Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
RORY
I never went out in public looking less than perfect. Hell, even during labor with both my girls, I could’ve posed for a photo shoot.
Just last year, I’d been sick as a dog with a temperature of 102, hacking up a lung and feeling like death warmed over. Instead of shuffling into the pharmacy with bed head while wearing my pajamas, I’d gotten dressed, done my hair, and put on makeup just so I could get some meds. Never mind the fact that I should’ve been able to count on my no-good, lying, cheating, scumbag of a husband to do it for me.
But if my decade of marriage was good for anything, it had been to teach me I couldn’t count on anyone but myself. Except…well, I couldn’t exactly say that anymore, now could I? Not after today. Not after Nash King had literally given me the shirt off his back when I’d been in a pinch.
I glanced down at the too-big piece of cotton hanging off my body. It smelled like pine and sawdust and rain and…man. Sweet Lord, it smelled like a man. One who worked with his hands and his body instead of sitting behind a desk all day, shuffling papers and answering phone calls and banging his assistant.
As I breathed in Nash’s intoxicating scent, I tried not to remember him standing in front of me bare-chested. All those muscles dipping and curving and rippling, the light sprinkling of hair on his chest, the tattoos that ran down both defined arms. I’d never before been remotely interested in tattoos, and now I found myself daydreaming about what it’d be like to trace them. With my tongue.
Of course, I knew he was handsome. Anyone with two working eyeballs could see that. What, with his floppy not-quite-blond-but-not-quite-brown hair and that scruff and that incessant smirk he always shot me and that chuckle that went straight to my nipples. And, yeah, okay, so I was attracted to him. So what? It wasn’t any different from being attracted to the thirst traps my sisters insisted on sending me. They were all unattainable, so what did it matter?
“Get your head in the game, y’all!” My daddy barked the order to the rest of the team.
Bland murmurs of acknowledgment went on around me as I shifted on the opposite side of the outfield, tugging up the neck of my— Nash’s —shirt again. It must’ve looked ridiculous, continually hanging off one of my shoulders and showcasing the strap of my ivory bra. Downright indecent, and I should’ve been ashamed of myself, going out in public looking like that. But I hadn’t had a choice, now had I? Nash had been right—if I’d have been late to the game, it would’ve reflected poorly not only on me, but on my family, and I’d already done enough of that today by skipping out on all the festivities up to this point.
That’d been the only reason I’d reluctantly taken his proffered shirt and slipped it over my head like it had been a lifeline. I’d knotted it at the base of my spine so it didn’t look like I was wearing a garbage sack, but I wasn’t sure I’d been all that successful.
I hated that I didn’t look my best when so many eyes were on me. If I couldn’t hide away in my house, I’d at least wanted to come looking impeccable, with an unflappable, practiced smile on my face, and show everyone I was fine.
I was fine .
Rory Haven was unbreakable, and my no-good ex certainly hadn’t managed to finally make me crack.
“Quit tuggin’ at your shirt, Rory, and focus!” Mac yelled. “Finn’s up, and you know he’s sendin’ the ball straight to you.”
Of course he was. Because I played baseball about as well as I gutted a fish, and he knew it. Everyone knew it, and yet my daddy—Havenbrook’s mayor, instigator of this damned baseball game, and all-around pain in my ass, though I’d never dream of saying that aloud—forced us to do this year in and year out.
Last year’s game had been the first in my memory where we’d lost. Not because we’d suddenly had a bad year, but because a new team hadn’t been afraid of Richard Haven’s wrath and had actually played with the intention of winning and not throwing the game. The very team we were up against now.
Heaven help us all if we lost again this year.
My daddy stood at first base, his belly pouring over the front of his khaki shorts, his face red in reaction to the heat. “C’mon now, eyes on the prize. Eyes on the prize, y’all!”
Only the ingrained manners I’d been brought up with stopped me from rolling my eyes in my father’s direction. Instead, I called back to Mac, “If you’re so worried about it, why don’t you come on over here, then?”
Mac shot me a look that said I was clueless. “Obviously… I’m gonna haul ass as soon as his bat hits the ball.”
“Y’all quit fightin’ out there!” Will called over her shoulder from second base. “He’ll prey on your weaknesses.”
I didn’t doubt that. If anyone would tell the truth about Finn, it’d be Will. Since he and my sister had gotten back together last year, he’d filled the void in my life of annoying younger brother. Always picking. Always prodding. Always irritating the hell out of me. But damn if I didn’t have a fondness for him. There was no denying exactly how good he was for Will, and I’d never begrudge my sister happiness. Me and my sisters might’ve had a tumultuous relationship for most of our lives, but I was trying damn hard to rectify that now because I was getting really tired of fighting my life battles all on my own.
I was so lost in my thoughts, I didn’t realize Finn had hit the ball until Mac barreled toward me full force, yelling for me to get out of the way. I didn’t move fast enough, though, which meant Mac couldn’t get to the ball. I squeaked and covered my face with a mitt-encased hand while Mac cussed a blue streak at me. The ball dropped several yards behind me, and Mac hustled to it, picking it up and turning toward the infield to throw it to second base. Except she froze. Just stood there—her arm pulled back, ball at the ready to launch, her mouth agape.
“Mac! What in heaven’s name is wrong with—” I turned to glance over my shoulder toward the infield and stopped short when I saw exactly what held Mac’s attention.
Will stood on second base, her baseball mitt forgotten at her feet, her hands clasped over her mouth. And Finn was down on one knee in front of her, holding a small black box out between them.
“Holy shit,” Mac said, coming up to stand next to me.
Holy shit was right. A proposal wasn’t all that unexpected. Finn and Willow had lost so much time— years —that it made sense they wouldn’t want to lose any more, despite that they’d only officially been a couple again for about a year. But in all that time, Finn hadn’t made it any secret that he wanted Will, would do anything at all for her, and he’d done everything in his power to show her exactly that. He’d named his business after her, for heaven’s sake.
Will nodded to Finn, her smile bright, and then Finn slipped the ring on her finger and stood. He wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged her right off the ground, kissing her as if the entire town weren’t watching them.
Everyone in the bleachers went wild. The crowd cheered and clapped, hoots and hollers going up all around me, but all I could do was stare.
I’d expected this to happen at some point. There was no question they were in love, and despite my initial reluctance toward Finn, I knew he was the perfect man for my younger sister.
But what I hadn’t expected was the ache in my chest, the heavy weight that sat on my shoulders as I watched them. The overwhelming longing for something I’d thought I’d once had… Thought I’d always have.
But now wasn’t the time for my emotions. It was my sister’s day, and I wouldn’t dampen that even though it hurt like hell. Especially knowing my own attempt at happily ever after had not only failed, but hadn’t truly been real in the first place.
Me and my ex-husband, Sean, had gotten married right after college graduation because that had been the next logical step after dating all four years. We’d had babies almost immediately, and then my life had revolved around my husband and my daughters and being the eldest child of the town’s namesake family.
And somewhere along the line, I’d forgotten how to just be Rory. How to actually be happy.
But I needed to shove those thoughts away. It wasn’t the time or place for that kind of nonsense. I needed to suck it up and deal while my sister had one of the best days of her life. I needed to put on a brave face, smile for the audience, and pretend like everything was perfect. Absolutely perfect.