Page 21 of First Base

“Let’s talk somewhere else.”

“People are already talking, Maggie.”

“Let’s talk later,” I repeated. Tommy’s face dropped as I walked away from him and back toward my seat. I hated that I was the one that had made him feel that way. It was odd that some part of me didn’t want to disappoint him.

Olivia was still asleep when I returned. I watched her for a second, thinking about how my life had taken the turn that it did. It wasn’t that I was afraid of getting caught with Tommy. If I was afraid, I never would have agreed to any of this in the first place. I was more afraid of being a girlfriend again, even if it was a fake one.

It had been four years since I had been one, and I wasn’t sure if I would be any good at it anymore. At one time, I had excelled at being Luke’s girlfriend. I knew that he liked candy but hated chocolate. He thought Ocean’s Thirteen was the best one in the movie series, and he loved the Chicago Cougars. I knew how to be Luke’s girlfriend, but I didn’t know how to be Tommy’s.

But what was even scarier to me was that I didn’t have an answer as to why I cared.

By midmorning I found myself lying on my hotel bed, staring at the ceiling and trying not to make eye contact with the dress that had been hanging in the foyer when I walked in. I wasn’t sure what superpower Monica had, but that woman deserved to be working as a publicist for a famous celebrity rather than a professional baseball team.

It was a classic, black, floor-length dress that had two slits up either side and a low neckline in the front. It was designed to show off as much skin as possible and was the exact opposite of what I would have picked out for myself to wear to a red carpet event. Luckily, I wouldn’t be expected to wear it for a couple of days. The team would play tomorrow in San Diego before we started north up the coast. Our event wasn’t until we made it to Los Angeles the day after tomorrow. Monica had arranged for me and Tommy to go to a Red Cross event while we were in the city. So for now, I planned on shoving it in the hotel room closet and forgetting that it existed before Olivia and I rode with the team to the field for their practice.

But it didn’t seem like I was going to escape my problems anytime soon. As the practice started to draw to an end, Tommy ran over to me in front of everyone. Trust me when I say that I noticed the suggestive smile Jamil was giving me and the way all the other players watched us with interest, as if they were watching something unfold in front of them. I was thankful that everyone was being respectful enough to not ask us any questions directly for our privacy, but that still didn’t stop them from stealing a few glances at the two of us like they would catch us in sharing a private look.

“Hi.”

“Hi?”

“Listen, before I ask you, I want you to know that you can say no,” he started. “But we’re in my hometown, and my mom called. She wanted to have me come over for dinner tonight. I thought I could bring you.”

Bring me home? That was not in the contract that Monica had given us. Public events—that was what we had agreed on. Meeting Tommy’s parents? That definitely was not something I was prepared for. Tommy must have read everything I was thinking on my face because he hurried to continue.

“My mom has started asking about you, and I figured that it would help sell the relationship.” His reasoning seemed perfectly plausible, and as I stared into Tommy’s bright-blue eyes that looked at me with urgency, I knew there was no way I was going to say no.

I was beginning to realize that I enjoyed hanging out with Tommy. He was the first person I’d been willing to leave my apartment for besides Olivia in a long time. I didn’t dread not being able to watch movies on my couch or in my hotel room because I had to do something else. What I still couldn’t reconcile was that Tommy acted like he really wanted to hang out with me too.

So that was how I ended up walking into Tommy’s childhood home, holding his hand as he led me through a gate to the backyard where an older couple sat at a table laughing with each other. I instantly saw Tommy in each of them. He had his mother’s eyes and mouth, and the shape of his face was all his father’s. The second his mother noticed us, she jumped up from her seat with a cry and ran across the yard toward Tommy. He dropped my hand so he could wrap his mother up in a hug, and I watched as Tommy lifted her off the ground to swing her around in a circle. It was a completely different perspective of Tommy than I had seen. He looked lighter, happier. When he set her down, she turned her warmth on me.

“And you must be Maggie.” Her arms wrapped around me, and it felt like I was standing in the sun for the first time. I watched the way Tommy looked at his mom as she hugged me. It was like she was one of the few people in the world he would do anything for. She was obviously very important to him.

“I am. It’s wonderful to meet you, Mrs. Mikals.” I squeezed her back, immediately comforted by this woman’s hospitality.

“Those photos on the internet did not do you justice, honey.” Tommy’s mom led me over toward the table on their patio. “You are gorgeous, and please, call me Linda.”

“Oh, thank you.” I laughed awkwardly, feeling like I was drowning in a lake of my lies.

“Hi, Maggie. I’m Scott.” Tommy’s dad reached his hand out for me to shake, and I did my best to make sure my grip was firm enough. My dad always told me that people would judge me by the grip of my handshake. It was nothing I cared about except for when I was meeting people that I wanted to impress. I had no idea why that was floating through my brain now.

“You two sit.” Linda pushed me and Tommy into the two open chairs. “Scott is finishing up the food. In the meantime, you two just have to tell me how you met.”

All of the blood drained from my face at her request. Tommy and I hadn’t talked about what we would say when we were asked this question. We hadn’t gotten our stories straight. Tommy glanced over at me and a smile spread across his face, clearly trying to cover for my obvious panic.

“I think I’ll take this one. It was the last practice before Opening Day, and Maggie was taking pictures of the team during batting practice. She was too busy taking pictures of me to notice a foul ball coming her way and nearly gave herself a concussion.”

A heat spread across my cheeks, and I ducked my head slightly to try to hide the blush that I knew was there. I definitely didn’t think that Tommy had noticed me taking pictures of him that day, much less found it memorable. It was my job, after all. But apparently, Tommy had filed that memory away like it had some worth to him.

“Ah!” Linda exclaimed. “So this is relatively new, how exciting.”

“And you went out to a club that night,” Scott mumbled from the grill. If I wasn’t embarrassed already, I definitely was now. Scott’s tone implied that he didn’t approve of Tommy’s pastimes. Tommy cleared his throat.

“The team celebrates the start of the season. I thought it would be best if I went to bond with the guys.” Tommy shifted in his seat as he offered an explanation he didn’t need to give to his dad. “Maggie and her friend were there. Jamil Edman invited them. Maggie was having less than a stellar time, so I offered to take her home.”

Tommy looked at me the entire time he told his parents of the first day we had known each other. His eyes crinkled at the corners as we both thought back on that day. I had been under the impression that Tommy was nothing more than a ladies’ man. But after getting to know him so far, he was much more than that.

“You’d think by this point that you’d learn to avoid the tabloids,” Scott said.

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