Noah groaned, and I could see his eyes roll in my mind’s eye.
“Jacob Vaughn came back today.”
My shoulders tensed. “Why?”
“He wanted to see you.”
I said nothing at first and turned over what Noah was saying in my head. “Why do you sound excited about this?”
Noah was quiet, and I peeked over my shoulder to see him looking at the floor, a thoughtful look on his face.
“I didn’t realize this was something you had to think so hard about,” I teased him.
He shook his head, and I turned back to my chopping. “Spit it out.”
“He had flowers with him. He said he wanted to apologize to you and me. The flowers are for you. I put them by the front door. Then he told me I should come to the stadium early for the game next weekend. I can meet the players and maybe take part in some drills!”
By the time Noah got to the end of what he was saying, his voice was shrill, rivaling that of a teenage girl.
I put the knife down and turned to face him. “Flowers?”
He nodded, and I pushed away from the counter to peek toward the front door where there was, in fact, a large bouquet of mixed flowers waiting for me.
I looked back at Noah. “Did he say anything about those?”
He shook his head. “But there is a card. I wouldn’t let Grams read it.”
I smirked. “You sure she didn’t?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I put it in my pocket all day and only put it back on once I got home.”
“You’re a good kid, you know that?” I joked as I walked back to the cutting board.
My mom was nosey and if given the chance, I was sure she would have opened the card in a heartbeat to read it.
“The game?” I prompted.
Noah giggled, and I looked at him to see the euphoric look on his face as he told me about it.
“Yeah. He came in and asked for you. When I said you weren’t there, he gave me the flowers and then said that he talked to Coach Anderson about me coming out to the game on Saturday early to do some drills. He said if that didn’t work, we could work out where I could come on a practice day instead.”
Noah was vibrating and I knew there was no way I could tell him he couldn’t do this. I wouldn’t, anyway.
This boy loved baseball something fierce. It was what he and my dad shared.
“Have you called Pops?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I wanted to talk to you first to make sure I could go before doing that.”
I said nothing, and watched as his expression slowly fell. I felt bad, but not bad enough to break my expression. I was totally going to let him go, but I wanted him to sweat.
“I guess… I can’t go, can I?” he asked, his voice low.
At that point, I smiled. “You can go. But I had you going, didn’t I?”
Noah’s mouth dropped open as he stared at me before he rushed me. Before I could move, my nephew, the kid that was half my age, got me in a headlock and gave me a noogie, running his knuckles over my hair quickly before releasing me and dancing away, laughing.
“That’s for making me think I couldn’t go!” he crowed, sliding out of the kitchen.
I shook my head and turned back to dinner prep. My mind was on the flowers in the front hall, and I itched to go see what was on the card.
But I needed to cook dinner. The card wasn’t going anywhere.
I repeated that to myself as I cooked, ate, and then cleaned up the kitchen with Noah.
It was only once all that was done, and he was upstairs getting ready for tomorrow that I went to the front and grabbed the flowers, walking them back to the kitchen.
My gaze immediately snagged on the card nestled in the leaves and blooms of the flowers, but I ignored it as I checked the water level, adding more, and finding a place for the bouquet to sit so that I’d see it every day until I had to get rid of them.
Only then did I grab the card and open it.
The message was simple and to the point.
I’m an ass. I’m sorry for what I said. Will you call me? -Jacob
I studied the letters, noting that they weren’t typed, but handwritten, and I couldn’t help but hope that he was the one that wrote it.
Underneath his message was a phone number, which I assumed was his.
Without thinking about it too much, I pulled my phone out and put his number in, saving his contact info and then sending him a quick message.
Me: Nice flowers. Thank you.
The response was almost immediate, which made me think he might have been waiting for me to contact him.
Jacob: I was expecting you to call me.
Me: I like to do the unexpected.
Jacob: I can see that. I really am sorry about last weekend and that Noah overheard it. I didn’t realize he was your nephew. He told me today. That made me feel even worse.
I studied his last message for a few moments and nibbled my bottom lip before carefully typing out my response and not at all thinking about what texting Jacob was doing to my insides. The somersaults would stop eventually, right?
Me: Apology accepted. Are you serious about him coming out to the game early to meet everyone?
Jacob: Yeah. I cleared it with the coaches and players. They’re all up for it. Noah seemed pretty excited when I mentioned it. Do I need to ask his parents?
A sharp pain in my chest made me wince at his question about Noah’s parents.
Me: No. I’m his guardian. He can go. What time does he need to be there? Anything I need to do before then?
There was a pause before his next text.
Jacob: I really want to ask why you’re his guardian, for the record. But I won’t. For Saturday, just show at Will Call and give your name. There will be five passes for you to come down.
Five passes? Wow, that was a lot. I’d planned on Noah going with Dad that day since that was their thing, but I couldn’t shake the thought that it would be nice to go with him. I’d love to see what it was like for him and get pictures. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Me: What time?
Jacob: Any time after 3.
We texted back and forth for a few more minutes firming up plans, then I told him I needed to do a few things and said goodbye.
Long after we finished talking, I kept revisiting the conversation between us, wondering if I should read into it or if he was really just being a nice guy trying to make it up to a teen who he disillusioned or not.
Whatever his reason, I was thankful Noah would have the chance to work out with the Spartans. It would make his entire year.
15
Jacob
While suiting up for our pre-game warmup, I couldn’t help the nervous anticipation that ran through my body. I felt like I was coming out of my skin as I pulled my cleats on and tied them.
“You okay?” King asked as he sat next to me on the bench.
I grunted in response and tightened my laces, glancing at him as I sat up. “Yeah. Why?”
“You seem… off today. That’s all,” he said, pulling his own cleats on.
I grunted again. My mind turned to who should be joining us any time now.
“Dude, what the fuck? You’re acting like a guy that’s nervous to ask his first girlfriend to prom or something.”
His words made me realize my leg was shaking, so I forced myself to stop.
I glanced around, noting the other guys were too busy to pay attention to what King and I were talking about.
“You remember that thing I asked y’all about last week?”
King nodded slowly while he finished tying his cleats. “Yeah, what about it?”
“Today is the day.”
King paused and looked at me. “Today?”
I nodded. “I told them they could come any time after three.” I flicked my gaze to the clock on the wall over the door, which showed it was just after three. “So, they could be here at any moment.”
King said nothing
at first and finished getting ready while my mind went over how I should act when Noah and Zoe showed.
This entire day was my apology to both of them, and I wanted it to go well. I wanted to prove to them I was worth their esteem and that the comments I’d made with Alvarez weren’t who I was.
“This is the chick from the bar that one time?” King eventually asked.
I nodded and kept my gaze on the door, willing it to open.
“I thought you weren’t interested in anything,” he said a few moments later.
My shoulders tensed at his words, because that is what I’d said. But I forced myself to relax.
I’d realized that while I said I wasn’t ready, I couldn’t get Zoe out of my head. I thought about her at odd times. I wanted to get to know her better and find out everything I could, like why she had guardianship of her nephew.
“Things change,” I muttered as the door to the locker room opened.
“Woman coming in!” Bob called out, and I straightened.
I kept my gaze pinned on the door, holding my breath.
But it wasn’t Zoe or Noah. It was Emma, Chase’s wife, and the hospitality director for the team.
My shoulders slumped. I blew out a breath and ran a hand through my hair.
I needed to get it together.
“Jacob,” Emma said.
I glanced up; she was walking toward me with a smile on her face.
“Hey, Emma.”
She smirked. “You looked a little upset when I walked in just now.”
I shrugged and straightened, trying to look nonchalant.
“I’m in here to grab you, actually. They’re here and instead of bringing them in here to start, I thought you might like to show them around before everyone else gets out there.”
I stared at her for a few moments. “You want me to do that?”
Emma grinned and nodded. “Yeah. Chase mentioned them coming, and I thought it might be nice if you showed them around instead of me or someone else. What do you think?”
Without thinking, I nodded. I stood, grabbing my glove, before following Emma out of the locker room.
I didn’t look at anyone as I walked out, though I could feel the weight of my friends' stares on my back. I was sure they’d be asking me questions later when they had the chance.
Zoe and Noah were waiting outside with an older man that looked like them.
“Here we are,” Emma said, coming to stand beside the trio. “You know Zoe and Noah. The third person is Dan.”
Dan held his hand out to me, and I took it, grimacing as he squeezed my hand. If I’d doubted he knew what happened at the coffee shop, this would confirm it.
“I’m Zoe’s dad and Noah’s Pop,” he said.
“It’s nice to meet you.”
We continued to shake hands, and I wasn’t sure how to get out of the pissing contest I found myself in, so I just bore it as best I could.
“Okay, Dad. I think you made your point. He has to play today and I think the team would be mad that a visitor made it so one of their starters couldn’t play.”
Dan narrowed his eyes, but let my hand go. I flexed my fingers and looked at the other two people here.
“I’m really glad y’all came.” I shot Zoe a grin, but focused on Noah. “I’m going to show you around, then you’ll be able to warm up with us.”
Noah grinned and nodded. “Thanks for letting me come,” he said, glancing quickly at Zoe and Dan. “I really appreciate it.”
I smiled. “No prob. Why don’t we start with the conference room? Then I’ll take you to the field. I’ll show you the locker room later. Sound good?”
Noah nodded, and I started walking toward the conference room. It took everything in me not to glance over my shoulder to see if Zoe was following—of course, she was—or to see if she was looking at me.
I was here for Noah. I needed to focus on him and not on the woman that was consuming my thoughts.
I pushed the conference room door open and stepped inside, flicking the lights on.
Noah made a noise as he walked in, and I grinned at the look of awe on his face.
“This is our main conference room. This is where we do most of our team meetings. There’s a larger room up top we’ll sometimes use if the entire team has to come together, but this is the main one.”
He walked up to the table and reverently ran his fingers over the Spartan logo carved into the middle.
He then looked around the room, taking in the jerseys mounted on the walls with photos of past teams.
While he looked around the room, Dan joined him, and they started pointing at things and putting their heads together to whisper about something.
I used it as a chance to sidle up to Zoe. “Thank you for coming,” I said, looking at her from the corner of my eye.
She grinned and looked at me. “It’s no problem. Thank you for inviting us. You don’t know how much this has made Noah’s entire year. He loves baseball, especially the Spartans. He’s already talking about how popular he’ll be with the baseball players at his school on Monday.”
I grinned at her words. “We gotta make sure he’s popular, then.”
She laughed and shook her head. “Yeah, wouldn’t want to let down the masses.”
Silence stretched between us, but it was comfortable. It didn’t seem strained like the last time I saw her.
I looked at her from the corner of my eye once more, taking in the Spartan shirt she was wearing plus the jeans. I wished it was warmer so she could wear shorts because I would give anything to see her in a pair of jean shorts.
I cleared my throat and tore my gaze away from Zoe. “I just wanted to say, once again, how sorry I am about the other day. I was an ass and never should have been talking about that stuff to begin with.”
“It’s fine,” Zoe said, placing a hand on my arm.
I looked at where her hand touched me, then into her eyes. “I know you’re sorry. You didn’t have to go through all this to prove it, but I am glad you apologized. That means a lot.”
“Thanks,” I whispered.
Before I could say anything else, Noah and Dan rejoined us. Both eyed where Zoe was still touching my arm, and I swallowed thickly. “Ready to see the field?”
16
Jacob
Once I led Noah, Zoe, and Dan into the dugout, it was easier for me to relax.
I was able to concentrate on the one thing I love: baseball.
I walked them onto the field, and grinned as I watched Noah’s face fill with awe. The stadium is already filling with people, even though it’s a couple of hours before the first pitch.
A lot of people enjoyed coming to the games to watch the teams warm up, so we got a good crowd.
But the bunnies would also show soon, and they liked to sit by the bullpen farther down the third baseline. I was careful to get Zoe, Noah, and Dan tickets well away from the bunnies because I didn’t want Zoe to think that I was implying anything by putting her near them.
“What do you think?” I asked Noah. “You ready for some warm-ups?”
He nodded and dropped the bag he was carrying, digging out his glove and quickly changing his shoes.
Some of my teammates were filing on the field and most stopped to introduce themselves and take a picture with Noah.
He had a permanent grin on his face at this point and it made me feel good to know that I was the reason he had that grin.
I snuck a glance at Dan, and Zoe and they were grinning, too.
I gave myself a mental pat on the back.
“Let’s go.” I nudged Noah with my elbow and we walked to the third base foul line, joining my teammates.
We stretched and got ready to throw. Before I jogged toward the outfield, I looked at Noah and said, “You ready to impress some people?”
His cheeks stained pink, and he glanced around before slowly nodding.
“Show me what you got.”
I jogged away from him and turned, waiting for the
first throw.
He lobbed it my way, and I caught it before lobbing it back.
We did this for a while, with me backing up a few steps every so often, until I was almost to center field and Noah was having to put more oomph behind his throw so it would reach me without bouncing.
I was pretty impressed with this kid. Some of the guys on my team couldn’t throw this far, so a teen being able to? That was impressive.
I jogged back to him, a grin on my face. “You’ve got a rocket.”
He grinned. “Really?”
I nodded as I sipped some water. “Did you not see some people struggling to throw that far? I’m impressed you can.”
I didn’t tell him, but I was one of those people that struggled to throw that far. Playing third meant that my range didn’t have to be as big as one of the outfielders. But I’d been working on throwing farther, and it showed today.
I led Noah to the next thing, and he shadowed me as we went through the different drills.
The best part of the afternoon was when I put a helmet on his head and handed him my bat before putting him in the cage to hit a few practice balls with us.
The guys not on base or fielding all stopped to watch as this fifteen-year-old kid took his at bat and knocked the hell out of some balls.
We all clapped and cheered for him when he shot a line drive right to the fence that sent our right fielder scrambling after it.
He ran the bases, just like everyone else, and when he came home, we were waiting to celebrate with him.
Doing that made the entire day worth it.
“That was so cool,” Noah said as I walked him toward the dugout where his grandfather and aunt were waiting.
“You think so?”
He nodded. “I know so. I’m never gonna forget this,” he said. “Thank you for asking me to come out.”
I nudged him with my elbow. “If you play like you did today normally, you have a shot. You know that, right?”
The Slider (Boys of Summer Book 5) Page 7