Page 37

But knowing that even friendship was hard for her, I knew this sort of check-in was too much. So I shoved my phone in my pocket and swallowed down the emotional bile rising in the back of my throat.

“What’s that look for?” Gallagher asked. “They probably haven’t lost our luggage this time.”

“Bro, that only happened once,” Fuller shouted. “Don’t be paranoid.”

“I’m not!” Gallagher shouted back. “Christenson is.”

“You let Leah know we got in all right?” Kodi asked, sitting on the only bench in the carousel area, likely because Kean scared off whoever was sitting there before so his partner could relax.

“No, I don’t think she …” I paused to chew at my lip. I was about to say that she didn’t care, but that wasn’t true. It was more like she was afraid to care. “She doesn’t do any relationships for … personal reasons. And we haven’t known each for other long, so it’s hard to find the balance of what she wants or needs when it comes to things like that.”

Kodi hummed and tilted her head up to stare at the ceiling. “I’m guessing you don’t know what her relationship hang-up is?”

“No.” I sighed. Kodi shifted on the bench to make space for me and I sat down. “I get the feeling that it’s more than a bad past relationship. But I’m not exactly sure I’m the person to help her with whatever she’s facing. Frankly, I don’t think she’s interested in facing it at all.”

“Why do you say you’re not the person to help?”

“I second that question,” Brooker said, sliding up behind me. “’Cause I’ve got a theory.”

“A theory, you say?” Kodi said with mock intrigue.

“Ah, shut up,” he said, nudging her gently. “I think people who are staunchly no relationships are the ones who need someone to get past their walls for some kind of deeper healing or whatever.”

“Is this a cry for help, Brooker?”

“When have I ever said I don’t do relationships? It’s not a staunch rule for me, just a happenstance,” he said with a smug smile.

“So if the right person came along, you wouldn’t brush them off?” Kodi asked, just as disbelieving as me.

“Nah.” Brooker stood straighter to stretch, letting his arms fall behind his back, elbows up. “If I find that woman and she likes me back, I’m fighting tooth and nail.”

“Uh-huh,” Kodi said, skeptical. “Anyway, I think you should just talk to her how you want. Or like a fraction of what you want, if you think you’re coming on too strong.”

“But I’m not trying to come on to her at all.” The two exchanged a look of disbelief. “I’m serious. I don’t have time for a relationship on top of our kid. I’m excited to have … a family, but having a kid is very different than committing to a relationship.”

“Well, I’m definitely not gonna say it’s the same, but …” Kodi said, kind of cringing at me like my reasoning was embarrassing.

“I’m serious. I’m too committed to the team to—”

“So like, are we gonna let him sit in denial or …” Brooker trailed off, rolling his hands. I shot up, grip tightening on my phone, and walked over to Carter, who I knew wouldn’t talk my ear off like the others.

“Aw, come on, Cap. I was—”

“Let him be,” I heard Kodi say.

Beside me, Carter took out an earbud and looked from me to Kodi and Brooker on the bench. “They being nosy?”

“Um … yeah,” I said, cringing as I said it. They weren’t being nosy, they were just trying to help. But they couldn’t understand that Leah and I weren’t a good match, just like she said the other night, lying on the field, hair everywhere, sparkling under the bright stadium lights like it was all a dream.

“You wanna talk about it with someone who isn’t them?”

“No, I—”

“Hello!” a voice shouted from my phone. I looked down at the thing with a start, only to see Leah’s name on the screen and a solid ten seconds of call time.

“Sorry, Leah. I …” I started, putting the phone to my ear. “I was just going to text you that we got to Memphis and … got distracted and ended up hitting the call button, I guess.”

“I kinda figured that when you didn’t respond the first few times I said hello.”