Page 104 of The Strike Zone

“I don’t know. Wait, I guess.”

“Are you still signing it?”

“Of course I am, I didn’t know this was going to happen.” I waved my phone at her.

Alice was silent, though her brows disappeared under her bangs from the way I snapped my response. While it was a perfectly reasonable question, it only exacerbated the guilt I’d been stewing in since the email had arrived at 9:02 a.m. this morning.

This stupid job was causing me nothing but a headache so far, which didn’t bode well for its future. I’d promised Parker we’d sign the form, and I didn’t think he’d want to wait another week, or however long this interview process was going to take.

I’d even come out here early for a little thinking time, and the opportunity to watch Parker warm up before the stadium filled and things got crazy, but that hadn’t happened either.

An increasingly annoying group of girls sitting a few rows in front of us also decided to come out early.

Every time a new player stepped up to the plate, they jumped to their feet screaming and waving their Lions banner in the air, only for the screaming to turn to screeching when they’d scored. Alice and I had been here when they’d arrived, each wearing a homemade tee with a player’s face on it, including Parker’s.

The girl with Parker’s face had sat down directly in front of me, and instead of concentrating on the game, had spent all her time talking about how she was going to wait at the gates for Parker and give him her number.

There was a strange combination of emotions coursing through my veins right now—jealousy, annoyance, frustration. I’d never been a jealous person. Even when Mark had spent New Year with his ex, jealousy wasn’t the overriding emotion I’d felt.

But now, listening to these girls talk about hooking up with the guys—including Parker—like it was nothing more than a game, had ignited a thick green flame burning in my gut.

“And that’s all it is?” Alice asked, after the latest ruckus died down.

“What do you mean?”

“Your hesitation to sign the form isn’t about anything else? It’s just the job?”

“I’m not hesitating!” I reached for more popcorn but thought better of it when my stomach clenched in protest. “Why else wouldn’t I be signing it?”

“I dunno.” She shrugged, her eyes flicking to the girls in front. “You wanted to be single this year after what happened with Mark…”

She left the end of her sentence hanging for me to grab onto.

“Parker’s not Mark,” I muttered eventually.

“I know he’s not. I just wanted to make sureyouknow he’s not.”

“I know he’s not.”

“Good, because look at how cute he is.” She pointed up to the screen where Parker’s face was zoomed in as he chatted with Ace in the dugout, laughing along at whatever he was saying. Big smile on full beam. “Shithead wasn’t cute.”

“Parkeriscute, isn’t he?” I grinned, spinning my entire body around in my seat to face Alice. “Sorry I snapped at you, I didn’t mean it.”

“I know.”

“I’m stressed about the job, that’s all, because I didn’t think the process would go on for this long. I don’t want to get Parker into trouble…” I let out a deep sigh. “I dunno, maybe I should just sign it, especially since I still can’t decide if I even want the job. It took me a whole season to get to grips with everything that needed to be done around here, and I’d have to do it all again…” I chewed the corner of my cheek as Boomer Jones’s face appeared on the screen.

“But?”

“But…” I took a deep breath as the uneasiness I’d tried to bury for the past few weeks made itself known again. “Okay, hear me out. I know Parker isn’t Mark, it’s not that at all, and I’m not hesitating. I’m happy to sign it.Butwhat if we sign this thing then it all ends? Like twisted karma or something. I justknowif I sign this form it’ll reflect on me in some way. HR will not stay impartial, and then not only will Inotbe dating Parker, I’ll alsonothave a job I spent two months of my life working on. And Parker’s a star here, he’ll take priority. They won’t care about me.”

“Wow.” Alice blinked widely and pulled out her phone. “You need me to call you an Uber from your spiral?”

I rolled my eyes in response.

“Babe, you really need to chill.”

“Ican’tchill. Since I got the email from HR I havelost all chill.”

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