“You’re right, honey, that is beautiful,” she agreed. “I sure wish I had something like that to offer you.”
“Don’t be silly, everything will be perfect as it is,” I told her. “You have so many great trees on your property, and the yard is wonderful. Do you think we could do some kind of arbor like this, though?” I directed the last question to the florist, who nodded in agreement.
“Sure. We might have to rent something to hold all the flowers, but it can be done. Are you sure you want all colors, though? It might look like a rainbow threw up.” I couldn’t help but laugh at her description.
“I think that would be totally awesome if it looked like a rainbow threw up.” I smiled over at Rosalie and asked what she thought.
“You’re the boss,” was all she would say, but I could tell by the look on her face that she didn’t totally hate the idea.
Number five successfully checked off my list, I spent a good deal of my afternoon sitting by the riverbank behind the bed and breakfast and mulling over possibilities for Cole’s gift. I couldn’t say exactly why I felt so much pressure on that issue, other than the fact that it was my first opportunity of any type to give him a present and I wanted him to be able to tell how much I cared. I desired something perfect, but my mind kept drawing a blank. Finally giving up for the moment, I headed back into the house. Cole’s team had a baseball game that night, and he had mentioned the night before that I had never seen him coach an actual game, so I was anxious to go with him.
When he arrived to pick me up, I could tell he was excited. It wasn’t very long before he admitted to that fact, either.
“I don’t know why I’m so glad you’ll be at the game,” he chuckled. “It’s not like I’m the one playing.”
“But you’re a big part of the team, so I can’t wait to watch.”
“Maybe you can be my biggest fan?” he asked me with raised eyebrows. I thought it over for a second and then I smiled.
“I don’t know,” I told him. “I’m pretty sure that mom named Sheila is your biggest fan. Last time I went to your practice, she told me she hated me.”
“She did not say that.”
“She absolutely did say that! She said that she kind of hated me.”
“Well, you won’t have to worry about her today,” he said with a laugh. “The dads show up at the games, so her husband will be there.”
“It’s quite shameless the way those women stare at you! And yes, I know I do it too, but I hope you don’t mind too much.”
“No, I like it when I catch you looking at me,” he grinned. He threw his arm around my shoulders and walked me out to the truck, kissing me quickly before he opened the door. He chatted nervously the entire way to the game while I studied every inch of his face like a crazy lovesick girl. The funny thing was, he was so keyed up I don’t even think he noticed.
When we arrived at the ball field, he told me I could sit in the dugout, but I knew that wasn’t a good idea. I could imagine him becoming distracted by me and giving those moms yet another excuse to dislike me. Instead, I planted a kiss on his cheek and told him he would be great, and then I went to the bleachers to become a spectator. I sat by myself for quite a while, until finally a few of the parents began sitting down. The women were definitely not looking over at Cole like they normally did, and I could almost feel the tension they were bottling inside. I knew their secret, and they didn’t know if I would keep it, and I found it almost hilarious. Right before the game started, I heard one of the men behind me whisper loudly, “Who’s the blonde?”
“That’s Parker’s fiancée,” another guy said quietly.
“Nice catch, Parker,” the first guy responded with a chuckle, and then made an audible grunt noise as his wife socked him. I told myself to keep my eyes on the field and not turn around, and I concentrated on doing just that.
About halfway through the first inning, an older gentleman wearing an Atlanta Braves ball cap plodded over to the bleachers and plunked down beside me near the bottom. I smiled over at him quickly, and then returned my attention to the game. One of our boys had just reached second, and I glanced over at Cole, who clapped and then gave him some sort of signal.
“I don’t remember seeing you before,” the man next to me asked then. “Which one is yours?”
“The really big one over by the dugout,” I said teasingly, and then I looked over into his face. “I’m only kidding. Coach Parker is my fiancé.”
“Oh, that right?” he replied. “Kyle is my grandson.”
“The one who was pitching earlier?” I asked, hoping I remembered their names correctly.
“Yes, that’s the one,” he stated proudly. “I think he’ll be pretty good in a couple of years, as long as he keeps practicing. Those kids lucked out having Cole as their coach, though. He played with another of my grandsons in high school. You want to talk about a talented ball player…I doubt there was anything he couldn’t do. Always figured he would be in the majors one day, but I guess he changed his mind about that.”
“He was that good, really?”
“He was an all-star in high school, I remember that.” The wistful tone in his voice caused me to turn and watch his face as he talked. “Standout in college, too. When he quit everyone around here assumed he was going to try to go into the majors early.” I glanced over at Cole, who had his arm around one of the kids and leaned in close while he was talking. He did seem like a really good coach – at least I could tell that the boys had a desire to make him proud.
I tried to imagine what Cole’s life would look like if he was in the major leagues, had he really been good enough. Million dollar salaries, traveling all the time - I was fairly certain he would have had women all over him. He was such an attractive guy anyway, and if you added in the bonus of a man in uniform…
Hmmm…Cole would undoubtedly look amazing in one of those uniforms.
I felt myself blushing at my own idiotic thoughts and I quickly looked away from Cole, focusing instead on the game while the old man conversed genially with me about everything imaginable. He started with the weather, followed by the state of each of his various crops, and then a general history of half the people in the county. I decided he was a pretty interesting gentleman, and I probably would have been taking mental notes had I not been trying to watch Cole intently. That wasn’t actually too difficult, since I so often delighted in gawking at him anyway.
At the end of the second inning, he looked over and caught my eye and gave me an impeccable smile. When the fifth was over, he winked at me. In the middle of the eighth, he came over to the fence and motioned for me to meet him. I walked up to where he stood with his fingers intertwined through the chain link and he moved his head in a way that made me lean in closer.
“What, do you need something?” I asked, staring into his eyes. He shook his head and pulled off his ball cap, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.
“I love you,” he said. “That’s all.” He grinned and made his way back to the dugout, and I turned to walk back to the bleachers, trying hard to wipe the smile off my face.
Cole’s team ultimately won the game by a score of six to three, and I waited patiently on the bleachers as he talked to the boys afterwards. The friendly stranger told me thanks for keeping him company before he left, and Cole must have been correct about the husbands keeping the baseball moms in line, because I didn’t notice any dirty looks thrown in my direction. Once most everyone had cleared out, he packed up the bats and baseballs into his bag and slung it over his shoulder. When he came around the side of the dugout, I was waiting expectantly. I reached out to touch him and he pulled back with a grin.
“Careful,” he warned. “I’m sweaty.”
“You think I care about that?” I looked at him flirtatiously before I stood on tiptoe and pressed a quick kiss on his lips. “You were awesome out there.”
“And you looked pretty adorable watching me,” he added. “What were you and Kyle’s grandpa talki
ng about all that time?”
“Oh, normal things,” I stated, falling into step beside him as we walked towards the truck. “He should have planted his crops a little earlier this year, but it’s always hard to predict the weather. This year is nothing like the drought a few years ago, though. And we talked about you a bit, naturally.”
“Naturally,” he agreed. “I hope he didn’t divulge any of my secrets.” I glanced over at him and he winked, pulling off his cap and placing it on his head backwards.
“Do you think you could have played in the major leagues?” I asked as he threw his bag into the back of his truck, leaning against the side of the bed.
“It’s hard to say.” He looked a little nervous, or maybe embarrassed, although I couldn’t imagine why.
“Do you ever regret quitting? Or do you miss playing?”
“Yes and no,” he stated with a sigh, pulling down the tailgate and lifting himself to a sitting position. He grabbed my hand as I stood there in front of him. “I miss it, because I had a lot of fun, but I’m not sure I regret quitting. I think it was the right thing to do.” He rubbed his thumb against the back of my hand as I wiped a trickle of sweat off his face with my finger.
“You are really sweaty,” I wrinkled my nose, teasing him. “Nobody said they hated me today, so that was a plus.”
“Maybe not,” he laughed, “but the woman sitting behind you was turning her husband black and blue because he kept staring at you. A lot of them were staring at you.”
“Because I’m new,” I explained, and he rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, whatever.” He slid off the tailgate and walked over to the passenger door, opening it for me.
“You really don’t have any regrets?” I asked again, smiling up into his gorgeous face.
“Actually, I do have one regret,” he told me, resting his arm on the door and leaning against it comfortably. “Sophomore year of college, I was named the MVP, but I was so anxious to get out of there, I didn’t go to the banquet to get my award. Honestly, at the time I didn’t even care about it. I’m sure that sounds pretty egotistical, doesn’t it? It’s not even that I want the recognition or anything like that, but it would be a nice thing to show my kids someday. I mean, to let them know that I was really good at something. If I had a chance to go back, that’s the only thing I would do differently.”
I climbed into the truck and he shut the door behind me. As he started the truck, I began commenting on the different plays that I liked during the game, and he gave me that adoring look that he always threw my way when I talked baseball jargon. I was almost sad when he pulled into Rosalie’s driveway, because I knew he would want to get home and my time with him was over. He sat there in the driver’s seat silently smiling at me, waiting for me to get out of the truck, but I didn’t want to move.
“You’re not going to kiss me or anything?” I finally asked, trying my best to look irresistible. He laughed and held up his hands, glancing down at his clothes.
“I’m filthy and sweaty,” he protested. “If you kiss me, you’re probably going to need a shower afterwards.”
“Mr. Parker, if needing a shower is the price I have to pay for kissing you, I will pay it gladly,” I stated flirtatiously, sliding toward him on my seat. He reached over to spread his hand gently across my cheek, looking deeply into my eyes, and when he pulled me to him for a kiss I proceeded as slowly as possible, savoring every second. Finally pulling back, I rubbed my hand across his arm and then held it up in front of me, looking at it in feigned disgust.
“You didn’t have to get me quite so sweaty,” I chuckled.
“Hey, you asked for it,” he told me with a grin. “I love you so much.”
“I love you more,” I stated breezily, opening the truck door. “You will always be my MVP. See you tomorrow?”
“Wouldn’t miss it,” he said with a wink. I shut the door behind me and walked to the front porch, stopping to wave before I went inside. Rosalie was sitting on the couch, and she started to talk to me as soon as I stepped through the door. I laughed and held both my hands up in front of me.
“Can it wait until after I take a shower?” I asked a little guiltily. “Cole was really sweaty, and…”
“Oh, that’s disgusting,” she protested, shaking her head. “Hurry, take a shower, and don’t tell me another word about it.” I giggled as I went into the bathroom. I was about halfway through washing my hair, standing there with the water cascading down as I daydreamed about Cole in a baseball uniform, when suddenly it hit me like a ton of bricks: I now had the perfect gift idea for Cole, if I somehow managed to make it materialize. I could imagine the look of sheer happiness on his face as he unwrapped the paper and pulled out his MVP award. His only regret, somehow rectified by his future wife. What could be more delightfully awesome?
Tonight, I will dream about Cole. Tomorrow, I will figure out a way to make it happen.
Chapter Twelve
I spent part of a sleepless night thinking about how I was going to manage to find that MVP award, and despite all my internal protests, I decided the only way I could secretly begin my search was to start with the unlikeliest source: Trey. I wasn’t sure if he would even be willing to help me, but his brother Travis played baseball with Cole, and I couldn’t think of a better place to start.
I will simply call Trey to get a number for Travis. No big deal, right? So why am I dreading it so much?
After breakfast, Rosalie left to deliver the extra food to her elderly neighbors, and I went outside and sat on the porch. Pausing for only a few seconds, I scrolled through my phone for Trey’s number. I scolded myself for still having that number on my phone at all, but when I remembered that I had left it for the express purpose of not answering his calls, I didn’t feel quite so guilty. Hitting the send button, I tried to expel some of the rising panic in my chest.
“Hello?” He sounded like he just woke up, and he was a little groggy.
“Trey?” I said cautiously. “It’s Camdyn.”
“Whoa, hey, Camdyn,” he replied, suddenly sounding more alert. “What’s up? You and your guy have a fight or something?”
What a stupid question. As though I would call Trey if Cole and I had a fight!
“No, not at all,” I answered, trying to sound breezy. “I was just wondering if I could get a phone number for Travis.”
“Why? What are you up to?”
“I’m not up to anything. I just need some information, that’s all.”
“You heard your fiancé was a player and now you’re trying to snoop on him.”
“How could you even think that?” I asked him, aghast. “That is definitely not true.”
“Hey, I can’t say that I blame you, really.” He laughed, and I could almost picture him grinning on the other side of the phone. I wanted to tell him off, but I needed his help, so I held my tongue.
“So are you going to help me or not?” I questioned politely, hearing his sigh on the other end of the line.
“Why not? What difference does it make to me?”
I breathed a sigh of relief as he started relaying the numbers to me one by one, and I wrote them down hastily in my planner. He asked me a couple questions about Charlie and the baby, and I tried my best to be pleasant and friendly. When I was finally greeted with a few seconds of silence, I was almost relieved.
“Thank you, Trey,” I said sincerely. “I appreciate your help.”
“Hey, don’t mention it,” he lowered his voice a little for effect. “And I wish you luck, if you decide to go ahead and marry the guy.”
Bleh, insufferable man. I’m sure you’re a little jealous, but there’s no need to be a jerk about it.
But really, Camdyn, what were you thinking, calling Trey? Inviting a fight, at the very least.
I hung up the phone and decided quickly that I better call Travis before Trey had a chance to warn him. There was no telling what sort of story he would make up, and I didn’t want to hear any of Cole’s old dirty l
aundry.
The phone rang only once before he answered, and his voice was every bit as obnoxious as I remembered.
“Trav here,” he stated arrogantly. I steeled myself against the ribbing I was sure was coming and pushed through my hesitation.
“Hi Travis, this is Camdyn Taylor. Remember me? Trey’s old friend?” He immediately started laughing and I leaned back against the porch step and sighed.
“Trey’s old lady who humiliated him, you mean?” he blurted. “Of course I remember you.”
Focus. Don’t fight with him. Get the information.
“Trey said the other night that you and Cole Parker once played baseball together, in college. Is that true?” I knew it was true because Cole had told me himself, but I thought it best to feel Travis out a little.
“Sure, I played with the golden child,” he grunted a little. “Guy could do no wrong on the field. Why, you trying to get the dirt on your man? Trey told me you were engaged.”
“No, I don’t want any dirt on him,” I stated, wondering if this had been a mistake after all. “All I want to know is who your coach was, back in college.”
“I wasn’t expecting that,” he chuckled arrogantly. “Why should I tell you anything, when you broke my brother’s heart? Especially not for a guy that we had to bend over backwards for, when he just up and abandoned the team?”
“What do you mean by that? Abandoned the team?” I asked, thinking internally that I definitely couldn’t have broken Trey’s heart. I was fairly certain that he didn’t love me in any way, ever.
“Cole Parker was such a great baseball player, we all knew we had to look the other way on everything else.” He made a low noise in his throat, as though he was mildly disgusted. “Personally I would have liked the guy, had it not been for the fact that he took whatever he wanted and wasn’t apologetic about it. For all the crap we dealt with because of him, for him to up and disappear like he did… It just wasn’t cool.”
A Reason to Be Alone (The Camdyn Series Book 2) Page 16