, I guess she’s actually RoryPierce.

God, that was a shitshow for a bit. Rory’s dad is our Field Manager, Paul Fisher… who always made sure to let us know that all of his players were to stay away from his daughter.

Cole and Rory both pined for each other for almost four years before they finally gave in. Shit hit the fan when her dad found out, and since we were at an away series in Vegas when he did, they snuck out and got married that night. All is well with them now since Paul apologized for his behavior, and he’s the one who threw the wedding for them over the weekend.

And since Rory is actually Sage’s nanny, that means that I get to take my daughter to her ballet lesson tomorrow. I can’t fucking wait to see how much she’s learned.

“You know you’re still looking at the door, right?” Ari asks.

I shake my head and compose myself. “Uh, no… I didn’t realize that.”

He whistles with a devious look on his face. “Someone’s into Liv.”

A small smile crosses my face. “Can’t really deny that.”

I barely even met the woman, but there’s something about her. Something drawing me in, wanting to learn everything about her.

“Did you just find Sage’s new mom?” he asks, cocking his eyebrow.

I swipe my thumb across my bottom lip, smiling even wider. “Yeah, I think I did.”

three

Olive

Thesmellofincense,rich and spicy, hits me the moment I walk into Violet’s apartment on the Lower East Side.

My sister’s wife, Luna, could be considered a flower child if this were the 1970s. She’s a free spirit and very into New Age practices. She has a crystal for everything that ails you and could tell you exactly what the stars are saying about you.

I don’t believe any of it personally, but I keep that to myself. Luna is sweet, and she means well.

She’s also probably the only person I know who could pull off teal hair.

“Liv!” Violet chimes, stepping out of her home office.

“Hey, Vi!” I reply, kicking off my boots by the door. “Where’s Luna?”

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