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Chapter Nineteen
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Drew knocked on Baylee’s door. Unlike the many times he’d done so before, a sense of dread filled his system rather than joy. Saying goodbye to her was something he knew had to happened, but not like this. Not with things so up in the air between them. He’d thought… hell, he didn’t know what he’d thought, other than it would all work out. When he’d become such an optimist, he had no clue. His mouth curved into a smile. He did know. It was the minute Baylee came into his life.
He’d come to Silver Bay grumpy and without hope. His mind set for sure on losing baseball. Having to walk away from the one thing he’d loved for as long as he could remember. But Baylee gave him hope. Believed in him. Showed him he had another chance. Now he had that chance, but most likely would lose her. Wasn’t that just a kick in the shins?
The front door opened.
“Hey. Come on in.”
The smile she gave was sweet, but her eyes were dim. Not a good sign.
“You sure?”
Her laugh lifted his spirits for a moment. “Of course. I invited you to dinner, didn’t I? I’m not going to make you eat it out there on the front porch.”
Teasing him brought more of a glimmer to her eyes, but the air of tension between them was still there. Not as thick, but it was there. And Drew hated it.
He entered the house and stood in the entryway.
“Drew. Come in. As in, all the way in the house.” She took his hand and led him to sit at a tall stool along the kitchen counter. “Sit and talk to me while I finish dinner.”
Her casual way with him began to chip away at the fear that had built up over the past couple days. Fear that she’d tell him to hit the road, never look back. That his life was too much for her.
She moved around the kitchen, humming to a tune only she could hear in her head. “Casey is over at my mom’s tonight. I wanted us to be able to have some time to ourselves.”
Drew liked that idea. Although he was disappointed he wouldn’t see Casey. Depending on how things went, he would either leave the next day, or wait a few more. After talking to Kate, he’d decided that the sooner he left, the better, if he and Baylee were going to cut ties, but would wait until the last minute if she wanted him to. A lot was riding on the evening, on what she wanted.
“I know you’re a man of few words, but this is getting ridiculous.” She stood in front of the stove, stirring what looked and smelled like the marinara sauce made in heaven.
“Sorry. Too much on my mind.”
“You wanna talk about it?”
“Not sure yet.”
She nodded and looked down into the pot of sauce. “The other night, I didn’t mean to imply I wanted us to be over, Drew. I was just being honest that the whole attention from the outside world things is tough. I’m not used to it.”
The knot in his gut eased a bit at her words. “Okay.”
“I know you thought otherwise. I wasn’t saying it was over. I’m a simple, small-town girl. Your world? It might just be too big for me.”
Now she had him all confused. He stood and made his way into the kitchen. She set down the spoon she’d been using to stir and turned to face him.
He placed his hands on her shoulders. “Baylee, what do you want?”
Her eyes found his, her emerald depths lined with tears yanked at his heart.
“I don’t know.” She shook her head and closed her eyes, causing a stray tear to run down her cheek. Her neck craned again to look up at him. “No. I know I want you in my life, in Casey’s life. I want us to make this work. I want you to end your career on a positive note. I want to be strong enough to handle all the attention you get. I want to not worry about you, about who you’re with and how that could get skewed in the news. I want to stay here in Silver Bay, but I want to be with you too. I want all these things but none of them can happen at the same time.” She buried her head in her hands.
He wrapped his arms around her, one hand cradling her head to his chest as she cried. Why did it have to be so complicated? He wanted all those things too.
“I could quit. End my career right now.”
She pulled back and looked up at him, her eyes fierce. “No! Don’t you even think that, let alone say it, Drew MacIntire.”
As much as he fought it, a grin escaped on his lips. “I’ve never seen you this feisty before, Miss Baylee. I’ll admit, I kinda like it.” And damn, if her intense support of him staying in baseball didn’t make him love her all the more. He was doomed.
