Page 32 of Sliding Into Love
“Maybe.” Ethan shrugged. “Nothing I can do about it.”Why do you care,he wanted to ask.
“Thatlooks frightful.” Jen entered the room and leaned on the bank of lockers opposite Ethan and Derek, holding her hand out to Derek for the bag of seeds. They were dill pickle-flavored, and Ethan was simultaneously repulsed and intrigued. He wondered if Ivy would like them. “You’re playing?” Jen put a single seed at a time between her teeth, the cracks of the shells audible as she bit down.
Ethan nodded, adjusting the position of his leg before slowly wrapping the elastic bandage around it.
“That’s bullshit,” Jen muttered, cracking another seed between her teeth. “Has he made you play injured before?”
“Once or twice.” Ethan gritted his teeth and tugged the bandage tighter.
“Really?” Derek sounded concerned.
“Yeah. It’s fine.” Ethan kept his head down, wrapping tape over the elastic to keep it in place.
“Ethan.” Jen said his name gently. It was startling coming from her. “How many times has Marshall made you play with an injury?”
Ethan finished with the tape and pulled his pants leg down. Gingerly, he stood and tested putting weight on his knee. It still hurt, but at least it was stable.
“Doesn’t matter.” He’d resigned himself to playing through anything after the second time Marshall put him back on the field immediately after an injury. He’d played with the flu once, vomiting between innings and sweating buckets with a 103 fever.
Needing to be away from their concern, Ethan limped out of the locker room in search of solitude, and when he found a place, he pressed his back to the wall and sank to the floor, unable to hold himself up any longer. In the silent, abandoned hall, he braced his hands on his knees with his head in his hands, trying to calm the roaring in his head.
On a whim, Ethan pressed the green symbol beside Ivy’s name, regretting it instantly. He shouldn’t bother her. But she answered before he hung up or blamed it on a butt dial.
“Hi!” Ivy’s voice was warm and soothing. Did she sound excited to hear from him? When Ethan didn’t immediately respond, she asked, “Did you need something?”
Shit.
“Oh, umm sorry if it’s a bad time. I just…wanted to talk to someone.”
“Okay! About what?”
“Literallyanything. Just not baseball.” Ethan looked up at the walls and ceiling for inspiration. Nothing. “Umm… what’s your favorite food?”Dude. You are so lame,he thought.
“Anything!” Ivy laughed. Her laugh was champagne bubbles popping on his tongue. It was watching the Friday night fireworks at the stadium. The first rays of the sun beating down on him after months of winter. “But Ilovepasta. With lots of garlic and butter. Horrible for dates, but good for the soul.” She laughed again. “But I’ll eat anything that doesn’t eat me first. What’s your favorite?” Ivy asked.
“Huh?” Ethan was distracted thinking about dates. “Oh. I think…spaghetti carbonara withPancettainstead ofGuanciale. Not traditional, but…”
“I don’t know what any of those things are, but I bet it’samazing.” Ivy’s voice turned wistful.
“I’ll make it for you. If you want.”
“You COOK?” she squawked. “Marry me?”
Ethan’s heart stopped beating.
“Oh shit.” Was it possible to hear a blush over the phone? Ethan thought he heard the most delicious pink tinge creep over Ivy’s cheeks. “I meant more like… I need a personal chef. I’m a horrible cook. Like,sofucking bad.”
Ethan heard a yell from Jase about the jar, then rustling and a muffled retort from Ivy.
“Tell me another favorite. Dessert this time.”
Ivy was silent for a few seconds, and Ethan heard birds chirping and what he thought was the creak of chains on a swing. He imagined being at the park with her family, little wisps of her hair blowing in Ivy’s face as she played with Janna. Janna screeching with glee while he and Jase played catch nearby. Teaching Janna to play catch too. Stealing a kiss when the kids weren’t looking.
The scene in his head was so cinematic and vivid and so heartbreakingly unattainable, he was jolted when she spoke again in his ear.
Ethan shouldn’t let himself imagine her,them, together, but…
“You tell me yours, and I’ll tell you mine,” Ivy said.
