The Ninth Inning Read online

  “I kind of like the look of it, to be honest.” She stood, staring at them, hands on her hips.

  “Bullshitting me?” I asked because I wasn’t sure if this was some sort of trick or not.

  Christina turned to look at me, a gleam in her eye. “I mean it. The roses are so perfect. I like that they’re living in something they’re not really meant for.”

  I shifted my weight to my other leg and considered my words. “I feel like that was a metaphor somehow, but I’m not getting it.” My stomach growled, and both girls stared at my covered abs. “I’m starving.”

  “Me too,” Christina breathed out, her eyes still locked on my midsection.

  “We should go.” I held out my hand, and she scurried away.

  “Let me grab my purse,” she said before coming back and walking ahead of me, ignoring the hand I held out for her to grab.

  Apparently, we were going to be taking this slow. I had to earn my way back into her heart, and I was okay with that.

  I had to be.

  Show Me Off

  Christina

  Two things had surprised me this morning.

  The first was that Cole had actually followed through on what he had said the night before. I had gone to bed, hoping that he had meant every word, but I wasn’t counting on it. I had fallen asleep, knowing that today would either be a day of extreme disappointment or hope. So far, the latter was winning out.

  The second surprise was the roses. Cole showing up was one thing, but coming to get me with a handful of the most beautiful white roses I’d ever laid eyes on was another. I hadn’t expected it. Hell, I’d barely expected him. The roses were a gesture that added to the fact that Cole was truly trying. He wanted me to believe his words, but he was backing them up with action. I’d realized the moment I saw him outside my front door this morning that I needed both.

  When he reached for my hand as we left, it took every ounce of willpower to not intertwine my fingers with his and give in to him. The last thing I wanted was to jump in headfirst and pretend like everything was totally perfect when nothing between us had ever been. Cole had to work a little bit harder to break through the walls I’d put up. The walls that he’d helped build.

  “So, where are we going?” I asked as he opened the passenger door for me, and I hopped in before pulling my sunglasses out of my purse and putting them on.

  “You’ll see,” he said as he shut the door, and I wondered where he would take us to eat in this time between breakfast and lunch.

  “Please tell me if we’re going to a breakfast or a lunch spot. I need to get my head right about which meal I’m getting,” I practically whined, and he laughed, but I was serious. Eleven meant that you could get totally screwed if you wanted breakfast and the place stopped serving it at ten. Or if you wanted lunch and they didn’t start serving until noon. It was a serious subject.

  “I’m taking you to a dope brunch spot. They have the best Belgium waffles in the area,” he said, and I swore he almost started drooling.

  “Thank God,” I breathed out in relief as I lowered my window down partway. “I wanted breakfast so bad but didn’t want to say anything if you had plans for lunch.”

  “I’ve been dreaming about these waffles all night.” He quickly glanced at me before looking back at the road. “Well, waffles and you.”

  “Don’t do that,” I said, looking away from him, my hair blowing.

  “Do what?”

  “Don’t say things just to say them. It’s cheesy, and I don’t need it.”

  “That’s fair,” he agreed, and I was surprised. I’d half-expected him to argue back, insist that he had meant it or that he wasn’t being corny, but he didn’t. “What do you need?”

  I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly feeling thick at being put on the spot. “Just the truth.”

  “Okay. Me too.” He nodded. “So, if you ever want breakfast when I want lunch, tell me. And we’ll find a place that serves both at the same time.”

  I smacked his shoulder with my hand. “Smart-ass.”

  “I mean it. Food’s important. Especially waffles.”

  “I never knew this about you,” I said with a grin as he kept his hands firmly on the wheel. “About your love for waffles, I mean. How have you kept this from me for so long?”

  “I think I told you once.” His voice sounded almost wistful as I searched the recesses of my mind for memories with him, looking for the one with the waffles.

  It suddenly hit me.

  “You did. Oh my gosh, you really did,” I said, remembering one rare afternoon when we had studied together for finals.

  He’d mentioned waffles that his mom used to make and how this one place in town made them just like she had. He’d wanted to go right that second, but they weren’t open.

  “Your mom,” I added, and he gave me a slight nod.

  “Yeah. I’m not sure why I’ve held on to that memory so hard. It’s almost like she took every other one with her when she left.”

  “You haven’t talked to her lately?” I asked, knowing that the relationship he had with his mom was strained, at best.

  He had offered up a few details over the years, but anytime I started to dig in too deep, he’d cut me off and slam the door shut.

  “Nah.” He tried to sound like he didn’t care, but I knew it was the opposite.

  “You don’t have to do that.” I reached for his thigh and gave him a squeeze but didn’t leave my hand there.

  “Do what?”

  “Pretend like her leaving didn’t hurt you. Or keep those kinds of things to yourself. If we’re really going to give this a shot, we have to talk about the stuff that haunts us. Because those are the things we carry. They affect everything else,” I said like I was an expert on the subject.

  “What haunts you?”

  I said the first thing that popped into my mind even though it felt sort of small in comparison to his inner demons, “My no-alcohol rule.”

  He visibly stiffened, his back straightening. I watched as his knuckles started to turn white as his grip on the wheel tightened.

  “You never told me where that came from,” he said, trying to sound calm but I could tell that it was eating him up inside. Cole sensed that the rule had been born out of a bad situation, and he wasn’t wrong.

  “I know.”

  “Will you?” he asked as the truck slowed, and I looked up, noting the line out the door of a restaurant I’d never been to before.

  “Not right now, but yes, I will,” I said, and he calmed.

  “Okay. Have you been here before?” He pulled the truck to a stop and cut the engine.

  I rolled my window up. “Never,” I admitted, wondering how the heck I’d missed this on my food radar the entire time I’d lived here.

  “How is that even possible?” He looked at me like I’d grown two heads.

  “I have no idea,” I said as I turned to reach for my door handle.

  “Don’t move,” he directed.

  I did as he’d asked, knowing that he wanted to open the door for me. I waited for him to reach my door and smiled when he did. Pulling it open, he extended his hand and helped me out. He placed his hand on my lower back, and I felt myself instinctively lean into it.

  “I like this side of you.”

  “What side? My backside?” he teased, and I shook my head.

  “No. Your gentlemanly side,” I said with a smile. “It’s nice.”

  “I’m sorry I kept it from you for so long.” He winked, and I wondered if he turned things into a joke whenever he was uncomfortable. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if that was one of Cole’s defense mechanisms.

  We walked toward the waiting crowd of hungry eaters, and Cole excused himself to head inside and put our name in. I stood alone for only a few seconds before I heard the familiar sound of whispering. I was thankful I had my sunglasses on as I tried to stealthily find whoever was doing the talking. That was when I realized that there were a lot of students he
re, and it wasn’t just one girl staring at me but quite a few.

  Cole reappeared at that moment and wrapped one arm around my waist. I pretended not to notice the phones pointed in our direction, most likely taking pictures to share online or text to friends.

  “There are a lot of students here.” I wondered if he had known how full this place would be and how many people would see us together in public.

  “I know,” he said matter-of-factly. “Does that make you nervous?”

  “I’m not nervous,” I said. “Just surprised, I think.”

  “Surprised by what?”

  “I guess I just didn’t think you’d want to be so public on our first outing together,” I said, hating how unsure I sounded and that I’d used the word outing.

  “Date. It’s our first date. And hell yes, I want to be in public with you. I want everyone to know that you’re here with me. I want to show you off.”

  I laughed, feeling a little embarrassed and excited at the same time. “You want to show me off?”

  He turned my body, so I was facing him straight on as he looked down at me. “You told me once that I never took you out in public. You felt like I kept you in the dark. And you weren’t wrong about that. All I want to do now is put you in the light, where everyone can see us together.”

  I swallowed hard, that ball back in my throat. “Really?”

  “Really,” he said as he leaned down to kiss me, tentatively at first, as if he was testing the waters and making sure it was okay.

  I deepened the kiss, forgetting that we were surrounded by people, and focused on my legs, which felt like they might give out at any second. I was convinced that Cole’s kisses could cause knees to buckle across the globe.

  We slowly pulled away from each other, my eyes still closed but shielded behind my sunglasses.

  “Cole, party of two?” was being shouted from somewhere behind us.

  “Already?” I said. I looked around at all the people still waiting as I reached for my glasses and dropped them into my purse.

  He shrugged. “What can I say? It’s my favorite place. They kinda love me here.”

  He reached for my hand, and I let him this time, our fingers locking together as he pulled me through a group of snarling girls who grumbled under their breath. I swore I’d heard one of them call me a name, and it took everything in me to keep walking and not cause a scene. They weren’t worth it.

  As we maneuvered through the large space, I couldn’t help but smile at how it was decorated. It felt like we had legitimately stepped back into the 1970s. And even though you could tell the interior was dated, the restaurant still beamed with bright light, the immaculate white flooring giving off a glow as you moved across it. The dark wood paneling was accented with a plethora of puffy-looking orange booths and multicolored barstools. I actually appreciated the fact that they hadn’t reupholstered everything to make it look brand-new. It would have lost some of its charm if they had.

  “This place is so cool,” I whispered toward Cole as the hostess pointed at a small two-person table, and we moved to sit in it.

  She handed us each a menu before walking away.

  “I bet I know why you’ve never heard of this place!” He sounded so excited and sure of himself that I decided to play along.

  “Why?” I asked as I bounced in my seat, surprised at how springy and cushy it still was. I figured that after years of use, it might have been worn out, but I was wrong.

  “They probably don’t have any social media. How can they expect the queen to find them if their online presence isn’t any good?”

  I looked around again, noting how every single seat was filled with happy eaters. “Word of mouth is better than anything online. How have I never even heard of this place before though? How has no one told me?”

  He only shrugged. “Obviously, you have bad friends. Time to trade Lauren in.”

  “If the food is as good as you say it is, I’ll consider it,” I said as I unfolded my menu, and Cole reached for it, taking it out of my hands.

  “We’re ordering brunch. No menu needed,” he said, and I decided not to argue and actually be a good listener instead. “And to be fair, I did tell you about it once before.”

  That day where he’d mentioned his mom. “You’re right. But you never told me the name, I don’t think.”

  “Probably not,” he said as a waitress appeared, bringing us two waters and asking if we were ready to order. Cole ordered for us both, and I knew I shouldn’t have enjoyed it as much as I did.

  She pointed us toward the brunch station, and once again, I found myself shocked at how state of the art and trendy it all was. They had an unlimited mimosa station paired with a freshly squeezed juice bar, featuring ten types of juices. Ten! The waffles were made to order, not stacked and waiting for you to take one, like they were at other places. They featured eggs made five different ways, or you could order an omelet with whatever you wanted on it. The fruit was all farmed locally. And they even had a tea corner that showcased honey from all local beehives.

  “This place is heaven, and I’m going to eat here every day until I die,” I said to Cole as we walked back to our table, balancing our too-full plates in our hands.

  He laughed out loud. People stared. “You haven’t even tasted anything yet,” he said with a smirk once we sat down.

  I spread butter across my hot waffle and watched it melt into the deep squares. Cutting a small piece off, I took a bite and moaned. “Holy crap,” I said around whatever blissful ingredients were currently melting in my mouth.

  “Told you.”

  “But why? Like, I don’t understand why it’s so good. What’s it made of, rainbows and puppy breath?” I asked seriously because I really didn’t understand how a waffle could be so superior tasting to other waffles. Don’t they all have the same ingredients?

  “Honestly? I think it has something to do with the flour they use. They don’t buy it in the grocery store. It doesn’t have any of the extra crap in it to make it last on a shelf. At least, that’s what they told me after I came in here, asking once,” Cole explained, but I was too busy chewing and living in food ecstasy to pay attention. Cole laughed as he watched me, and I knew that he’d realized he’d lost me to the waffle. “Tell me what’s going on with work,” he asked, knowing exactly how to bring me back to him.

  “Work?” I scrunched up my face as I swallowed. I wasn’t sure what he wanted to hear.

  “Yeah. I know you took on Jason’s band. How’s that going?”

  I smiled. “It’s going so good. I’ve made a few changes and improvements to their accounts. I’ve already seen their follower numbers double on one platform, and their video views have tripled on another.”

  “I love watching you talk about this,” he said, staring at me like I fascinated him somehow, but it was a little embarrassing. He was so focused on me, so mesmerized, that it was unnerving.

  And suddenly, the last thing I wanted to do was shovel more food down my throat.

  “What? Why?” I looked away, but Cole wasn’t having any of it.

  “Look at me,” he insisted, and I slowly looked back up. “You light up when you talk about this. That’s how I know you’ll be great at it. I mean, you already are.”

  “Thanks, Cole,” I said quietly, a little taken aback by the compliment as I reached for my water and downed half the glass.

  “Don’t get embarrassed,” he said, totally calling me out as he worked on one of the three waffles on his plate.

  “I’m not. It’s just ...” I paused for a second. “I’m not used to having someone be so supportive.” I started shaking my head because that wasn’t it at all. “That sounds wrong and isn’t what I meant. I just ... I think I’m more comfortable with encouraging you to chase your dreams than talking about mine.”

  “Why the hell would you be more comfortable with encouraging me than yourself?” He sounded as bewildered as I felt.

  “I don’t know.” I started to w
ork out the reasoning in my mind. “I think because my goals feel so private, and talking about them out loud makes them really real. And then if I fail, I won’t be the only one who knows it.”

  He chewed on his food, nodding, like what I’d said made complete sense to him. “I get it.”

  “That doesn’t sound stupid?”

  “Not at all. Our goals are private. They’re personal as hell. I mean, everyone knows that I want to get drafted. I never got to keep that to myself. And you’re right; if it doesn’t happen for me, everyone will know. But the flip side is, if it does—”

  “When it does,” I interrupted because I refused to sit here and listen to him talk about his future as if was an option.

  He cleared his throat and took a drink. “Okay. When it does, everyone will know.”

  “And they’ll celebrate with you,” I added with a knowing nod.

  “Yeah. Same thing goes for you,” he said, but I wasn’t convinced.

  People wanted to be a part of other people’s successes, especially when it came to athletes and anyone in the celebrity spotlight, but I wasn’t so sure that applied to someone like me and what I wanted to do.

  “You know how good you are, right?”

  “You know how good you are, right?” I fired back before giving my waffle attention.

  “I mean it.”

  “So do I.”

  “You’ve always believed in me,” he said, and I knew he was thinking back to some specific moment we had shared over the years. “You told me I’d get drafted. You told me I could do anything I wanted.”

  “I meant it. I still do. I want you to get drafted, Cole. I always have. Even when I hated you. Even when you didn’t deserve it. I’ve always wanted you to succeed.”

  “Why?” he asked, and I knew he was truly wondering how someone who hated him could still root for him.

  “Because it’s important to you. And because I believe in you. And I want you to succeed.”

  “I’m so mad right now,” he said as he chewed on his food like it was in trouble in his mouth.

  “Mad? Why are you mad?”

  “I feel like I wasted so much time convincing myself that I couldn’t have this.” He waved his arm in my direction. “And we could have. We should have been together this whole time, and it’s my fault we haven’t been.”