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“I’ll apologize to Charlie.”

“Oh, Iknowyou will. And your teammates.”

Sadie started to protest, but Delaney held up her hand.

“Nope, let me finish first. I know you’ve been having a hard time with the team this year. I know Abigail and her goonies haven’t made things easy for you aftercertainevents, but until today, I’ve been proud of the way you’ve kept your head up and not let it get to you. But what I saw today wasn’t you.”

“I know.” Sadie kicked her foot against the dirt. “I wasn’t on my game tonight, literally. But Tori kept giving me the wrong calls, and I just let her and Abigail get to me. I’m better than that, I know. The team deserved better.”

“I agree.” Delaney let her hands fall from her hips to her side. “But I’m not just talking about the game. I’m also talking about the way you treated Ellie.”

Sadie’s heart and stomach fell simultaneously at the mention of Ellie’s name. Her shoulders fell as Sadie took a few steps off the mound toward her mother.

“Ellie was crushed after you snipped at her.”

“I—I didn’t mean to hurt her.”

“I’m sure you didn’t, but you did.”

There was no way Sadie could argue. Delaney was right. Shehadhurt Ellie. She’d seen the hurt in her eyes as she walked away. Sadie knew better than to snipe at Ellie, especially when she wasn’t doing anything wrong. Ellie was just checking on her, and Sadie had been a bitch.

“I’ll apologize to her, too.”

“Good.” There was a slight sparkle in Delaney’s eyes. “It would be bad to mess that up before it even started.”

“We’re justfriends,” Sadie whined as Delaney put her arm around her shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah. Tell yourself what you need to hear.” Winking, Delaney nodded toward the mound. “Let me go grab my glove out of the barn. We can throw some balls around together. If you want.”

“I do,” she answered quickly.

“Good. Me, too.”

Chapter 17

Ellie

Two days had passed since Sadie snapped at Ellie at the softball game, and Ellie had been sulking ever since. She’d spent her entire Saturday and most of Sunday moping around the garage apartment and binge-watching true crime documentaries. Her parents had checked on her several times, each time asking if she was okay. Ellie was, of course, not okay, but she didn’t know how to tell them why.

Sadie snapping at her was something Ellie had never experienced before. She could handle her siblings or her parents snipping at her. Granted, that didn’t happen. But Sadie? It was all new to Ellie.

When it had first happened, Ellie tried not to let it show how much Sadie had hurt her. Her angry words were because the game was going badly, and Sadie had been pulled out as pitcher. The logical side of Ellie’s brain knew that. And she believed Delaney when she repeated it to her several times as Ellie sat on the metal bench, trying not to cry.

When the game was over, Ellie couldn’t leave fast enough. She was thankful she had driven to the game because riding back with Delaney or Sadie wasn’t appealing to her. Ellie had let her angry tears roll down her face as she hit the highway, going faster than she should have. All the while Sadie’s snippy words hung over her head like a dense fog.

“I’m not okay. Thanks for asking.”

The sarcastic tone Sadie had used was one Ellie had never heard her use before. It cut Ellie deeper than she knew Sadie intended, but that didn’t change anything. Especially not when Sadie hadn’t bothered to text her or even open any of the Snapchats she’d sent her the last couple of days.

Ellie wasn’t sure why Sadie was pushing her away, but she didn’t like it. She had hoped they were heading in the direction of somethingmorethan a friendship, but the last few days had made Ellie start to question that. Maybe Sadie was mad Ellie had shown up to the game in the first place. Or worse, maybe Sadie had been doing badlybecauseEllie was there.

What if I’m a jinx?

Pulling the blanket over her head, Ellie groaned. She was better than lying on the couch lamenting about someone she wasn’t even dating—someone she was barely friends with.

The alarm over the garage door beeped, letting Ellie know someone was coming up the stairs. She assumed it was her parents but was surprised to see Brayden. He looked around the living room, which Ellie knew was a mess with an empty pizza box and popcorn bowl on the coffee table, along with a dozen soda cans.

“Ah, I see the parents were right to be worried.”