Chapter 16

JOEY

"You're not coming to take care of me." I swipe the fingers of my good hand through my hair while I try getting through to Liv. My cousin is stubborn as hell.

She tuts through my earbuds. "Yes, I am. It's what I do."

I still with my head inside my refrigerator, where I'm looking for something to reheat for lunch. It's easy to get spoiled with all the catered meals being a ballplayer. "You're a veterinarian," I remind Liv.

"Yeah, so? Regular doctors only know how one species functions. Vets know dozens. That makes us better prepared."

I grab a string cheese and close the door. "Do you find that people often grow tails?"

"Haven't you ever seen The Shaggy Dog? The Emperor's New Groove? Kuzco was stuck in a llama's body for like a week!"

"Are we really having this argument?" I ask as I realize I can't open the cheese with one hand. I bring it to my mouth and tear the plastic loose with my teeth. They've got my wrist in some contraption for now, and I'm only allowed to take it off to ice and shower while I'm on a seventy-two-hour resting protocol.

"No. I'm coming Friday. Conversation closed."

"Liv."

"Joey." I can practically hear her tapping an impatient foot on her kitchen tile.

"I'm not going to talk you out of this, am I?"

"See, you're not as dumb as you look." Her voice is too cheerful.

All I can do is chuckle and take a bite of my cheese. Yuck. It's just not the same when you can't peel it. Maybe I'll stop in the clubhouse and eat there. "Please tell me you're at least bringing Brett so I have someone who understands my pain." I swallow and ditch the rest of the cheese on the counter, making my way to my living room instead.

"You're in luck. But he can only stay the weekend."

"Wait! You're staying longer? It's just a sprained wrist!" Not that I don't love Liv, but she's going to hover. I just know it.

"I've got the entire next week off. You're welcome."

"I think I hear my doorbell," I lie.

"Liar." She calls me out. "But I'll let you go anyway. Oh! Do I need to bring a bed for Tambo, or can he crash on your couch?"

My eyes dart to my practically new leather sectional as I position myself by the windows of my high-rise condo. "You're bringing Bo?" At least slobber wipes off.

"I thought you said the concussion wasn't causing any brain issues."

"Right. Sorry." Liv and that dog are inseparable. To be fair to my concussed brain, though, somebody dog-sat him back in Greensboro last time they came.

"He'll cheer you up," she reassures.

"Or tear another ligament," I tease.

"You love him."

I watch the cars on the street below and grin. "I do. And I kind of love you too. I guess."

"Aww. Maybe we'll get on the road early. You sound like you need a hug."

"Bye, Liv."

She cackles. "Bye, cuz."

I've got to get to the ballpark. I can worry about my meddling cousin later.

As soon as we hang up, I scroll to the playlist Lynn made for me last night and hit play. No Doubt's "Spiderwebs" starts up right where I left off earlier. After that comes "Steal My Sunshine" by Len, which plays as I dress for my trip to the ballpark. There's a definite nineties theme going on here, which shouldn't surprise me based on what I already know of Lynn's music taste. By the time I'm in my truck on the way there, I'm hitting play on the first song on the list again and feeling more optimistic than I've felt since Niederman made roadkill of me.

"Tell me the truth. You just missed my face, didn't you?" Nora, the team's head physical therapist, bustles into the room behind Doc in her scrubs and no-nonsense cropped hair. I've been sitting on the treatment table for a few minutes while everyone gathers to inspect me like a science experiment gone wrong. Nora treated me last season for a mild knee strain that had me out for a couple games, and we clicked immediately. Either that, or she just gets off on busting my balls.

"You got me. I planned it all along." I'm not about to let my anxiety show.

There's no sign of Amy or Lynn, not that I'm looking. Okay, fine, my eyes dart to that connecting door every time I sense motion. I'm only human.

Doc removes my splint, and Nora bends close to peer at my wrist, not hesitating to prod it with her experienced fingers. Ow.

"Okay, we can work with this."

Doc moves my wrist here and there, asking about pain and discomfort. None of it feels great, but I grit my teeth and try to ignore the pain. I just need this thing to heal so I can get back on the field. They've already brought a guy up from Triple A to take my place while I'm on the IL, and I don't want him getting too comfortable.

"Here's the deal, Joey," Nora says. "We'll work on your range of motion and keeping muscle strength as it heals. It's going to be slow and steady, so you'll need some patience." At the look on my face, she grins and continues. "First, we need to decrease that inflammation. As we proceed, the important thing will be to prevent compensating for pain and weakness by using surrounding muscle groups improperly. That'll lead to more injuries in the future. Last will be muscle endurance and strength to return to full function. With any luck, we'll have you back at practice in a few weeks. In the meantime, continue your RICE protocol—rest, ice, compression, and elevation—until that swelling goes down."

"You heard her," Doc says. "I'll leave you to it."

"Come on," Nora beckons, grabbing my discarded splint and nodding to the connecting PT room.

My heart rate climbs as I hop to my feet and follow. Lynn is in that room. At least I hope so.

Sure enough, I'm greeted with a concerned "Hey, Joey," from just the girl I was looking for. She's wearing the same black scrubs as everyone else, and her wavy hair is pulled up into a high ponytail, showing off her delicate jawline. Her brow is furrowed, and I hate her worrying about me. But it feels good all the same.

I throw my good hand out to the side. "Do with me what you will," I offer, making Nora laugh and Lynn blush. I only realize how that sounds after the words are out.

"Come on, Romeo." Nora leads me over to a chair and has me prop my arm up on a padded table. "We're going to start with some very light gripping exercises."

The therapy is somewhat dull, and I find my eyes straying to Lynn across the room too often. She appears to be tidying up and taking inventory most of the time. Amy is in and out, the two of them poring over a tablet when she's there. When Lynn tells Nora she's fetching towels and leaves the room, I let out a sigh.

"You've got it bad, huh?" Nora grins down at my hand, where I'm holding a foam ball.

"What?" Busted. Thankfully, it's only the two of us in the room now.

Nora laughs. "You, my friend, are not subtle. I take it you and Lynn know each other—or do you simply default to flirt mode whenever you see a pretty girl?"

"Flirting in the workplace is unprofessional," I blurt out for some reason.

Nora dips her chin into her chest and snickers—which I totally deserve. "Lynn's not getting paid. She's free labor—in fact, she's here as a favor from the top dog."

Shit. "Does she know that?"

"Hell, no. Do I look stupid to you? Anyway, she's a smart girl, and she never complains. I consider it more of a favor to us than to her." Nora replaces the ball I was squeezing with a harder one. "Try this one now. Remember, don't push yourself too hard. This is a marathon, not a sprint."

Ignoring her instruction, I squeeze the ball tightly, pain radiating up my wrist. "Shit."

"Stop," Nora instructs. "Your poor mom."

"Huh?" Who brought my mom into this?

Nora glares at me. "Dealing with a stubborn athlete for the last couple decades."

I roll my lips in and decide to shut up.

She has me do a few more turns of my wrist to test my motion before declaring, "Okay, you're done for the day. Let's ice it up and get you on your way." My stomach chooses that moment to growl. "Maybe you should ask a certain assistant to grab a bite for lunch," she suggests.

I raise my eyebrows at her and nod once. "I might just do that."

Amy and Lynn choose that moment to reenter the room, a stack of folded towels in Lynn's arms.

"Hey, Lynn, you want to put ice on Joey over here?" Nora yells as she shoots me a wink.

Lynn's jaw drops briefly until she composes herself and straightens her spine. "Absolutely." She grabs a towel from her pile and goes to a standing freezer to retrieve a large, flexible ice pack.

"That's right," Nora says seconds later. "Place the towel securely around the arm first, and then gently mold the pack around before wrapping the whole thing in another towel." When Lynn does as instructed, Nora smiles. "Great job." Turning to me, she finishes, "I'm off to lunch. Amy and Lynn will remove the pack and get your splint back on before you leave." She jerks her chin toward Lynn, a painfully obvious eyebrow lift accompanying it. Good lord. She could battle Liv for interferer of the year.

Lynn watches my covered wrist like it might jump up and strangle her if left unmonitored, and it has me fighting a smile. "I don't think it's going anywhere."

Her eyes flash up at me. "Sorry. I just want to make sure I'm doing everything right." She exhales, and I feel the warmth of her breath on the hairs of my arm. It has my dick going hard. He's so easy.

"Well, the ice feels good after the exercises, so I'd say you did it perfectly."

Her mouth shifts to the side. "I'm sorry you're going through this. I may not be the biggest baseball fan, but it's clear how important it is to you. It's basically your life, right?"

She doesn't know how right she is. I nod in response. Baseball is all I know how to do, and I'm damn lucky this injury wasn't worse than it is. "Well, I do eat and sleep, too," I clarify.

A grin breaks through her concern. "Right. And drink beer."

"That too." I smile back. "How's your internship thing going? Are you here the whole summer or just part of it?" I have no idea what Skye arranged.

"The whole summer. It's unpaid, but I'm fortunate to have it. I've already learned a lot, and it's only my second week. Nora and Amy are great mentors, so it's pretty much my dream job."

"Good. I'm glad you're not working for that asshole again this summer." Crap. I shouldn't have brought that up. It was, after all, the ultimate cause of my crashing and burning last summer.

But Lynn appears unbothered. "Me too." Her eyes widen, drawing my attention to their warm caramel color. She's not wearing any makeup apart from a swipe of lip gloss, as far as I can tell, and I'm struck a little dumb by her natural beauty. "I ran into a coworker the other day, and he said Ennis is on a rampage this summer. Something about the Nacho Olympics?" She shakes her head and laughs. "I have no idea. Poor Remy."

"I can't even begin to imagine what that might entail." I watch as she tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear, and then I push ahead, needing to set things straight. "Hey, I want to apologize for last summer. You were right, and I overstepped. I'm really sorry."

Lynn tilts her head, and one corner of her mouth lifts. "Thanks. That's nice of you. I know you meant well, but I appreciate you taking the time to understand and take my boundaries seriously."

Wanting to lighten things back up, I shrug. "What can I say? Independent women are hot."

She busts into a laugh at that, and I sit here and bask in the sound. I don't know what made me think I could ever forget this girl. She's beauty and magic.

Amy comes over to watch Lynn remove the ice, and she replaces my splint while Lynn puts the towels and ice pack away. I find myself standing beside the freezer a minute later, waiting for Amy to walk away so I can talk to Lynn in private again.

I finally get my chance. "I have no food at my condo, so I was gonna go grab a bite for lunch. You want to come?"

Lynn glances at Amy and then at her watch before bringing her eyes back to me. "Sure." She shrugs. "Why not?"

It might not be much, but I'll take it.