Clutch Hit by Faith O'Shea (most popular ebook readers txt) 📗

He dropped down on the bench and pulled out his phone.

There was a text waiting. He hadn’t expected to hear from her yet and his heart soared.

Will be landing soon. Going right to stadium and field. Might be too busy to call once I get there. Hope you’re playing well with the others. How’s the new batting coach?

She’d only left it a few minutes before, so he texted right back.

Batting practice is this afternoon, so I have nothing to report yet. He appreciates my talents though, so I’m in the running for a gold star.

That’s my guy.

Missing you.

If you have time for that, they’re not pushing you enough.

They are pushing us plenty. I’m covered in sweat.

Mm. You do your best work covered in sweat.

There was a surge of hormonal juice. She wasn’t only thinking of him. She was thinking of him in a sexual context. That soothed the jagged edges of his wariness about her trip.

Glad to hear you’re missing me, too.

I have nothing better to do than to sit here looking out the window. All I see is sky. There’s a natural correlation now between the sky and you.

That is good. The sky is everywhere.

Wheels are going down. I have to swipe. Talk to you later.

He smiled. His confidence was back, and he spent the afternoon hitting home run after home run, helping Rique learn to do the same.

When Leo excused them for the day, Rique asked, “Want to grab supper? Fifi’s already warned me she’ll be late. First full day there and she has a lot of organizing to do.”

“Allie left for the DR this morning and she’ll be gone for a few days. I could use the company.”

“Finalizing who’ll be in Sanford?”

“Yes. She’s visiting most of the minor league teams.”

“Looks like we can be work widowers together until spring training.”

Seb had come over, a towel around his neck. “You planning something without me?”

“We’re grabbing dinner.”

“Sounds good. Let’s shower. I’m starved.”

Before they left, Leo had come over and told them they’d only be doing half a day tomorrow. The field had been rented out and he had a lot of work to do to get ready for the coming Grapefruit season.

“Besides, you guys are way ahead of where I thought you’d be. All you need now is a bit of batting practice, a couple of drills for repetition sake. Sleep in and be here by one o’clock. A few hours should do it.”

As they walked toward the showers, Rique asked, “I wonder if that means we’ve got a spot on the roster?”

Seb laughed. “We’ve always had a job on the roster.” Then added, “Talent wise. I wasn’t so sure Mac would let me on due to other factors.”

“But he asked you to work with kids. He can’t be holding that much of a grudge.”

“Yeah. That came out of left field. I guess he remembered I liked working with them. I used to be one of the assistant coaches at his summer camp.”

They continued the conversation at the same bar they’d hit after Farina’s heart attack. Or at least tried to. There were a lot of women skirting their table until they’d convinced them that they were nobodies and didn’t warrant the attention. When the last persistent one moved away with a smoldering backward glance, Mattie asked, “Do you think he’ll still hold the camp?”

“Yeah. It’s one of his pet causes. Already on the calendar for the second week in June.”

Rique said, “We must have a night game that weekend.”

Mattie asked, “Do you think he would let me volunteer?”

“You probably won’t have to. He drafts and you’ll be high on his list.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Un, hello. Have you seen how you hit?”

“That is why he will draft me?”

“You have an easy way about you and you’re a great teacher.”

“I did some work with the kids on my provincial team. I enjoyed it.”

“Let him know. You’ll go up a notch in his estimation.”

The ping of Mateo’s phone alerted him to an incoming text.

“Sorry. I think this is Allie.”

He couldn’t help but notice Seb’s all-knowing grin before he opened it.

Would you pick heart over talent or talent over heart?

He rubbed his chin, thinking, and then typed.

Heart as long as there’s a decent amount of talent that goes with it.

That’s what I thought, but the talented guy HAS TALENT.

No room for both to see what they can do?

UGH. This one has me stymied.

That is not like you, is it?

No. You’ve got me crazy. I can’t even do my job anymore. I’m surrounded here by a moonlit sky.

He smiled.

When I go back outside, I will look up and think of you.

You haven’t been?

I can think of nothing else. Let me rephrase. I will look up and know we are under the same moon. The distance between us won’t seem as far.

Okay. Good. I’m going with heart this time.

As am I.

A few minutes went by before she texted back.

I’ll call you later.

I will be waiting.

When the call came, it was just past ten. Waiting for it had taken all his control. He’d wanted to reach out as soon as he got back from the bar but didn’t want to interrupt her. He also didn’t want to look too needy.

“Hello, querida.”

“Hi. I almost didn’t call. It’s been a long day. I had to cram everything in so I can fly out tomorrow without any unfinished business.”

He had a feeling she was rushing this trip because of him. Instead of feeling guilty that she had so much on her plate, he was elated that she wanted to get home earlier than planned.

He let the relief fill his voice.

“I’m glad you did. How did Mr. Talented take your decision?”

He’d been curious, thought about it all day. Her job had a downside to it he hadn’t given much thought to.

“I had to finesses the hell out of the dismissal, make it seem less of a rejection than it was. It helped that the coach down here agreed with my decision. I’m putting you in charge of