11. Maggie

The next day, I was walking out onto the tarmac of a private airport toward the team's jet. Traveling with the team was one of my favorite perks of being a professional sports photographer. It was never a guarantee that the other team's media crew would cover the visiting team, so the club sent me and Olivia to every away game.

Chicago was still on the chillier side in April, so I was excited to trade the Midwest weather in for the California sun. The team had a week-long trip up and down the coast of California and I was hoping that we would have some free time for the beach. My body turned as pasty as a sheet of paper in the winter, and I was afraid if I didn't get any sun, I'd turn translucent.

But those hopes of free time were quickly crushed when I sat down in my seat and checked my phone, only to find an email from Monica waiting for me. She went into extensive detail about a formal event that was happening this week that she expected me and Tommy to attend together. It would be our unofficial "announcement" to the world if we showed up together.

Her words, not mine.

I grabbed a seat toward the back of the plane, away from the players. So I had the perfect view of Tommy as I watched him read the same email. He glanced around once he was done, clearly looking for me. When he glanced over his shoulder toward me, I gave him a small wave. He pointed at his phone discreetly, giving me a look like did you read this? I gave him a small nod. Tommy looked at me for a moment longer before he turned back around in his seat. I could tell from the set of his shoulders that he was less than thrilled about Monica's demand, but he knew that this was what the two of us had signed up for.

Olivia came sauntering down the aisle a few moments later, her eyes zeroed in on Tommy's face as she passed him. Part of me was sure that he was ducking his head to avoid looking my best friend in the eyes. He probably wasn't certain if I had even talked with her yet and was afraid she was going to toss him out of the plane once we reached cruising altitude. She slid into the seat next to me, immediately skewering me with a look. One did not have to be a psychic to know exactly what she was about to say.

"Just because your boyfriend is on this trip doesn't give you the opportunity to ditch girl time." She pointed her finger at me, her eyes accusing.

"First of all, he's not my boyfriend," came out of my mouth before I could stop it. Technically, Tommy Mikals wasn't officially my boyfriend publicly until Monica deemed it so. So what I said to Olivia wasn't a complete lie.

"Whatever he is," Olivia interrupted, "doesn't mean you can ditch me the whole week."

"Like I told you before, you're never getting rid of me."

Olivia wrapped an arm around my shoulder to give me a hug as the flight attendants announced that it was time to prepare for takeoff.

"One more thing . . ." Olivia turned back to me. "We all have to hang out. If you start dating someone, it's the best friend's job to deliver the speech."

"What speech?"

"About not breaking your heart." My eyes drifted to the back of Tommy's head. I wanted to tell myself that I was safe from any heart-breaking potential. But I was beginning to become unsure due to the way my heart leaped at the sight of him.

As soon as the plane leveled off, I unbuckled myself from my seat to head toward the bathrooms in the back, leaving Olivia snoring with her face pressed up against the window. The room in the back of the plane was more spacious than a normal lavatory area and had a private sitting area that was unoccupied.

When I emerged from the bathroom, I came face-to-face with Tommy sitting in one of the empty chairs, the door to the back of the plane now closed. His arms rested on his knees as he leaned forward, staring at his feet. He looked up when I came out as he wrung his hands together. The concern I saw on his face right after that HR meeting was back.

"Everything okay?" I asked as I hesitated in the doorway of the bathroom.

"Yeah." Tommy stood quickly. "Yeah, everything's fine. I was thinking about Monica's email, and I wanted to make sure you were okay."

I wished I could be mad at Tommy's sincerity. It wasn't like there were real feelings involved in this. But all I felt was touched at his thoughtfulness, once again.

"All's good here." I started to walk back out toward my seat when Tommy's hand wrapped around my wrist. My eyes stared down at it, hating the way that one simple touch sent my emotions haywire. His eyes seemed to plead with me to tell him something more than that. It was almost like this entire situation was eating him up more than it was me. I had to remind myself we were on the team plane and anyone could walk back here at any time. The last thing I wanted was for Olivia or someone else to come back here and hear us talking about this event we were expected to show up at to confirm we were—fake—dating.

"Let's talk somewhere else."

"People are already talking, Maggie."

"Let's talk later," I repeated. Tommy's face dropped as I walked away from him and back toward my seat. I hated that I was the one that had made him feel that way. It was odd that some part of me didn't want to disappoint him.

Olivia was still asleep when I returned. I watched her for a second, thinking about how my life had taken the turn that it did. It wasn't that I was afraid of getting caught with Tommy. If I was afraid, I never would have agreed to any of this in the first place. I was more afraid of being a girlfriend again, even if it was a fake one.

It had been four years since I had been one, and I wasn't sure if I would be any good at it anymore. At one time, I had excelled at being Luke's girlfriend. I knew that he liked candy but hated chocolate. He thought Ocean's Thirteen was the best one in the movie series, and he loved the Chicago Cougars. I knew how to be Luke's girlfriend, but I didn't know how to be Tommy's.

But what was even scarier to me was that I didn't have an answer as to why I cared.

By midmorning I found myself lying on my hotel bed, staring at the ceiling and trying not to make eye contact with the dress that had been hanging in the foyer when I walked in. I wasn't sure what superpower Monica had, but that woman deserved to be working as a publicist for a famous celebrity rather than a professional baseball team.

It was a classic, black, floor-length dress that had two slits up either side and a low neckline in the front. It was designed to show off as much skin as possible and was the exact opposite of what I would have picked out for myself to wear to a red carpet event. Luckily, I wouldn't be expected to wear it for a couple of days. The team would play tomorrow in San Diego before we started north up the coast. Our event wasn't until we made it to Los Angeles the day after tomorrow. Monica had arranged for me and Tommy to go to a Red Cross event while we were in the city. So for now, I planned on shoving it in the hotel room closet and forgetting that it existed before Olivia and I rode with the team to the field for their practice.

But it didn't seem like I was going to escape my problems anytime soon. As the practice started to draw to an end, Tommy ran over to me in front of everyone. Trust me when I say that I noticed the suggestive smile Jamil was giving me and the way all the other players watched us with interest, as if they were watching something unfold in front of them. I was thankful that everyone was being respectful enough to not ask us any questions directly for our privacy, but that still didn't stop them from stealing a few glances at the two of us like they would catch us in sharing a private look.

"Hi."

"Hi?"

"Listen, before I ask you, I want you to know that you can say no," he started. "But we're in my hometown, and my mom called. She wanted to have me come over for dinner tonight. I thought I could bring you."

Bring me home? That was not in the contract that Monica had given us. Public events—that was what we had agreed on. Meeting Tommy's parents? That definitely was not something I was prepared for. Tommy must have read everything I was thinking on my face because he hurried to continue.

"My mom has started asking about you, and I figured that it would help sell the relationship." His reasoning seemed perfectly plausible, and as I stared into Tommy's bright-blue eyes that looked at me with urgency, I knew there was no way I was going to say no.

I was beginning to realize that I enjoyed hanging out with Tommy. He was the first person I'd been willing to leave my apartment for besides Olivia in a long time. I didn't dread not being able to watch movies on my couch or in my hotel room because I had to do something else. What I still couldn't reconcile was that Tommy acted like he really wanted to hang out with me too.

So that was how I ended up walking into Tommy's childhood home, holding his hand as he led me through a gate to the backyard where an older couple sat at a table laughing with each other. I instantly saw Tommy in each of them. He had his mother's eyes and mouth, and the shape of his face was all his father's. The second his mother noticed us, she jumped up from her seat with a cry and ran across the yard toward Tommy. He dropped my hand so he could wrap his mother up in a hug, and I watched as Tommy lifted her off the ground to swing her around in a circle. It was a completely different perspective of Tommy than I had seen. He looked lighter, happier. When he set her down, she turned her warmth on me.

"And you must be Maggie." Her arms wrapped around me, and it felt like I was standing in the sun for the first time. I watched the way Tommy looked at his mom as she hugged me. It was like she was one of the few people in the world he would do anything for. She was obviously very important to him.

"I am. It's wonderful to meet you, Mrs. Mikals." I squeezed her back, immediately comforted by this woman's hospitality.

"Those photos on the internet did not do you justice, honey." Tommy's mom led me over toward the table on their patio. "You are gorgeous, and please, call me Linda."

"Oh, thank you." I laughed awkwardly, feeling like I was drowning in a lake of my lies.

"Hi, Maggie. I'm Scott." Tommy's dad reached his hand out for me to shake, and I did my best to make sure my grip was firm enough. My dad always told me that people would judge me by the grip of my handshake. It was nothing I cared about except for when I was meeting people that I wanted to impress. I had no idea why that was floating through my brain now.

"You two sit." Linda pushed me and Tommy into the two open chairs. "Scott is finishing up the food. In the meantime, you two just have to tell me how you met."

All of the blood drained from my face at her request. Tommy and I hadn't talked about what we would say when we were asked this question. We hadn't gotten our stories straight. Tommy glanced over at me and a smile spread across his face, clearly trying to cover for my obvious panic.

"I think I'll take this one. It was the last practice before Opening Day, and Maggie was taking pictures of the team during batting practice. She was too busy taking pictures of me to notice a foul ball coming her way and nearly gave herself a concussion."

A heat spread across my cheeks, and I ducked my head slightly to try to hide the blush that I knew was there. I definitely didn't think that Tommy had noticed me taking pictures of him that day, much less found it memorable. It was my job, after all. But apparently, Tommy had filed that memory away like it had some worth to him.

"Ah!" Linda exclaimed. "So this is relatively new, how exciting."

"And you went out to a club that night," Scott mumbled from the grill. If I wasn't embarrassed already, I definitely was now. Scott's tone implied that he didn't approve of Tommy's pastimes. Tommy cleared his throat.

"The team celebrates the start of the season. I thought it would be best if I went to bond with the guys." Tommy shifted in his seat as he offered an explanation he didn't need to give to his dad. "Maggie and her friend were there. Jamil Edman invited them. Maggie was having less than a stellar time, so I offered to take her home."

Tommy looked at me the entire time he told his parents of the first day we had known each other. His eyes crinkled at the corners as we both thought back on that day. I had been under the impression that Tommy was nothing more than a ladies' man. But after getting to know him so far, he was much more than that.

"You'd think by this point that you'd learn to avoid the tabloids," Scott said.

"How's Chicago?" Linda butted in. I could practically see the years of practice with this dynamic. Scott said something backhanded to Tommy, and Linda would jump in to redirect the conversation, smoothing out the rough edges.

"Colder than California." Tommy gave me a shy smile. "But the pizza's good."

I ducked my head again. He was only doing this to help sell our relationship. There was nothing else to the way he shared a conspiratorial smile with me. When I glanced back over at Tommy, I noticed he was still looking at me. The look in his eyes made a warmth grow within me. It was like I actually meant something to him. Linda and Scott went to grab the condiments and toppings for the burgers, leaving the two of us alone.

"Your parents are nice."

"My mom definitely is," Tommy agreed as he leaned back in his chair. "My dad not as much."

"I'm sure he loves you."

"He doesn't know how to have a relationship with me outside of baseball." Tommy's hands rubbed at the arms of his chair as he stared out toward the ocean.

His childhood home backed up to the beach, and they had a private walkway that led right to the ocean. It was the complete opposite of my apartment that sat on an alleyway of some office building that had been built after developers came through and bought up a bunch of older properties to tear down. I could imagine a young Tommy running on the beach as he worked to sharpen his body for college. I remembered the pictures on his social media page of him surfing and wondered if some of those pictures had been captured here.

It was an odd feeling to suddenly have someone come into your life and to find yourself wanting to know everything about them. Tommy continued to stare out at the ocean, a far-off look on his face. He was still deep in thought and nowhere near our current conversation.

"Are you excited to play against your old team tomorrow?" I was starting to pick up on Tommy's signs, and right now, his body language was telling me he'd rather not continue talking about his dad.

"Honestly, I'm not." Tommy turned his whole attention toward me then, and I could see a tortured look in his eyes. "It feels like a reminder of how badly I fucked up."

I could imagine the battle that was waging within him. He was having to play against his old team with teammates that knew him as someone he previously was and for the mistakes he had made. Even if he had changed, his previous indiscretions were still on the minds of the fans there. It was eating Tommy up, that much could be seen in the lack of a smile on his face. He looked sad.

"Everybody messes up, Tommy. That part doesn't matter because you can't change it." I reached over and took his hand in mine, watching his eyes drift down to stare at them. "The only thing that matters is if you let it define you."

Tommy turned his hand upward so his fingers laced with mine. My own eyes dropped to our joined hands. An energy that only he and I could feel seemed to electrify the air around us. It was magnetic as the two of us looked up from our hands to stare at each other, both of us seeming to acknowledge whatever was happening between us. The air grew heavier as Tommy's eyes slipped to my lips and the warmth that had grown within me from the moment that we had shared that conspiratorial smile morphed into a bonfire. I glanced at Tommy's lips and wondered what they would feel like pressed against mine.

"Dinner's ready!" Linda came through the back door with plates of burgers and toppings in her hands. I dropped Tommy's hand like it had burned me and sat back in my chair, trying to put as much space between us as possible. Tommy stared at where our hands were for a second longer before he stood up to help his mother with the food.

My hand drifted up to press against my lips as I realized I hadn't thought about Luke that entire time. There wasn't an ounce of guilt within me from thinking about someone else. Instead, that warmth from before felt like glowing coals as I watched Tommy help his mom plate the food.