Page 129 of Lucky In Love

Liam looked at me. I’d told him about her, that I’d liked her, but knew I needed to focus on baseball.

“Of course!” She said. “I tried to follow your career for a while, but it can be hard with rising players.”

She was trying to be tactful. “That’s why I didn’t pursue you. More fool me. It’s hard to build a relationship while starting a baseball career.”

She held my gaze, then shrugged. “We’ll never know. Shame.”

I was hoping we might find out about second chances now, though. “I know your condo building. Liam and I will walk you home.”

I could have done it myself, or Liam could have, but I didn’t want to split this up yet. We’d enjoyed talking with her.

She seemed to have no objection to going with us both.

“You’re really going to own that team?” She said, referring to our conversation at the bar.

“I think we will be two of the owners, anyway,” I replied.

Liam explained that there were other former players who wanted in on it.

“I was just hired by the league. I’ll bet I’ll be helping to promote it,” she said, and told us about her growing business.

“That’s terrific,” Liam said. “That bananas team in the South has really grown on social media. I’d love to have a card, if you have one. The bar could do a better job promoting its event nights. If we’re not too small for you.”

She laughed, and I enjoyed the sound, as well as the dimple on her cheek.

“I’d love to help. It’s the least I could do after tonight. You wouldn’t even let me reimburse you for the beer.”

He waved a hand. “You kept our customers entertained.”

Mandy had applauded. It was clear our old friends made a good choice in their woman. As I suspected, Liam and I had, too.

“This is it,” she said, as we got to one of the recently built condos. “I can’t really afford it, but Chad had said he could move in with me. Whatever, good riddance.”

We both nodded.

“Can we see you again?” Liam asked.

I was wondering how we would do this. Liam was always better at interviews when we played on the same team years ago. I could coach, but was not as good at polished speaking.

“Both of you?” She asked, but she didn’t seem to mind. More like double-checking. “Like Mandy with her guys?”

“Yes.” I said. I could at least handle that. “Why don’t we give you our numbers?”

Liam was smart getting her card, but I wanted to make sure we could all communicate. Soon we’d exchanged numbers.

“Well, thanks again for being so understanding about tonight,” she said and went to kiss Liam on the cheek. She looked at him, then leaned in and kissed his lips.

He smiled as she stepped back a few seconds later, then looked at me. She turned and kissed me.

Her lips were very soft, and I had to bend down some so our mouths would meet. Short and sweet, but I knew I’d remember this moment.

“Now we don’t have to spend dinner wondering when that will happen,” she said, before going in.

We’d made dinner plans for a few days from now.

“No, but I suspect we’ll be wondering what she’ll surprise us with next.” Liam clapped his hand on my shoulder as we walked away.

Chapter Three

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