The Practice Proposal (17 page)

Chapter Twenty

Dizzy with mixed emotions, Liza got ready to leave the box suite her parents had rented
for the Series. Everyone there was still stunned by the Orioles’ shocking loss. She
hugged John and Sylvia good-bye, her heart heavy for them, and for herself. Then she
and Paige walked to the door.

“You know that voodoo baseball magic you said Cole believes in?” Paige asked glumly.

Liza nodded. She’d told Paige almost every detail about the night Cole had first said
he loved her.

“Well, it must work. I mean, this was totally his night. I’m sorry the Os lost.” Paige
grabbed Liza’s hand and had a long look at her engagement ring. “But that was one
wicked-romantic proposal.”

Liza grinned. “It was, wasn’t it?”

Paige’s eyes welled with tears.

“Oh, sweetie.” Liza hugged her tightly. “It’ll happen for you soon, too.”

Paige pulled away and sniffled. “I’m not sad-crying for me, silly. I’m happy-crying
for you.”

The atmosphere changed the second Liza left the suite. There was a big-time party
rocking in the stadium. This was the Nationals’ first World Series win, and their
fans reveled in the ultimate celebration. Liza was thrilled for Cole and his team,
yet totally bummed for herself, her folks, and the Orioles. She’d never experienced
so much excitement and disappointment within an hour’s time.

I’m engaged to Cole.

She still couldn’t believe his fairy-tale proposal, but the big, sparkly diamond on
her finger proved it was real. Her hands were still shaky, but her heart soared, thinking
about a future with him. She wouldn’t get Frank’s donation, and she might soon lose
the job she loved, but she had Cole, and things would work out somehow.

She’d wanted to give Cole time to celebrate with his team, talk to the media, and
do whatever it was that World Series MVPs do afterward, so she’d been surprised to
get a text from him less than an hour since the end of the game.

Meet me in the Nats’ family room. Love, Your Fiancé.

She replied:
On my way!

Liza wished she could’ve thought of something clever, but she was lucky to get three
words typed considering her trembling fingers. Moments later, her phone chirped, and
she checked the tweet.

Cole Collins
@ColeCollins

@LizaSutherland
said YES! #marryme

He’d attached a picture of them at home plate, him on one knee. Liza thought her heart
might burst. Oblivious to the crowd, she practically floated toward the home side
of the stadium. Several people recognized her from the proposal and congratulated
her as they passed. Some just pointed and stared.

Just before she made it to the secure clubhouse area, a fifty-something brunette woman
dressed in full Nationals regalia—including a Cole Collins jersey—clutched Liza’s
arm and pulled her aside. Liza’s eyes widened.

“I just want to tell you,” the woman said, “you’re the luckiest girl alive.”

Liza grinned. “I am, aren’t I?”

The woman nudged Liza with her elbow. “I just love Cole,” she said, as if she’d known
him personally for years. “You give that handsome boy a kiss for me, will ya?”

Liza smiled graciously, imagining this might happen from time to time. “Yes, ma’am.”
Gladly.

The corridor leading to the clubhouse and family room was strangely quiet, considering
the home team had just won the World Series. But she was sure the party was happening
close by—with hootin’ and hollerin’ and spraying champagne in a huge room covered
in plastic. She hurried toward her own celebration with Cole.

Liza neared the family room, but before she rounded the doorway, she heard Frank’s
voice coming from inside, and then Cole’s. Her heart hammered. He was going to be
her
husband
, and Frank would be her father-in-law.

She stopped outside the door, in case they were having a meaningful father-son moment.
They needed times like this to bond. She couldn’t wait to see Cole, but she had the
rest of her life to be with him, and their relationship was solid. Sacrificing a little
time to Frank was the least she could do.

“…and I couldn’t believe you stole home,” Frank said. “Hell of a play.”

Liza leaned against the wall, imagining how much it must mean to Cole for Frank to
be so thrilled with him. What athlete wouldn’t want to impress his agent…and his father?

“MVP,” Frank said.

Liza heard what sounded like a slap on the back, but she couldn’t be sure.

“It’s pretty surreal,” Cole said. Liza loved how humble he’d become.

“Between what you’ve done in the Series,” Frank said, “and what you’ve done with Liza,
you can be pretty darn sure the Nats are gonna offer you a new contract.”

“You think so?” Cole asked.

Liza furrowed her brow and inched closer to the doorway.

“You made it look like you were settling down all right, but I never expected you
to ice the cake with that proposal during the seventh-inning stretch,” Frank said.
“I’m surprised they’re not in here wavin’ a new contract at you right this second.”

Liza’s stomach knotted.

“And the little lady will never know your relationship had anything to do with you
getting a sweet new deal,” Frank said.

Heat radiated in Liza’s face with the thundering pulse of her heart. She stepped slowly
into the doorway, her legs rubbery.

Frank stood with his back to Liza, but Cole faced her. He sat casually on the arm
of a leather chair, still wearing his uniform, soaking wet. She could smell the champagne
all the way across the room. He stood quickly when he saw her, and his eyes flashed
with panic.

Liza swallowed hard.

“What?” Frank shook his head and turned to see what had caught Cole’s attention.

“How long have you been standing out there?” Cole asked her nervously.

Liza moved closer to them, hurt and reeling, and said quietly to Cole, “Long enough
to hear that you used me to get a contract.” Pressure built in her throat. “Long enough
to know that everything you said to me and everything you did was completely fake.”
Tears burned her eyes. She shrugged weakly. “You’re just an MVP liar, because you
definitely had me convinced.” A tear slid down her cheek and she angrily swiped it
away.

Cole tried to take her hand, but she stepped beyond his reach. He winced. “Liza, I—”

“Don’t even try to spin it anymore. I should’ve gone with my gut instincts about you
because, you know what? They were right.”

“It’s not what you’re thinking,” Cole said gently, looking at Frank for agreement.

“As if having
him
back you up is going to help.” Liza cut her eyes at Frank.

“I think we can talk this thing through.” Frank nodded unconvincingly. “There’s just
been a little confusion.”

Liza tugged the engagement ring off her finger, grabbed Cole’s wrist, and dropped
the ring in his hand. Her heart broke, thinking that was the last time she would touch
him. But he wasn’t
her
Cole, anyway. The guy standing there was the real Cole. Her Cole had simply been
an illusion.

“Here’s your ring back,” she said. “You’ve done enough damage, so leave me alone.
There shouldn’t be anything confusing about that.”

“But—” Cole said.

Liza held up her hand, refusing to listen to another lying word. She couldn’t stand
to be in the room with him and Frank another second. She was about to lose it, and
she wanted to be far away from them when she did. She made it to the door, then turned
and glared at Frank. “You can send your check to the foundation. Because I didn’t
fall for Cole. I was lying, too.” She shook her head. “That was a half-million-dollar
sucker deal.”

She walked out the door and left her future behind.

…

Cole stared at the door, hoping Liza would come back, but knowing she wouldn’t. At
least he wouldn’t if he were her.

He sank back onto the arm of the chair and dragged his hand down his face. The Nats
had won the World Series—the World Series!—and he was MVP. Liza had agreed to marry
him, and all the stars had lined up straight.

But taking Liza out of that mix diluted the excitement of the rest. How could he celebrate
anything when he’d just lost everything?

“I’m sorry, son.” Frank stood with his hands in his pockets, a pinched expression
on his face. “I shoulda watched my mouth there.”

Cole shook his head. Frank was right, but Cole couldn’t shove all the blame on him.
He should’ve made it clearer to Frank that he’d fallen for Liza along the way, and
that his pursuit of a contract with the Nats was a totally separate thing. He figured
Frank had seen that, but they’d gotten so sidetracked with the father issue… Hadn’t
it been obvious that he was in love with her?

“What was that about a half-million-dollar sucker deal?”

Frank lumbered over and sat in the chair opposite Cole. “I’ve been in the business
of matchin’ players and teams for many years, and I know a good match when I see one.”
He cocked his head and shrugged. “Now they don’t always work out—for all kinds of
reasons—but that doesn’t mean the chemistry wasn’t there. Lots of ’em do, though.”

“Are you getting to the deal part?” Cole’s patience thinned. How could everything
have gone so wrong so fast?

Frank scowled, as he’d done many times over the years when Cole had gotten snippy
with him. “After that proposal stunt on your first date with Liza, you called me and
said we needed a plan B.”

Cole’s gut twisted, thinking about how shallow he’d been.

“But I knew a little bit about Liza and her folks,” Frank said sheepishly, “as you’ve
found out. Salt-of-the-earth kind of people. I was sure you two kids would make a
fine pair. And I guess part of me wanted to make it up to John and Sylvia…and to you.
I figured you datin’ Liza might be just the thing that got y’all back together after
all these years.” He rubbed his forehead and frowned. “After all my mistakes.”

“So you made some kind of deal with Liza?”

Frank nodded slowly, frowning. “She didn’t trust me when I told her you were falling
for her.”

“I guess not, considering what she knew about me at the time.”

“But I knew better,” Frank said confidently. “So I told her I’d give her a half-million
dollars if she dated you for the rest of the season and didn’t fall for you.”

Cole blinked several times. “What? You were going to pay her a half-million dollars
if she
didn’t
fall for me?”

Frank nodded. “She thought it would be easy money since she was tied up with her memories
and all—really a sad situation. Plus, she wasn’t too keen on your reputation with
the ladies.”

Cole understood, to a point. But the idea that she would take Frank’s money now made
his stomach turn. It just didn’t seem like something Liza would do, and it was hard
for him to believe his judgment of her had been that far off. “So she’s expecting
you to pay her a half-mil now?”

“No, not her,” Frank said. “She wouldn’t take the deal for herself—and it took a hell
of a lot to get her to agree to it at all. The money goes to the foundation, so those
needy boys can go to baseball camp.”

Now Cole felt guilty for even thinking she’d made the deal for money for herself.
The Liza he knew would never do that. She’d had nothing to personally gain from going
out with him. Her heart had been with Wes, and there’d been no reason for her to believe
Cole was falling for her, outside of Frank’s hype. Cole’s reputation had ensured that.

He still didn’t like the idea that Frank had meddled, and that Liza had dated him
because of a deal. But he
had
fallen for her and been lucky enough to win her heart—only to crush it to bits. His
own heart broke, thinking about the pain he’d caused her. Pain she’d tried to protect
herself from and certainly didn’t deserve. He couldn’t believe things had worked out
like this. He’d finally found a home with her—and John and Sylvia—but now he’d lost
them, again.

The only hope he had was to make Liza believe he loved her despite the path he’d taken
there, and that he couldn’t live without her now.

Cole slid the engagement ring onto the end of his pinkie finger and twisted it around
slowly. “I love her, Frank.” He shrugged one shoulder and made a sweeping gesture
around the Nats’ blessedly empty family room. “None of this baseball stuff means anything
to me without her.”

“Whoa,” Frank said. “Let’s not get carried away on emotion. You’ve worked hard to
get where you are with this team. You deserve to be a World Series MVP, and you deserve
a helluva new contract. Give it a little time, and I betcha this thing with Liza will
work out.”

There was only one way Cole could think of to make that happen, but he wasn’t going
to risk telling Frank about it. He had some media people he’d promised to talk to,
and some celebrating to do with his team—whether he felt like it or not.

…

Liza didn’t tell Paige what had happened. She didn’t tell her parents or anyone else.
She let them all think she was blissfully celebrating with Cole. A World Series win,
an MVP award, their engagement. What a night it could’ve been.

But it wasn’t.

Instead, she’d gone home, blocked Cole’s number from her phone, then turned it off
and sat on her balcony for hours, staring out at the harbor. Although the hurt was
different, it reminded her of the many nights she’d spent in the exact same spot,
grieving for Wes. It had gotten pretty chilly during the wee hours—even with a blanket
thrown over her—but feeling cold beat feeling numb. How could she have been naive
enough to fall in love with Cole? And to think Frank had been willing to donate a
half-million dollars to BADD if she
didn’t
.

After getting a few hours of fitful sleep, she woke up to a gray morning with steady
rain.