Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Hadley
The other women show me to the family area after the game.
It’s weird to be one of them. Walking with a kid strapped to my chest and going to meet my husband after he played a professional baseball game so we can head back to our condo. A month ago, I was in Dublin on a pub crawl. What has happened to my life?
“So how has it been?” Penelope asks, the three women flanking me. “Being married to Easton.”
“Have the internet comments bothered you?” Callie asks.
“I haven’t really looked at them. I mean, Easton tagged me in the marriage post, and I liked it, but I haven’t gone back online to look at anything.”
They all glance at one another with raised eyebrows.
“Good for you. They can be like little vultures picking at the carcass of your self-esteem,” Callie says.
We walk into a room and, other than us, there aren’t many women our age here. Easton did say something last year about how they had the most single guys on a team. I guess that’s still the case.
“Stay away from reading them. Nothing good comes from it.” Leighton puts her hand on my forearm.
Maybe I’m not as invested since I’m not in love with Easton, so I don’t really care what those women think. Not to mention, he’ll be theirs again in a year. Whereas I could see it being devastating if you did love the man, and women were picking you apart.
I drop the diaper bag on the floor and sit in a chair.
Penelope falls into the one beside me. “They can be a while, but then I don’t know about Easton. He never really came in here unless we were all going out.”
“Last year he hung with the Chipmunks a lot.” Leighton sits in the other chair.
My forehead wrinkles. “The Chipmunks?”
They all laugh.
“They’re Falcon players. I think they’re just biding their time for a place in the building. Young and cocky and—” Penelope rolls her eyes.
“Annoying,” Callie finishes for her.
“They’re growing up a little more every year. Maturing. I think I heard Simon was dating someone serious.” Leighton’s shoulder lifts, rearranging Flora in the carrier.
“Anyway, maybe Easton will be the first one out. Eager to see his new wife.” Penelope knocks her elbow against mine.
“You guys know…” I let it hang because there might not be other wives or girlfriends here, but there are some parents from the looks of it.
“We know,” they all say in unison.
“But we’re wondering how it will all play out.” Penelope smiles.
I run my hand over Tanner’s back. “You know how it’s going to play out.”
“We think you’re someone special to him.” Leighton bites her lip.
“So you’ve been talking about me?”
Tanner shifts in the carrier, probably sensing the unease in me that people are making predictions about my life.
They all laugh.
“Yes. You’re married to the last bachelor out of the group. And we like you, so of course we want to keep you.” Callie’s smile is big and contagious.
“Jeez, Callie, can you make it sound not so creepy?” Leighton turns to me. “It’s just… you’re not clingy… you’re not obsessed…”
“I personally like that you don’t put him on a pedestal.” Callie props Ellis on her lap and gives her some cotton candy to keep her occupied.
“I’ve known him a while. We’re familiar.” I shrug.
“I saw that. At the proposal.” Leighton tears off a little cotton candy from Ellis and pops it in her mouth, smiling at Ellis.
“For sure.” Penelope glances around. “It looked like you two were in love.”
I laugh and Tanner squirms in my arms, so I quickly calm down and run my hand down his back. “Maybe I should go into acting.”
There’s no way I’m going to admit to them that being proposed to by Easton wasn’t horrible.
But I think it’s just because we have a deeper friendship now than before we embarked on this crazy plan.
Easton says we’re a team, and it’s nice to have someone in the trenches with you. It’s not something I’m accustomed to.
“I have a question.” Leighton interrupts my thoughts. “How did you two meet the first time?”
I laugh again but quickly stop so Tanner doesn’t wake up. He’s out way past his bedtime tonight.
“Did he pick you up at a club?” Callie asks.
I shake my head.
“You don’t seem like the type to leave a note on the sign,” Penelope says.
“No. I’m not.”
“He’s bold. Did he just walk up to you and ask you to come back to his place?” Leighton raises an eyebrow.
“I got into his Uber.” I feel my cheeks warm and my lips tip up as I remember that moment.
Had I just gotten out like I should have, I wouldn’t be here.
“And?” Callie lets Ellis down and watches her go over to Monroe and Hazel. They take her by the hand, and the three of them sit in a circle.
“I told him to get out. He told me it was his ride, but he’s a sharer.”
“Of course he did.” Callie eyes the other women.
“I’m surprised he didn’t say something about taking you to his place,” Leighton says.
“Oh, he did… let me think of his exact words.” I recall the night and what made me go home with him. “He asked me where I was going. When I told him, he said he’d join me.”
They all shake their heads in a somewhat exasperated way, but I’ve always loved Easton’s cocky side.
“I said ‘You don’t even know me,’ and he responded with ‘Not yet.’”
They all groan, but that was the moment he intrigued me. It also didn’t hurt that he was so good-looking and I had just come from a dinner with my mom. I liked his interest.
I don’t mention how his eyes dropped briefly to my mouth… then back up, and he said, “Give me ten minutes.”
“So you just went out with him?” Penelope asks.
“I told him he could join me at the bar I was going to, but he had to buy me a drink and he said, ‘Already planned to.’”
“So damn cocky that guy.” Callie shakes her head.
I liked the way Easton knew what he wanted, and there were no games. There were no mixed signals. No hidden agenda. That night and every call after from him, I knew what I was getting, and it’s the reason I kept coming back. He was upfront and easy.
“He took me for a drink or two and asked me back to his place after. The next morning, he asked me for my number. I assumed he’d never use it. I knew guys like him.”
“So you knew he was a Colt?” Leighton asks.
I shake my head. “I’m not really a sports girl, but I figured it out when I left the next morning and saw the sign on the security gate.”
“That’s probably why you’re in that seat right now.” Callie points toward me.
“Because I slept with him the first night?”
She laughs. “No. Because you didn’t know who he was. He feels as if he can trust you.”
I open my mouth to ask her another question, but Easton walks into the room with Decker right behind him.
Hazel jumps up and runs over to Decker. He drops his bag and picks her up, kissing her cheek.
Easton glances around the room, and when he finds me with the girls, he smiles and walks over.
“Conversation to be continued.” Callie waggles her eyebrows.
Penelope gets up and meets Decker halfway across the room. She’s so comfortable with where she fits in his life. Of course she is, she’s his real wife.
Easton leans over the minute he reaches us. “Ladies,” he says before he kisses me, this time without tongue, and then he kisses the top of Tanner’s head.
“Want me to take him?” he whispers.
I like this little three-person bubble we’re always in.
“No, let him sleep. Unless you want—”
He smiles, and my stomach flips as I stare into his eyes. “His comfort comes first always.”
“Look at the two love birds,” Callie says, interrupting us, which is a blessing really because that was feeling a little too intimate. A little too close to something I’d actually want.
Easton straightens, but he puts his hand on my back, between my shoulder blades.
He smells good, freshly showered, and I love how the ends of his hair are a little damp.
A memory of the first time he walked out of the shower when I was at his condo flashes through my mind.
His towel was off before he hit his bedroom, and he had to reshower.
We’ve definitely had some great sex over the years.
“Hadley was just telling us about the first time you met.” Leighton’s gaze veers to the door, most likely looking for Hayes.
“She can get in my Uber anytime.” Easton smiles at me as though we share a secret, and even though I just told the women the story, it still feels as if no one understands except us. The connection and immediate familiarity between us.
“She was the one lucky lady who got a second call. Tell us, was it because she didn’t know who you were?” Callie asks. I’m guessing she’s so inquisitive because she has a popular podcast and always asks the most pointed questions.
Easton taps me on the back. “Let’s go home.”
He helps me push the chair back, and I stand. He grabs the diaper bag and his bag.
“You’re deflecting,” Callie says.
Thankfully, we’re interrupted by Hayes and Foster joining us. Ellis does her little walk-run right to her daddy, and Foster crouches down, opening his arms. Then he heads toward us and kisses Callie.
Hayes comes over, Monroe and Lincoln on his heels and asking about going out for pizza.
I’m not gonna lie, the envy that sprouts inside me as I look at all of them and how happy they are is a surprise. Could this be a life for me? Stay in one area, have the same day on repeat? How are they not bored?
“Let’s go,” Foster says.
I’ve realized he’s always ready to go the minute he can be alone with Callie and Ellis. What must it be like to be so wanted all the time by the man you love?
“Hold on. East?” Callie points her glare at him.
Easton shakes his head and glances at me. “Of course.”
“Really?” My head tilts. “So had I known who you were, I wouldn’t have gotten a second call?”
He lifts a shoulder. “I can’t say for sure, but it was nice spending an entire night with a woman who didn’t drill me with questions about being a Colt. You never even asked what I did.”
He’s right, I didn’t. The entire first night, there were no get-to-know-you questions. It was all about our likes and dislikes. We didn’t talk about families or anything that would normally be covered on a first date.
“Some would say I didn’t care?”
He puts his arm around me and tugs me into his side. “And you didn’t act like it was a big deal. You never asked me for tickets. Most of all, I wasn’t a big deal to you, and I liked that… a lot. More than I ever would have thought.”
The thing about Easton is how he puts it all out there without caring who might give him shit or judge him. And it’s really attractive.
“Well, I knew it.” Callie smiles proudly.
As we walk out of the stadium, Easton’s hand slips into mine the minute we get outside where fans are celebrating their win. Hayes and Leighton go in one direction to leave with the kids while the rest of us head toward the condo building.
The guys joke about the game, and their friendship with one another shines through all the jabs. I can see why Easton loves this life. It must be so nice not to be judged for every single decision you make.
None of them have ever excluded me, but I’m here temporarily. I’m not really a part of the group. That thought shouldn’t bother me as much as it does.