Chapter 6
Piper: Got a date yet?
Piper’s pushy little text message buzzed around Emmy’s mind like an angry bee all day on Friday. Even with everything else
crammed into Piper’s brain—the dress, the venue, the caterers, the marriage license, the menu, the officiant—the chance she’d
forget about her sister’s plus one was about as good as, say, randomly guessing someone’s phone number. Although she knew
Piper was asking in part to help spare Emmy the humiliation of showing up alone in front of Jacob.
She had not not stalked Jacob’s social media for evidence of his new relationship, but she also hadn’t dwelled on it. She’d allowed herself
five minutes for a rabbit hole into his life without her and found out Ben’s cousin was a cute blond dental hygienist named
Katie. Surely she had a profession with more of a work-life balance than watching and analyzing 162 baseball games in six
months. Emmy had nothing against Katie; that was unfair. But she had half a mind to DM her and let her know just what a tool
her new boyfriend was. Alas, she’d resisted and decided the most satisfying move would be to show up to the wedding looking
happy and fulfilled and prove Jacob wrong about being alone.
Which, unfortunately, meant she still needed to find a date.
She’d responded to her sister’s text with a vague Working on it and threw herself into a day at the office.
Alice had decided they were going out in the Gaslamp Quarter that night after work.
The home game started at seven, which meant their time at the office would bleed right into a night out in the surrounding bars near the park where the game would be on every TV.
Emmy had gone home between the end of work and the start of the game. She wasn’t sure what had come over her, perhaps her
sister’s insistent reminder she was down a few runs in the plus one game, but she decided to channel Beth and actually dress
up to go out. Sure, she was still in Boys Town, whatever. But at least with a game going on down the street, the bars and
lounges would be flooded with all sorts of people to take the focus off her dressing up for once.
She picked out a little black dress with a scoop neck and short sleeves. She attempted the winged eyeliner thing with modest
success and painted her lips shiny pink. Given that she knew there’d be a fair amount of walking involved, she skipped heels
and went with a pair of Chucks. She threw a small crossbody purse with a gold chain over her head and stashed her phone, wallet,
keys, and lipstick in it. She’d left her curly hair loose and knew it would continue to grow throughout the night thanks to
the humidity. The whole look was a little punk rock, but she liked it. She didn’t sincerely plan on finding a date to her sister’s wedding, but she thought the effort might give her a leg up.
When Emmy arrived at the bar Alice designated as the night’s starting point, the crowd already spilled from the doorway. She
fought her way inside among all the jerseys and T-shirts, the backward hats, and pitchers of beer. She spotted Alice, Pedro,
and Gabe near the bar half watching the game on a TV and half laughing about something. Alice still wore heels and a power
skirt like she’d come straight from the office. Pedro also looked how he always looked, but Gabe had ditched one of his Easter
polos for a jersey that hung open over a tight white tee. His hair was still neatly sculpted, and he too wore a pair of Chucks
with jeans. Emmy could see his perfect smile glowing from across the bar like a beacon in the dim light.
A funny thing happened in her chest at the sight. And then she remembered his comment in the staff meeting and decided the sensation was preemptive heartburn from all the booze they were about to make her drink, and she went back to despising him.
In the game, someone got on base and sent the bar into a cheering tizzy. The echo from the actual stadium a block away pounded
like drums Emmy could feel in her bones. It sent a thrill zipping across her skin.
She walked up to her colleagues and stood behind them. “Hey,” she greeted.
“Hey,” Pedro said, distracted by the game and only glancing at her. Then, like a cartoon character, he did a double take and
turned back around. “Jameson? Is that you?”
Emmy rolled her eyes. “Of course it’s me.”
Pedro managed to shove his bulging eyeballs back into his face and smile. “Holy shit, I didn’t even recognize you.”
Emmy fought to control the red she felt rising in her face. At least the bar was dim. She made knowing eyes at Alice, who
gave her a tight smile. “Can I get a drink, please?”
“Of course,” Alice said. “First round is on me.” She turned to the bar with her hand up.
Gabe quietly cleared his throat from beside Emmy. She turned to him and saw a strange look on his face. A little like he was
being stung by a thousand bees at once. “Jameson,” he said with a tight nod.
“Olson,” Emmy responded with a narrowed gaze. He smelled good again, damn him. Even in the grimy bar with competing odors
of beer and fried food, his scent curled into her nose like orange cinnamon stick tendrils reaching out to grab her.
She took a deliberate step back and bumped into someone.
“Excuse me,” the person said politely.
Emmy turned to see it was Silas, and he too was doing a buggy-eyed cartoon double take at her.
“Damn, Jameson. I didn’t recognize you. You look... different.” He said it as if he could not put his finger on why.
“Yes, we’ve established that already, Ish,” Pedro said, and helped Alice hand them both shots.
Alice raised her shot glass to the center of the small circle they had formed. “To everyone’s hard work so far and a great
rest of the season.”
They all clinked and drank. Whiskey. Alice’s favorite. Emmy fought not to squeeze her face too tightly as she swallowed. She
slammed her glass on the bar and exhaled. Gabe did the same, and his arm brushed against hers for a hot second. They both
wore short sleeves, and the skin-on-skin contact made Emmy break out in goose bumps. Or maybe that was the liquor.
Gabe cleared his throat again and stepped back to where he’d been standing.
“Well, that’s it for me. Have a great night, you guys. Don’t get too carried away,” Alice said. She waved at the bartender
again and made the universal motion of check please.
“What?” Emmy asked. She stepped toward her and lowered her voice. “You’re leaving? We just got here.”
“I have to go back to the park,” she said as she scribbled her name on a tab.
“ Alice , you can’t leave me here with them!” Emmy hissed. “I never would have come if I’d known you—” She cut herself off, realizing
she’d been tricked.
Alice casually shrugged, not looking at all guilty. “You’re already out. Try to have some fun. Bye, guys,” she said to the
other three with a wave.
“Thanks for the drink, Alice,” Gabe said. “Have a good night.”
Alice bobbed her head at him in acknowledgment and then slipped into the crowd like a stylish little fish.
“Traitor,” Emmy muttered in her wake. She turned back to her three companions and considered making an excuse for why she needed to leave too, but she saw a glint in Gabe’s eye.
Something that looked like a challenge. As if he was daring her to see the night through.
She knew in one blink if she left, it would be admitting defeat, and she was not about to lose to him. Again.
“Another round?” she said with a cocky tilt of her head.
His lip twitched the same way it had in the conference room the other day. As if he liked it when she challenged him. The thought sent a surprising thrill tingling her spine.
“On me,” Gabe said as if he had accepted her acceptance of his challenge.
They went with beers, and Emmy was thankful for being able to slowly sip instead of gulp something that tasted like an oak
barrel lit on fire.
“Well, that worked out for the best,” Pedro said, and wiped the foam from his lip. “No shade to Alice, but her hanging around
would have ruined the surprise I have planned for later.” A mischievous secret hid in his voice.
Emmy, Gabe, and Silas all looked at him in interest.
“A surprise sounds intriguing, Torres, but the last time I went along with one of your surprises, I ended up in Tijuana at
twoa.m.,” Gabe said.
“Yeah, and I was wearing someone else’s pants,” Silas said with a flash of his eyes.
Emmy couldn’t stifle her giggle. She’d heard stories about that night they’d headed for the border. Something about a dare
and a donkey and the best tacos in TJ. The details were hazy, but she hoped, at least for her sake, that Pedro’s surprise
was nothing of the sort.
Pedro gulped his beer and rolled his eyes. “Relax. No international travel involved this time.”
“Then what is it?” Gabe asked.
Pedro shot them a coy grin. “You’ll have to wait and see. Another shot to go with these beers?” He already had his hand raised
to flag the bartender.
To Emmy’s surprise, any only girl awkwardness faded away quickly, and soon they were just... hanging out. Of course, the copious amounts of alcohol they
were drinking didn’t hurt in aiding the situation, but still. She was pleasantly surprised to be enjoying herself.
Somewhere around the fifth inning, they got tired of standing and decided to venture in search of a bar with open seats. It
was a tall order given the crowd out and about for the game, but Pedro possessed a certain charm that worked in their favor.
That was, he could talk his way into anything. The sidewalks teemed with fans, music, cheering. The whole neighborhood turned
into a giant block party during home games. An electric booze-and-asada-filled current hummed through it all like lightning.
Although Emmy had ordered as many drinks as the guys had, she wasn’t finishing them all like they were. They were equally
drunk; it just took her less to get there given she wasn’t a six-foot-something, broad-shouldered ex-baseball player who wore