Page 48 of Crew
“Whatever. I’ll be at college next year and then I can do whatever I want.”
“Excuse me?” I lifted a brow.
“You never said anything when my brothers talked about what they got up to at college. All the frat parties Jase and Dylan attended, and you got over Tyler dating his professor pretty quickly.” She stuck her tongue out at her brothers. “It shouldn’t be differentfor me.”
Tyler barked out a laugh. “She’s got you there.”
Cammie grinned at her oldest brother and I grumbled, “I guess not.” Damn, I hated when my kids outsmarted me.
“Time to eat,” Gage announced, placing a platter of delicious-looking rib eyes in the middle of the table.
Once everyone had dished up their food, I cleared my throat. “Since you’re all here, I have some news to share.”
Five sets of eyes turned to me, and for just a moment, I second-guessed my decision. Moving to Portland would affect everyone, and I didn’t want to do anything that might upset our family life.
Perhaps sensing my hesitancy, Gage squeezed my leg under the table, encouraging me to continue. “I got a call from my agent yesterday, and I have an interview with the Portland Seawolves for a coaching job.”
Jase was the first to respond. “That’s awesome.”
Dylan, Tyler, and Hayden all joined in, offering their congratulations.
“Did you say Portland? Like, as in Oregon?” Cammie asked.
“That’s where Portland’s located, duh.” Dylan smirked.
She smacked his arm. “There’s another one in Maine.”
Dylan’s arrogant grin fell. At least I wasn’t the only one Cammie outsmarted regularly.
Cammie looked at me. “Do I have to move too?”
“I won’t have to leave until spring training, and even then, I’ll be in Arizona. We’re going to work out something with your mom so you can finish high school here. Then you can visit us in Oregon as much as you want until you leave for college.”
“I can live with that,” she said with a small smile before cutting into her steak.
We chatted a little longer about the new team before the kids went back to roasting each other. As I looked around the table, it hit me. No one had been upset or angry about my announcement. They were just happy for me.
With their support, the decision to pursue the coaching jobsuddenly felt like the easiest thing in the world. And suddenly, I couldn’t wait to join a team again.
19
CREW
Two MonthsLater
The Rockies weren’t makingthe playoffs.
It seemed not only had my love life turned to shit after Knox was traded, but so had the Rockies. We won games here and there but weren’t consistent enough, so we sure as shit lost more than we won.
We played our final game of the season at home, and it was a perfect mirror of the year we’d had. Sloppy defense. Cold bats. I grounded into a double play in the eighth that killed our best shot at tying it up. I wanted to break the bat over my knee, but I didn’t. Instead, I handed it off and walked back to the dugout like the pro I was supposed to be.
By the time the ninth inning ended, the other team celebrated like they’d just won the pennant.
No playoffs.
No Knox.
I hadn’t heard from him in months. He hadn’t texted. I hadn’t reached out either. But I still kept up with him by checking the box scores and watching the highlights when the Twins played. He seemed to have landed on his feet in Minnesota. Batting over .280. Solid glove at first. He looked comfortable out there. Confident. Like he belonged. And even though I was proud of him, it also felt like he had really, truly moved on.
