Chapter Twenty-Four #2
Eve started to ask which of the minidesserts she should go for next, but Elton sauntered up beside Veda with a frosted pint
of beer in his hand. “The shirt looks good on you,” he said to Veda, referring to his old Brown jersey that he’d brought from
home. Being that Elton was taller and broader, she’d opted to tie the sides of the button-up around her stomach, showing off
the embroidered waistband of her high-waisted jeans. “I can confidently say it has never been worn like that.”
Veda preened. “I add a little dazzle wherever I can.”
“You . . . yeah,” Elton muttered. Eyes glued to Veda’s face, he took a long pull of his beer. “Do you know the rules of baseball?”
She shook her head. “All I know is we want the team in pinstripes to win.”
Elton smirked, using his beer to indicate the two blue rows of seats on the other side of the glass wall. “Come sit with me.
I’ll explain as we go.”
“Oh, um.” Veda hesitated. “Should we . . .”
“What?”
Twin spots appeared on Veda’s cheeks. “Is it weird to sit together alone if you’re sort of dating my sister?”
Elton’s throat muscles worked. “No. We’re friends, you and me. Right?”
“Friends.” Veda brightened. Everywhere but her eyes. “Right, yeah, I know. Besides, in what world could I steal a man from
Alexis?” She let out a hearty laugh. “You’re probably explaining the rules of baseball to me to earn points with her, right?
Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to put in a good word, slugger.” She looked at Eve, whispering, “Oh god. Am I still talking?”
“Afraid so.”
“Quick,” Elton said, handing her his pint. “Drink the rest of my beer before you make this any weirder.”
Veda drained it in ten seconds and handed him back the empty glass. “Thanks.” She snuck a slow smile up at Elton. “You have
terrible taste.”
His scrutiny of Veda’s features went on a second too long. “I don’t know my taste anymore,” he murmured, holding the cold
pint glass to his temple.
“I’m talking about beer, Elton,” Veda whispered. “You have terrible taste in beer.”
“Right.” Apparently, he was having a very difficult time looking at anything but Veda, but he managed to set down the pint
glass and steer her toward the exit that would take them out into the stadium-style seating area. “Back to baseball. There
are nine innings . . .”
As the conversation between Veda and Elton faded away, Skylar slid up beside Eve, giving her a little hip bump. “Hey.”
“Hey, babe,” Eve responded, cataloging the changes to Skylar’s appearance since the last time she’d seen her, about a month
ago. With her eyes holding a permanent sparkle and her dark brown hair in a wavy tumble, the girl looked incredible. “What
is going on with my brother and that rockabilly girl?”
“Oh, he’s dating her sister, Alexis, a local real estate agent in Cumberland who is precisely his white picket fence and two-point-five-children
type, but he’s obviously crazy for Veda, who pulls all-nighters, lives with her parents, and shivers at the thought of marriage.”
“Whoa.”
“Tell me about it.” Eve winked at Skylar. “Moving on. Hockey looks good on you.”
“I’m going to let you give me conversational whiplash because we have way too much to talk about and I don’t know when we’ll be alone again.
” Her best friend breathed a laugh. “Hockey feels as good on me as it looks.” She seemed to lock eyes with Robbie across the suite.
“I didn’t see him coming. He’s . . . wow. You know?”
Eve warmed. “Tell me more.”
“I mean, it’s superearly,” Skylar qualified. “We’ve only been seeing each other for a month, but . . .”
“When you know, you know.”
“Yeah,” Skylar breathed, pressing her palms to her cheeks and lowering her voice. “I fell asleep at my apartment after practice
yesterday and he just showed up, all frowny and griping. He packed me a bag and carried me downstairs where the Uber was waiting.
Took me back to his place and—”
“I can guess what happened next.”
“No. I mean, well, yeah, but not until the next morning. He just wanted to sleep beside me.” She let out a burst of air. “I’m in love with him.”
Eve’s chest swelled—and it almost burst wide open when she looked over at Robbie and saw him mooning at Skylar like a lovesick
puppy. “I can tell, Sky. I’m so happy for you.”
“Thanks.” Skylar rolled her lips inward, wetting them.
“But . . . there’s something I need to speak with you about.
Concerning Madden?” She looked down at the ground for a moment, as if piecing her thoughts together.
“When everything was developing between me and Robbie, we hit some speed bumps and I ended up going for a drink with Madden in the middle of it all. I mistook it for a date, but Madden very tactfully told me it wasn’t.
He only asked me for a drink to talk about you, Eve.
All those years I had a crush on him and .
. .” She reached out and squeezed Eve’s shoulder, her features rife with chagrin.
“He was locked in on you the whole time.”
Breathing was difficult—which was ridiculous, considering Eve had known on some level that Madden had wanted her a lot longer
than a few weeks. To hear that he’d said it out loud to her best friend, though, rocked her back on her heels. “Is that what
he said?”
“I think his exact words were ‘It’s always been Eve for me.’”
“Oh,” Eve said choppily.
Skylar pulled her into a hug and Eve went, resting her chin on Skylar’s shoulder. “Eve, I promised him I would talk to you
about accepting his help. You need health insurance for the kids and—”
“I married him,” Eve blurted, her heart rate speeding up as the announcer started to call the opening lineup for the Yankees.
Wow. Her usual modus operandi was to keep her lips zipped about her business. Was Veda rubbing off on her or was she feeling
guilty for keeping something so big from her best friend?
Too late to turn back now.
“We’re married. But only for six months,” Eve rushed to add. “Well. Five and a half now, I think.”
Slowly, Skylar reared back, her jaw dangling in the vicinity of her ankles. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Adrenaline had Eve’s pulse racing. She almost gave some dumb excuse about having been so busy, she didn’t have a chance to
call, but Skylar deserved better than that. Way better. “I guess . . .” She swallowed hard and looked her friend in the eye.
“You wanted him for so long, it still felt like I was stealing him.”
Skylar blinked rapidly, her gaze dropping to the floor. When she focused on Eve again, there was a fine layer of mist in her eyes. “I think maybe I was stealing him from you all those years. I was the one standing in the way.”
Denial weighed down on Eve’s chest. Not denial of the truth. Denial of seeing her best friend looking anguished, Eve being
the cause. “Skylar—”
“Eve.” The pitcher reached out and squeezed Eve’s forearm. “Let’s call it like it is.”
“Okay.” Eve let out a slow breath. “Now that I’ve seen you with Robbie, I’m not worried anymore. I know you’re happy.”
“And now you get to be happy too.” Skylar gave her one more squeeze, for good measure. “Now. Tell. Me. Everything.”
Approximately six minutes later, Skylar hadn’t said a single word. Or blinked once.
And Eve hadn’t even mentioned the parking lot sex.
She had, however, confided that the six-month rule and secrecy had been instituted to protect Madden’s reputation. By keeping
it separate from hers.
“Eve,” her best friend said in something of a warning tone.
“Skylar,” Eve responded, suspiciously.
“I know you’re not a fan of unsolicited advice.”
Eve sipped her drink, winking over the brim. “No lies detected.”
“Normally I respect your boundaries, but you’re just going to have to grin and bear it this time.” Skylar took her by the
shoulders and shook slightly, sloshing the champagne in Eve’s glass. “Don’t let other people’s opinions affect your decisions.
Especially when those opinions are small-minded and ignorant.”
Did she take her friend’s advice seriously? Yes, of course she did.
But Eve had lived under the weight of disapproval for a long time.
She didn’t even know how to begin shedding it.
Or what she would do if she ever managed to leave the condemnation behind.
Was it time to start wondering?
The top of the ninth inning was when things got hairy.
One, the game was tied 4–4, their opponents were up to bat and had a man on third.
Two, Veda and Elton hadn’t budged from their spots in approximately three hours and their sporadic bursts of laughter could
probably be heard down on the field.
And three, Eve was pretty sure Robbie and Skylar were fucking in the bathroom. Skylar had spilled lemonade on her shirt ten
minutes ago, Robbie had come to the rescue with club-soda-soaked paper towels, and they hadn’t emerged since.
Eve was definitely fifth wheeling and she didn’t mind that one iota, because she didn’t have to pretend to focus on a conversation,
as opposed to the true passion that had developed during the game: staring at Madden.
This wasn’t the first time she’d ever been to one of his games. No, she’d been to dozens of high school games and once or
twice, she’d road-tripped with the Pages to watch him play for Brown. She hadn’t had a chance to catch one of his minor-league
games, though she’d planned on it. But this—this was cinematic.
A flatscreen showed the game in the suite, so she could hear the announcer calling the game.
Had a bird’s-eye view and a close-up of Madden when he took off his mask to argue a call with the umpire in the fifth inning, his black hair shaggy around the sides of his backward hat, eye black swipes high on his cheeks.
Every time he stood to throw back the ball to the pitcher, Eve had to breathe through her nose, to say nothing of the full-body sweat she encountered when he threw out a runner stealing second, his mask falling behind him in the dirt, blue eyes snapping with concentration.
God, her husband was hot.
She was very invested in this game too. Perhaps to the untrained observer, this was any other baseball game, but Eve could
see something in Madden’s eyes that she hadn’t expected after talking to him about his issues fitting in with the team. She
saw optimism. When they’d gotten their third out at the end of the third inning, he’d even traded a smile and a fist bump
with Ruiz, the pitcher.
Now the closer had taken over and wasn’t having quite as much luck.
The Yankees needed one more out, but even Eve recognized the face of the player at bat. That had to mean he was good, right?
Even Skylar and Robbie must have sensed something important was happening, because they were out of the bathroom—a little
flushed, to be sure—all of them splitting looks between the field and the television.
Two balls, two strikes.
The pitch came in.
Clonk. The ball zoomed past the pitcher, bounced once, and got snapped up by the shortstop.
Elton stood up. “Oh shit,” Eve heard him say, through the glass—and a second later, she understood why. The runner on third
was sprinting for home, toward Madden, who was guarding the plate, his glove up and ready to receive a rapid-fire throw from
the shortstop.
Madden caught the ball and put down his shoulder, just in time for the runner to collide with him at full speed, knocking him hard to the ground.
So hard that a cloud of brown dust went up.
Eve dropped her purse, unable to breathe, pressure building deep in her eye sockets while she stared at the television, waiting for Madden to move.
Was the entire crowd dead silent or had her ears stopped working?
The cloud of dust settled. Madden held up the ball.
He hadn’t dropped it. Yankees win.
Pandemonium erupted, the intensity of which Eve had never experienced in her life and maybe never would again. Elton and Veda
came barreling into the suite, wrapping Skylar, Robbie, and Eve in a group hug, everyone screaming and jumping at once.
At least, until they noticed there was a medic being called to home plate.
The five of them watched in horror for ten excruciating minutes as a man stood over Madden, blocking the view of him from
the camera. The low drone of the announcer’s voice was the sole sound in the suite until a buzz started somewhere in the vicinity.
It took Eve several beats to realize it was her phone vibrating.
She looked at the screen. Unknown number.
“Answer it,” Elton said, squinting at her phone.
Eve tapped the green icon. “Hello?”
“Is this Eve Keller?”
“Yes. This is she.”
“I’m Hank Jones, one of the family coordinators here with the Yankees. You’re down as the emergency contact for Madden Donahue.”
A heavy jolt in her middle. “I am?”
“Yes. I’m sure you’re following the incident at the game. His injury doesn’t appear to be serious, but his shoulder took a
hefty blow. They’re transporting him to Mount Sinai as a precaution for a couple of x-rays. Wanted to let you know.”
Eve didn’t know whether to be relieved or horrified, but her body seemed dead set on the latter.
Madden in the hospital. It was all too reminiscent of those scary months during high school when she cried herself to sleep every night, terrified she was going to lose him.
Apparently, she was housing some leftover trauma, because her knees wouldn’t stop shaking. “Thank you for calling.”
“You got it.”
Eve hung up and looked at the group, who seemed to be holding their collective breath. “They’re taking him to the hospital
as a precaution. His shoulder took a serious hit, so they want to do x-rays, but otherwise, he’s okay.” Standing there made
her feel useless. “Should I . . . go? Or would I just be in the way?”
“Go,” Elton said. “You’re probably the only one they’ll let in to see him.”
“Why?”
Elton’s lips twitched, but he didn’t respond out loud.
Right. She was Madden’s wife. The hospital would allow family.
“Never mind.” Eve ran a set of fingers through her hair, looking around for her things. What had she brought? Your phone is in your hand. “Oh! Wait, I’m Veda’s ride back to Cumberland.”
“Got it covered,” Elton assured her. “I’m heading home to see Mom and Dad for a night or two, anyway. Veda can ride with me.”
Eve didn’t have time to dwell on the electrified air sizzling between Elton and Veda—she was growing more restless by the
second and had to get moving. With a kiss on everyone’s cheek and promises to keep them updated via text, Eve was out the
door.