Jackson
“What’s going on with you?” Leo watches me carefully. He’s one of my best friends on the team. We clicked almost instantly and I’ve leaned on him more than a few times over the last two years.
We’ve known each other for a long time, but we’re newer to playing together.
Though I didn’t grow up on Mulberry Lane like him and Wyatt did, I met the crew soon after Mom married Dad.
My stepdad is Scott McLaren. The best gynecologist in the area, and best friends to Jesse Chipkin, Derek Devine, Kelsey Bennett, and Cali Bradley.
Each of them has a tie to Mulberry Lane in one way or another.
Because of that, I spent a lot of time with Leo and Wyatt when we were kids. Charlie, Macy, Cici, and Cord too.
“Nothing.” I shake my head and grab my glove before following him through the clubhouse and towards the field.
“Yeah, that doesn’t sound believable at all.” He chuckles. “Do you want to try again?”
“It’s Harper…”
“Ah, little Harper.” Leo grins. “What is it with the women born in that year? They drive us crazy.” He lets out a loud sigh as he steps onto the field.
Harper, Emma, Sophia, and Bella are all the same age. They’re all little spitfires and they know how to push our buttons. Leo’s been hung up on Emma for years, but she seems like she’s constantly causing him problems.
I think they’re the reason Leo and I are so close.
He’s thirty-one years old and he’s in love with a twenty-two-year-old.
I'm twenty-nine and in love with a twenty-two-year-old. Those age gaps have been the biggest reason we’ve kept our distance, but maybe we don’t have to anymore.
Maybe now, we can finally make our moves.
“I'm thinking about telling her…” I trail off.
“Telling her what exactly?” He arches a brow, not believing the words coming out of my mouth.
“Telling her I'm in love with her and want to date.” I wince. It sounds so stupid when I say it out loud.
Sometimes when I think about our age gap, I feel like a creep.
Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t head over heels in love with six-year-old Harper when I was thirteen.
It was more of a slow building love. We started off as friends and over the past few years, those feelings have developed into more.
I know Leo’s said the same thing happened with Emma.
“That could go horribly wrong,” Leo says softly.
“If she doesn’t feel the same way, it could ruin your relationship forever.
That’s why I’ve kept my mouth shut to Emma…
Though that woman is pushing and pushing.
I swear she knows and she’s seeing just how hard she needs to push to get me to admit my feelings. ” He shakes his head.
Where Harper wants me in her world and is always trying to hold me even closer, Leo doesn’t get that sort of treatment. He and Emma are best friends one day and total enemies the next. There’s no telling how she’s going to act from day to day.
“Keeping your mouth shut means she’ll date other guys and eventually get married. Can you really stand the thought of another man getting to stand by her side for the rest of her life?”
Leo clenches his jaw as he stares out at the field. He doesn’t say a word, but he doesn’t need to. I know exactly where his head is because I'm right there with him. No matter what I do, I'm taking a massive risk.
I could lose her forever.
I could ruin our relationship and the relationship between our families.
I could easily leave broken hearted.
Yet, I can’t bring myself to care, because if there’s one thing I know, I can’t watch her get her happily ever after with another man. That would gut me in a way a broken heart never could.