Page 17 of Playing for Keeps
He’d thought the circumstances of the meeting would work in his favor, but he couldn’t have been more wrong.
She was even more beautiful now than she’d been when they were young, but the distraught look on her face would haunt him now. A million memories stabbed at him like needles.
Justin planted his feet shoulder-width apart on a mat and stretched one arm across his chest, holding it taut with the other arm. “It’s fine. Leave it alone.”
“It’s not. I didn’t know, and now I feel like a jerk.”
Justin had given Garrett the heated and abbreviated version of his history with Caroline and what happened with the women downtown. In truth, Justin should have told his friend from the start, andnone of this would have happened. It wasn’t easy putting into words how thoroughly he’d messed things up.
It was all his fault. At the time, leaving Redemption Ridge was the right thing to do. His grandparents wouldn’t have been able to afford the care they needed if he hadn’t quickly worked his way up to the pros using his God-given talent for baseball.
Justin switched sides to stretch the other arm, hoping and praying Garrett would move on to a different subject so he could get the awful meeting with Caroline out of his head.
Who was he kidding? Having her back in his arms should have been the happiest moment of his life. Instead, his blood ran cold at the wounded look in her stormy gray eyes.
“If you wanted to get back together with Caroline, you should have said something to start with,” Garrett pushed as he followed Justin through the stretch.
Justin lowered his arms and glared at his friend. “I need her to forgive me first.” He pushed a hand through his short hair before reaching for the hand wrap and strapping it around his knuckles. “Then maybe she’ll let me be her friend, and I can earn her trust back.”
Garrett snatched the tape from Justin to wrap his own hands. “I’m your guy. Operation ChristmasRomance is officially off to a rocky start, but don’t give up yet.”
Justin flexed his hand against the constraints of the tape. “For the love of all things good, please stay out of it.”
Garrett pressed his lips together and shook his head. “No can do. I messed things up, and now I have to help make it right. Cindy will help too. She’s good at romance stuff. She taught me all I know.”
Cody Adams waved as he walked into the gym and joined Justin and Garrett on the mat, offering an out on the subject that grinded Justin’s nerves. “What’s up?”
“Justin is having woman problems,” Garrett said, tossing the tape onto a bench.
So much for a change of subject. “No, I’m not.”
Cody stretched his arm behind his head. “I saw the post. Chief is low-key fired up about it.” Chief Adams was Cody’s dad, and the two had a precarious working relationship. They didn’t have anything on Justin and his own dad, but things between the two men were clearly strained.
“Lovely. I’m already on the chief’s radar,” Justin grumbled.
“Everything is on Chief’s radar.” Garrett stepped up to a punching bag and extended his arm, testing the distance. “It’s not like the post was getting hateful comments. In fact, every single womanbetween eighteen and sixty volunteered to keep you company this Christmas.”
A chill rolled through Justin, making him shudder. “That’s disgusting.” He would never get used to the female attention that followed him around since his name and face started showing up on televisions across the world.
“I bet. I can’t imagine how awful that is,” Cody joked.
“How awful what is?”
Neenah Casper joined them on the mat, flipping her dark ponytail over a shoulder and pulling her neck to one side. Neenah and Cody had been friends for ages and worked out at the same time in the afternoons.
“Being chased around downtown by femalefans,” Cody said, making air quotes around the last word.
Neenah chuckled. “Oh, I heard about that. Tough day.”
Justin rolled his eyes and placed his feet into the fighting stance. “Well, I got away from them, but butchered my chance to….”
“A chance to what?” Cody asked.
“A chance to win back the love of his life,” Garrett finished.
Neenah’s eyes widened. “Do tell.”
Justin’s head rolled back, and he stared at the white ceiling. “It’s a long story.”
