Page 33

“Ready?” I ask Troy when I walk into the kitchen. He’s waiting at the table for me, tapping away on his phone, and I try to force enthusiasm into my voice that I just don’t feel.

This should be everything I dreamed of since the day I dislocated my elbow and thought I was out of the game forever, and instead of excitement, the shock has worn off and I’m just feeling that heavy weight on my chest, like it’s too difficult to draw in a deep breath.

It was short-lived, but it was fucking everything .

I really thought somehow we’d end up together. I really thought that despite all odds, somehow we were destined to be together.

With the snap of a finger, it all came to a skidding halt.

And then it gets infinitely worse. Infinitely heavier.

“Just a minute. My daughter will be joining us,” he says.

Oh.

Why?

I want to ask. I want it just to be Troy and me. I don’t want her clouding this moment for me, and instead of going to the stadium for the very first time, breathing in the air that always just somehow smells different, and feeling all the old familiar feelings that come with stepping onto the diamond, but this time for the very first time as it signals a new beginning…I’ll be feeling the grief that accompanies the end.

I’m not ready for it to be the end, but since we don’t have a choice, the least I can do is stay away from her.

But I don’t have a choice there, either.

I press my lips together and offer a nod, and then I slide into the chair across from him.

“Ready, Daddy?”

I hear her voice from around the corner before I see her.

Daddy . I remember one time when I jokingly told her to call me daddy…

I shake it out of my head.

She stops short when she sees me. “Oh, right, you mentioned Cooper’s coming along.”

Am I coming along?

Am I coming along ? Of fucking course I’m coming along. She is the one coming along on this excursion.

I’m not sure why my blood boils at her question, other than the fact that she shouldn’t be coming at all. This is a trip for a manager and his player, not for his sexy as fuck daughter.

Dammit.

I’m in real trouble here.

Nothing about what she just said should incite such anger within me, but it’s only because I have no idea how to deal with these feelings racing through me. These emotions are unfamiliar. It shouldn’t be so hard. We don’t even know each other.

Except she knows me better than anyone ever has in my entire life, and I suspect she could say the same about me…so these weak justifications are doing nothing to quiet the torrent inside me.

Up palm, down palm, time to get calm. Breathe real deep and take the leap.

“Right,” Troy says flippantly to her, completely unaware that the two of us have unfinished business. Unaware that we have any business at all between us, I suppose. “I’m taking Coop for a tour, so I figured this way I can kill two birds with one stone.” He glances over at me as he stands. “I offered Gabriella an internship at the stadium for part of her senior coursework, so we’ll walk around and I’ll introduce you both to the staff.”

“Congratulations,” I mutter in Gabby’s general direction without looking at her.

“Thanks,” she mutters back.

Surely Troy can feel the tension in the air, but if he does, he’s good at acting like he doesn’t.

I was planning to ride with Troy to the stadium, but I can’t sit in a car with the two of them and act like this is normal. “I’m meeting a friend a little later, so I’ll just take off from the ballpark if that’s okay,” I say to Troy.

He nods. “Just follow me in and I’ll tip off security that you’re with me.”

We head outside, and I slip into my truck, muttering curses to myself once I’m alone. He and Gabby get into his Bentley, and I follow at a safe distance because the thought of rear-ending his precious luxury vehicle makes me nervous the entire way there.

It’s only an eight-minute drive. Ten from my new place.

And when we pull into the player lot, I feel an odd sense of peace. I realize Gabby’s in the car in front of me. I park far away from the two of them, draw in a deep breath, and tell myself that I’ll get some time alone in this stadium today. I’ll get some time to soak it in away from her. It’s a promise I have to make to myself.

I head toward Troy’s car as they get out, and we walk together into the front offices.

Well…sort of.

I let her walk with her father, and I walk a few paces behind as I try to take it all in and enjoy it separate from them.

Troy introduces us to the receptionist in the lobby, and then he leads us through the offices, pointing out various team members on the way. Eventually I’ll learn all their names. I used to pride myself on knowing every member of the grounds crew and security all the way up to the executives by first name. I’ll get there.

The first wing houses the executive offices, where Troy introduces us to the people who are in today. We meet some employees in ballpark operations, player operations, finance, community affairs, and administration.

We get to the General Manager’s office, and it’s more of an introduction for Gabby than for me considering I’ve met the man tapped as GM for this team several times.

“Mike Perry,” he says by way of introduction, shaking Gabby’s hand, and then he zeroes in on me. “Welcome to the team, Noah.” He gives me the kind of hug where he pounds me on the back, and I slap his back, too. He’s another guy in this business I’d consider an old friend, and I realize in that moment how much baseball has become a family to me.

He played for the Rockies a number of years with Troy, and while most GMs manage the roster and front office personnel while team managers manage the players, I can already tell the two of them will be making a lot of decisions as a unit. That can only mean good news for the team.

I’m introduced to the scouting director, Pete Holt, the man who will officially draft our new team members when November rolls around.

The owners’ offices are empty, except for one. “The owners are a three man team. Dave Shapiro, a local businessman, owns forty percent. Actor Victor Bancroft, a good buddy of mine, owns another forty percent.”

“And the final twenty?” I ask.

Troy grins broadly and pounds a fist on his chest. “You’re looking at him.”

I raise a brow. “Good for you, man.” It’s rare, but it has happened before where the team manager is also part owner of the team. I suppose that gives them an entirely different sort of stake in wanting to win.

We head back through the huge loop of wings and offices, and we take a detour into the marketing department.

“Joanie,” Troy says as he knocks on the office door.

She glances up from her computer and when she looks at Troy, I have the sneaking suspicion she is, in fact, the woman in his life.

“Mr. Bodine,” she practically purrs. “Lovely to see you again.”

“And you,” he says, his voice husky. “This is my daughter, Gabriella.” He puts his arm around Gabby and pulls her close to his side. “And this is Cooper Noah.” He nods to me, and I stride over and reach across her desk to shake her hand. “He’s our man on third.”

“Nice to meet you,” I say.

“He’s also the one who wanted to talk with you about a sponsorship, and I have a few ideas on that,” Troy says.

“Come on in,” Joanie says, motioning for the three of us to step into her office. Her phone rings, and she moves to answer it as she nods at a round table with six chairs around it. “Send her over,” she says to whoever is on the other end of the line. “And can you send up Justin Larson as well?”

Troy and Gabby sit, and I take a seat across the table from Gabby so I don’t have to worry about bumping my knee against hers or smelling her warm vanilla or in general being distracted by her at this meeting.

Joanie walks over with a pad of paper and a pen, and she sits beside Troy. “Justin is one of our interns, and he’s a really smart and creative young man. I think he’d be great on a project like this.”

“While I’m here, I’d like to chat about finding a spot for Gabriella here as an intern. I like the idea of the general internship program for her. She’s a marketing major at UNLV, and I think there are plenty of opportunities in marketing and community affairs,” Troy says, and my heart drops down into my stomach as I can fucking predict exactly where this is going. “Cooper wants to run a sponsorship for the kids’ program in conjunction with StrongFitKids, and I think Gabriella would be a great fit to work on that project. I love the idea of having her work closely with Cooper. He’s a stand-up kind of man, someone I trust to be a great mentor to her.”

Jesus. This guy can really lay it on thick.

“Oh, Dad, I—” Gabby begins, her eyes as wide with horror as mine certainly must be, and a knock at the door interrupts her sputtering.

We all swing our eyes toward the knocker, and sure enough, there stands Kaylee Olson…one of my best friends in the whole world. My chest warms despite the cold breeze that’s been blowing in there all morning.

I stand and stride across the room, taking her in my arms and squeezing her tight.

“Whoa, Coop,” she says when I swing her around, and then she laughs when I set her down. “Chill, dude.”

I chuckle along with her, and I spot Gabby at the table shooting eye daggers at Kaylee. It’s only then I realize Gabby must not know Kaylee is happily married and we’re nothing more than friends, but somehow my heart lifts a little knowing that she’s jealous.

It’s wrong to feel that way, but I can’t help how I feel.

“This is Kaylee,” I say by way of introduction to everyone gathered. I toss my arm around her shoulders, and it feels like a little piece of home having her here with me. “Kaylee, this is Troy Bodine, his daughter Gabriella, and Joanie, the head of marketing here at the stadium.” I nod toward Kaylee. “Kaylee is local and she’s been incorporating StrongFitKids into the Tight Fit fitness clubs,” I explain. “She’s overworked and overwhelmed, so I thought we could add a little more to her plate.” That gets a rousing round of laughter out of everyone in the room barring Gabby, but I’m sure in my conversations with Gabby since we met, I’ve talked about what a good friend Kaylee is to me.

Another knock at the door interrupts us again, and a punk-ass twenty-something kid with his jeans sagging down too low stands there wearing a Spongebob t-shirt like he couldn’t be bothered to dress up for work today. What a dick.

“Justin,” Joanie says. “Great timing.”

This is the really smart intern? He looks like a douche. He doesn’t even have any facial hair. He’s probably too damn young to grow any. Hasn’t hit puberty yet.

Okay, fine. I’m a little cranky today.

But then his eyes fall over to Gabby. His brows arch a little in surprise that a sexy woman like Gabby is in the room with the rest of us, but he maintains his cool. Still, I saw it. I saw his interest piqued. And I want to fucking rage on the kid.

I stare at Gabby as I await her reaction, and her eyes are down on the table. They dart to mine before moving to Justin, and she offers him a warm smile.

The kind of warm smile she used to reserve for me.

Is she…is she interested in this guy?

Or is she trying to make me jealous?

“Everyone, this is Justin,” Joanie says, and then she moves around the table introducing us as Kaylee takes a seat beside me.

She gives me wide eyes like she’s trying to communicate something with me, but I’m too distracted to pick up on her message. We’ll talk later.

“So where were we?” Joanie asks.

Troy jumps in on that one. “Cooper is interested in organizing a StrongFitKids sponsored kids’ section at the stadium. Coop, would you like to expand on that?”

“StrongFitKids is an organization whose focus is to provide health, fitness, and athletic information to assist kids in building active and healthy lifestyles,” I say, reciting the script I’ve committed to memory over the last year. “My idea in conjunction here with the Heat is to sponsor a kids’ play area. I’m envisioning some sort of play structure with slides and climbing walls, a circuit with different kid-friendly exercises, some batting cages, maybe some tees or a catching station, things like that.”

Kaylee’s eyes light up. “We have the program in place at Tight Fit, the fitness clubs run by Ben Olson of the Vegas Aces, and we would absolutely love to partner with the Vegas Heat to create a fun and engaging area for children who come to the games.”

“Don’t we want the attention on the game?” Justin asks.

God, this kid. What a fucking asshole. Yes, Justin, we want attention on the fucking game. I barely refrain from rolling my eyes.

“Well, what about those antsy kids who were dragged to the game by their parents?” Kaylee points out. “Kids can’t sit through a three-hour ballgame, and trust me, anyone old enough to have children would understand that.” God, I could kiss Kaylee for putting this kid in his place. She moves her gaze from Justin over to Joanie. “We could provide additional resources for parents who want to watch the game, and the focus would be there while they are assured their kids are safely having a good time in another section of the same ballpark.”

“I love it,” Troy says first, nodding at me before waiting for Joanie’s thoughts.

“I think it’s a great idea, too,” Joanie says, and I can’t help but wonder if she really does or if she’s doing what Troy tells her to do.

It doesn’t matter. Either way, punk-ass jackass has been put in his place, and I’m getting what I want out of this, too. Except for one thing…

“So here’s what we’ll do,” Joanie says. “I’ll draw up some paperwork and we’ll enter negotiations. I’ll arrange a meeting between Cooper and Kaylee with my team as well as ballpark operations to work on the physical design of the space, and we’ll have Justin and Gabriella as our main interns on the project. Sound good?” She raises her brows at Troy, which is interesting to me given that he’s the team manager.

And you know what else is interesting? The fact that Gabby automatically gets the internship. Joanie just said she’ll be one of the main interns on the project. No interview process. No paperwork. Boom. She’s in.

He nods at her. “Sounds perfect. Anyone have anything else?”

Silence moves around the table.

I don’t want to work with Gabby on this.

We’re already too close in proximity with me living with her. Now she’ll be at the one place I had planned to use as my escape, and I’m not sure how to feel about that.

But I can’t think of a single reason to object that wouldn’t raise about a million red flags with my boss, so I keep my mouth shut.