Page 132 of Home Field Advantage
“I wanted to see what all the fun was about.”
I feel him turn to face me, and then back to Poppy. I don’t see it because my eyes are only on one person—only ever on one person. And she’s looking back at me, silently telling me she’shere for me. My heart rate picks up speed as if I were just running the bases with Tucker, but I haven’t moved from this spot.
“Interesting,” is all Griffin says before he retreats to everyone else.
I stare, still stunned. “You came.”
“Lily and Blair have been telling me for a while now that I should come one night. I knew it wasn’t for me, since I don’t know anything about sports and stuff. But now that I don’t miss a single recess anymore…I started seeing what all the fuss was about. Sage actually taught me how to hold the glove, catch the ball, and the best stance for batting.”
“She did?”
Poppy nods. “She knows a lot about baseball. She shocked me so much, although I’m not surprised, being that she’s your daughter.”
I know my daughter loves the sport. She doesn’t miss a game. I guess I just never considered that she was learning while watching, picking up on every little thing enough to teach Poppy how to do the basics.
“Are you okay?” she asks, with a soft palm on my forearm.
I clear my throat. “Yeah. That’s just…I didn’t expect that.”
With her hand still on my skin, she steps into me, keeping eye contact and taking every bit of oxygen from my lungs. “Well, I skipped out on finishing a really fun baseball puzzle that my neighbor got me to be here tonight, so…” She pauses, smirking. “What do they say in baseball? Let’s play ball?”
I turn to face everyone, and Tucker is spinning Sage around in a circle above his head. I lean down, pressing a kiss to Poppy’s forehead, no longer giving a fuck who sees us or what they care about me falling for the girl next door. Because I have. No part of me sees a future without her. “Let’s play ball, honey.”
I wrap my arm around her shoulder, guiding her to where everyone else is at the barnyard. Lily and Blair’s eyes both widen before they soften into a silent acceptance. Tucker nowstands on third base, clapping his hands together and bouncing in place.
I don’t even know what we are at this point, but Poppy has let me in fully. She’s told me all the most vulnerable parts about herself and allowed me into her heart in the most intimate ways.
There’s that uneasiness in my gut reminding me that I’m supposed to be leaving.
She makes me want to stay here in Bluestone Lakes.
Start a new life here…with her.
Lily raises a plastic cup filled with some kind of alcohol, I’m sure, and Poppy makes her way to where they stand.
Griffin comes to stand beside me, nudging me with his elbow. “I see she’s let you in.”
I swallow and nod.
“I told you once, but it’s worth repeating. Don’t fuck this up, Westbrook. I’ll be forced to murder you and hide the body.”
“I’ll help,” Nan adds quickly as she walks past where we stand, not stopping, just continuing walking to where the girls are.
“I don’t want to fuck it up,” I admit. “I have a lot of decisions to make. For the first time in my life, I don’t know what’s right or wrong.”
My eyes land on my daughter, who has her arms wrapped around Poppy’s waist, holding her as if she never wants to let her go, while the girls all continue talking.
“I had it all mapped out. Do my time here, and then go back to baseball. I wasn’t going to form any attachments.”
“And then life laughed at you, didn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“Funny thing about plans is they never turn out the way you hope. I told myself I was going to be single forever because I liked my quiet, secluded life. I wanted to be alone. It was peaceful.” He looks to where Blair stands and smiles. “Blair came in like a hurricane and changed my life.”
I know the feeling.
Griffin places a hand on my shoulder, giving me a light squeeze. “Sometimes the detour is where the journey really begins.”
