Page 29 of Delay of Game (Norwalk Breakers #4)

TWENTY-NINE

GRACIE

“Wait, so you had two football players at your house, and you didn’t call me?” Lily spluttered, her voice pitched high to be heard over the swarm of loud children around us.

“You said you didn’t want to help me with the house stuff.”

“That was before you had a bunch of hot professional athletes helping. During football season, no less. You are a terrible friend, you know that?”

I blushed, pushing around the pile of pretzels on the table. “Trust me. It wasn’t all fun.”

“Who’s the other player?” Lily pulled out her phone, fingers poised to search for a picture.

“Ethan Fieste. It’s his first season. He’s not a starter.”

She ignored me, her eyes locked on the phone. “Holy hell. And I thought Rob was hot.”

“You mean Mila’s father?” I hissed under my breath. “Mila’s father is hot?”

“Mila’s father is very hot, in sort of an anti-social lumberjack way. Ethan, though…” She waved a hand in front of her face. “Good gracious.”

“Ms. Evans, can I get another milk?” Derek held a sealed carton in his hands. “This is chocolate. My mom won’t let me have chocolate.”

“So, why’d you pick chocolate?” I asked, regretting it when tears formed at the corners of his eyes, falling down his cheeks.

“I didn’t think she’d know,” he cried.

“She wouldn’t,” Lily muttered under her breath.

I arched an eyebrow at her. “Well, thank you for telling the truth. Let’s get you the right milk.”

I ushered Derek back into the hot lunch line. Lily continued gaping at her phone, which I couldn’t wrap my mind around. Sure, Ethan was cute. Cute like a Labrador retriever or a dorky younger brother.

Not hot. Not handsome. Just fine. Nice. No one I’d be disappointed to meet at a blind date, but certainly not Rob. Not even close.

Derek grabbed his milk, returned the unopened carton, and trotted off back to the table. I checked the clock as I sat back down across from Lily.

“Seriously.” Lily reached across the table, gripping my wrist. “I need to meet this man.”

I fought back a laugh. “You need to?”

“I need to. Unless he has a girlfriend.” She sucked in a breath. “Please tell me he doesn’t have a girlfriend.”

“He does not have a girlfriend,” I reassured her as I pulled my wrist away. “He just moved here to play for the Breakers.”

“So, he’s young?” Her face fell slightly.

“Twenty-two or three. Not that young. And fun. He’s sort of a goof.”

She eyed me. “Does that mean you’re into him?”

“Me? Absolutely not. Not even a little. Besides, he would never.”

“Of course he would. You’re gorgeous and have an amazing…” She nodded at my chest, and reflexively, I pulled my cardigan closed with a blushed.

“He wouldn’t. Ever. He’s convinced that Rob will lose his mind if we ever did anything.”

“And would he?” A grin spread over her lips, eyes dancing. “Lose his mind if you got together with his teammate?”

I shrugged. “I have no idea, but Ethan thinks so and made it clear that we were strictly friends. And that feeling is very mutual.”

“Invite him out.”

I frowned. “What?”

“We have trivia tonight. Ask if he wants to join us. If he’s not doing important football things.”

“I’m not sure we’re that kind of friends,” I hedged.

How the hell did people make new friends? I certainly didn’t know. Rob and Ethan fell into my lap. Lily worked with me. I didn’t know how to foster those friendships. I certainly didn’t know when to invite people out.

“He worked on your house. Offer to buy him a beer. And maybe he can help with the sports trivia. We always suck at that.”

I pulled out my phone, but didn’t go straight to my texts. “You don’t think it’s weird to invite him out?”

“He’s new in town. He’ll be thrilled. Tell him you have a super hot friend you’d like him to meet.” She egged me on with a smile. “Please. I need this.”

With a frown, I pulled up Ethan’s number. “I’ll invite him to trivia. If you want to flirt with him, though, that’s on you. I’m not getting involved.”

“Don’t worry about me, Gracie,” she taunted. “I’m a big girl. I can take care of him myself. Although, I’ll wait to hit on him until after I’ve gotten the whole scoop on Rob.”

Behind her, Ms. Kawalski’s kindergarten class stood up to return to class.

“There’s no scoop on Rob,” I said as I punched in a text to Ethan.

Interested in meeting some people and playing trivia? I’ll buy you a drink.

I sent the message before I could second guess myself. For a moment, I considered texting Rob, too. I tried to imagine him at a table with my co-workers. Having a drink in a bar. Playing trivia and getting most of the answers wrong. Walking me back to my house.

I shook my head as the daydream turned into a date that would never happen. Besides, Rob hated trivia.

“Alright, friends,” I called to the table of kindergarteners. “Time to clean up!”

I wrung my sweaty palms, wiping them on my pant legs as the bartender turned back in my direction.

“An ale and a yerba mate.” I checked the door again, waiting for Ethan to appear.

He had texted back shockingly fast, eager to meet some people and play trivia. Apparently, Ethan loved trivia.

I arrived at the brewery early, nabbing a large table before the rest of the teams arrived. Lily grabbed a seat with good lighting and guarded the empty seat between us with her life as our co-workers arrived. She preened in her phone’s camera, checking her makeup again while I ordered us drinks.

“Gracie!” Ethan’s voice boomed in the cavernous building, drawing attention.

Definitely Lily’s attention. She straightened in her seat, squaring her shoulders.

“Hey, Ethan. I’m glad you could make it,” I said.

He clapped a hand on my back, pulling me in for a hug. His body grew stiff halfway through, and he pulled away, looking around. “Is Rob here?”

“I didn’t invite Rob. He hates trivia. He told me so himself.”

“Good.” He relaxed, shoulders drooping. “Not that I don’t want more face time with the guy, but the vibe gets…weird when you’re around.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” I apologized. I hadn’t exactly helped with the weird vibe. In fact, I’d sort of encouraged it more to get under Rob’s skin. In hindsight, that hadn’t been fair to Ethan. “I actually wanted you to meet someone.”

Ethan perked up, eyes darting around the brewery. “Really?”

The bartender popped the top on the can of yerba mate, setting it beside the beer. I handed over a card to start a tab while Ethan ordered.

“Hey, man.” A lanky, familiar looking blond clapped Ethan on the back. “What are you doing here?”

“We’re here for trivia,” Ethan replied, hooking a thumb in my direction.

“Gracie? What are you doing here?” A slight woman with black hair slid in next to the blond. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. After a moment, I recognized her from the cookout.

“Hey, Kit. Nice to see you again. And you, Trent.” The wide receiver and the scientist. An unlikely pair that had been burned into my brain, even if I hadn’t recognized them right away. “Are you staying for trivia? You’re welcome to join our team.”

“Thanks,” Kit smiled shyly. “But I’ve got work tonight. We stopped by for dinner before my shift starts. This place has the best tempeh club sandwiches.”

Trent wrinkled his nose. “I don’t know about the tempeh, but the beer is good.”

“It was nice to see you again.” Kit waved goodbye.

I read the distress on Ethan’s face.

“You don’t think…” He grimaced, unable to say the words.

I shook my head. “Absolutely not. Why would they?”

He frowned, and I took his elbow, pulling him toward our table. To a distraction. “Ethan, let me introduce you to my co-teacher, Lily. Lily, this is Ethan.”

“Lily,” Ethan echoed. His eyes languidly dragged down her body and back again while she did the same.

“Ethan.” She held out her hand. “It’s really nice to meet you.”

Their eyes locked. He took her hand, holding it for way too long. Awkwardly long. Long enough for the rest of the conversation around the table to die away and focus on them.

I cleared my throat. “Do you want to sit down or take this someplace else?”

Lily shook her head out of a daze. She leaned forward. “Do you want this seat?” she asked, as if she hadn’t been saving the seat specifically for him.

Ethan nodded, eyes fixated on Lily as he sat.

I leaned close to Lily. “Still think he’s into me?”

She shook her head. “So, how do you know Gracie?”

He raked a hand through his hair, bashfully looking at me out of the corner of his eye. “Is it Gracie or Astrid? I kept meaning to ask.”

“Astrid?” Lily dragged out my name, eyebrow raised. “Nobody calls you Astrid.”

“Actually, Rob calls me Astrid.” My cheeks heated. I ducked my head, turning my attention to Ethan. “Gracie is fine. So is Astrid.”

“Can I call you Astrid?” Lily smirked.

“No. Of course not.”

Lily’s hand fluttered to rest on Ethan’s knee. “You need to tell me about Rob. He’s into her, isn’t he?”

My flushed cheeks burned. “He’s doing me a favor for his mom.”

The edge of Ethan’s lips tipped up.

“Tell me. I’m dying here. She won’t even let me come over to the house and meet him. She’s keeping him very hush-hush.” Lily buzzed with energy, lifting her voice above the tinny music piped through the building.

“I’m not hush-hush. I didn’t want you to make a big deal over nothing.” My defense sounded lame even to my ears, and I squirmed under the scrutiny.

“A big deal over nothing? That’s bullshit, isn’t it, Ethan?”

He suppressed a grin. “I should warn you that Rob’s my captain, and I’m on his shit list.”

Lily groaned, rolling her eyes dramatically. “Fine. I’m sworn to secrecy. Anything shared in this brewpub will stay in this brewpub until the end of the time.”

“He’s nice to her.” He tipped his head in my direction. “Like, really nice. He’s almost a different person from the guy on field.”

“He’s not a different person. Maybe less intense. But that’s because we’re sort of friends,” I argued my case to Lily.

But I was too late. Lily had her full attention on Ethan, practically hanging from him. “So a good different, right? Like maybe he has a crush different?”

Ethan nodded. “If he’s capable of having a crush, it’s definitely on her.”

“Well, that’s all the proof I need,” Lily crowed, raising her hands. “He’s just being stubborn. He’ll come around. Especially after you mingled outside the pottery shed.”

Ethan cocked his head. “Wait, what’s that?”

“They rounded third base at his pottery studio. And then he gave her the whole, ‘we should only be friends because my gruff manliness will corrupt you’ talk.”

Ethan bit back a laugh. “Is that a normal talk? Like, you’ve had that talk before?”

“Not me, obviously.” Lily squeezed his knee. Her unapologetic flirting was mesmerizing. I wanted to take notes. “But he’s definitely the type. Or at least I’ve read through all the dirt I could find on the man, and this seems very on brand for him.”

“Lily!” I gasped, even though I’d done the same thing. I just hadn’t admitted it.

She shrugged. “What? You’re my bestie, and I wanted to make sure that any skeletons in his closet weren’t actual skeletons.

Besides, I’m intrigued. One season, he’s a happy-go-lucky bachelor.

The next, he’s got a kid with no mom and a chip on his shoulder.

If I invoke the sanctity of the brewpub secrecy pact, will you dish, Fieste? ”

He leaned close to Lily, brushing his shoulder against hers. “I wish I had anything to tell you. He’s as tight-lipped off the field as he is on. And if anyone knows, they haven’t told me.”

“Well, boo.” Lily’s face fell before she rallied again. “It’s fine. He’ll realize he’s absolutely hot for our Gracie here, and she’ll get the dirt.”

“He’s made it clear we’re just friends. And I’m fine with that,” I lied.

“Fine,” Lily relented, throwing her hands up. “I hope you’re both better at trivia than you are at gossip.”

Lily barely paid enough attention to gauge whether that was true. She and Ethan slipped into a private conversation, Ethan emerging just long enough to answer any sports-related questions.

By eight, trivia ended. Ethan and Lily left together. I went home to an empty house.