Page 119 of Wild Hit
“They’re not?—”
“We are.” Both men turn to me. “Or we will be, after the team wins tonight. I’m going to march into that field and claim my husband in front of the entire world.”
Dad’s bushy eyebrows twitch. “But you’ll keep it PG for the cameras, right?”
I mull it over for a moment and fold my arms. “PG13. I haven’t been waiting for this moment for so long for it to end with a bland kiss.”
And then the strangest thing happens. My father, who has never cared about anything but his businesses and himself… starts laughing.
It’s not even a mildly amused sound, but great guffaws that leave him breathless, turning his face the same mottled red and white that mine does.
“Are you two out of your damn minds?” Henry’s voice cracks not just because his anger is so great, but because it’s finally clicked that he was never one team with my dad. He was and is on his own.
“If that’s the definition of what being in love with someone else is like, sure.” I shrug.
Dad wipes his face with a handkerchief that costs about as much as a used car, and releases a satisfied sigh. “That’s it, that’s all I wanted. For you to be happy, Audrey. I know I didn’t exactly go about it the right way, but I didn’t want to make the same mistake with you like I did with your brother. I just—I wanted to give you everything you deserve, and I didn’t know another way to do it.”
I steel myself, but there’s no fighting back the tangle of mixed emotions in my chest. There’s still a lot of anger and resentment toward him, but deep inside there’s a tiny box that looks like something out of a dollhouse, and it cracks open to filter out hope. Hope that my father and I might still be a family—a broken and misshapen one, but one nonetheless. Hope that he might care about me after all.
All of it comes trickling out of my eyes.
Dad’s smiling at me. “Now, go watch your husband win the World Series while I get rid of this fool.”
I wipe my face, because for the first time in over a decade, I want to offer a genuine smile to him. “Thanks, Dad.”
I slip out of the office, ready to start a new life.
CHAPTER 44
MIGUEL
“My only question is…” Logan sighs like a long suffering father herding a gaggle of his kids through one of the amusement parks. “Why did they have to bethesesocks?”
He unfurls a pair of white knee-height socks that would blend with our uniform pants, if it wasn’t for the tiny alligator legs peeking at the top from under our knees.
“Listen, suckers. Every time I’ve given you prank socks throughout the season, y’all have gone on to play like some damn machines.” Lucky motions at Cade and Logan. “Now we need the whole team to do the same.” He pauses for a shrug. “And also, marketing thinks these will sell like cakes and I’ll get royalties, so…”
That causes a bunch of people in the clubhouse to laugh. The cheek of this guy is unmatched, and that reminds me of something.
I’m sitting by my locker, also working up the matching socks before I finish getting dressed. “A lot of people told me that I should expect you to sock prank me as a welcome to the team, and it never happened. What the hell, man? Do you have some beef against me?”
The Boricua turns around with an innocent look on his face. “No, I know you, and you’d have just laughed along with me, which isn’t as impactful. I have socks for your wife, though.”
Cade blows a raspberry. “Good luck getting sugar to wear those without her ripping your head off.”
“Our victory depends on it,” Lucky explains in absolute seriousness. You wouldn’t think we’re on game four against the Denver Riders, and on the verge of winning the whole thing.
Honestly, the Eagles were a bigger challenge and took us all the way to a difficult game seven. But the Riders are getting off their horses. They have a grand total of no wins, and this might all be over tonight.
No one who lives and breathes baseball could imagine this before the season started. The Orlando Wild wasn’t dead last in the previous one, but it was just a few places removed. And when Ben Williams, their best pitcher, ditched the team for Colorado, everyone wrote the Wild off. Which is pretty absurd when Logan Kim stayed on the team all along, and Lucky Rivera is one of the best shortstops. And sure, Cade Starr wasn’t really in the radar, but it only took a little bit of spotlight and a lotta bit of no Williams for Cade to become an unstoppable monster.
The three of them are the brains, the brawn, and the heart of this team. I know they alone would’ve taken the team pretty damn far into the postseason.
Then I came along.
Everyone thought I lost my senses for making this move, but I could see what these guys were building—and I knew Marty would fir in better around here. It wasn’t a hard decision.
And now here I am, dressing up for what is possibly the last game of the season, my heart beating a thousand miles per hour, not letting myself consider this done and won so I don’t jinx shit, but desperately wanting it to be so that I can finally ask Audrey out.
