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“Beautiful couple,” Big Hair nodded approvingly. “But you better watch it,” she pointed a manicured finger at me. “The second you break his heart, I’m swoopin’ in!”
Laughing, I nodded in understanding and held Jake into the seat next to mine. My cheeks burned hot as he looked at me with a crooked smile. “Hey, babe,” he said, draping an arm around my shoulder.
“Hi,” I bit my lip. “How was your day – sweetie?”
He grinned something irresistibly cute. “Oh, it was good. Productive. Got a lot of work done at the office. Ordered all the material we need for the remodeling.”
“I see,” I nodded, trying to think of more lines for our game. “Well… the kids missed you while you were gone,” I blurted with a giggle. When Jake winced, I followed suit. “Sorry, was that too weird?”
“No, just too close to home. I’m sure you know my mom. She’s been asking me to give her grandkids since I graduated college.”
“Actually, she’s told me that she’s given up on you, which is why she’s turned to bothering me about them.”
Jake’s eyes glimmered with amusement as he bought four beers, two of which went to Sawyer since Sloane was already getting too drunk. “Well, that’s a relief but I do apologize about transferring the burden to you.”
“It’s fine. It’s not like I don’t want kids, I just can’t imagine having them anytime soon.”
Jake watched with amusement as I sipped carefully at my spilling beer. “Why’s that?” he asked, mindlessly wiping a drop that had spilled onto my lap. In shorts, my bare thighs reveled in his touch. But I tried not to be obvious about it.
“I don’t know. My parents had me and my sister too young so it makes me wary ‘cause – ” My sentence cut short just as our shortstop hit a line drive down the first base line. I held my breath as he ran, Sawyer’s cheers piercing my ears as our man on third slid home. Grinning, I peered over and watched him sit back down and carefully explain what just happened to Sloane. Jake watched them for a moment, laughing too before picking up where I’d left off.
“It makes you wary because?”
“Oh. Well, they were twenty-one and twenty when they had Riley, and it just took a long time for them to get on their feet and learn to be the parents they are now. They were better with me but when Riley was growing up, they were still too young and self-absorbed. They definitely made a lot of mistakes with her that kind of… stuck.”
Jake frowned. “Is she doing okay now?”
I tugged on the collar of my old Jeter shirt. “Um. I don’t know,” I said, my voice higher pitched than usual. “She kind of… ran away when she was thirteen. Had a big fight with my mom and then walked out the front door and never just came back. She didn’t even pack a bag,” I said, realizing that a decade-and-a-half later, I still found that bizarre. Peering over at Jake’s troubled look, I tried to lighten the mood. “She was like a more extreme version of you,” I joked. “I mean I never talk about her much with Jackson but whenever I do, he brings up you.”
“Sorry about that.” Jake’s brow furrowed. “It’s not exactly comparable. You were a lot younger. It must’ve been harder to understand.”
“It was. She might not have loved my parents but she definitely loved me.” A smile touched the corner of my lip as I let myself remember Riley. “I know she probably stole half that stuff but she used to come back from seeing her friends and bring me random little gifts. Candy, lip gloss, stickers, earrings. She was like a pretty blonde Santa.”
Jake smiled. “When was the last time you saw her?”
“Six years ago. No – seven. According to her email, she lives in Hawaii now. On the Big Island. I think she’s married.”
“You’re not sure if she’s married or not?” Jake cocked his head.
I laughed, realizing how ridiculous that sounded. “Well, she kind of talks in code when she emails us her little updates. I think it’s her way of keeping us informed but at a distance. By giving us the bare minimum of information,” I said. My lips formed into a pout when I caught Jake still frowning so handsomely. “Don’t look like that. It’s not this dark part of my life anymore. I mean if she hadn’t left, I might not have ever gotten so close to Sloane, and if I’d never gotten close to Sloane, I would’ve never moved to New York and met – ” My throat closed up, as if only just realizing the end of my sentence.
“Jackson,” Jake murmured, finishing it for me. He squinted in the sun as he gazed out at the field. “Have you guys been okay?” he asked quietly.
“Not really. You two?”
“We haven’t talked that much,” Jake replied, lowering his voice. “I don’t think my coming back to New York was what he imagined it’d be. It’s different than him visiting me in Australia or Nicaragua. It’s not a vacation when we’re here. It’s always business, whether it has to do with work or family. There’s always some drama when we’re both in this city because this is where it all started.”
“Why did you come back here at all?” I asked curiously.
“Jackson. He called me back because he said he was going through some shit and he just needed me around to talk him down like I always used to. But it’s like he changed his mind when I got here. He hasn’t told me anything. I don’t know if he’s trying to build up his trust in me again but he hasn’t even mentioned…” Jake trailed off, his eyes flitting past my shoulder.
“Gabrielle,” I whispered, grimacing at the sound of her name. I didn’t realize how disturbed I looked until I heard Sawyer’s voice.
“What’s wrong with Lara?” he asked Jake before turning to me with a devilish grin. “Is Jake being a shitty boyfriend? Since, you know, he’s your boyfriend today?”
I laughed and squeezed Jake’s knee. “He’s being the perfect boyfriend, Sawyer,” I answered, chewing the inside of my lip as I felt Jake’s muscled thigh twitch under his jeans.
“He’s a better boyfriend than you are,” Sloane crossed her arms at Sawyer. “Since you won’t walk me to the bathroom.”
