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“Good.” Ryan smiled, hoping he portrayed the confidence he wanted to be showing to his pitching coach.
“You fix things with your girl?”
“Not yet, sir. That part of my life is still fucked up, but I’ve got my head on straight for the game.”
“Nothing can fuck up your head like the right woman.”
Wasn’t that the truth? No woman had messed with his head like Peyton. No one else had really mattered enough since Denise and even she hadn’t come close to the way he felt about Peyton, and it clearly showed in his game.
“Look, son, when it’s the right woman, you know. And judging by where your head’s been at, you clearly know. You’ll figure it out. Give it time. But you know what will help get your head right about her?”
“Not a clue.”
“Getting your head on right about baseball. You gotta compartmentalize, you know that. Once your love life bleeds into the game, everything gets muddy, and you can’t tell what’s important anymore. It’s all important. But when it’s muddy, you do a half-assed job on it all, and that’s not what you want. Let’s fix the game, then we’ll fix the love life.”
“I got the game locked down, Coach.”
“Good, now get out there and warm up.”
Ryan jogged out of the locker room toward the field entrance. The crowd roared as he ran onto the field. Once he got to the mound, he stopped and scanned the crowd for his sister. They’d started the tradition when baseball had taken him away from home and he’d been nervous about the crowds. It had started as a joke between them. Scanning for his sister’s goofy face had instantly calmed him down. Somehow they’d just kept doing it over the years, and now it had become one of his rituals. When he knew she was there, he had to find her or they’d lose the game.
He looked over the third base line when Kendall liked to sit so she could see Pete better. He smiled when he spotted her waving her arms.
Holy shit.
Peyton.
What was Peyton doing with his sister?
Peyton gave a small shy wave. He raised his arm back.
What did this mean? Did she forgive him? Did she want to work things out? What the fuck? His mind raced.
Pete jogged over. “What’s up?”
“Peyton’s here.”
“Yeah, I saw. You cool?”
“Not really. Did you know she was coming?”
“Ken said she was going to try to get her to, but I didn’t really think she’d come, so I didn’t mention it.” Pete glanced up at the women, turned back to Ryan and grabbed his arm, pulling his attention away from Peyton. “It doesn’t matter. Right now, you need to focus on the game. After you can figure out why she came.”
“No, fuck that.” Ryan pulled his arm free and took off in a run.
“Ryan!” Pete yelled.
Ignoring his teammates and coaches, he jogged toward the third base line. There was no way he could pitch until he talked to her. She knew how important baseball was to him. She wouldn’t have come if she didn’t want to work things out. Peyton wouldn’t mess with his head like that.
He vaulted over the rail that blocked the fans from the field and dashed up the stairs to Peyton’s seat. Fans reached out to touch him and yelled as he pushed past. Nothing was going to stop him from getting to her.
By the time he got to her row, Peyton had pushed her way free, meeting him at the edge of the seats.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
Peyton spoke just as a man thrust his hat toward Ryan for a signature. “Dude, seriously?” Ryan glared at the guy with the hat and the group of people gathering around him. He took Peyton’s arm and pulled her to the side so the middle walkway railing was at her back to protect her in case anyone pushed her. He turned to the crowd. “Hi, can you all just give me a minute please?” Ryan turned back to Peyton.
“You’re here.” He drank her in, taking note of everything about her. Loving the way her eyes warmed as she smiled back at him.
