For the Win: A Standalone Baseball Romance

by Raine Thomas

The idea brought on a fresh onslaught of depression.

  Unbidden, the memory of Will telling her about his property business entered her mind. He hadn’t seemed worried or crushed with depression about his baseball career coming to an end. Clearly one of the reasons for that was he had a plan for his future, one that didn’t involve baseball.

  There was no doubt about it, she thought as she made her way to her car after her appointment. She had to come up with a new plan.

  The question was, did she have the courage to do it?

  Chapter Eleven

  “How in the world are these things supposed to fit you?”

  Will held up the pink tights Jasmine had helped Katie choose on their shopping trip two days ago. He looked from the tiny-looking tights to Katie’s legs. His brain just couldn’t compute the discrepancy in size.

  Katie was currently perched on the edge of her bed wearing just her Tinker Bell underwear, waiting for him to help her get ready for her first official lesson. He’d made her wait until now to wear her new stuff, knowing she’d likely spill something on it if he didn’t. Now he wondered if he should have tried a dry run after all.

  Parked squarely on Will’s feet, Gump panted heavily and moved his eyes between the tights and Katie. Will couldn’t tell if the dog was amused or attempting to offer him emotional support.

  “Guess we’ll figure this out as we go,” he said at last. “Hold up a foot.”

  When a knock sounded at the door ten minutes later, Katie was still on her bed with the tights bunched up around her knees, Will had broken a serious sweat, and both of them had abandoned all hope.

  He looked to the door like the answer to a prayer.

  “Dad?” he called out. His dad had come over to see Katie once she got changed.

  “No. It’s Jasmine. Frank led me back here. He said you might need my help.”

  Turning to Katie, he said, “Are you okay with—”

  He stopped short at her vigorous nod.

  “Okay then.” He grabbed the T-shirt Katie had discarded before they started the whole tights debacle and pulled it over her head. “Come on in.”

  The door handle turned and Jasmine eased the door open a few inches, a wise move since Gump was barking like they were being invaded by hostile forces.

  “Don’t mind Gump,” Will said. “He’s just going to try to sniff you to death.”

  She leaned down and offered her hand to the dog, who gave it such a long series of sniffs that it might as well have been a cheeseburger. She smiled.

  “I’ll bet he smells my cat, Dido.”

  “Ah.” Will reached down and gave Gump a quick pat. “Okay, that’s enough, big guy. Head on out.”

  It took physically lifting the dog to finally get him out of the room. Will surmised he really liked the scent of Jasmine’s cat.

  Will, on the other hand, just really liked the scent of Jasmine.

  He subtly drew it in as she finally moved past him all the way into the room. She was wearing an oversized black T-shirt and leggings today, he observed, along with that ever-present bun. He pondered why she seemed to go to such extremes to hide her figure. Then he decided if it kept other guys from noticing her, he didn’t really care.

  Before any other inappropriate thoughts like that one ran through his head, Jasmine made a tsking sound and started removing the tights.

  “Rookie,” she said, sending Will a good-humored look.

  “I think you bought the wrong size.”

  She lifted her chin. “Watch and learn.”

  She deftly gathered one of the legs of the tights until it was little more than a half-inch of fabric between her fingers. Then she instructed Katie to lift her leg and hold her foot pointed like they’d learned during her previous lesson. Beginning at the toes, she expertly slid the leg of the tights all the way up to mid-thigh before switching to the other leg and doing the same thing. This time, there was enough give in the fabric that Katie could stand and pull them all the way up to her waist.

  Will crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, sure,” he said, “if you want to do it the easy way.”

  Jasmine laughed. It made him grin.

  “Where’s your leotard?” she asked Katie.

  Will grabbed both leotards from a drawer and held them up. Katie pointed to the pink one. He tossed the black one back into the drawer and bent to hold the pink one for her to step into. Once he got it up to her waist, she wiggled out of her shirt and into the top of the leotard. He handed her the matching skirt next.

  “Perfect,” Jasmine said once she put it on. “Now it’s bun time.”

  Katie bounced over to her dresser and picked up her brush and one of the new hair ties. She turned and looked from Will to Jasmine. After a brief hesitation, she held the items out to Jasmine.

  “Smart move, kid,” he said.

  Jasmine smiled again and took the brush. He watched as she ran it through Katie’s hair, starting at the ends to get out the knots. It didn’t take long before she was gathering Katie’s hair and twisting it into the signature ballerina hairstyle.

  “What’s with ballerinas and buns, anyway?” he asked to fill the silence.

  Jasmine met his gaze in the mirror as she worked. “It’s a tradition. Part of our uniform, you could say. And it’s practical. We wear it up to keep it out of our faces during turns, for example. It also gives us a center point to help us with our pirouettes and such, which is why it’s important to make sure it’s centered on our head.”

  She stepped back from Katie and tilted her head from side to side, checking her work. “What do you think?” she asked.

  Katie beamed and nodded. She jumped up and ran to her closet, reaching for her new ballet shoes on their shelf. She sat on the floor and pulled them on, adjusting the elastic straps so they crisscrossed perfectly across the tops of her feet. Then she hopped up and struck a pose, her right arm arced above her head, the left held out to the side, and her chin tipped up.

  Will had thought his daughter couldn’t possibly get any cuter.

  He’d been wrong.

  “Hold that pose,” he said, turning and looking around for his phone. Jasmine lifted it from the dresser and handed it to him. “Thanks.”

  He took a couple of photos and then tucked his phone into the pocket of his shorts. He imagined he would have another hundred photos and several videos before this lesson was done. Jasmine’s humored look told him she was well aware of that.

  “Let’s go show your getup to Grandpa before we get to the lesson,” he said, opening Katie’s bedroom door.

  She smiled and ran from the room. He half-expected her to wipe out on the hardwood floors in her slipper-like shoes and was relieved when he didn’t hear any loud thuds as she rounded the corner.

  “So Katie’s a fan of The Void, huh?” Jasmine said as they left the bedroom and headed in the direction of the family room.

  The framed band posters on Katie’s lilac-colored walls must have been hard to miss. “Yeah. She thinks she’s going to marry Archer when she gets older.”

  “Isn’t he already married?”

  “Apparently that won’t be an obstacle to their irrefutable love when the time comes…which won’t be until she’s at least thirty because I’m not letting her date until then.”

  Jasmine snorted in humor. “That’s adorable.”

  Gump hurried over to them as soon as he heard their voices. He tromped along beside Jasmine, sniffing her leg and likely leaving plenty of drool behind. She didn’t seem to mind, so Will just let him have his moment. One of them should get to enjoy her scent without it being weird, he reasoned.

  As they reached the family room, he found Katie posing for his dad as he took some photos with his phone’s camera. His dad’s goofy grin likely matched his when he first saw Katie in her outfit.

  “What a pretty little ballerina you are,” Frank said, chuckling as she twirled.

  When she wobbled and nearly fell, Jasmine said, “Maybe we’ll work on pirouettes t
oday.”

  “Good call,” Will and his dad said at the same time.

  “All right. Let’s head on up to the gym,” Will said, waving Katie in the direction of the stairs.

  She took off, this time skipping. Jasmine turned to follow her. Before Will could join them, his dad stepped closer and nudged him in the side.

  “You didn’t mention Katie’s new teacher is such a looker,” he said under his breath.

  She turned and smiled at them from over her shoulder. “Why, thank you, Frank.”

  Will rolled his eyes. “I told you you’re a loud whisperer,” he grumbled.

  His dad shrugged. Jasmine laughed.

  “Keep Gump downstairs, would you?” Will said as he started after her.

  “Yeah, yeah.” Frank grabbed the jar of treats from the kitchen counter, making Gump whip around and trot over to him. “Have fun.”

  The home gym was in a loft on the second story. While Will was on his recent road trip, his dad had installed the mirrored wall and a stationary barre on the loft’s one solid wall. They had moved the remaining gym equipment to the side of the loft earlier that day to leave the center area free for the dance lessons. When Jasmine looked around the space, she nodded in approval.

  “This is perfect.” She walked over to the weight bench with her gym bag and sat down to pull out her shoes. “You ready for our warm-up, Katie?”

  Nodding, Katie moved to the center of the floor and sat down, placing her feet so the soles touched and her legs made a perfect diamond. She grabbed her feet and started moving her knees up and down as Jasmine rose and removed her T-shirt and leggings, revealing the leotard and tights underneath.

  Will’s heart rate spiked.

  He’d been anticipating this moment since the trial lesson. Hell, he’d fantasized about it for days. As pervy as it made him feel, he silently admitted he’d been looking forward to seeing Jasmine in all her ballerina glory nearly as much as he’d been looking forward to Katie’s first lesson.

  As the lesson officially started, he moved over to the weight bench and took a seat, his phone’s camera at the ready. Jasmine and Katie went through their warm-ups and stretching as though he wasn’t in the room. That just gave him the freedom to stare at Jasmine as much as he wanted.

  Yep. Perv.

  As they worked through their positions, Jasmine said, “Your form is beautiful, Katie. You’ve been practicing, haven’t you?”

  Katie smiled and nodded as she held her position. Will captured the moment in a photo. The sunlight coming in through the loft’s window made her look absolutely radiant. It was such a moving image that he immediately made it his phone’s wallpaper.

  Jasmine would have no way of knowing it, but Katie had smiled more since she met her than she ever had before. He would have given Jasmine any amount of money for that miracle alone.

  The hour passed quickly, much as it had during the trial lesson. They were done in what felt like half the time.

  “Good work today,” Jasmine said to Katie as she took Will’s place on the weight bench to change her shoes.

  “Sounds like you’re wrapping up,” came Frank’s voice as he emerged at the top of the stairs. “I was just about to tell you that dinner’s almost ready.”

  “You didn’t have to do that, Dad,” Will said.

  “Nonsense. I was here anyway and it’s nearly dinnertime. Just have to toss the steaks on the grill. I rested one for you, Jasmine, hoping we’d be able to convince you to stay for dinner. We’re having steak, mashed potatoes, and Caesar salad.”

  “Oh, I don’t think—” Jasmine began.

  Katie reached out and grasped Jasmine’s hand.

  Will went still.

  She’d never initiated contact with a woman in all the time they’d been together.

  As he exchanged a shocked look with his dad, Katie used her other hand to rub a circle on her chest. Jasmine looked from her to Will.

  “That means please,” he said around the sudden rasp in his throat.

  “Ah. In that case, how could I refuse?” Jasmine said, smiling at Katie and giving her hand a squeeze.

  “Great,” Frank said. “How do you take your steak?”

  Will thought about Katie’s behavior as he helped his dad set the table and get dinner ready. He cast frequent glances into the family room where Katie had pulled out one of her games to show Jasmine. She’d grown more attached to her new ballet teacher in just a few visits together than he’d seen her with anyone aside from him, his dad, or Gareth.

  Was their bonding a good thing? Or was it lopsided to the point where Katie would inevitably get hurt?

  Maybe he needed to make a point of getting to know Jasmine a little better himself, he mused as they all sat down to eat. That way he could get a better sense of where her head was in all of this.

  It was the responsible thing to do.

  “So, Jasmine, did you grow up here in Atlanta?” Frank asked.

  Evidently his dad was on the same wavelength.

  “Largely,” she said. “I was born in Seattle, but we moved here before I was Katie’s age. That was one of the reasons my parents started us in dance. They wanted to offer us something positive after the big change and provide us a way to make friends right away.”

  “Us?” Frank prodded.

  Jasmine nodded as she cut her steak. Will noted that she used her utensils with the same care and precision she did when she moved. He also noted Katie watching her and attempting to mimic her.

  “Me and my older sister, May,” Jasmine said.

  “Is she a dancer too?”

  “No. She wasn’t bitten by the dancing bug like me and Katie.” She gave Katie a wink before eating the small piece of steak on her fork.

  “And why did your folks decide to make the big move?” Frank asked.

  “Work. They were both professors and got offered an opportunity they couldn’t pass up.”

  “Were? Are they retired then?”

  Jasmine put down her fork and knife and took a drink of water. “No. My father is still at Emory. My mother died when I was eighteen.”

  Will paused in mid-chew. “I’m sorry,” he said after swallowing.

  “Thank you.”

  “I’m sorry to hear it too,” Frank said. “It’s a terrible thing for a kid to go through, losing a parent. Will was six when his mom passed.”

  She met Will’s gaze. Unspoken understanding passed between them.

  Frank cleared his throat, easing the weight of the moment. “Me and my family, we’re from the Chicago area. You ever been up that way?”

  The conversation transitioned into less of an interrogation after that. Jasmine asked about Will’s siblings when his dad mentioned them. His dad took a little too much pleasure in regaling her with some of the stories he had after raising four kids on his own. Most of them didn’t paint Will in a very positive light.

  “I swear I didn’t set everything on fire,” he said as he walked her to the door after dinner.

  “Just the sofa, love seat, and end table then?”

  He winced and looked over his shoulder to make sure Katie was still in the kitchen with his dad. When he turned back around, Jasmine stared at him in a way that said she was waiting for his confession.

  “And an area rug,” he admitted.

  “Mmhmm.” She smiled and shook her head. “Remind me not to let you anywhere near a lighter when I’m around.”

  “Hey, the rug was an innocent mistake. I left a magnifying glass on a table under the window. How was I supposed to know it was going to concentrate the sun into a raging fireball?”

  “A fireball?”

  “It sure as hell seemed like one to my eight-year-old self.”

  “Ah.”

  They stopped at the front door. His dad’s voice reached them from the kitchen as he told Gump to behave himself. The dog was likely begging for scraps. Will pulled out his wallet and fished out the cash he’d set aside for Jasmine.

  “Thanks,” she s
aid as she accepted it. “For this and for dinner. It was nice.”

  “I’m glad you stayed.”

  She gave him a searching look. Why had he said that?

  “I mean I’m glad you enjoyed it,” he amended lamely. “So, uh, you’re still good for the next lesson on Friday, right?”

  “I’ll be here bright and early.”

  “Sounds good.”

  He opened the door for her. She took a couple steps and then paused to glance back at him.

  “When’s your next game?”

  “Tomorrow night.”

  “Will it be on TV?”

  “Sure.”

  “Okay. See you Friday.”

  He watched her walk along the sidewalk to her car, thinking about what she had asked. Was she intending to watch the game?

  Why did that possibility have him grinning like a high schooler?

  He shook his head at himself as he headed back to the kitchen to help with cleanup duty. Katie and Gump were no longer around. He guessed his dad had sent them off to Katie’s room to get them out of the way. He grabbed the dishtowel and posted himself by the sink where his dad was washing the dishes that didn’t go into the dishwasher.

  “Seems like the lesson went well,” Frank said with a glance in Will’s direction.

  “Yeah. Katie’s got some real talent.”

  “‘Course she does. I always knew she’d blossom. It just needed the right trigger is all.”

  Will took the platter his dad handed him and started drying it. “I can’t say I ever would have expected ballet to be that trigger.”

  “I’m thinking it might be the ballerina just as much as the ballet.”

  Unsure how to respond, Will focused on putting the platter away.

  “I’m also thinking she’s just what you two need,” Frank said as he rinsed soap suds from the salad bowl.

  “Us two?”

  “Come on, son,” Frank said, handing over the bowl. “You can’t say you didn’t notice how beautiful Jasmine is, and it sounds like you have some things in common. You’d be a fool if you didn’t ask her out.”

  “I’m really not sure it’s a good idea.”

  He hadn’t dated anyone since Katie came into his life, choosing to give her his full attention. As attractive as Jasmine was, he didn’t think he was ready to open that door.