“There’s more,” Jamille stage whispers and grandma raises a brow at me.
“My baby’s a player, I must say it runs in the genes.” There’s nothing but approval in her voice.
“I’m not playing anyone, grandma, they all know about each other.” I realize my mistake the second the words are out of my mouth and Grandma’s gaze snaps to me.
“Say what now, love? You have three boyfriends and they all know about each other?”
I place a hand against my temple as I let out a groan. ‘They’re not my boyfriends,'’ I correct. “I’ve just been on a date with all three of them,” if we’re counting the lunch Emmet brought me, “but it means nothing.” I’m actually not sure what it means. I haven’t had any interactions with any of my neighbors since breakfast with Chase but it’s more of a consequence of us always being on our way elsewhere when we see each other when passing in the yard. I’ve been wanting to ask them what in the hell is going on with us but decided maybe it’d be safer not to bring it up and keep doing whatever this is. Only to remind myself that it’s nothing, they’ve all fed me and if that means anything serious, then times are changing.
I shouldn’t be concerned about it either way, I’m the one who keeps saying I’m keeping things casual after all.
“Lordy,” Grandma fans herself dramatically and I roll my eyes at her.
“Look, there’s one of the others,” Jamille points out helpfully as Chase jogs onto the field over to Nathan. They start to chat and his gaze lifts briefly to me and with a devilish grin, he waves.
I put up a hand and wave back, feeling my cheeks heat with my grandma’s stare boring into the side of my face.
“Ivy Hendersen.” She gasps out. “You’ve been keeping some secrets from your grandma and now you’re going to tell me all about these gorgeous men before I go over and introduce myself. If I have to, I’ll get the story from them because I’m not buying into the whole it’s nothing story. I’ve known you since you popped out of your mother’s vagina and I’ve never seen you blush over a man.”
She’s right and I don’t want to admit it. I’ve always been smooth with men and the occasional woman that I’ve been interested in. Confident, and definitely not a blusher from a simple wave. Yet with these men, my cheeks never stop flushing and my heart is always fluttering.
I open my mouth to come up with some sort of reply when a shadow falls over us and I look up to find Emmet standing over us with a lazy smile on his face. Today, his dark hair is pulled back into a ponytail that trails down his back and there’s a red and blue cap matching Tanner’s team on his head. He still has on his usual ripped skinny jeans, but these are actually classic blue denim instead of the black he usually wears and he has on a red shirt. I think this is the most color I’ve actually seen him wear. He smiles down at me. “Hey, Ivy,” his words are cool and relaxed, fitting his personality. His topaz eyes move over to Grandma and his smile widens as he holds out a polished hand. “Hello, I’m Emmet, I don’t believe we’ve met, ma’am.”
Grandma looks at his polished nails and raises a brow before taking his hand and shaking it. “Hello, Emmet, I’m Ann, but just call me Grandma.” She shoots me a glance and it lifts a brow.
“It’s lovely to meet you, Grandma.” His easy going demeanor doesn’t shift as he offers Grandma a lazy smile.
“You too, I do like your nail polish,” she says, sending his nails another glance, “I typically wear a dark red, but you may have to introduce me to what you got on.”
“Of course.” He plops down next to me and his thigh brushes against mine.
“No Charlie today?” I ask, continuing to avoid Grandma’s questioning stare.
“No.” he shakes his head. “She’s off at the dog spa getting groomed and pampered. She loves it.” The affection in his voice when he talks about the dog is endearing and I have to wonder the story of how she came to be his.
“Hello, little one,” I watch as he waves a hand at Lilly who instantly goes crawling over into his lap before I can react.
“God, somebody is going to kidnap her one day,” I say, thinking of how easily she goes to Chase and Nathan and now Emmet too. He appears to be unbothered by her decision to start climbing him like a monkey, just let out a laugh as he holds onto her to make sure she doesn’t go tumbling to the ground.
The sound of a whistle cuts through the air as a ref walks onto the field and then the game is in full swing.
I only played baseball long enough to realize it wasn’t for me, so I don’t understand a lot of the inner workings with the innings and such, but when Tanner hits a homerun, I know enough to cheer loudly for him.
He takes his helmet off and he looks over to the bleachers, his eyes finding mine as he smiles wide. I send him a thumbs up and cheer louder, the joy his wide smile brings is unbeatable.
The game goes by quicker than I expect and it’s a blowout with the score being 6-1. As soon as the game is over, Tanner runs over to us, dripping in sweat. I hold up a hand and he high fives me as Aiden follows him over.
“Can we get ice cream since we won?” Aiden asks Jamille, his eyes flitting between the two of us. When I look at Tanner’s hopeful little grin, I know that this was a joint plan and can’t help but to smile.
“We can go out to eat and you two can have dessert if that’s okay with, Ivy,” Jamille says and the two turn to me with matching puppy dog eyes.
“Of course,” I say and they high five each other.
“Good game today, guys, don’t forget to grab a snack,” Nathan calls out. His dark hair is hidden by a baseball cap, but those bright blue eyes are hard to miss as he walks over to us with a smile on his face.
“We don’t need snacks, we’re going to eat,” Tanner says, stepping in front of Nathan and cutting his path off to me. “Do you want to go with us Coach Nathan?” he asks.
“Hmm, oh, I’d love to, but you’d have to ask your… aunt first.” I almost miss the pause between his words, but not quite.