Page 1 of Pitcher Perfect
Chapter One
Skylar Page sat cross-legged on her twin-sized bed enjoying the moments before sunrise. That stillness just before dawn when Boston would begin to stir outside of her window, sounds and scents penetrating the brick walls of her studio apartment. For now, it was just her and the quiet thoughts she needed to envision the day ahead, calculate travel times, and prioritize errands.
After taking a medium gulp of coffee, she opened her white leather planner, her gaze bouncing between underlined reminders and to-do lists, releasing a satisfied sigh over the carefully blue-inked letters. There was nothing like knowing exactly what the day, week, and year had in store.
Currently, it was Saturday morning and she planned on pampering Future Skylar by knocking out some tasks over the weekend—in between practices, of course.
First up—
Her phone rang.
Brow creased, she transferred her attention to the lit-up iPhone where it sat beside her thigh on the raspberry-colored comforter.
Elton, her brother, was calling? At 7:00a.m.on a Saturday?
Immediately, her heart kicked into a sprint. No one called this time of day with good news. Was something wrong with one of their parents?
Skylar answered on speakerphone, then gripped her knees. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. What’s wrong withyou?”
That wasn’t the tone of someone in the middle of an emergency. Her relieved exhale shifted the pages of her planner. “Why are you calling so early?”
“Because I’m on my way to pick you up.”
Furiously, she flipped through a mental calendar, followed by the physical one in front of her, wondering if she’d missed a significant date. Had they made breakfast plans and she’d simply forgotten? That would be a massive rarity for Skylar, but maybe an email had gone to spam. “We’re not going to visit Mom and Dad until next Sunday. Did you mix up the dates for spring break?”
“Nope. This is something else.”
Skylar waited for her older brother to elaborate, but there was nothing but the sound of his turn signal ticking in the background. “Explain or I’m hanging up!” she shouted at Elton, the way only a sibling could do. Technically, they were only related by marriage, but they bickered like it was their birthright. “I’m in the middle of something.”
“Shut up. You’re writing in your planner.”
“I wasn’t writing anything,” she mumbled. “I was admiring what’s already there.”
“Whatever you do, don’t putplanner gazingin your dating profile.” She heard a shift of clothing. “I’ve got some good and bad news, sister of mine. Which one do you want first?”
“The bad news. Obviously.”
“Whatever you scribbled down in your planner for this morning? Canceled.”
“Hanging up on you seems like a good idea.”
“Wait for the good news,” Elton rushed to say. “You’re pitching this morning.”
A beat of silence passed. “That’s it? I pitch every morning.”
“Not against the Boston Bearcats, you don’t.”
Slow blink. “Elton, when did you start taking edibles?”
A deep, husky laugh reached her ears from the other end of the call. One that didn’t belong to her brother. No, she knew that laugh like she knew the raised seams of a softball. And her heart was back to pumping, her gaze boring into the phone like she could see the source of that laughter through her blank screen. That perfect sound belonged to Madden Donahue, her long-standing crush... and her brother’s best friend. “Madden is with you?”
“Who else is going to catch your pitches?” Elton responded.
Skylar picked her way backward through the wild conversation, her concentration splintered just knowingMaddenwas apparently on his way toherapartment. Snatching up the phone, she jogged to the bathroom, set the device on the sink, and found her toothbrush, applying a swipe of Crest. “Okay, wait. Did you say I was pitching against the Bearcats?” she asked, just before sticking the brush into her mouth, scrubbing.
“Correct.”
