Page 169 of The Fall Classic

She tastes like sunflower seeds and something sweeter underneath—cinnamon, maybe—and she makes a small sound against my mouth that makes me wish we were alone. Her hands grab my jersey possessively. I probably smell like sweat and locker room, but she doesn’t seem to care in the slightest.

Someone nearby whistles, but we don’t stop.

Her fingers find the back of my neck, and she goes up on her toes, and I’m struck with wonder that she’s here at all. That she flew eight hundred miles to cheer me on.

“Aw, Lolo’s in love,” Lucas says.

I hear rather than see someone punch him.

I put my hands to Georgie’s cheeks, draw back, and let my eyes dance between hers. “Hi,” I say.

“Hi,” she says. “You look like you ran here.”

“I’ll always run for you,” I say, giving her a wolfish grin. “How did you get here?”

“Kayla Carville-O’Shannan made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

“Did she threaten to murder you?”

“No, she offered me use of her private jet,” she says. “What brings you here?”

“I work here.”

“Cool.”

“Cool,” I agree.

“Okay, I really like her,” Liesel whispers.

“Me too,” Scottie says as I pull Georgie close. “Did you know she’s the mastermind behind all of the coffee drinks Lucas sent me?”

“Except for the ones from Pinnacle Perk,” Lucas amends.

“Second tier,” Scottie says dismissively. “I love you, Georgie. I’m Scottie. I’m truly your biggest fan. I miss Meant to Bean more than I miss Lucas sometimes.”

“It’s because we see each other every day, and she never gets the chance to miss me,” Lucas says, his arm around her. “We’re madly in love.”

I feel Georgie’s cheek rise in a smile against my chest. “Well, I have good news for you,” Georgie says. “I presented a coffee-cart proposal to Doug and the VP of Partnerships during the rain delay.”

“YOU DID?” Scottie exclaims. “I love you. Did they say yes? I will kneecap them if they didn’t say yes.”

Georgie looks at me quickly, her eyes wide, before blushing and looking at Scottie. “Joanna’s going to look at the cart for the games, themselves, but Doug already agreed to let me talk to the team’s nutritionist about offering my cozies and Whip Smarts to the team. And he wants a dedicated cart for employees⁠—”

“YES!” Scottie cheers, and we all snicker.

Meanwhile Lucas is pumping his fist. “Man, I love those cozies! I used to talk about them on ReelTime all the time! Doug must have seen.”

“I think it was Kayla, babe,” Scottie says, patting Lucas’s shoulder. “She’s recently converted from smoothies to Whips and cozies. I guess all the parasitic diarrhea scares have her spooked.”

Everyone laughs painfully at that.

I look at Georgie. “I thought you didn’t want to leave Mullet Ridge. Is Marlowe going to be okay with this?”

“So, about that,” Georgie says. “I own Meant to Bean. It was my grandparents’ shop and then my mom left it to me when she passed.”

“But Marlowe … you work for her. She runs the place.”

“I thought there were stipulations on the trust, and it turns out my dad and Marlowe didn’t care enough to tell me the whole story. I’ll fill you in on everything tonight, but basically Liv found my mom’s will and I’ve already hired a lawyer. They’re out.”