The Sweetest Game (20 page)

The price tag deterred me initially. I made great money in my job at the magazine, and Jack’s baseball contract was more than most people would ever make in a lifetime, but I still liked to be smart when it came to our finances. And dropping millions of dollars on a house scared the ever-living shit out of me. Plus, Jack could get traded again at any time and then what? We’d have a crazy-expensive house that we never lived in?

But then Jack reminded me that we’d always want our home base to be in Southern California. Even if he did get traded again, we should still have a house where we wanted to end up in the long run. And he was right. So after weeks of home shopping without Jack, I found the perfect one in a gated community, which I knew Jack would love.

The house was two stories with four bedrooms, an office, and a gorgeous backyard with a swimming pool and a lush lawn. The master bedroom had a wraparound balcony and the moment I saw it, I instantly longed for a telescope. I’d asked my dad for one as a kid, but like many others, that promise never materialized. The tipping point was the house had a view to die for—you could see the ocean from every room in the house. When I walked through the front door for the first time and saw the ocean view from the windows, I was stunned. And sold.

Jack’s eyes lit up when I brought him to the property. Luckily, the previous owners had modernized the home, so there was nothing I wanted to change, not a single thing. And the best part was that the owners desperately wanted to get rid of it, so we got it for a “steal.”

On moving day, I watched as Jack wiped his brow, sweat dripping from him in beads. He and Dean stacked boxes from the moving truck we’d rented into various rooms in the new house while I worked on unpacking and setting things up. I wanted our house to look like home as soon as possible, so while they unloaded, I unpacked.

I was amazed at everything we accomplished this way. The truck that just hours prior had been filled to the gills, was now almost empty. And the walls of our home that were bare a few hours before, were now filled with artwork and framed photographs. It was as if we’d lived here for years.

“Kitten, you don’t have to do that. I can hire someone,” Jack shouted from the garage.

“Stop being crazy. I’m perfectly capable of hanging artwork and unpacking our stuff.”

Jack sauntered into the house and grabbed me by the backside, then spun me around. “I worry about you,” he said before leaning over to plant a kiss on my barely-there tummy. “Don’t we?” he told my belly in a high-pitched silly voice. “We worry about Mommy. She needs to just sit down and look pretty while we do all the work.”

I burst out laughing and ruffled his hair. “You’re an idiot.”

He looked up with a grin. “Yeah. But I’m your idiot.” Jack kissed my stomach again before walking into the kitchen. He opened the fridge, reached in, and tossed Dean a beer. “Heads up,” he shouted as Dean jumped and moved to catch it.

“Dick.” Dean popped open the can and took a long gulp. And then almost spit it right back out at the sound of my best friend’s voice.

“Ah, I can’t believe you guys are back here! I’m so happy.” Melissa bounced into the house and straight into my arms. She glanced at Dean and Jack, giving them a curt smile before pressing her ear against my stomach. “How’s my little baby?” she cooed, then rubbed my belly like it was a fucking good luck charm.

Why does everyone do this?

Jack and Dean scuttled out the sliding glass door to the backyard. The cowards.

When they’d left, I folded my arms over my chest and said flatly, “Still not talking to Dean, I see?”

She tilted her head to one side. “
He’s
not talking to me, not the other way around.”

I frowned. “You broke his heart. What do you expect?”

“I expect you, of all people, not to take sides.”

“How can I take sides?” I said with a huff. “You never even tried.”

Melissa’s face fell as tears filled her eyes. “That was harsh.”

“I don’t understand you. At all. You’re the one who told me to fight for Jack, to not give up on him. You pushed me to love him and give him a chance,” I pointed out, then took a deep breath in and out to fight the nausea I felt growing. “More than once.”

“So?” she snapped.

“Soooo,” I said pointedly. “You never follow your own advice.”

“How do you even know I want to?”

“Because I can see it in your eyes. You miss him. And there’s something you’re not telling me. Come on.” I grabbed her hand and yanked her toward the garage.

“Where are we going?” She tried to tug her hand away, and I only pulled her harder.

“Get in the car.” I opened the passenger door and shoved her inside. “I’m sick of this and we’re going to the only place where you’ll listen to reason.”

“Oh my God. No.” She pressed the button to unlock the door and I hit it again, just as fast, using the child safety locks to trap her in the car. “You cannot Gran-ify me!” she screamed out, pounding on the side window.

“Stop beating up my car! And seriously? Gran-ify you?”

“Yeah!” she cried out. “Where you bring me to Gran and Gramps and they say the most perfect things and I leave there in tears because you were right all along and I was an idiot.”

I wanted to laugh, oh so badly, but stopped myself. “Let’s just see what they have to say. Maybe they won’t be on my side?” I offered, silently knowing that they would.

I mean, I hoped they would. They’d better.

“So you’re saying they’re actually neutral? Ha! I’ll believe that when I hear it.”

A few minutes later I pulled into their driveway, hoping they wouldn’t be upset at our unannounced arrival. Giving a quick knock, I didn’t wait for a response before opening the front door and shouting, “Gran? Gramps?”

“Cassie? Is that you, dear?” Gran shouted from the kitchen.

Of course. They’re always in the kitchen.

“Is that our Kitten?” Gramps called out and I stifled a laugh.

We walked through the entryway, Melissa’s hand firmly in mine as I pulled her through. “Sit,” I demanded and she did as I asked, but folded her arms over her chest and put on that stubborn face I know so well.

“Oh! Hi, Melissa.” Gran smiled. “Are you two okay? What’s going on? Is the baby all right?” She eyed my belly and I nodded.

“Everything’s good, Gran. I just needed to bring Melissa here.”

Gran’s brow furrowed, but I knew it was part of her act. “Whatever for, dear?”

“Because for some reason she won’t date Dean. And I know it isn’t because she doesn’t like him, or miss him, or any normal reason. I figured that only you and Gramps could get to the bottom of this. So, go on. Work your magic. Use your granny voodoo on her.”

Gran and Gramps laughed, full-out belly laughs. “Granny voodoo. That’s great, Kitten,” Gramps said between fits of laughter.

“I’m not kidding! She’s broken,” I shouted, pointing at my now terrified best friend. “Fix her!”

“Well, I will admit that I’m not sure why it’s taken this long for the two of you kids to get together,” Gran began. “Why don’t you tell me what the problem is, Melissa?”

Melissa inhaled deeply, her gaze shifting between the three of us all staring at her. “There is no problem. Maybe that’s the problem?”

“What?” Gramps scratched his head, completely taken aback by her answer.

“Go on,” Gran prompted, her tone sympathetic. It’s how she always sucks them in.

“That’s it. There’s no problem,” Melissa said, obviously trying to sound confident.

“Do you like Dean?” I asked the most obvious question of them all and watched as her face softened the way it had when she first mentioned him back in the student union when we were in college.

All eyes fixed on Melissa, waiting for her answer. She looked down and wiped at her eyes. “Of course I like him. I’ve never liked anyone so much before.”

I stood there, shocked. This made absolutely no sense at all to me. I shook my head and said, “Seriously? Then what the hell are we doing here? Why aren’t you with him?”

Gran huffed out a breath before pulling a bottle of wine from the cupboard. Opening the bottle, she poured three glasses, then filled a fourth with cold water. “Sorry to drink in front of you, dear,” she said in apology, handing me the glass filled with water.

“It’s okay. Wine doesn’t sound good anyway.” I patted my stomach.

She placed one of the glasses in front of Melissa. “Drink. Let’s discuss this.”

“You girls make everything so complicated. Don’t you know us men are simple folk?” Gramps asked as he sipped his wine.

Gran held a hand in the air to stop him, then asked Melissa, “You’re scared, aren’t you, dear?”

Gramps nodded. “It’s so obvious.”

My head swiveled back and forth as Melissa’s tears fell. “What is? What’s obvious?” I asked, completely confused.

“She’s afraid it won’t work. That they won’t last,” Gran said softly as she watched Melissa.

Gramps smacked the kitchen counter with his hand. “Kitten, what’s wrong with your girl?”

“She’s just scared. That’s all this is. Pure fear,” Gran said.

“Seriously?” I asked Melissa. “But you’re like the most fearless person I know. You’re always telling people what they should be doing. Always encouraging and always telling them to take risks.”

“It’s easy to tell other people what to do,” she admitted. “It’s a lot harder to apply your advice to your own life, especially when you don’t see it as clearly.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked.

Melissa sighed. “I knew that you and Jack were meant to be together. I could see it, you know? I always told you that. So it’s easy for me to push you to go for something that’s so obvious to me and everyone else around you. But I don’t see myself or my situation with the same kind of clarity.”

“Really?” I said with a snort. “Why don’t I believe you?”

She nodded. “It’s true. I can tell you what I think you should do, but I never know what I should.”

“Well, we all know what you should do! You should do Dean! Um …” I stopped, feeling the heat on my cheeks rise. “I mean, we all know you and Dean belong together, so what aren’t you telling me? Spit it out,” I insisted.

Melissa sucked in a deep breath and blurted out, “Fine! I like Dean. I really do. But if something happens between us and we don’t work out, I’m the one who loses, not him. You’re
my
best friend,” she reminded me, glancing in my direction. “But
he’s
your husband’s brother. If we hook up and it ends badly, one of us loses you guys.”

Her eyes pleaded with me for understanding. “And it sure as shit isn’t going to be Dean. I’m pretty sure he can’t stop being Jack’s brother. But I can stop being your best friend.” Tears spilled freely down her face, and she reached up to swipe them away. “I don’t want to stop being your best friend. I don’t want to be the one who loses everything.”

My heart aching for her, I stood up and walked over to Melissa, then wrapped my arms around her and squeezed. “I’ll never stop being your best friend. No matter what happens between you and Dean.”

She shook her head. “You say that now, but you don’t know that. You can’t be sure, if you had to choose. I mean, if you were forced to choose. There’s no way you could choose me over Dean. He’s family now.”

“But you’ve always been my family, too.” I caught Melissa’s gaze, trying to show her how sincere I was, but she shook her head.

Gramps added, “I can guarantee you that Dean isn’t thinking about everything he’s going to lose if you guys break up. He probably isn’t thinking that you guys will break up at all. Why are you?”

“Yes, hon, why are you so convinced that you two won’t last?” Gran added.

“Seriously, Melissa, you’re the one person in the world who pushed for me to not give up on Jack. Even after everything we went through, you still said he was the one for me.”

“Well, he was. I was right,” she snapped.

“And so am I. You and Dean are meant to be together too. You’re the only one who doesn’t see it.”

Her head lowered as she whispered, “I feel it.”

“Listen, Melissa.” Gran reached over and took my friend’s hand in hers. “Love is the one thing in this world worth taking a risk for. When you’re older and you look back on the life you lived, you won’t regret the fact that you took the chance to love someone. But you will regret the chances on love you didn’t take. Especially the ones rooted in fear. They’re only scary because you have the most to lose. You feel the most for them. Don’t let the fear of losing love stop you from having the experience altogether.”

“She’s right, you know.” Gramps smiled warmly. “She usually is, though, so that’s not surprising. But if you walk away, you will regret this, darlin’. Maybe not right now or not a few years down the road. But eventually you will regret this moment. And every other moment you had with our grandson that could have led to more. Life is filled with many things. You don’t want regrets to be one of them.”

Gran stood up and planted a sloppy kiss on Gramps’ cheek, and he slipped his arm around her. “He has a point, dear. Live without regrets. It’s very easy to, really. You just listen to your heart, follow it, and take chances. Always take chances. And take risks, especially when it comes to love. Because love is the one thing in this world that’s worth risking everything for.”

Melissa nodded, her expression more relaxed and open, her stubborn face a thing of the past. The conversation had been simple, but effective.

After thanking Gran and Gramps and promising to bring them to the new house soon, I practically sprinted to the car. I wanted to fly back to the house. Getting Melissa there so she could work this bullshit out with Dean was my number one priority. I couldn’t wait for them to finally be together. We made it home in record time while I kept conversation to a minimum, not daring to mess up the magic that Gran and Gramps had worked on Melissa.

I pulled the car into the driveway a little too fast, and pulled the emergency brake before hopping out.

Jack walked into the garage as Melissa got out of the car. “Where’d you two run off to?”

“We had some business to take care of. Where’s Dean?” I asked.