Page 67 of Pitcher Us
“Will, this seems a bit more detailed than a normal date.”
“Does it?” He quirks up an eyebrow. “I mean, buying out a tea shop for the day for my girl seems pretty low bar.”
“You bought out the whole place?!” I don’t mean to say that so loud, but I’m shocked. I’m fucking flattered.
Will places his hands on my shoulders then runs them up and down my arms. “I thought we covered the whole ‘I have money to spend on you’ deal. Callie, I know how stressed you are about us keeping this a secret, but today let’s just be, okay?”
I nod because it’s the only thing I think I can manage. Will cups my face, placing a small kiss to my lips.
“One day at a time.”
After a few minutes Rachel brings out several trays full of fruit, cookies, sandwiches, tarts, and small cakes. “Okay, you two. If you’re ready, go ahead and take a seat.”
Will holds out his hand for me to go first, and when we reach the table he pulls out my chair before sitting across from me. Rachel then places this beautiful drink in front of us.
“Alrighty, this is our mango hibiscus tea. Callie, Will told me that you like to keep your caffeine intake low, so two out of the three teas today will be caffeine free.”
“Thank you,” I say, then flash a smile to Will and he just winks back.
“There’s blended mango at the bottom, and I always recommend mixing up the tea at the beginning, but some of my customers say they simply love the mango first, so as my mom would say, ‘whatever floats your boat.’”
I pick my drink up, stirring around the fruit with the straw and Will follows suit. Rachel then brings one of the trays full of fruit and small baked goodies in between us. “And these are the starters. I’m going to start on the next tea and I’ll be back shortly.”
“Thank you, Rachel,” Will says as she walks to the back, then holds his drink out to me. “Cheers.”
“Cheers.” I clink my glass to his then take my first sip. “Oh my gracious. This is delicious.”
“Thank fuck.” Will exhales. “Do you know how stressed I was that this was going to go so poorly?”
I can’t help the laughter that comes. “Why were you so worried?” I pick up a raspberry from the tray and pop it in my mouth.
“Well, I threw this together in less than twenty-four hours. I barely made it before their closing time yesterday to talk to Rachel about me buying out the place for the day.”
“I can’t believe you did all this,” I whisper.
“Day’s not over yet.” Will winks as he eats one of the macarons.
I hum low. “Hmm, that’s true. I also believe I was told I could ask any question that comes to mind when we got where we’re going. Is that still true?”
“Fire away, Blaze. I won’t promise a ramble, but I’ll answer honestly.”
Fidgeting in my chair, I pull it closer to the table. I have one question that I’ve hung on to for a while. “Okay. Why baseball? Why not keep going with motocross?”
Will puts his drink down and leans back in his chair. “I always enjoyed both. Not to come off like an ass, but I was great at both.”
“Humble,” I huff jokingly.
He shoots me a smirk, but it quickly disappears. “My dad loved bikes. Motocross was where we bonded. Spent hours on end at dirt tracks—so bad that Mom would have to drag us off when it was too dark.”
“That’s sweet.” I have to take a sip because I'm dying to ask more follow-up questions already, but I know that he’s working up to more, I just need to be patient. Granted that’s not always been my strong suit—hence drinking my tea to occupy my need to talk.
“Yeah, well, I’m sure you’ve wondered why I haven’t offered to introduce you to him, or mentioned him for that matter. He had always been a drinker. As a kid I didn’t really understand what was going on but after a while he got more brazen with it. We went out to dinner after one of my races and he drank a few too many but drove us home anyway. We barely made it out of the parking lot before he ran off into a ditch and into a street pole.”
“Oh, God, Will. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean?—”
“Hey, it’s okay. I was fine other than some scratches from the glass. He was the same, but not at all remorseful. He obviously got arrested and Mom picked me up at the hospital. She was furious—rightfully so. She gave him an ultimatum—get sober or leave. He left the next week and never looked back.”
My stomach turns in knots, and I feel like my heart dropped out of my chest. “So that’s why you never drink.”
