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Strike.A swing and a miss.
“What the fuck?” I muttered.
He turned back, gave me a wink and called out, “Just messing with ya, Em.”
The pitcher let fly again and there was that unmistakeable sound of bat connecting with ball. It went arcing high in the air and Jake went running. I couldn’t take my eyes off him, following him from base to base as the runners reached home one by one and he slid home himself, just before the catcher caught the ball from the outfielder.
Still grinning, he bounced to his feet and jogged back to the dugout. “Grand slam good enough for you, Reggie?”
“I’ll take it.”
“Great. We’re out.” Grabbing his bag and my hand, Jake led me out of the dugout, with his teammates slapping his back and congratulating us.
All the Coopers and Gabe, Ally and Jesse were waiting for us at the edge of the field, absolutely beaming.
“Amazing, you two,” Ellen said, her eyes more than a little watery.
Gabe pulled first Jake, then me, into a hug. “Thank you,” I whispered.
He dropped a soft kiss to my forehead and said, “Don’t mention it. I’m looking forward to having a sister.”
“Me too! Lemme at her!” Ally was bouncing on her toes, impatient to get her turn. When Gabe stepped back, she threw her arms around me and squeezed me tight.
“Okay, I’ll have her back now, if you don’t mind, everyone.” As though he couldn’t bear to be too far away from me, Jake pulled me to his side, pressing a kiss to my temple.
“Jesus, I’m so happy.” It was true. The years of loneliness, despair, misery, were all behind me now. Behind us. Now there was only love and joy and so much happiness. “Can we celebrate with burgers at the diner?”
Jake smiled. “Sounds good to me. Who’s in?”
Of course everyone said yes, so I pulled Jake’s coat tighter around me and we all moved off to our cars.
Before I could step up into his truck, Jake said, “Emma.”
I turned back, my smile fading when I saw the intense look in his eyes. “I’m so sorry for everything. For back then, for now. I hate that we wasted so much time apart and that I did that to you.”
I slipped my arms around his neck. “Let’s not keep looking back at the past. It’s over. Although there’s something you could do to make it up to me. If you wanted.”
“Name it.” He slipped his hands into the coat, resting lightly on my hips.
“You can say no.”
“If this is a sex thing, you know I’m going to say yes.”
I giggled. “It’s not a sex thing. Well, kinda.”
“I’m intrigued. What is it?”
“Say we can have a baby. Right away.”
“Are you serious?”
I couldn’t read the look in his eyes. “Yes… But if you want to wait, then that’s—”
“No.”
“Okay, I understa—”
“No, I mean, I don’t want to wait. Christ, Emma, I would love that.”
