Page 47 of Lines We Cross
“Oh jeez, you here to kick me while I’m down too?”
“Come on, Max. It’s not like that. We’re trying to help you. If you’d let us.”
I waved my hand in the air in a rolling motion. “Go ahead. Give it to me. I want to hear this.”
Ryder smiled patiently. “You know you’re kind of a jerk when you’re sad. I’m not sure Skylar knows what she’s getting herself into.”
I set my beer bottle down and tried to pin him with a glare. “Have you ever been in love, Ry?”
He shook his head.
“Then don’t be so judgey, huh?”
Ryder smiled and I couldn’t help but match him for a second.
“You need to make a choice, Max,” he said gently.
I frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“You going to Texas? Or New York? Or Seattle? Or are you staying in Nickel Bay?”
“Are you kidding me right now?”
Ryder shook his head, his face clear. “No. I mean, I know you bought this place, but it’s a little hard to believe you’re giving up professional baseball, either as a player or a coach. If you’re not planning to stick around, tell us now so the rest of us don’t eject from our lives and move everything for nothing.”
My jaw flopped.
Ryder just looked at me expectantly, never breaking into a smile that told me he was joking.
I hopped up, too incensed to stay seated. “Dude! Of course I’m staying. Just because they offered me a job doesn’t mean I’m taking it. I said I wanted to live here and build a life with Rae. I meant every word of that. I already called Coach and turned him down. Why is everybody finding this hard to believe?”
Ryder leaned back. “Great. So you made your choice. Did you tell Skylar that?”
“Yes, of course I—”
I paused, realizing I hadn’t spoken plainly when I told her the news. I assumed she knew I would say no. But if even Ryder was questioning my plans, it must mean I didn’t make things clear enough.
He smiled at me, a smug little man sitting in my favorite chair.
“Oh, crap.”
“Exactly.” He gave me two air guns and hopped up.
The slamming door brought me out of my stupor. I was such an idiot. It all clicked for some reason when Ryder dropped his magic. The dude should give up modeling and be a couples’ counselor. Never assume people knew what you meant. Rae already told me she had trouble trusting me at first because I’d left her before. Of course she’d be concerned I’d want to leave again if I was offered a job in the big leagues. I shouldn’t be mad at her for making the same assumption everybody else made too.
I headed to the master bathroom and stripped down to take a shower. I had plans to make and I needed a clear head. Rae needed to understand one fundamental truth: there was never any choice to be made.
It was always Rae.
She was my forever choice no matter what life offered me.
* * *
The week was long, filled with more phone calls and trips to various stores than I was comfortable with. But what really rubbed me the wrong way was staying away from Rae. I still sent her daily texts, no longer begging her to talk to me, but just a reminder of how much I loved her. How the sunrise reminded me of her smile, the fog lifting one morning was like my own realization about how much I loved her. And mostly to not give up on us.
I didn’t know if she read them, but I kept sending them, if for no other reason than to show her I wasn’t leaving this time. I was sticking around for good. Simply telling her that fact was for amateurs. I was the big leagues, baby, and I was going big with my grand gesture. It was a little difficult keeping the mouths of a small town quiet on my plans or to keep it from Rae’s best friends, but once people understood my motivations, they were all too happy to help me with my secret. That and I got my mom and Rae’s mom in on it and those two were scary when it came to helping a love match come together. If anyone even thought about stepping out of line, they’d attack like a mountain lion.
Saturday morning dawned bright without a single cloud in the sky. I had already been up for several hours, getting things set up with a flashlight in hand. Heath, Ryder, and Jase were with me, handling all the details together like brothers do. If this didn’t show Rae how much I loved her and how I planned to stick around, nothing would.
