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Why had I left my manuscript on my desk last night?
I guess I never thought I’d be going back to my room with Josh, and I’d been doing some editing earlier. If only I’d had the foresight to tuck it away, and when push comes to shove, there really is a part of me that can see why Josh came to the conclusions he did. It was very coincidental that a romance writers conference and the series playoffs away team were staying at the same hotel, and like Josh said, the proof was all there in black, white and red.
Downstairs, the hotel is bustling with so much going on. I search the crowd for a friendly face, and spot Susan waving me over. I square my shoulders and try to appear put together as I approach. She takes one look at my face, and her eyes soften.
“Oh no, Ember.” Like a fool, I start crying and she puts her arm around me and guides me to one of the chairs. “What happened?”
“It was great. Everything was great, until…” I swallow and hiccup, and she waves to Anna to grab us a couple of coffees. “I don’t want to keep you from the sessions.”
“You’re not.” She frowns. “Did I give you bad advice?”
I shake my head no. “He read my manuscript…and assumed.”
Her eyes go wide. “The revenge plot?”
“Uh huh.”
“Oh no.”
I nod. “Exactly. Now he thinks?—”
“You were out to hurt him.”
I nod. “I would never do that, though.” I swipe at my wet eyes. “He wouldn’t listen to me.”
Anna shows up with our coffee and sits next to me. I sip my coffee as Susan explains what happened, and Anna puts her hand on mine. “Make him listen.”
“How?”
“Hey,” Susan whispers quietly and I meet her concerned and caring gaze. “Would the heroine in your book sit back and do nothing?”
“No.”
“Would she use everything in her arsenal and go after what she wanted?”
“Yes.”
She leans back. “Okay then, you have your answer.”
She’s right. I’m going to fight for what I want, and give us the ending we deserved three years ago.
7
Josh
Even though we lost, I played the best game of my life, channeling all my hurt and anger into the game and nearly catching every ball that was hit my way. I’m disappointed we lost, of course, and my insides are still seared raw, but with the loss comes sadness for all the players, so at least I don’t have to put on a happy face.
We make our way into the locker room, and we’re talking quietly, disappointment heavy in the air, but we all played a fantastic sixth game, and I think, despite everything that went down with Ember, I proved myself to these guys.
“Hey, Josh,” Kalen Bateman, the pitcher, and the guy that took me under his wing when I joined the team, says as he pats me on the back. “Great game.”
“Thanks,” I say to the man who is the father figure to the younger players. “You too.”
“We’ll get ‘em next year,” he tells me and I love his positive attitude.
“Damn right we will.”
We go to our lockers and I strip off and jump in the shower. All I want to do is hop on a plane and go back home, but tonight the guys will all want to get together back at the hotel for a drink and I pray I don’t run into Ember.
