Page 104 of Pitcher Perfect
“Sig, you’re so smart,” Chloe said, hands tucked beneath her chin. “I wouldn’t leave you for all the Australians or Irishmen in the world.”
“Now you tell me.”
“Hold on, though,” Tallulah broke in with a wave of her hand. “He can’t just get back together while he’s holding on to this feeling of betrayal and judgment. Although...” She held up the phone Mailer had given her. “If anything deserves a bit of side-eye...”
Robbie threw up his hands. “We were all consenting adults.”
“True.” Tallulah tossed the phone back to Mailer. “Rebuild the trust before you jump back into the relationship. Spend some time with her on your terms. Decide if your feelings are the same or if they’ve changed—”
“My feelings for her are never going away,” Robbie rasped, visions of Skylar flipping through his mind like the pages of a glossy magazine.
“Then work your way toward a better place. Take your time.”
Being encouraged to go see Skylar was like being handed the keys to a golden kingdom. That was exactly what his heart urged him to do and God, he was grateful to have that feeling seconded. “Go see her,” Sig enunciated.
He stood up and walked straight to the front door, his pace accelerating as he went. “Okay. Her home opener is tonight.”
Mailer blocked his path. “Maybe a shower first, buddy?”
Chapter Thirty-One
With one hour to go until the home opener, Skylar sat in her car staring at the license plate of the SUV parked in front of her. BUBOUND read the license plate. On the glass, just above the stationary windshield wiper, were various boasts.My kid graduated with honors from Sun Valley High School.Sun Valley Honors Society.
How many kids did this person have? Surely it couldn’t all be the same kid.
What kind of bumper stickers would she and Robbie have on the family car? Hypothetically, of course. If she hadn’t blown the whole relationship to smithereens.
He’d definitely have to slap something hockey-related on there.
Our kid ate your honor student.Easily.
She’d let him put whatever bumper stickers he wanted on the car with the caveat that she be allowed to get her dream license plate. 3XUROUT. If their kids turned out to be competitive freaks like their parents, that car would always be parked outside of arenas and gymnasiums and fields, just like the one in front of them.
Thinking this way was pointless. Premature, too. Skylar hadn’t heard from Robbie since Thursday night when he left Rhode Island in an Uber, and she didn’t even know if he wanted children. These tales she’d been weaving in her mind since that awful night were a form of self-punishment and she couldn’t seem tostop doing it. Upon waking up every morning, she opened her eyes and thought,Whatwould Robbie say if he was waking up beside me right now?
I’m starvingwas usually the front-runner.
Skylar rubbed her weary eyes and dropped her head back heavily against the rest. “Get out of the car,” she urged herself, hyperaware that she only had ten minutes before she was due on the field for warm-ups. “Go to the locker room. Change.Wake up.”
Not so easy, it turned out. Her legs didn’t want to work, let alone her pitching arm.
Instead of exiting the vehicle, for the one-millionth time she went into her Notes app and read through the various text messages she’d drafted to Robbie. None of them were good enough to send. He’d probably already moved on in spectacular Robbie fashion, anyway, and she couldn’t blame him. At some point, she’d have to do the same, but... she didn’t want to. That was the problem. She wanted to stay right where she was.
In love with Robbie Corrigan.
That’s where she was supposed to be.
Skylar turned off the engine with a choppy grab, using the back of her hand to swipe away the excess moisture in her eyes. She stepped out into the cool spring evening, popping her trunk to remove her equipment bag, settling the strap on a shoulder that only wanted to droop.
After securing the trunk lid and locking the car, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, beginning the shaky walk to the locker room entrance. As she approached, the voices in the distance grew louder. Her younger teammates and their loved ones exchanged final well wishes before the players disappeared into the red double doors. Her parents never walked her to the entrance on opening day, though she’d always wished they would—
Skylar slowed to a stop when she heard her father’s unmistakable chuckle, followed by her mother’s high-pitched titter. Elton’s sarcastic tone. They were waiting outside the locker room? Really? She’d known they were coming to her home opener, of course, but they usually just went to their seats and waved to her during warm-ups.
As she got closer and noticed they were in the Boston University T-shirts Robbie had bought them, Skylar almost turned around and ran back to her car, because everything north of her belly button tightened at once, her neck tendons turning like cranks, her tear ducts burning. But she couldn’t turn back now, because Elton had spotted Skylar, giving her that smug/dry smile reserved only for siblings.
This is what she needed. A boost from her family.
She’d take it, then do her best to get focused.
