Page 3 of Pitcher Perfect
“Um.” She ordered the fluttering in her chest to cease its torture. “Are you going to explain why we’re randomly playing ball with a pro hockey team?”
“If you insist.” Elton sighed. “Couple weeks back, I took Bubba to the dog park.” Bubba was her brother’s beloved bichon frise, which he’d inherited from an ex-girlfriend who’d realizedafter adopting Bubba that she was allergic to dogs—and Elton, too. “While I was at the dog run, I met this girl.”
“I had a feeling this is where our story would begin,” Skylar inserted dryly.
“Things were going well—or so I thought. She gave me her number. Then four hockey players showed up and started hassling me about it. Fine, whatever. She’s taken. I get it.” Elton rolled to a stop at a red light, glanced back at Skylar over his shoulder. “Then they start talking shit about baseball.”
Skylar turned to stone. “Excuse me?”
“They said it’s boring. Easy. Not a real sport. Background noise for a nap.”
She opened her mouth, but the outrage prevented actual words from coming out.
“I know,” her brother said, regardless. “Naturally, I challenged them to a game.”
“Who else is coming?”
“Few of our old teammates from Brown, plus a couple of guys I met at spring training last week in Florida.” Elton and Madden had both played baseball for Brown and were now preparing to enter the minor leagues in May. “They were driving distance and pissed off enough by my story to give up their Saturday.”
“I haven’t thrown a baseball in a few months. Only a softball.” Skylar stretched her fingers in her lap. “Not since the last time we were home.”
“That’s why we’re getting to the field early. So you can warm up that arm.” Elton chuckled. “I can’t wait to see their faces when you throw your first pitch.”
Madden made a sound of agreement that sent a wave of warmth through her chest.
“Speaking of going home...” She strove to sound casual. “Madden, you’re coming to Rhode Island for spring break, right?”
He turned his head just enough to send her a sidelong glance. “You think I’d miss the Page Stakes?”
“No.” She laughed breathlessly. “Of course not.”
She ignored her brother’s watchful gaze in the rearview, schooling her features and quickly tightening her ponytail. On the inside, though, was another story.
A full week with Madden.
Anticipation sparked in her wrists, her fingertips.
Maybe Madden would finally start looking at Skylar and see more than Elton’s tomboy younger sister? Please, universe? After all, she was now a senior at Boston University and dude, she cleaned upnice. Pretty nice.
Decent, at the very least.
There had been times over the past six years when she’d thought maybe, just maybe, Madden was looking at her as if he found her attractive, but she usually just had ketchup on her face. The annual Page Stakes might be the perfect opportunity to show her brother’s best friend that she’d become a capable woman, not the nosy tagalong from days of yore. Maybe she could even convince him to be her teammate at the yearly competition?
“So...” Skylar slid her hand into her glove, crushing the worn leather with the opposite hand. “Speaking of the Page Stakes, have the teams been locked in?”
“Uh, are you fully awake yet, Sky? The teams are always set in stone. Otherwise, how would Team Foul Balls be defending champs?” Elton and Madden exchanged a quick fist bump over the console. “Mom and Dad pair up. You and Eve round out the teams,” Elton continued, referencing Skylar’s best friend who still resided in their hometown. “That’s how it has always been. Don’t fuck with tradition.”
“Wouldn’t it be fun to shake things up, though?”
“No,” Elton replied without missing a beat. “Stay in your lane.”
Skylar sniffed. “I’m going to throw the game this morning just to spite you.”
“Sure.” Her brother’s skepticism was on full display in the rearview. “When you meet these assholes, you’ll want to beat them as much as I do.”
For once, Elton was right.
The trio arrived at the Langone Park ball field on Boston’s North End fifteen minutes later. Skylar must have subconsciously assumed she was being pranked by Elton—and it would be far from the first time—so she was a little stunned to find an assembly of giants awaiting them in the overcast distance.
