Page 12 of Catch Him
Chapter 4
Sinead was lookingdown at the baseball field, a hot dog in one hand a beer in the other. They were up high in the cheap seats of AT&T Park, and she thought this might be as cool as last night’s date.
David was wearing a T-shirt, worn jeans with a small tear at the knee and flip flops. Even his damn feet were perfect. She’d gone with cut-off jean shorts and a light sweatshirt as the weather seemed to be holding today.
Baseball in August. For her it didn’t get better than this. Except for one noticeable detail.
“I have to point out these are not the best seats in the house.”
David gave her a stunned expression. “What?”
“No. There are the box seats of course, but I always think they’re a little stuffy. Then there’s behind home plate, so you can see the curve and drop of the pitches. Except then you’re on camera and everyone who knows you will text you that they can see you on TV. Which means you spend the whole time looking at your phone instead of the game. After that, there’s low along the first and third baselines, where you are most likely to catch a foul ball. Up here… well, these are the cheap seats. Which for the record I don’t mind, but I thought you should know in case you got ripped off or something.”
“You left out a critical component of the quality of these seats.”
“What’s that?”
“Look around.”
Sinead did. It was a Business Person’s special, which meant a one o’clock start on a Thursday. While the team was doing well, it was a normal regular season game. The park was only about half full. She and David basically had the entire section to themselves.
“What am I looking for?”
“These are the best seats for a little PDA, with barely anyone around to take offense,” he said smugly.
“You’re telling me you deliberately bought these seats so you could make out with me?”
“No, I’m telling you I bought thebestseats in which to make out with you. I have no expectations. Only hope.”
Sinead shook her head. “You’re a little crazy.”
He glanced over at her. “I am. A little crazy. But I think that’s a good thing for you. You maybe haven’t had enough crazy in your life.”
No, unless you counted a father who had gone dirty, then had gotten mixed up with the mob. Unless that was a little crazy.
“I prefer calm to crazy,” she finally said. It was true. Drama, she thought, was highly overrated. However, since she hadn’t been able to sleep last night, still so completely filled with thoughts about him, she’d had plenty of time to think.
The absence of drama might be calm or even peace. That was not what her life was like right now. Her life was colorless. David brought lots of color. He was the full box of 64 Crayons.
“Thank you,” she said spontaneously.
He quirked his lips. “For what?”
“For taking me out. Showing me a good time. Doesn’t that warrant a thank you?”
“I find most women expect to be shown a good time on a date.”
“Well, I’m not one of them. I recognize that when it happens, it’s special and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Beer, hot dogs, baseball… my favorite things. But I also really liked being fancy last night. The clothes, the food, the wine. That was special too.”
He looked at her then. “Then why did you feel the need to run away from me last night? It was as if you were scared of me.”
She winced. “What made you think that?”
“It was the click, click of the shoes as you ran across your apartment complex that did it.”
Sinead took a bite of her hot dog. After she swallowed, she shrugged. It was a good enough excuse. “Okay, I guess I got a little scared. You can be a little intimidating.”
His eyes narrowed. “Nope. I don’t believe that. I’m the least intimidating person I know. Try again. Besides, you’re a cop. Scared and intimidated are not two attributes one usually assigns to the police.”
