Page 37 of Be My Game Changer

“Lowe, it’s important that we stay on track. All season. You’ll be there tomorrow for warm-ups, right?”

“Yes, sir. I’ll be there.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it. Although, even seeing your decision to change from a splitter to a four-seamer for Hastings was unbelievable. We went over the lineup, and I know you knew the best call.” Dundee’s frustration matches my own, but mine is a little less on the surface than his. I know I made the wrong call which was shaking off the first sign for a splitter from Lynch. Even he hesitated, giving me the splitter signal again before he moved to the next sign for a four-seam fastball.

“Yes. I get it. I shouldn’t have shaken off the calls.”

“Carter, a few bad calls can be the beginning of many.”

Damn. One off inning and he’s ready to yank me from the roster. Or, at least that’s how it feels. “Then I’ll be sure to not make any more bad calls. Like I told you during your trip to the mound in the fourth, I just needed to regroup, and I appreciated the blow. Then I proved it after you were back to the dugout, right?”

I hear a sputtering cough and look over to see Avery wiping her mouth, slapping her hand against her chest as she gives me a strange look. “Are you okay?” I ask her, and she quickly nods.

I figure the only thing I can do is show Coach I’m still in the game. I can have Avery and still be a good ball player. I can. Only right now, all I want to focus on is her after being deprived for a week. Plus, I’m still trying to figure out what’s going on as she coughs again.

Needing to wrap up, I tell Dundee, “I’ll be there early so we can review everything I did wrong once more.”

“See you then, smart-ass.” Coach finally hangs up and my full attention is on Avery and those reddened cheeks.

“Are you sure you’re okay over there?”

“Yeah.” She takes a sip of water, clearing her throat.

“What has you all choked up then?”

Her cheeks blush a bit more as she asks, “What exactly did you mean by your coach gave you a blow? Because you don’t even want to know how I interpreted that.”

“Well, well, well. Look which one of us has their mind in the gutter.”

“Who wouldn’t?” She throws her hands in the air. “You just said he gave you a blow, any normal person would draw the same conclusion.”

“No, only a person who keeps her nose in those sexy books would interpret it like that.” I enjoy seeing her frazzled at the thought of her mind in the gutter, because I know mine has been there more times than not when I think of her. “But in my world, blow means breather. He saw my head wasn’t on straight, so he came out to the mound to settle me down. Gave me a few seconds to breathe.”

She shakes her head. “Why don’t y’all just say ‘breather’ when you mean ‘breather’?” I shrug and throw her a face. “Still doesn’t make sense to me, but okay. Glad your coach gave you a good blow and got you through the inning.” She’s unable to contain her laughter, and though it’s at my expense, it’s music to my ears.

Walking over to her, she smiles up at me when I stop in front of her. Placing a hand on the counter on either side of her, I kiss her smiling lips. “I missed you.”

Her body tenses up a bit, then she relaxes against me, allowing me full access to savor her for a few seconds before she shifts back and says something else that is music to my ears. “I missed you too.”

27

AVERY

It’s too good to be true. It has to be.

We’ve fallen into an easy routine without any effort. He brings me coffee on my free period, heads off to the field, then crashes at my place after the game. Only now, our routine will be disturbed because he’s leaving for another road trip next week. And I don’t like how much I missed him last time—beforewe started spending every night together. This time is bound to be way worse since we’ve been together every moment that didn’t involve my work or his time at the field.

“Summer vacay is coming up. Then you won’t have an excuse not to travel with me,” he suggests.

“Don’t they have rules about that or something? I don’t want to interfere with the game or Coach giving you a blow.”

He laughs. “I like your blows better.”

Okay. I opened the door and stepped right into that one. “We’re in myclassroom, Carter.”

“Hey, you brought it up.”

“Touché.” I shake my head. “But really, you’re busy with the games, and I don’t want to be a distraction and take away from your team bonding. Plus, I usually work at the store during the summer. It’s the busy season for my parents.”

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