Page 40 of Wild Pitch
“Like, eavesdropping?” Lucky frowns in confusion.
I open and close my mouth. “Well, it’d be like when you—” I point first at Garcia and then at the field, “—are here following us along as we do the drills to make sure we’re not screwing up, right?”
“Right…” She drags the word but doesn’t seem totally against the idea.
“We could even use the PitchCom to send you plays to execute during the date,” I say directly out of my ass because I honestly hadn’t thought about this as hard as I am right now. Though the idea of observing from another table did occur to me before, inspired by that mess at the bar in Clearwater.
“Wow, dude. That’s genius.” Lucky points at me, shaking his hand in the same way he does when he’s scored a run and is headed to the dugout to celebrate.
“Are you on board with this crap?” Kim asks her.
“Considering how much of a disaster I am at this whole thing, yeah… maybe?” Garcia scratches the back of her neck, pressing her lips tighter. Her eyes lift to mine. “Actually, this is probably the most brilliant thing you’ve ever said.”
“Geez, I don’t know if to be flattered or offended.”
“Both,” Kim mutters.
“But the problem is that we’ll be flying back from Kansas right after the game,” Lucky muses aloud, removing his cap to run his hand through his curly hair. “What time is your date?”
“Originally it’s for six.” The three of us groan because that’s cutting it too close to our arrival, and she continues, “But it’s probably no issue to reschedule for an hour later.”
“Plus, you can always be late.” Lucky rests his elbow on her shoulder. “That drives guys nuts. It’s never a bad idea to cause some tension.”
“We can’t use the team’s PitchCom for this, though.” Kim folds his arms, adopting the air of responsibility of the unofficial captain, but not fully shooting down this ridiculous idea of mine.
“Eh, no worries.” I shrug. “I bought one to test it with my private trainer last year. We can use that.”
“Great, we have a plan.” Lucky nods once.
“You know…” Garcia’s eyes narrow slightly into a wistful expression. “Sometimes I wonder what even is my life.”
A corner of my lips rises. “You mean not every girl has three hot studs helping her navigate the dating world?”
She shakes her head but there’s no hiding the spark of amusement in her eyes.
A whistle goes off nearby and Beau’s voice booms. “Break’s over, kids! Time for some fielding practice.”
Said three studs leave our bottles on the table to join the actual party. The circuit was nothing compared to what’s waiting for us.
“Starr?”
I jerk to a stop and glance over my shoulder. Garcia still stands by the water coolers, her hands clasped in front of her all sweet and innocent like, even though she’s the most hardass in this entire field.
I cock an eyebrow once enough seconds pass that this is starting to get awkward. She clears her throat and says, “Thanks.”
I smile. “You’re welcome.” Then I turn my cap back to the front and go get my glove to resume practice.
CHAPTER 15
HOPE
Ihave no idea what I’m doing.
While the team is out playing for their lives, I’m home staring at my wardrobe in my underwear. Basically the entire top rack is covered wall-to-wall by sweatshirts, windbreakers, hoodies, and jackets. Why do I even own so many jackets? It’s only chilly like two weeks out of the year.
The bottom rack is taken by leggings of all colors—especially black—joggers, sweatpants, and a handful of jeans in black and different shades of blue. Not a single dress in sight.
I wish Cade Starr was here so I could tell him that his great plan of making me more dateable by wearing more feminine clothes has a huge hole already. Fortunately, he’s not here to witness me in my boy short panties and training bra. That’d be hella awkward.
