13. Everly

CHAPTER 13

EVERLY

T he days that Urban was gone were busy. First, we had to prep for the overnight at the park. Camden was so damn excited about it, given that this was her baby and it was actually happening for the first time. Along with the fact that she saw this as girls' night out as well. She was adamant that I was going to love her friend Harlowe and Amity. As if after this night together, we'd be lifelong friends.

If I was being honest with myself, I kind of needed more friends.

Jade would always be my ride or die and nothing was going to change that, but she had a life outside of me. Any other friends of mine had either moved away or we'd grown apart. It happened .

For example, this week, Jade was on vacation with her family. They did this every year. Actually, she'd be gone a couple of weeks because this was their annual trip to the Caribbean. Every year she asked me to go and I always said no . It didn't sit well with me, butting in on their family time, even if her parents said they considered me one of the family. She made sure the camp knew she'd be gone and they made this two weeks a break between her art sessions.

Though I had gone with them several times when we'd been younger and to say that everything had been five stars was an understatement. Another counselor named Lucia and I were the only counselors going to the overnight. It was only twenty kids and with Camden there, we were covered. Amity and Harlowe were volunteers, but actual camp people had to go, given that this was a camp event.

"Are we all set?" Lucia asked Thursday afternoon. Lucia was in her thirties, and she worked for the camp year-round. In the winter, they spent time planning for the summer, getting people to sign up, and doing a bunch of other things I wouldn't have wanted to do.

"I think so. I have all of the pop-up tents loaded into the trailer. The kids will bring their stuff with them. I have a bag packed. Yours is in there, too."

"Well, I have both coolers packed." She placed her hand on one of the huge, blue coolers that thankfully had wheels. "Snacks are in the bins." She pointed to a stack of white bins full of more snacks than we should need.

We also had a massive first-aid kit.

"Then we can head over," she said as she headed for her truck. That was what the trailer was attached to.

The kids were arriving at the stadium in a few hours, which gave us enough time to get everything set up. The plan was to have two kids to a tent and they'd be bringing their own sleeping bags. Which meant we needed to get ten tents set up. These were not the kind that would need to be nailed into the ground. There were rules with the field and we were going to respect every single one so that another group of kids would hopefully get to do this next year.

Urban had called every night after his game. He was adamant that he wasn't going to miss a single one since the last time he'd done that, it had disappointed both of us. Though I'd told him he didn't have to do that. He didn't owe me anything .

Each time, he'd scowled and at some point, I was going to have to be honest with myself when it came to him.

I just couldn't believe I was letting myself care about someone. Again.

But I'd fight it every step of the way because I just couldn't do it again.

"Everly!" Camden squealed when I got out of my car half an hour later. There were already some guys helping Lucia get the trailer unpacked. That suited me fine, given that I wasn't exactly looking forward to lugging all that down all the stairs.

But the guys had a huge cart that they were loading things onto.

"They'll take it down the elevator," Camden added when she saw me watching them.

"Perfect."

Camden looped her arm through mine to lead us into the stadium. "Harlowe will be here after she's done working and Amity will be here as soon as they're back."

"What does Harlowe do? And ‘they'? Back from where?" So many questions from that one sentence she'd said.

"Harlowe's parents own Cleats & Kegs. The bar down the street that the players love. But she runs it and may as well own it. Between you and me, she's saving up to buy it from them."

We started down the hallway that I was now familiar with. It'd lead to the clubhouse and it was what had taken us down to the field when I'd been with the kids.

"If that's what she wants, I hope it works out for her." Though owning a bar sounded like a nightmare to me.

"It is. I think her parents would just give it to her, but she wouldn't take it. She'd want to buy it so they'd have money to retire on."

"Makes sense." Then I waited to see if she'd answer my question about Amity.

"And Amity is with the team. She travels with them sometimes and they should be back soon."

"They come here?" Because I had no idea how this all worked.

Camden nodded as she pulled open the door to the outfield. The guys and Lucia were already down here. "They return here and then are released to go wherever they want. The guys have to travel with the team. There's no leaving until you're released, which is usually right away. Their cars are all in that parking garage over there." She pointed her thumb behind her back. "Except the ones whose significant others dropped them off."

"Got it." We stopped next to the pile of tents. "This is like a world within itself."

"It really is."

We spent the next hour setting the tents up in a circle. Not too close, but close enough. That way, we could contain them to the middle of the tents once it got dark. Lucia grabbed the iPad and headed up to the entrance where we'd told the parents to drop them off while Camden and I went to get dinner ready. Around the same time, Harlowe and Amity showed up.

There would be no roasting hotdogs or marshmallows at the park. We'd ordered pizza and plenty of drinks for them. This was all going to be set up in the courtyard, where there were tables for us to sit at. There was no way pizza was being taken onto the field.

The kids were talking so much, they were barely eating. The excitement was getting the better of them.

The four of us sat at a table that was situated in such a way that we could see all of the kids. Lucia was chatting with a couple of the stadium security guys to whom she'd offered pizza .

"You're with Urban?" Harlowe asked. She had her red hair lying softly around her face and was wearing a cute T-shirt with khaki shorts. Amity was in shorts and a T-shirt as well, but her auburn hair was in a braid lying over her shoulder.

"No, she's not," Camden answered for me quickly. When Harlowe was going to protest, she said, "I told you I wished she were. Not that she was."

An uncomfortable feeling washed over me. No one should be wanting me with Urban. Hell, no one should even know about him and me. Of course, his sister did because he'd reached out to Camden more than once.

"My mistake," Harlowe conceded, then she gave Camden a look that I couldn't decipher. "Camden won't date players at all."

Camden groaned. "She's telling the truth, but I really don't want to explain why in front of Silas's girlfriend." She pointed at Amity then me. "Or Urban's… friend."

That made me want to know even more.

"You've already made it clear why," Amity countered, but there was sadness to her tone that made me really want to know.

But perhaps another time would be better. I respected that she didn't want to talk about that kind of thing here or with me, I was the same way, but that didn't change the fact that I wanted to know.

Soon after, the kids were finished eating and it was time to do the activities.

First, it was a behind-the-scenes tour where the kids got to see the things they wouldn't normally. Camden led this tour, which seemed appropriate, given that she'd basically grown up in this place. This kids also all thought it was amazing that she had four brothers who were major league players and, of course, the kids had heard of all of them.

For the first time, I got to step into the clubhouse as well. I'd been down here several times to meet up with Urban, but never inside.

The lockers were lined with a uniform inside each one. The team was away, so these had to be their home uniforms for tomorrow.

See? I was picking up some things.

While Camden explained what went on in the clubhouse, my phone rang. Urban's face filled most of the screen when I answered.

"You're back." I stepped away from the kids. Camden was showing them the shower room. There was nothing mundane about anything as far as the kids were concerned.

"I am." He squinted and moved closer to the camera, as if trying to see something on my end. "Where are you?"

I smiled and moved my phone out a little so that it would show that I was standing in front of his locker. It hadn't been intentional but now I viewed it as a happy little accident.

"You're in the clubhouse?" he asked.

"Camden is doing a tour. Don't worry. None of them are touching anything."

He chuckled. "I'm not worried about that at all."

Then his sister came out of the shower area and said, "Let's keep moving, kids."

"I have to go," I told him. "The tour train is leaving and I really don't want to get lost down here."

"I'll find you."

Now I had to get off the phone for a completely different reason.

Sure. Urban saying he would find me was a perfectly friendly thing to do, but with him, there always seemed to be more behind it. Probably because he'd already told me that we could be more. Whether he said the words or not, he was telling me every time we talked in other ways.

"All right." He sighed when I didn't reply. "I'll see you soon."

There was no chance of me disagreeing with him because as much as I didn't want to admit it to myself, I wanted to see him. Wanted to hear how the road trip had gone. Just… wanted to be in his space.

After a last glance at his locker, I hurried to catch up with the group.

Once the tour was complete, the kids were going to have some free time to play catch in the outfield. There were strict instructions not to go into the infield, but they could run around out there. Camden had told me that the grounds crew would be on the field as soon as we packed up in the morning to make sure it was in the condition it needed to be for the game tomorrow night. I didn't know what that entailed, but it helped me relax and let the kids have fun.

They were only a few minutes into playing catch when I heard a few of them cheering. When I looked up, they had surrounded Silas and Urban.

I furrowed my brows and glanced over at the other women. They seemed as surprised as I was. It wasn't until the kids settled back in to play catch together that Silas and Urban came our way.

"What're you doing here?" Amity asked once they were close enough.

"Decided to come camp out," Silas told her. "You know, we've never camped on the field, either." He looked at Camden and asked, "How in the hell did you get Mom to agree to this?"

"First." She held up a finger. "Watch your language. These are ten-year-olds. Second, I promised to use pop-up tents so nothing goes into the ground."

"Nice."

But Urban hadn't said a word. He waited until the others were chattering away and took two more steps toward me. "I'd kiss you," he said. "But…" Then he nodded toward the kids.

"Yeah, better you don't. What're you doing here? Did you know you were coming when you called me?"

"I did." He folded his arms under his chest. "It was Silas's idea, but he asked if I wanted to come with him."

"And you obviously did."

He narrowed his eyes to me, watching or taking inventory of every small movement. "Are you annoyed by me being here?"

My eyes widened. "No. Not at all. I'm sorry if that was how it sounded."

Camden hopped over to us. "You know you and Silas are going to have to share a tent, right?"

Urban cringed. "Why?"

Now I smiled. "The kids. We have to keep things separate. Since we have one girl in camp, she gets her own. One tent will have three boys in it because of that. They're cousins, so they don't care."

Camden wrapped her arm around mine and smiled. "I'll share with Everly so you two can have mine."

The guys weren't that happy about it, but what could they expect? This was a camp outing. Nothing romantic was going to happen.

Boy, was I wrong.

Once the kids were settled for bed, Urban and I were on the field talking about his road trip. Some of it he'd already told me about and some he hadn't. Eventually, I lay back on the grass, looking up at the sky. The sound from the tents had died down, which meant the kids had finally started to fall asleep .

Urban lay beside me as we talked quietly into the night.

It was now impossible for me to deny that I had feelings for him.

The question was: Would I embrace those feelings to see where this went?

Or would I continue to ignore them in the name of protecting my heart?