Chapter 22 #3
sprinkles. It looked like something a unicorn would regurgitate, or what two men would pick out to fit the description of
congratulatory cupcake for a woman . With a flush of embarrassment, Emmy wiped at her eyes and tried to compose herself. “Hey, guys,” she said with a strained
smile. Her voice came out clogged with tears.
They suspiciously eyed her and stepped inside. “Jameson, I don’t know if anyone has ever told you this before, but there’s
no crying in baseball,” Silas said.
Emmy choked out a laugh and wiped her eyes again. Good thing she wasn’t wearing much makeup. “Is that for me?” She pointed
at the cupcake. At the sight of it, despite being surprised they’d thought of her, her famished belly propelled her out of
her chair.
“Um, yes—” Pedro hardly had the words out before she snatched it out of his hand and took an aggressive bite. It was divine.
A blob of much needed pink confection. “Sooo, everything going okay with the new job?” Pedro cautiously asked. Notably, both
he and Silas had leaned back toward the door.
“Going great. Why do you ask?” Emmy said around another bite.
“Well, you’re in here crying and shoving a cupcake into your mouth like you’re pr—”
She cut him off with a glare. “Be very careful about the next word that comes out of your mouth, Torres. Remember I’m your superior now.”
“ Pr—obably having a rough day,” Pedro recovered with an awkward grin.
Emmy glared at him again. “I am, yes, but this cupcake is making things a lot better. Thank you.”
“No problem. Ish and I wanted to drop by and say congrats. And that it’s super lonely without you and Olson in the office.
Never thought we’d be losing both of you at the same time.”
At the sound of Gabe’s name another sob punched its way out of Emmy’s throat—which didn’t go well considering she was midswallow
on another bite of cupcake.
“Jesus!” Pedro said, and jumped back when she sputtered cupcake bits. “You sure you’re okay, Jameson?”
Emmy wasn’t sure what did it: her broken heart, years of suppressing feelings at work, the fact that her colleagues—other than Alice—were sincerely asking if she was okay, the emotional roller coaster she’d been riding all day, her overwhelming but exciting new job, or maybe the combination of it all, but something snapped.
“I messed up, you guys,” she blubbered. Her face was streaked with tears and frosting. Bits of cupcake clung to her hair from
the choking incident. A tide of embarrassment washed over her for crying in front of her colleagues, but she couldn’t stop.
She expected them to bolt like frightened animals, unsure what to do with such an outpouring of emotion from the Only Girl,
but to her shock, they stayed.
Silas fully stepped inside and pulled the door closed. Pedro reached out for Emmy and put a caring hand on her shoulder shaking
with sobs.
“What happened?” Pedro asked.
“You guys don’t care,” she said with a hiccup.
They swapped a glance.
“Of course we care,” Pedro said with an affronted flinch. “We’re a team, Jameson.”
“Yeah, maybe we’re just not the best at showing it sometimes, but you’re one of us,” Silas said. “If you’re down, we’re down.”
Emmy blinked away fresh tears to see them giving her the sincerest looks she’d ever seen on their faces. Even if they couldn’t
fully understand what was bothering her, they were at least going to try, and if nothing else, listen. The thought warmed
something in her cracked chest and made her realize that maybe the Only Girl barrier was something she’d partly constructed
herself. Maybe she didn’t have to keep things so bottled up at work all the time because her colleagues had her back.
She took a shuddering breath, trying to calm her tears.
“Well, I don’t know if you know this, but Olson and I are— were a thing.
We went to HR the other day to make it official on paper, and they told us we had to choose between our relationship or the promotion because they couldn’t allow the power imbalance if one of us got it.
We decided to give it up and stay together, but then he secretly transferred departments so I could have the job. ” She sobbed again.
“Damn,” Pedro said over the sound. “That’s some Prince Charming–level shit.”
“King Charming,” Silas said with a nod.
A tiny laugh bubbled its way through Emmy’s tears.
“So what’s the problem? You got the job, and you get to stay together, right? Also—” Pedro cut off and pointed to Silas. “You
owe me twenty bucks. I totally called that they were hooking up.”
Emmy burned with embarrassment. “You guys bet on us?”
“Oh, for sure. Like three years ago, actually. The tension between you two could choke a horse.”
“That... is a very strange analogy.”
Pedro shrugged. “I’m still not seeing the problem here. At least not a problem worth crying and cupcakes.”
Emmy reset herself with a breath. At least their strange conversation had stopped her tears. “The problem is I misunderstood
when I heard him talking to Director Allen yesterday and I thought he’d gone behind my back to take the promotion after we’d
agreed to both give it up. I didn’t realize they were talking about his transfer, and I said some really awful things to him.”
She ached anew at the memory. “Now he won’t answer my messages. I think I ruined everything when he was just trying to help.”
“Oh. Yikes,” Pedro said.
“Oof,” Silas echoed.
She feared they’d reached their limit on understanding and advice. And they had no more cupcakes. Pedro surprised her when
he spoke.
“Then you have to make him listen,” he said definitively.
“What?” Emmy asked with a frown.
Pedro clapped her on the shoulder again. “Look, we both know that guy is stubborn as hell, so don’t give him a choice not to listen. Go big. Grand gesture. Put him in a position where he’ll hear you no matter what, and then at least you’ll know you did everything you could.”
“I agree. Do something epic,” Silas added.
Emmy’s heart lifted a fraction at the thought of having a shot at fixing things. But how? Gabe wasn’t responding to her messages.
“How do I do that?”
Pedro tapped his chin like he was thinking about it. “Skywriting, radio shoutout, song dedication at a concert—”
“Realistic things, Torres,” Emmy said.
He frowned at her right as Silas said, “Game in LA tonight. You could show up and find him at the stadium.”
“ Ooh , I like this idea,” Pedro said. An enthusiastic grin stretched across his face. “Go out of your way to get to him. He’ll
have to listen if you traveled all that way just to see him.”
“But it’s just LA. It’s not like I’m flying to London to find him,” she said, and immediately wanted to take the words back
based on the flat stares they were giving her. Hopping a flight to Europe would surely be more convenient than making the
drive from San Diego to Los Angeles on a weekday. “You’re totally right. That’s a powerful statement,” she said with a repentant
nod.
“Damn right it is,” Pedro said. “If willingly driving to LA in rush-hour traffic isn’t a profession of love, I don’t know
what is.”
Emmy flushed again, feeling the thrill of possibility. Would it work? Would showing up at the game be enough to make him listen?
The thought of the pained look on his face from her building camera stabbed her in the heart. Even if she had ruined everything,
she at least had to try.
She checked the time, and her heart sank. “First pitch is in three hours. I’ll never make it before the game.”
Pedro puffed out his chest like he’d been called in from the dugout. He clapped his hands and smiled at her. “Fear not, Jameson. I will get you to LA in three hours! Come on.” He pivoted for the door, and Silas swung it open.
Emmy knew Pedro had a knack for talking his way into anything, but she was almost certain his persuasive skills didn’t transfer
to time travel. Getting to LA before the game started would be nothing short of a miracle. But still, she had hope.
“In rush-hour traffic?” she called into the hall as she followed him.
“In rush-hour traffic!” Pedro responded without turning around. He shot his fist into the air like a rally cheer. “Let’s go!”