Page 51 of Walkoff Wedding

Grant laughs, the sound tugging at something deep in my belly, before he nods and steps out of the dugout onto the grass. “Yeah, it can be a little overwhelming sometimes. Especially when the stands are filled with ten thousand screaming people.”

“Holy moly,” I mumble, dragging my gaze to the rows and rows of empty seats. I would probably have a heart attack if I had to do something, anything, in front of that many people. It’s way more attention than I care to ever have.

“Yep. Talk about performing under pressure, huh?”

When I nod, he gestures for me to follow him along the grass toward the corner of the field. Only then do I halt when I see what’s in front of us.

The reason he’s brought us here tonight. Apparently, my surprise must be written all over my face because he chuckles deeply, stepping so closely beside me that I can feel the heat radiating off his body.

“I figured that our first date should be a combination of things we both love?” he whispers near my ear. The bare skin of my forearms erupts with goose bumps, and I wish that I could say it’s from a chill in the air, but no. It’s entirely Grant.

I clutch my cardigan tighter, the fabric bunching between my fingers as I attempt to pull in a shaky breath.

There’s a large quilted blanket spread out in the middle of the field with dozens of battery-powered tea light candles emitting a soft, warm glow. A small lantern sits next to a picnic basket with a large bottle of pink lemonade. There are large fluffy yellow pillows along with a bag of my favorite candy.

Every detail of it is beyond sweet and carefully thought out, but it’s not what has my heart thudding so hard in my chest that my head feels light and my vision swims.

It’s the nearby telescope pointed toward the starry night sky that’s making my throat feel tight with a hundred different emotions.

“D-date? This is a… date?” I fumble the syllables out when I’m finally able to speak, dragging my attention away from the setup to where he’s standing beside me.

The space between his brows is creased. “You’re my wife, Addie. You date even once you’re married. We kinda did shit ass-backwards, so yeah… I think this is our first date.”

Of course, he means that’s how it should be perceived by everyone around us, I know. I know.

The only way that we’re going to pull off this entire arrangement is to make our connection seem realistic. That we’re just two out-of-our-mind-in-love college kids who got married on a whim because they were so in love that they couldn’t imagine another second not being together.

But I think to make it seem believable, it has to feel believable.

And this? Feels… like a date with a man who could easily steal my heart.

“This is amazing, Grant. All of it, truly. Thank you,” I say, rolling my lip between my teeth as I peer up at him. “It’s so thoughtful and so sweet… and I’m just really glad that we’re doing this. Um… I mean, that we’re getting to know each other better.”

His lips curve into a smile. “Me too, ArtGirl. Really fucking glad.” After a brief pause, he continues. “Now, since our date has officially started, let me show you the best part.”

The best part isn’t the telescope that I’m currently drooling to get my hands on? I can’t imagine him topping that on this fake date, but he’s done an incredible job of surprising me so far.

Smirking, he turns toward the blanket, and I follow behind him until we’re both seated beside each other on the soft blanket he’s spread out. He reaches for the picnic basket, his large hand closing around the handle, and pulls it toward him. When he opens it and begins pulling out the contents from inside, my jaw drops.

I would recognize that packaging anywhere.

“Gino’s? Oh my god, Grant, it’s my favorite. How did you make this happen?” I ask in complete shock.

He remembered everything from that semester we spent getting to know each other through a computer screen.

Even after I… ghosted him and left with zero explanation, he never forgot a single conversation.

A single detail mentioned in passing.

My god.

I… I can’t believe he did all of this. This clearly isn’t something he threw together at the last minute. He put so much thought into arranging all the little details, kept it all a surprise.

My chest throbs at how achingly sweet he is.

His grin turns cocky, and his shoulder dips nonchalantly as if him pulling this off for a date is nothing. “Called in a favor. One of the team’s backers is an investor. He hooked me up.”

My eyes widen further as my mouth begins to water. I can’t remember the last time I had Gino’s famous lasagna. It’s been my favorite restaurant since I was a kid and yet another detail that Grant remembered.

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