Page 62 of Forbidden Love

“Don’t go far. I want you to watch,” Tyler said to me.

“I won’t,” I promised as he kissed me one more time before taking off his helmet and grabbing his glove and hat.

I wasn’t even sure I wanted him to talk to my brothers. I could almost anticipate what would happen. They’d rant and rave, and he’d cave to their ridiculous demands to stay away from their precious baby sister. I was so done with their attitude.

I hung around the baseball fields for the next hour while the games finished up. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, eating and drinking. I was almost giddy with anticipation about counting what we’d collected.

When the games were finished, we cleaned up the bases and equipment, putting everything back into the equipment storage boxes. Then we convened by the registration tables.

“Do we count the money now?” I asked Tyler. I was a little nervous about doing it in front of his family. What would they think if I failed to raise enough money? I hated this feeling of not being enough.

I hadn’t experienced it in a long time. It probably started up again when I lost my job.

“I already did,” Alice said. “Do you want to hear the results?”

“Let’s hear it,” Sam said, throwing Maggie up on his shoulders.

“We don’t have the final numbers from the snack shack. We’re still waiting on that, but so far, we’ve raised five thousand dollars.”

It was enough for three dugouts. Not bad but not near what I wanted to raise. Why would I think that I’d raise a hundred grand from a few baseball games? I was afraid to meet anyone’s gaze, but everyone was congratulating me on a job well done when I wasn’t sure it had been.

Tyler hugged me tight. “This is good.”

“Is it?” I wasn’t sure Dad would see this as a good result or a sign he should hire me.

“It’s our first attempt. Besides, I heard a bunch of people saying that they wanted to contribute more. I think if we make an announcement that we’re working with a specific school or team, we could get everyone in that community involved to raise the money.”

“That’s not a bad idea.”

“Figure out which fields or teams need them the most. Then let’s make a big splash and announce it in the middle of practice. We’ll get everyone excited. Maybe they’ll raise more money, and we can use it for more projects.”

“Okay. Yeah. That sounds good.” I wasn’t entirely convinced that it had been a success. But I was willing to let it go for now.

“Who wants pizza and beer?”

Everyone cheered, and we got into our respective cars and made our way to the restaurant. I could use a shower and some time to think, but I wanted to spend time with his family. I enjoyed being around them. They included me in a way my family never had.

“You okay?” Tyler asked me, bringing my attention to him.

“I will be. I don’t know what I was hoping for—something more, I guess.”

“It was a small fundraiser to bring awareness to our cause. It’s not the only thing we can try. We didn’t fail. We tried something, generated some money, and people had fun.”

I liked that he’d said we and not you. We were in this together, and that felt good.

“It’s stupid, but I wanted to impress my father.”

“You don’t think he would be proud of you?” Tyler glanced over at me.

“I don’t know.” But I didn’t think he would be. I wasn’t a superstar snowboarder, and I didn’t stay home to run the business.

“He should be, and if he’s not, we are. You have my whole family behind you. Don’t forget, this is a group project. We’re in this together.”

“I like that,” I said as he reached over to squeeze my hand. No matter what my family thought, I was enjoying this time with Tyler and his family. It almost felt like what I’d been missing my whole life.

CHAPTER 17

TYLER

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