“Not just a damsel in distress?”
“She might be that at the moment, but no, she’s smart, capable, kind. I don’t know. She…”
“Makes you want so shift your life into high gear. Right?”
“But the timing is all off,” he said. He knew better than to rush a woman, and he didn’t want to complicate Natalie’s life.
“Doesn’t mean you can’t still pursue it if you think something of her. You’re the most patient guy I know.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“It’s meant to be one. You know me. I’m not patient at all.”
“Like Dad.”
“Yup. On that note, I gotta go, but are you going to call this Natalie who has you all in a twist?”
“Actually, I left her a message earlier today. I finally made some progress on her case. We recovered one of her vehicles.”
“That’s great.”
“It was legit. Not a move.”
“Well, either way, itisa move. You should go for it.”
He sucked in a breath. “I’m going to go have a beer with the guys.”
“All right, well, good luck with Natalie. Be charming.”
“I’ll try.”
“Try harder than that, or you’re going to become a workaholic.”
“Too late.”
“That’s true.” She turned and waved.
He picked up his ball bag and walked over to join the guys. He hadn’t missed a thing. They were still reliving every play of the game. He dropped his bag to the pavement and grabbed a beer from the cooler.
The stories became more elaborate with each sip.
Kirk was the first to peel off with his backstop babe, and it only took one to go before everyone else started heading home.
Randy gathered his bag and put it in the passenger seat of his truck. He took off his cleats and clapped the red dirt from them before placing them in the floorboard.
The only thing on his mind for the last few hours had been the ball game, and it felt good. He still loved game nights.
When he was a kid, he’d dreamed of being a major league ballplayer, but then didn’t they all?
It wasn’t in the cards for him. He was good but not exceptional, and that’s what it took to make it.
Randy headed for home, but not without a quick stop to pick up a bucket of fried chicken, as was customary on winning game nights. For the most part, he tried to eat healthily, but fried chicken was his comfort food, even if it wasn’t nearly as good as what Momma used to fix. The family deal would feed him the better part of the week.
He was overdue for a Sunday dinner with his parents. He’d call tomorrow and coordinate a date to make that right.
Date.He shook his head. He never had been able to hide anything from Courtnie.
He dug his phone out of his ball bag. It had died sometime during the evening, so he plugged it in to let it charge as he drove across town to pick up his dinner.
