47. Kyle

Game one. Only a month ago, I was certain that this would be the best game of my life. Harper, Piper, and Sam would be in the stands, cheering me on. I’d show off for them. How could I not? I’d catch a ball in the outfield and give it to them. God, I had been so arrogantly confident in our relationship.

“Dude, come on.” Mason stood several yards away, with his arm pulled back, waiting.

“Sorry.” I shook my head and held up my glove.

The ball snapped against the leather of my glove when he finally threw it.

“What happened? You were fine yesterday. Even fired up at the press conference. Today it’s like all the life has been drained out of you.”

He’d probably think it was stupid. But after my dear diary yesterday, it felt significant.

I tossed the ball back his way. “She didn’t read my message this morning.”

Mason tipped his head. “What do you mean?”

“I send Harper a message every morning.” I sighed, deflating. “She never replies, but she always reads it. But today.” He tossed the ball back. “She didn’t read it.”

“Shit.” Mason frowned.

“Exactly.” I threw the ball back at him. “Just get rid of it. I don’t want to pick someone.”

When we were finished warming up, we always handed off the ball to a fan. Because we were surrounded by them. This was spring-training game one. Probably the biggest crowd we’d get until opening day. But my heart wasn’t in it.

Mason searched the stands, his focus fixing on a spot over my shoulder.

“What?” I asked, spinning around.

I scanned the crowd for what might have caught his eye. It only took a moment to spot the red hair. Lots of red hair.

My heart took off at a breakneck speed when I registered what I was seeing. She came .

For one beat, I was overwhelmed with utter joy. Maybe everything really could be okay. But just as I started to smile, Harper turned and beamed at the man stepping up next to her.

All the air was sucked from my lungs like I’d been sucker punched.

Jace.

No . No fucking way. The world tilted on its axis, and I stumbled.

“Jeez, Streaks.” Mason grabbed my arm, steadying me. “You’re going to bust your ass. Breathe,” he said, shaking me, as if to pull me from my stupor. “Don’t jump to conclusions. You don’t know what’s going on.”

But I couldn’t. I couldn’t breathe. I needed to move. I needed to be faster. I needed to undo the last month. Hell, go back in time and undo the last three months. Go back in time. Because fuck all of it. I should have made better decisions every step of the way. Everything that mattered—really mattered—was abundantly clear in that moment.

“Breathe,” he repeated.

I sucked in hard. Yes. Breathe. If I didn’t, there was no way I’d make it across this damn field to the three people who mattered more than anything.

So I was running. Because even after everything, I couldn’t find it in me to want a life that didn’t include them. Hopefully I hadn’t already fucked it all up.

“Harper,” I called.

“Kyle!” Sam ripped his hand out of his mom’s and darted for the wall separating the field from the stands.

I reached him just as he flung himself over the wall at me. Security was on us in a second, but as I wrapped him up and pulled him into my chest, I waved them away.

With my face pressed to the crown of his head, I whispered, “I missed you, bud.”

“Me too.” He pulled back, beaming. “We came to see you play.”

“I’m glad.” I set him back down on the other side of the wall and turned to Piper, who’d approached too, though not as quickly. “Didn’t think you were coming.”

“You got us the tickets,” she said, clearly unsure of why I was concerned that they might not be here.

“I know.” I smiled, my heart bursting at her reaction.

“Don’t lose,” she reminded me, focused on the logo on my jersey. “And make sure you don’t pull up on your swing.”

Warmth bloomed in my chest. “Have you been watching Sports Center again?”

“No, I watched JM Baseball with Chris Rose and Talkin’ Baseball .”

With a chuckle at the list of podcasts, I adjusted my ball cap. “I’ve fixed my swing,” I promised.

“Come on, guys.” Jace took Sam’s hand and tilted his head toward the stands. “Let’s find the seats before the national anthem.”

“We’ll see you after the game?” Piper asked.

I nodded. Hell yeah, they would.

“Play good,” Sam said as they climbed the stairs.

With a grin, I gave him a final wave. Then, finally, I turned to Harper.

“Hi,” she said, her cheeks pink and her lashes fluttering.

“You brought Jace?” I winced the second the words were out of my mouth. Fuck. I didn’t mean for that to be the first thing I said.

“Oh.” She glanced back at her ex, who was now by the dugout, settling the kids into their seats. “He agreed to fly down and help with the kids.”

My heart thumped so forcefully, I wouldn’t be surprised if she heard it. “So you two aren’t…”

Her eyes widened. “No.”

The breath left my body in a rush, but then I remembered. “You didn’t read my text.”

“Yes, I did.” She cocked her head to the side.

That couldn’t be right. An hour and a half ago, it still hadn’t been read.

“As soon as I got off the plane.”

She flew in this morning. A weight dropped from my shoulders. “So what does it mean that you’re here?” I wanted to hope, desperately.

“I’m here to talk. To tell you that I understand why you didn’t tell me about your family.” She swallowed.

I tried to beat back the hope bubbling up in my chest, but my heart was racing now, getting ahead of itself. “And?” I held my breath.

“I forgive you.” The words were a whisper. “And I want to try to move past it.”

“Is there a but?” Because if so, she could so easily crush me.

She swallowed thickly. “But I’m not perfect. I’m going to annoy you because I’m going to question things. Even when you don’t deserve my distrust. Not forever, I don’t think. But maybe for a while.”

“Ask as many questions as you want, Crabby. I’ll answer them all.” With a trembling hand, I cupped her cheek, and when she didn’t flinch away from my touch, my heart flipped in my chest. “Neither of us has to be perfect. I’m going to piss you off, I’m sure, when I butt in when you don’t need me or when I give you a hard time just to see how fast I can bring your smile back. Or, you know, when I buy you a car.”

“You’ve never bought me a car.” She tipped her head, her brows pinched in confusion.

Huh. Now that she was here, that plan might have been a bit ill-timed. But I knew better than to hide a truth.

“Well…” I released her so I could scratch the back of my neck.

Her mouth fell open, and her eyes went wide. “You bought me a car?”

I slapped on what I hoped was my cutest grin. “A Cadillac XT4. Really cute silver SUV. Cam is picking it up tomorrow.”

She frowned, searching my face. “I wasn’t even talking to you.”

“Oh, I know. But I figured if a car showed up, you’d call me to yell about it.”

She sighed. “Yeah, I would have.”

“And I wanted to hear your voice.” I shrugged.

“You are ridiculous,” she huffed, but her lips tipped up in a smile.

My heart soared at that simple expression. I lifted up on my toes so I could reach her over the fence and cupped her cheek again. “I’m only ridiculous for you, baby. Like I said, neither of us has to be perfect. We just have to work to build an us together.”

“Forever?” she asked.

My chest expanded, and there was no fighting the smile that split my face. “Forever.” I pulled her head down to mine and kissed her. The second our lips met, I pulled her over the wall and into my arms.

Around us, the field erupted in cheers from both the fans and my teammates.

“I love you, Harper,” I said against her lips.

“I love you too, Kyle.”