“But you’ll at least admit in front of them that you’re madly in love with me, right?”
“Not today, I won’t.”
“That is wildly disappointing.”
I kiss him just long enough to take some of the disappointment away, and then I pull him back into the dining room to finish our gingerbread houses.
And I think about his question as I watch him with my dad and brothers. A few weeks ago, I could hardly stomach admitting that I wasworkingwith Coop. Now, I’m stealing kisses.
And he’s totally stolen my heart.
CHAPTER THIRTY
COOPER
Iwin.
It’s not even close, although Liesel and Logan both did okay on their gingerbread houses. Lucas’s was an embarrassment, and Bruce couldn’t even get his to stay up. He kept blaming his “big meat hook hands.”
“How are you so good at making a gingerbread house?” Logan asks. We’ve moved on to putting together a puzzle on the coffee table whileElfplays in the background. Puzzles are a Christmas traditionbothour families share.
“My mom’s a pro. Not technically, but she could be. She’s an incredible baker.”
“You should see the cakes she made Coop when he was growing up,” Liesel says, smiling at me over the puzzle. It’s a sad smile, though. It’s late afternoon on Christmas Day, and while they’ve sent plenty of texts, I haven’t received a single phone call, FaceTime, or video message.
As much as I try to keep the pain at bay, I haven’t hurt this much since elementary, not that I’ll ever let her know that. I thought maybe Liesel was right, that telling her would be cathartic, but it wasn’t. It didn’t backfire. It didnothing.
But my mom loves me, and she’s always done the best she could.
It’s enough. It has to be.
“What about the cakes?” Logan is asking Liesel.
Liesel pulls up her Instagram, giving me a questioning look, like she’s asking permission to show him. I shrug. It’s sweet of her to want to be my mom’s hype woman. It feels like she’s defending my mom even tome, not that she needs defending.
“Whoa, your mom made that? How?”
“Which one is it?” I ask. Liese shows me a picture of a three-tiered cake with pin stripes and buttons on the bottom tier, baseball glove stitching on the middle tier, and a baseball cap as the top tier.
“That’s nothing,” Liesel says. “You should see the stadium cake!”
I watch how sweet Liesel’s being, how cool her brothers are acting, and it pinches my heart. I don’t know how I could possibly feel so comfortable here after only a day and a half, but I do. It’s mostly because of Liesel, but I feel a camaraderie with her brothers and Dad, too. It makes me excited to think that I’ll be playing with them this year, because with a little coaching, I’m positive they’ll get called up.
Oh, and I hope Doug won’t kill me for going behind his back and dating theheckout of Liesel anyway.
Speaking of which …
“Bruce,” I say as he connects an edge piece to the winter wonderland scene. “What’s gonna happen the season after next? When I’m playing again and dating Liesel and you’re officiating?”
Bruce raises his eyebrows like he’s understanding the significance of what I’m asking. That’s almost a year and a half away. “I’ll be put on a different rotation. If you have a personal connection to a player, the Umpires Association keeps you from officiating games for those teams. It’ll be the same thing whenever the boys get called up.”
“Does Doug know this?”
Bruce chuckles. “Yes, but I’ll reassure him he doesn’t need to worry.”
I almost slump in relief. “Maybe we could do a conference call and make sure he knows that we’re all on the same page and that I didn’t seduce Liesel with my masculine wiles.”
Fists punch my shoulders before I can even say I’m joking.
