Page 108 of Pitcher Perfect
You’re blowing it.
“Dinner was gorgeous, by the way. Have you been to Mamma Maria? I had a chicken piccata that was well worth the heartburn, let me tell you. My ankles are swollen from all the salt.”
“Here we go again with the ankle talk,” muttered Robbie’s dad—and maybe Skylar had no right fantasizing this way, but she could only imagine the hilarity that would ensue when these people met their polar opposites in Vivica and Doug.
“Robbie kept getting phone calls during the meal from his real estate agent, but all in all, a lovely night.”
Skylar’s ears perked up. “Real estate agent?”
“He’s been planning a move for over a week. He didn’t tell you?”
Over a week?Skylar was almost too stunned to respond. “N-no.”
“Don’t worry, sweetheart, it’s not like he’s leaving Boston.” She patted Skylar’s knee. “He just wants a place of his own.”
Skylar stared straight forward, pulse tickling her wrists, trying to process that information. Robbie was moving out of his bachelor pad with Mailer? Was it possible, even just a little, that he was doing that for her? For their relationship?
No. No way.
Right? Wouldn’t he have told her, if that was the case?
Hypothetically, however, if he was moving out of his party palace and into his own apartment to show he was serious abouttheir relationship—and she’dstillgone out with Madden for that drink—she was an even bigger asshole than she’d realized. Plus, she was falling even further behind on Big Gestures than she thought.
“Forgive my son if he’s taking a little while to straighten things out between you two. You see, Robbie used to get most of his advice from his grandfather.Myfather.” Angela crossed herself. “If he was still alive, he’d be sitting next to you with an extra large Coke giving you statistics for everyone on the ice. He was a big character.”
“I’ve been told a lot about him,” Skylar managed. “I heard he loved to fly kites.”
“That’s true. That big yellow one...”
The static rush in Skylar’s ears drowned out the rest of what Angela said. Yellow kite. The one that was stuck in the tree that Robbie couldn’t get down because of his fear of heights. Robbie’s words drifted back to her while she watched him finish warm-ups and leave the ice, presumably preparing to be introduced and start the game.It’s ridiculous, butas long ashis kite is stuck in that tree, I’ll have this weird sense of things being unfinished. Or unresolved. Like he’s out there somewhere missing that damn kite.
Skylar didn’t have a fear of heights. She could get him that kite.
She could do this thing that was important to him and earn her right to sayI love you. Maybe then he’d be ready to start dating her again. Because she couldn’t stand being trapped in the uncertainty anymore when she was so sure of Robbie, she felt him in her bones.
“Where exactly is this yellow kite that got stuck in the tree?”
Robbie walked into the friends and family waiting room ready to propose.
No bullshit.
Don’t get him wrong, he’d concentrated as much as possible on the game—and they’d secured the W, bringing the series to 2–1—but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t sneak approximately ten thousand looks at his beautiful girl sitting in the stands with his parents. At this point, his heart was going to tumble out of his fucking chest if he didn’t kiss Skylar and sleep in the same bed as her tonight.Tonight.
No more screwing around. This was serious. He felt ill.
So why didn’t he see her anywhere? Wives, girlfriends, parents, assorted family for the entire roster, down to the equipment manager. No Skylar.
“Where is she? Where’s Skylar?”
His mother drew him down for a kiss on the cheek. “Nice to see you, too. What a joy she is, Robbie. Pure joy. So much heart and sincerity for such a young girl. She left.”
Robbie’s entire chest lurched, like a semitruck slamming on the brakes. “What do you mean, ‘she left’?”
“She said she had something to do.”
Something to do?
Like a date?
