Chapter 13
Hey, big mouth, how do you spell triple?
– “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, professional baseball outfielder
The security line was moving slowly, so Camdyn closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath.
The sound of the crowd and smell of popcorn were familiar.
Grounding. She’d probably been to this stadium a hundred times.
She wasn’t sure why, but arriving to the game at the invitation of Javi and not her brother had Camdyn feeling a little odd.
It wasn’t that it was unusual for her to attend games.
She wasn’t late and she wasn’t physically uncomfortable; she was wearing her standard ballpark attire.
The only unusual factor was Javi reserving her seat for the game.
Was this antsy feeling due to the anticipation of seeing him?
Maybe it was just the seat that had her feeling this way.
Javi got her an excellent seat at field level by the home team dugout.
It was as close as she could get to him during the game, but she didn’t know who she’d be seated by.
The seat must be why she had this nervous feeling, for she’d never been an anxious person.
She opened her eyes to see the line creeping forward, so she moved with it, feeling more at ease than she had a moment before.
Her family was coming today to watch Cal, and she would have liked to have sit with them.
She was sure to get a million questions as to why Cal hadn’t gotten her a seat with the rest of them.
She hadn’t told them that she’d started seeing Javi.
Maybe her brother had spilled the beans for her, ’cause if Javi had told him, he definitely would have at least told their dad.
Who, in turn, would have told her mother, and then the rest of the family would know.
That would save her from the most awkward questions, and that thought led her to the true cause of her discomfort.
She was anxious about her family knowing she was in a new relationship. But why?
Her family was supportive and loving, but she still hadn’t been able to shake off their disappointment in her joining the Anderson firm. They’d never said as much, but she knew it had been a betrayal. Why hadn’t that been evident to her then?
Once she passed through security, she made her way towards her seat.
Javi had truly gotten her one of the best seats in the house.
She passed by the team shop and wondered if they sold La Costa merchandise yet.
The team didn’t sell merch for all the players—some required a special order—but the favorites were always available, and Javi was quickly becoming popular with the fans.
She passed the concession stands with a plan to return midgame for soft-serve ice cream in a mini helmet.
She had started collecting those mini helmets as a little girl.
They fit great on eighteen-inch dolls. When she finished her ice cream tonight, she’d wash the helmet out and give it away.
She already had several of the Arizona mini helmets, and she had collected nearly all the other MLB stadiums; there were only a few she had never been to.
She made her way down to her seat and started to get comfortable for the game.
The stadium had rules about bringing in bags, but Camdyn had a custom binder that she brought with her to most games.
It was a combination of stamp book pages, plastic sleeves of cards she wanted autographed, and a scorebook.
She kept a little stash of pencils and a permanent marker in a clear zippered pencil pouch inside.
She usually tucked her credit card in there, too.
Her brother had been playing baseball for as long as she could remember, and her dad had always coached.
She had fond memories of being little and running all over the Oasis community ballpark with Izzy.
They’d played on the swing set and hidden under the bleachers.
When she had gotten older, she’d started sitting with her grandpa and her Uncle Brett.
Those two always brought a scorebook and had taught her to keep score.
Weirdly, she found it engaging and, to some degree, relaxing. It also kept her focused on the game.
As other spectators began to file into their seats, she opened her book to start adding tonight’s lineup from the program.
When she finished the home team, she looked up and saw Morgan walking down a row a couple of sections over.
She was sitting with Garrett’s parents. She caught Morgan’s eye and gave a little wave.
When she turned back, she noticed some of the guys were on the field warming up while the ground crew completed last-minute touch-ups.
She didn’t see Javi or her brother, so she looked left to the dugout and saw Javi making a beeline for her.
He walked up to the backstop netting and gripped it with both hands.
His forearm muscles were on display with impressive definition.
It wasn’t hard to imagine him ripping the netting apart to get to her.
“Cami, I’m glad you came,” he called out.
He wore a beautiful smile while motioning for her to join him at the netting.
Javi was built. Powerfully sculpted everywhere.
She was particularly impressed by his thighs and backside; they filled out his pants to perfection, and he looked mighty good in his uniform.
“I gotta get back over into the dugout but wish me luck before I go.” He tapped his index finger against his lips.
She smiled and replied, “Good luck.”
He shook his head. “No, kiss me.”
She laughed nervously. Was he serious? To her knowledge, the team didn’t have specific PDA rules, but they did have a code of conduct for players. He wanted her to kiss him in front of everyone?
“You’re overthinking. Come on, Cami. No one’s paying attention. Wish me luck. Kiss me,” he pressured playfully.
No one was paying attention? Such a lie. There were spectators everywhere. But she had to admit that it was kind of thrilling. She leaned forward and pecked him through the netting.
Javi laughed as she quickly pulled away and protested. “I want a better kiss than that.”
Her face was full of heat. “That’s all you’re getting through the net. Go play ball. If you win, maybe I’ll give you a better kiss later.”
He lifted a brow. “So I have to earn your kisses. Okay, Cami, you better believe I’m winning this game.”
He looked over her shoulder, and his smile never left his face as he tipped his hat at someone before he spun to go back to the dugout.
She turned to see who Javi had been acknowledging and her stomach dropped. Her Uncle Brett stood on the stairs above the player tunnel, looking down at her with a smug smirk on his face.
Her uncle closed the distance between them and pulled her into a hug. “Well, hello, niece. I see that we have not been talking nearly enough. Looks like you did decide that you wanted to date him.”
Camdyn suppressed a groan. She did not want to discuss her love life with her uncle, but there was no way around it since he had just caught her kissing Javi. The teasing was going to be relentless.
She tried to redirect. “Where are you sitting for this game?”
“Front row. Section M,” he replied.
“So am I; third seat down.” Maybe Javi had talked with Cal when booking her ticket. She motioned to her chair.
Her uncle smiled. “I’m right beside you. Your brother did good. These are the best seats we’ve had all season.”
She might as well start with her seat; that was as good a place as any. “Actually, Cal didn’t get my ticket for today’s game.”
“He didn’t?” replied Uncle Brett with a knowing and fake incredulousness. His smirk was back. He already knew, but she knew he was still gonna make her tell him.
Camdyn narrowed her eyes at him. “No. Javi got my ticket for the game.”
“Oh, Javi got your ticket. Tell me about you and Javi. The last I saw you, you didn’t seem to want a relationship with the new catcher.”
“There’s not much to tell,” she lied.
Uncle Brett raised a brow and gave her his signature tell the truth look.
“Fine. I like him—”
Her uncle interrupted. “You know having a relationship with a client is not acceptable.”
“I know, but I’m technically still employed by Anderson, and my contract doesn’t allow me to work anywhere else until I leave my employment there. I’m not a Callahan employee yet. Pa is representing Javi, and he’s been letting me help with the paperwork. I’m not being paid.”
Her uncle laughed. “Justifying your bad behavior, are you?”
Embarrassed by the truth, Camdyn looked away.
Her uncle was right. She shouldn’t be seeing Javi or helping her family’s firm right now.
Just because she could didn’t mean she should.
She was an overflowing bucket of contradictions these days.
She was doing things she would have never considered in the past and justifying it to herself.
Her uncle had no problem pointing out the gray area she was reasoning from.
She looked back at her uncle. “You’re right. I know it’s wrong, and I am trying to justify it. I just really like him, even though I keep telling myself that it’s too soon to be in a new relationship.”
Her uncle wrapped an arm behind her shoulders and leaned down to look her in the eyes.
“Don’t take my questioning the wrong way, Cam.
If you like him, you don’t have to justify your relationship to anyone.
Your grandpa and I will always support you.
We’re happy that you’ve moved on from Ricky,” he said with a laugh.
“You know I’m just messing with you, right, kid? ”
She hadn’t been a kid in a long time. Calling her that should have frustrated her, but for some reason it was comforting coming from Uncle Brett. She leaned her head on his shoulder. “You don’t think I’m making more mistakes?”
“Sweetheart, Ricky is the only mistake you’ve ever made. I regard Senior as a decent fellow, but Junior has always come across as sleazy. I think your time at Anderson was valuable, but I’m glad you’ve decided to come home where you belong.”
Camdyn couldn’t help the rueful laugh that slipped out. Now her Uncle Brett was telling lies. She knew he’d never cared for the Andersons.
As it got closer to the time for the game to start, Camdyn realized she hadn’t seen her parents arrive. “I thought Mom and Dad were coming to the game, too.”
Her uncle looked up from his own scorebook binder. “They’re on their way. Pa and Granna are riding with them. They should be here soon.”
“Do you know where their seats are?” she asked.
“Yep. All four are right behind us.” He motioned to her binder. “Have you already written the lineup?”
“Yeah. I got here really early,” she replied as she pulled out the program lineup for her uncle to copy.
Midway through the second inning, as Javi was walking up to the on-deck circle, the rest of her family arrived. She turned to greet them, even though she knew Javi was watching her while he prepared to bat next.
Uncle Brett wasted no time in turning and asking her parents and grandparents, “Did you all know that Camdyn has a new boyfriend?”
“Oh, that’s nice,” her grandmother replied. “Could he not come to the game?”
“He’s here,” said her pot-stirring uncle.
Camdyn had always adored her Uncle Brett and her grandpa.
They were why she’d decided to pursue law.
They did challenging work that changed people’s lives.
They were why Izzy had been able to immigrate to the US.
She had idolized them for so long and thought they could do no wrong, even when she knew they sometimes used underhanded methods to get a job done.
But tonight her Uncle Brett was starting to wear on her nerves.
“Where is he then?” asked her mother.
Cami turned and looked back at Javi. His walk-up music began and he winked at her before heading to the batter’s box.
Her uncle announced, “He’s up to bat right now. Number thirteen, Javier La Costa.”
Her grandmother squealed like a teenage girl, drawing Cam’s attention away from Javi.
“Brittany, what did I tell you? I knew it,” she exclaimed to Camdyn’s mother.
“He’s a fine ballplayer,” her dad commented, just before a loud crack cut through the air.
Camdyn spun around and watched as Javi ran down the first base line. She looked for the ball and saw the right fielder running for it. Everyone was jumping to their feet and cheers sounded throughout the stadium as Javi ran on to second. The fielder recovered the ball, but Javi kept running.
She joined in cheering him on. “Go, Javi!” she yelled.
Just before the ball made it to the third baseman, Javi slid in and the umpire threw his arms out, palms down. The stadium went wild. He’d gotten a triple on his first at bat for the game.
He found Camdyn in the stands and blew her a kiss. She placed her palm over her racing heart. The pounding made her feel like she’d just run with him, and she couldn’t suppress the grin that was likely to split her face.
“See! I told you! He’s a fine ballplayer!” her dad exclaimed.