The Other Game (The Perfect Game 4)

She needed to do this, and she knew exactly what was at stake.

“Okay. Well if she changes her mind before I get there, tell her we can leave early or something. I mean, doesn’t she want to watch him play?”

Melissa sighed into the phone. “Of course she does. She just can’t. I’ll explain it all to you in the car. Hurry up and come get me.”

She was so damned bossy.

When I pulled my car into the lot, Melissa was waiting for me outside wearing an oversized Diamondbacks shirt. I had planned to run upstairs to see Cassie and ask her myself, but realized when I saw Melissa that this was her way of protecting Cassie, knowing that I might be able to convince her to come.

She hopped into my car, buckled her seatbelt, and stared at me.

“What?” I asked, not knowing what she was looking at.

She smiled. “Nothing. Go.”

“No,” I said, surprised at my own stubbornness. Melissa was playing a game, and I wanted to play it back.

“What do you mean, no?” she asked as she folded her arms in front of her.

I narrowed my eyes at her. “I’m not going until you stop being so bossy and start being nice to me.”

“Nice, huh? What constitutes nice?” She raised her eyebrows at me in challenge, and I sat there dumbfounded for a second.

“A kiss. Kisses are nice,” I said with a big smile.

Without a word, she leaned toward me and planted a kiss on my cheek, but lingered there for a second. “Can we go now?” she asked, her lips just inches from my face.

When I turned to look at her, our lips almost brushed, and I swore I saw her breath catch.

“Yeah. We can go now.” Two can play at that game.

I turned away as if nothing had happened and stepped on the gas. “So, tell me what’s going on with Cassie. Why wouldn’t she come?”

“First of all, she’s packing. You know she leaves late tonight.”

“That’s not why.”

Melissa shook her head. “No, it’s not. She said she can’t see him. That seeing him would make her want to stay. And she needs to go.”

I nodded. “I get that, really, I do. But Jack’s not going to be happy.”

“No shit. He’s going to be pissed.”

I shook my head. “No. I think he’s going to be sad.”

Stadium Seating

We picked up two of the tickets from the will-call booth and headed inside the stadium. I’d been here a hundred times before, but tonight felt different.

I’d always felt so detached when I watched the games here growing up, insignificant, merely an observer watching strangers play a game I had no part in. But tonight, with my brother actually playing on the field, I felt like an insider, part of an exclusive club.

Melissa skipped into our aisle first and sat down, leaving the extra seat open, and I plopped down to her left. Jack stepped out from the dugout, his expression curious. He looked up at me and Melissa before pointing at the open seat with a shrug, asking if Cassie was coming.

Melissa glanced at me before turning back to him, and when she shook her head, his smile dropped. He mouthed something, but neither of us could understand what the hell he was saying from that distance. Jack turned to look behind him and jerked his head before returning to the dugout.

A few minutes later, the Diamondback’s batboy hopped the infield wall and walked up to us to hand Melissa a note. She unfolded it before showing it to me.

Where is she?