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Just keep it simple.
“Probably if someone asked me to dinner or drinks at least two days in advance, confirmed it the morning of, then showed up on time.” The way Olivia and Maggie looked at me with wide eyes, I guessed that my response was rather clinical.
“Okay …” Olivia drew out as she typed my response into my profile.
“What is a simple pleasure of yours?” Olivia continued through the questions.
“Quiet Sunday mornings drinking coffee on my balcony.”
“What’s your love language?” Maggie asked.
“Words of affirmation.”
“A praise kink,” Maggie replied. “I like it.”
“Donotput that on there!” I exclaimed.
“What would make you fall hard?”
This question made me pause. Whatwouldmake me fall hard? It wasn’t someone who checked all my boxes in the typical sense. That hadn’t worked out for me thus far. I needed someone I didn’t expect. Someone who pushed me and made me a better person. Someone who challenged me.
“I think I would fall the hardest for someone who just allowed me to bemeat my very core. Which includes all my messiness, all my nerdiness, and all the pieces of myself that I must hide from the world out of fear I’d be judged. I think if you find someone like that, you’ve found your slice of peace in this life.”
Olivia typed away madly on my phone before she showed me her final reveal. Although I may not have the most exciting life in the world, those answers were enough for me to feel like I was at least staying true to myself.
I had landed the job of my dreams. Now it was time I landed the life of my dreams.
Chapter 5
Nolan
This was not part of my plan.Shewas not part of my plan. Dr. Charlotte Thompson. She was all of five foot two inches but had the sass and stubbornness of someone twice her size. She was infuriating. She was making it harder than Roger did for me to blow her off. Especially because Derek and Hawthorn wouldn’t shut up about her. All I heard all week was how great she was or how good at her job she was.
When it came to Charlotte Thompson, she was everything I normally admired. She was ambitious and smart, but that was the perfect combination for someone who would stop at nothing to try and fix me. I didn’t need fixing.
What I hated even more than the way her eyes seemed to not miss a single thing at practice was the way her blonde hair bounced so perfectly in that goddamn ponytail. Or the way her blue eyes narrowed as she challenged me. Or the way she smiled whenever Derek said something utterly ridiculous as if he wasactuallyfunny. Or how I was acutely aware of where she was always in vicinity to me when we were at the practice facility, only because I wanted to avoid her and her prying gaze.
“It’s about time you arrived,” Adam Steel said as he threw open his front door. Two small children hung off him like monkeys—one of his sons clung to his left leg, while the other had him in a stranglehold as he hung off his back. If the sports world were to see the soon-to-be hall of fame baseball pitcher in his favorite place—home with his family—they wouldn’t believe their eyes.
Every year, Adam hosted the three of us to celebrate the start of the NFL season in September while I had him over to celebrate the start of the MLB season in March.
“Hawthorn and Derek are already in the back.”
Adam turned to walk me toward his back patio, his two sons still hanging off him. Nora, Adam’s wife, and Sarah, Hawthorn’s wife, were congregated in the kitchen with glasses of wine in their hands.
“Nolan!” Sarah exclaimed when she saw me. She rushed over to give me a hug, a bit of wine sloshing over the side of her glass.
“Hi, Sarah.” I gave her a quick kiss on the top of her head. “It’s nice to see you.”
Adam walked over to Nora after he extracted himself from his sons’ grip and grabbed her wine glass from her hand. With his free hand, he spun his wife in a circle before returning her wine glass back to her. Nobody had more moves than Adam Steel, which shocked nearly everybody. I was certain there wasn’t a person on this world that loved his wife more than Adam.
“Excited for the game on Sunday, Nolan,” Nora told me as she smoothed her hair down from Adam’s spin. A brilliant red covered her cheeks as she stole a sly glance at her husband. The two had been married for nearly a decade and still acted like two kids young and in love.
“Me too.” I gave her a curt nod before slipping through the doors into the backyard.
Derek and Hawthorn were lounged out in two of the Adirondack chairs that sat around the fire pit.
“Feeling good about the first game?” Adam asked me as he followed me out the back door.
