Page 47 of Go Away, Darling

She smiled up at me sadly. “You really think everything will work out?”

I gave her chin a shake. “Iknowit will.” Then I hopped down her front steps, waving goodbye before Beau pulled into the drive.

Yes, I was a man well pleasured and satisfied, but I was also a man who had full confidence the world was at his feet. Liv and I were solid and once we navigated these murky waters we’d be together, once and for all.

But in the meantime I had someone else to win over.

As soon as I got home I pulled out my phone, hitting the speed dial. “Hey Trent. How do I become a baseball coach?”

Part II

15

Friend Zoned

9 Months Later…

Chris

To say things didn’t go quite as planned would be an understatement. I’m still not quite sure how I wound up so firmly in the friend zone, but here I was. Linc and I were thick as thieves though. And I was so close to Summer I was dangerously close to calling her my best friend.

And that pissed me off because my best friend was Liv and just two hours ago she called me “buddy.” Likebuddy old pal.It was as if she were deliberately pushing me further into the friend zone and I didn’t know why.

“Has she met someone else?”

Summer frowned. “No.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. My sister is the definition of monogamy. If she were moving on she would tell you.”

“I feel like sheistelling me,” I grumbled, catching the baseball Linc rocketed my way and threw it back. He’d turned into a pretty good ballplayer. I helped coach his fall ball team and between me, Summer, Trent, and occasionally, Beau, Linc’s home life had barely registered his mother’s new schedule.

That’s right, I was friends with Beau. We were one big modern family, minus the actual relationship-with-Olivia part of the equation.

“She’s...I don’t even know,” Summer sighed. Linc threw another ball that made my glove pop. “Dang, kid. Take it easy on the old man. He’s got to pitch tomorrow.”

Linc snickered. “I don’t throw half as hard as Wes does.”

Wes being Linc’s new favorite player. Linc had become friends with a lot of the guys this season. Getting to know Beau I also got to understand how very different we were. Not just the whole city nightlife part, but professionally as well. He almost never took Linc to games and rarely introduced him to his teammates. It was as if Beau’s football life was on another planet.

Whereas I wanted Linc there all the time. Every game he could come to, he was there. Over the summer break Summer traveled with Linc to my away games, Liv meeting up with us when she could. He came to dinners with my teammates and spent real time with them away from the field. He even helped me teach Erik and Wes how to fish. I suspected he’d have a full bleacher section at his fall ball classic this year.

If only I could figure out where I went wrong with Olivia.

Working with Carmen was a raving success for Liv. I was so fucking proud of her and excited for everything happening. After Olivia was done with her part of the baseball documentary, Carmen asked her to take on an oral history project she’d had back burnered for years. It was now Liv’s baby and it consumed her. So even though the six months of travel had come and gone, she was still working long hours and taking the occasional trip for her new project.

“It’s like,” Summer suddenly said, “like she’s burying herself in her work. I’ve never seen her like this.”

I caught the ball, sent it back, and took the opportunity to glance at Summer. She stood a couple feet away chewing on her lower lip the same way Liv did. It was easy to fall into friendship with Summer. She and Liv were tight like I was with my brothers—both of whom were currently living with me. Ben because we’d (we being me, Paris, Berlin, their mom, and Grams before she passed) tricked London into coming home and Ben into renovating Grams old house. We basically shoved the two of them together and, I’m proud to say, it was working. I liked to think I was fully entrenched in Calusa Key society, just like I promised. Oh, and Scott decided to abandon his Hollywood life, his girlfriend, and all of reality to live in a hammock. Pretty sure he was having a full blown life crisis, but aside from the moping and meditation, he was generally in good spirits.

So I had my brothers, my friends, and Linc, but I only had a shred of Olivia. We needed a shove back in the romantic direction. “I could ask her out.”

“No. Don’t do that. She’s like a mouse. She’ll get one look at you and run back to her hidey hole.”

“One look at me?”

Summer sighed. “I think she’s put up a mental block. You are her friend. Just a friend. You are not the sexy ballplayer who swept her off her feet. If you give her that hungryyou are my womanlook, she’ll have to take the block down and remember what it’s like to feel.”

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