Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Lucas
“Mm,” I say as Logan and I walk through the dining room. “What is it with Honeycrisp? Here, take a bite.”
He slaps my hand away before it reaches his mouth. “I’m not taking a bite of your apple, you weirdo.”
“We have the same DNA. It’s not like it’s gross.”
“It’s gross no matter whose DNA it is.”
“I bet you wouldn’t mind if it were Book Babe’s DNA.”
“Shut up.”
“You got her number, right? Or her social media?”
“No. She’s a fan I met at a signing, not a soulmate I met at the bookstore.”
I take another bite, chewing and chewing until I swallow. “You dream of meeting your soulmate at a bookstore? Our sister’s a statistician, and somehow, you’re the biggest nerd in the family.”
“Shut up.”
“We both know I’m not going to shut up.” I lead him to the nearest table, and a few moments later, Coop joins us.
We’ve got split squad today—two buses, two different stadiums—which means Jake and Logan are headed to Mesa, and Scottie’s riding with our group to Surprise, and we’ll have the entire bus ride where we won’t need to worry about an annoying sibling watching our every move
“What was Book Babe’s name again? Georgina?” I ask.
“Georgiana,” Logan says. “And I don’t know her.”
“Don’t know who?” Coop asks, biting into his steak tacos.
“Georgiana,” I say. “Lucas’s soulmate, even though they didn’t meet at a bookstore.”
Coop chokes on his taco, and I have to pound his back to help him clear his throat. He takes a big swig of water while Logan’s face reddens to scarlet.
“Logan. My man,” Coop says, patting Logan’s shoulder.
“Don’t touch me,” Logan says.
“What book was she reading?”
“I can’t remember,” he says. “But the author was … Joe … Mama. Right. Joe Mama. And I do remember the title: Shut Up Before I Slap You in The Face.”
“Sounds like a great read,” Coop says.
I grin.
“And this is completely beside the point,” Logan says, leaning in so only the two of us can hear. “Lucas and Scottie are flirting. She has a boyfriend.”
In my periphery, I see Coop glance at me. “Flirting how?” Coop asks.
“She smiled at him. Anyone who knows Scottie Quinn knows she doesn’t smile.”
“She smiles at me. She’s laughing at Diego’s story right now,” he says, gesturing to them.
Logan looks irritated that Coop doesn’t believe him. “Fine. I should have said she doesn’t smile at Lucas. He drives her crazy.”
Coop shrugs. “He wore her down.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Logan breathes. “If you cause drama, there’s no chance Doug keeps you, no matter how good your stuff is.”
I can’t let frustration show, can’t let his lack of faith in me sting, especially when he’s so close to the truth and so freaking far.
“There’s no drama. I promise Jake doesn’t care that Scottie and I are friends.”
“So you’re friends now?” Logan asks.
I throw Coop a “get a load of this guy” look that makes him snort.
“Seriously, though, what book was Georgia reading?” Coop asks Logan.
“Georgiana,” Logan corrects. “And it was The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.”
Shoot. If I were the type to clutch my heart when it ached, this would be the moment.
The Chronicles of Narnia is Logan’s favorite series to this day.
Our mom used to read it at night to us, and after a couple of minutes of hearing about Lucy and Edmund and that gross-sounding candy he liked, I’d always fall asleep. Night after night.
Logan never did.
“She has good taste in books,” I say, having to clear my throat.
So does Logan.
Coop glances between us, probably making a mental note to ask Liesel about it later.
“Did you get her number?” Coop asks.
“I already asked that,” I tell him. “He didn’t.”
Logan is mid-bite into his pulled pork sandwich, and he glares at me while he chews. “I signed a jersey for her niece. Guys, it wasn’t that big a deal. She was pretty and reading my favorite book. I bet there are a hundred girls in Phoenix right now who fit that bill.”
“She wasn’t from Phoenix,” I say. “They had Southern accents, and her niece was wearing a Kayla jersey.”
“That doesn’t mean anything. They could have moved from the South years ago.
Or last month. Or maybe they’re from Nashville or Atlanta.
And even if somehow she’s from Mullet Ridge—which is doubtful, considering how many church potlucks we’ve attended—I won’t be on the Mudflaps forever, so it doesn’t matter. It was a thirty-minute conversation.”
“Thirty minutes?” I ask. I was about to harp on him for how rehearsed his argument felt, but I can’t because he spoke to her for thirty minutes.
I left when she was still blushing and Lulabelle was still threatening to expose her life story, which means I bailed before the good part. “Dude, you talked talked.”
“How did you flip this conversation back onto me?”
“I’m better at getting out of trouble than you are.”
He hunches over his plate and shovels food into his mouth, ignoring me completely.
Over at her table, Scottie’s standing up with her tray and making her goodbyes. I glance at my watch and start my countdown.
Six minutes.
Excitement swirls in my stomach. We planned this last night—both of us finishing lunch early, staggering our times, and sneaking into the most remote video room possible—the one the coaches use with the door that automatically locks. The others are too risky, as we learned with Jake.
It’s only been two days since we kissed, but we’ve already gotten creative about finding time together.
Early mornings before breakfast when the hotel is still quiet and everyone’s half asleep.
Quick detours when she “needs” me to look at a revised itinerary.
A thirty-second stop in a storage room that turns into ninety seconds because she kisses my neck and I forget how to walk.
We don’t do anything stupid where anyone could see us. But there are pockets in the day no one watches too closely, because she’s my player coordinator, and we’re expected to be together.
It’s getting tougher to pretend we’re not together together, though. No matter how hard I try, I can’t play it cool. Not since we kissed or admitted just how deep our feelings run.
And watching her with Jake has gone from torture to murder. I didn’t know I could get murdered so often.
They have a plan, too, though:
No more kissing.
More bro stuff. Her punching his arm. Him giving her noogies.
They need to show the transition back to being friends in real time, so if reporters ask anything, Jake’s going to start shifting how he talks about her.
I mean, he didn’t do it at yesterday’s game against the Cubs, but he’s definitely going to do it today. Because I’m Scottie’s primary assignment, she won’t be there to keep an eye on him, but he’s promised to be on his best behavior.
Logan, Coop, and I keep eating, and Coop mentions something about Liesel and him going ring shopping—
Wait.
“You’re going ring shopping? When?”
“When I get back to Chicago. It’s time, my dudes.”
I look at my watch. I need to be on my way in one minute. Coop is telling me he’s proposing to my sister right now, and I only have sixty seconds to be part of the conversation.
“Where have you been?” Logan asks me. “Coop mentioned this the day after we showed up for Spring Training. Haven’t you wondered why he was talking about finding a bigger place in the fall? And, you know, marrying our sister?”
Guilt hits beneath my ribs like a sucker punch.
“It’s okay,” Coop tells me, sounding more understanding than I deserve. “We’ve been talking about it for a couple of months. We want to get married as soon as the season’s over, so it’ll be a short engagement.”
“Yeah, I knew that,” I say, my neck and ears hot.
“I guess I just didn’t put the pieces together that it was this year.
” I feel so dumb. How often have they had these conversations where I’ve been thinking about Scottie?
Trying to sneak away to steal an extra minute?
And here I am, doing it again. “So is this you asking our permission?” I ask, trying to keep it light.
“I don’t think that’s a thing,” Logan says.
I scoff. “Of course it’s a thing.”
My mental countdown tells me I’m at time, and a quick glance at my watch confirms it.
Thing is, I kind of want to stay.
This is the closest I’ve felt to Logan and Coop all month.
I could text Scottie. She’d understand.
I wipe my mouth off with a napkin and drop it in the middle of my plate. “I’ll give you my blessing if you hit a homer off me in live BP.”
“Phew,” Coop says. “I thought you were going to give me an actual challenge.”
I grin while I debate my next move. Scottie expects me soon, but if I leave now, it’s going to make my brother and future brother-in-law even more frustrated with me.
But …
Scottie.
“I’m sorry, guys, I gotta use the facilities.” I stand up, and Logan looks at me like I’m leaving the wedding itself.
“Just come back when you’re done.”
“I would,” I say, “but I need to get to the training room. They want to look at my shoulder before we split.”
Logan nods, because the lie is all too believable, and that only makes the guilt hit harder. My mouth goes dry, and the words stick coming out. “Coop, I’m really happy for you guys. Tell me about it on the bus today, okay?”
“I’ll tell you tonight,” Coop says, giving me a knowing look I hope Logan knows nothing about. There’s something else there, too, though. I hope it’s not disappointment.
Please don’t let it be disappointment.
I’m throwing my trash away when I look back to the table and see Logan and Coop talking like I was never there. My sister’s boyfriend is talking about marrying her, and I’m sneaking away to make out with the girl I’m secretly in love with.
Logan and Coop have grown closer than ever over the last couple of weeks. And somehow I’ve never felt further from my twin.
I swallow, but this feeling won’t go down.
Five more days. Then I stop lying to my brother.
***