Page 15 of Pitcher Perfect
Great question. Just figure out a way to see her again and go from there.
When would he see her, though? She’d just finished telling him she’d be in Rhode Island next week for some bizarre family Olympics. Two weeks from now, he’d be nothing but a distant memory—
Wait.
Wait.
“Don’t you need a new teammate for the Page...”
“Stakes? Yes.” She leaned forward, then way back in her chair. As if she comprehended where he was going with this line of questioning but wasn’t sure if Robbie was quite that crazy. Spoiler alert: he was. “Why?”
He spread his arms wide. “Look no further.”
“That punch knocked your common sense loose.Looser, I should say. You’re proposing we compete together, as a team, in the Page Stakes?” She shook her head slowly, one corner of her mouth lifting with secret amusement. “Honestly? You have no idea what you’d be in for. I should let you come, just to watch your dawning horror.”
Robbie scratched his beard. “Your family is that fucked-up, huh?”
“My dad wakes us up with a trumpet. He keeps a local nurse on speed dial, just in case any of us require medical attention.”
“I’m in.”
“What... is wrong with you?”
“Same thing that’s wrong with you. I’m competitive to a fault. I don’t care if the prize is a Pepsi can, I want to win it.”With you.“And in the process...” He tried to shrug off the warning twist in his chest, but he didn’t quite succeed. “We make your catcher a little jealous. Let him see who and what he’s missing.”
Skylar studied Robbie’s face long and hard, probably double-checking that she wasn’t being had. Then she stared off into the distance, cogs turning behind her incredible eyes. “Do you think... that would really work? I mean, hedidseem a little jealous when you sexually harassed me at the baseball field.”
“Christ. Talk about a wake-up call,” Robbie muttered, the words “sexual harassment” echoing in his ears. “We’ve only got about two minutes left, so I’ll lay it out for you. I’ll come to Rhode Island and help you win this guy...” Speaking of nurses, he needed one to treat the burning in his esophagus right about now. “I owe you. I want to make up for what happened this morning.”
Skylar tilted her head, as if maybe she was caught off guard by his earnestness, but still not quite sold. On himorthe idea. “What would I tell my family?”
“That I’m your... love interest. Obviously. That’s how we’re going to make this assho— the catcher, I mean, jealous.”
Briefly, she covered her face, clearly in disbelief to be considering this proposed charade. “Even if I could convince my parents that I’m suddenly the girl who brings home her boyfriend, who I’ve never told them about, do you really think Elton is going tobuy that? What about Madden? You think they’ll buy the story that we had some miraculous turnaround in our relationship after thirty minutes in a coffee shop where neither one of us drank coffee?”
“I can be convincing.” He cocked a challenging eyebrow. “Can you?”
She hissed a sound. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?” he asked, innocently.
“Prod my competitive side.”
Robbie almost had her. He wasthis closeto being allowed to go with Skylar to Rhode Island and help her win another man. Sure, he’d get to spend time with this amazing girl and beat some baseball players’ asses. Watching her pine for another man would be fucking awful, but there was no turning back now. He wasn’t lying when he said this morning had been a wake-up call and he not only wanted to leave this girl with a better impression of him, he wanted to remind himself of the person Grandpa Nick had helped raise. Someone who treated everyone with respect.
When had he gone so far off course?
“Moment of truth, Skylar. Are you in or out?”
She glanced toward the street, her teeth furiously chewing her bottom lip.
Were his palms sweating? Yeah. Profusely. After all, she could say no to this asinine idea and walk out the door without looking back. Frankly, it terrified him how easily she could do that. In fact, she probablyshoulddo that, because she had exactly zero reasons to trust him.
Give her one.
Without giving himself the opportunity to talk himself out of it, Robbie took the wallet out of his back pocket and slid an old photograph out of the billfold. He hesitated only a moment before setting it down in front of her, making sure his voice waseven before he started talking. “This is my grandfather Nick. He is... hewasthe most important person in the world to me. I swear on his memory that I’m going to help you do this. I’ll take it seriously.” He tried not to be obvious about the long breath he had to take. “I also swear on his memory to mop the floor with your brother at the Page Stakes.”
Skylar snorted on her way to burying her head in her hands. “God knows I’m not getting Madden’s attention on my own,” she murmured, almost to herself.
