“I say take me on a magic carpet ride!”
Later that night, Slater couldn’t sleep. He was staring at the ceiling, his hands folded behind his head, thinking about everything that transpired today.
The hike. Evie shoving him. Falling on his ass. Chasing her down the trail. And then kissing her.
He lingered a long time replaying the kiss.
They had a lot of fun on the flight afterwards. She had been a fantastic co-pilot and asked a ton of questions about the plane, flying, the resort, and the local geography. They’d never run out of things to talk about. And when they got back, they decided to go into town and grab a couple of burgers at the pub instead of eating at the lodge. And afterward, they went to the local bookstore, The Lit Loft, and browsed for a bit before grabbing ice cream cones from The Daily Scoop.
Back at the resort, they played a couple of games of pickleball, walked along some of the paths as he gave her a short tour of the non-hiking trails, then had dinner together up at the lodge, and finished the day with s’mores around the firepit. They were back on track. Two friends hanging out and having a good time. And he knew he should be happy about it, but he wasn’t.
“What the hell is wrong with me?”
Picking up his phone, he saw it was past midnight. It was too late to do anything or text anyone but he was too restless to sleep. He missed the days when it was just him and the rest of the guys sleeping in the cabins—no wives, no girlfriends. Now he was the lone single guy, and as much as he knew Lexi, Harlow, Maisie, and Nora liked him, he doubted they’d like him as much if he called at this hour just to chat.
“But I can text.”
He pulled up the group chat and realized that maybe he shouldn’t do it. Milo was Evie’s boss, and if the topic came up, he didn’t want things to get weird. But everyone tended to find out what everyone else was doing, so maybe texting wasn’t the thing to do. That’s when he pulled up his emails.
And found one from his father with the subject: CAL SLATER DAY. PLEASE RSVP.
Pfft…like that was gonna happen.
But considering he had nothing else to do, he opted to see if there was anything even remotely personal in the body of the email or if this was just one of those mass ones sent to everyone he knew.
Hey, Slater, hope you’re doing well. I know you heard about the celebration for the league retiring my number and I was really hoping you’d want to be there. This is a very big deal for me, and it would mean a lot to me if my only son was there to celebrate with me. I know we haven’t spoken in a while, but maybe you could come. The ceremony’s here at my home stadium, which I know is a couple of hours away from your resort. And before you ask, yes, I know about you and your friends buying the Lakeview Harbor Resort. Your grandmother has been telling me all about it. I’m very proud of you. You always did love that place, and it’s important to embrace the places and career you love.
Anyway, I’d really like to talk to you. Maybe you could fly down a few days early and we can hang out. Or maybe I can come and stay at the resort for a few days and see what you and the boys have done with the place. Either way, let me know that you got this and we can work out the rest from there. Take care.
He read and re-read the damn thing half a dozen times before tossing his phone aside. On the surface, it was a perfectly fine email, except it was delusional. Like…his father didn’t seem to understand how much Slater wanted nothing to do with him, or how much he hated and resented his baseball career. But as usual, Cal Slater only thought about himself. His son and his feelings never entered the equation.
The bastard.
And now he was more awake than he had been a few minutes ago.
“At this rate, I’ll never fall asleep.”
He and Evie were supposed to meet for breakfast, but he had a feeling he was going to be dragging ass. Reaching for his phone, he decided to shoot her a quick text to let her know that they should meet up after lunch. This way, should he ever fall asleep, he knew he wouldn’t have to set an alarm.
Slater: Hey. I know it’s late, but would it be okay if we met up after lunch?
Slater: You’re probably sleeping and won’t see this until the morning, and I’m sorry about that. Let’s plan on meeting in my office up at the lodge around one. Thanks.
He was about to put the phone down when he noticed three little dancing dots. Was it possible she was having trouble sleeping too?
Evie: Everything okay?
Evie: I don’t mind meeting after lunch. It might be nice to sleep in
Smiling to himself, he got a little more comfortable before responding.
Slater: Everything’s fine. Just having a hard time falling asleep, and then I got an email from my dad so now I’m even more awake.
Evie: Ugh. Sorry. That’s the worst.
Slater: I never should have read it but I was bored.
Evie: Why can’t you sleep?
