Page 9 of Coastal Rewind

Rori leaned her head back on the cushion and offered me a sweet smile. “We’re going to the Sparrows game tonight. You should come!”

I smiled back at her. She was just trying to be nice, but I wondered why this was the first time I’d heard about these plans when I was still in Malibu. I guess everyone knew I was planning to leave today, and usually when that happened I disappeared for days before telling them where I landed.

That was the only reason I hadn’t been invited, right?

“Sure,” I said, turning to head upstairs and change for my very normal night at a baseball game with my entire family.

A little while later, a soft knock sounded on my door, causing me to look up from my computer. Rori was standing in the doorway holding a dark green shirt.

“Hey, I know you aren’t usually around for the games so I wanted to make sure you had something to wear.” She walked up to the bed and extended her hand that held what I now realized was a jersey.

I took it from her and held it up, sucking in a breath when I read the name Saxley written across the shoulders.

“Thank you,” I said softly before slipping it on over my white tank.

“What are you working on?” she asked, gesturing to my computer.

“Come see,” I said, patting the bed next to me. Rori smiled and sank down onto the mattress as I backed out of the editing program I was using. I clicked on the album from my recent trip and pushed my laptop to face her.

Her smile was beaming as she clicked through photo after photo of the expansive terrain and stunning views of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

“These are stunning,” she cooed as she clicked through. “I mean, I follow your blog, but some of these have so much more depth to them than the ones you post.”

“Some of them I keep just for myself. Like my own private memories captured in time.”

Rori’s eyes softened as she reached out and touched my knee. “I love that.”

“Time to go, girls!” Aiden shouted from the first floor.

“The warden calls,” Rori snorted with a giggle.

“I heard that!” Aiden shouted.

“Good!” Rori shouted back.

I burst out in a laugh and shut my laptop. I may have been a little jealous of my siblings, but, boy, did I enjoy the women who kept my brothers on their toes.

The one positive about my siblings finding love was that I got five additional siblings to get to know. It made family events so chaotic that it helped to distract from the lonely feeling that always crept in. The intrusive thoughts that I was going to die without knowing that kind of love.

Who wants a woman who is broken anyway?

Rori looped her arm in mine and we headed downstairs.

four

Mason

“Bethany, please, I have no other options.” I was pleading into my phone as MJ sat happily at the dining room table, eating his mac and cheese without a care in the world.

“I’m sorry, Mason. This position just wasn’t what I was expecting and I unfortunately have to quit,” Bethany said, her voice not sounding regretful at all.

“Just tonight. I’ll pay you double.” I was basically begging at this point but I was out of options.

“I have plans, but if you ever want to hang out, you have my number.”

I looked down at my phone and immediately ended the call. I wanted to scream. Finding a nanny for my sweet as fuck six-year-old should not have been this difficult. It was always the same pattern: a young girl takes the job to get close to the professional baseball player and then bails when she realizes she’d actually just be hanging out with a child the entire time and rarely ever see said baseball player.

If I had a dollar for every nanny who tried to make a move on me, I’d be able to pay for MJ’s entire college bill.