Page 23 of The Score We Never Settled

“There’s nothingprivatein Magnolia Ridge, Mrs. Kerrigan. No matter what your Uncle Ben wants to believe?—”

“Stopcallin’ me that.”

“You used to like it.”

“I’m not an idiot anymore.”

“The jury’s still out on that.” Layla lifts one of her pies, and Iknow,with everything in me, she wants to slam it in my face. “Careful, Short Stop. Uncle Ben warned me to stay away from you.”

She promptly steps to the side so I can leave through the door. “Then by all means…”

Yeah, right.

A moment alone with Layla, I’m never going to pass that up in a million years, and I know she misses the shit out of me.

Crowding her space, I force her up against the wall without needing to touch her because she’s got her hands full, and mine aren’t full.

Yet.

“When are we gonna stop this bullshit back and forth? You know I’m tired of it.”

“When you stop stalking me. Do we need to have a talk with Dodger about restraining orders and harassment? You’re borderlining crazy.”

“Maybe it was that one hit to the head last year.”

Her nostrils flare, but she doesn’t ask me any questions. And, surprisingly, it wasn’t by Cruz himself, but a stray ball that I do believe was an accident.

Still gave me a concussion, though.

“Unfortunately, for you, it didn’t knock the memories of us out.”

“And why would I want it to do that?”

She loves me. She doesn’t love me.

She doesn’t know how to go up against her Uncle Ben. Then she does…secretly.

Layla is a bit of a whiplash sometimes. This woman is hot and cold. She cares about me, but then she wants nothing to do with me.

I know a lot of it is my fault and the issues I’ve had to work through.

However, she didn’t play by the rules we both laid out.

“You don’t keep up with me, Short Stop? I thought you’d know about all that.”

My girl tenses up a bit, but it’s barely noticeable when she lifts her head like it doesn’t matter if she does or not. “Not like I used to.”

“And why’s that?”

“WhyshouldI when you’ve been nothing but disappointing, Briggs?”

That’d hurt if I hadn’t heard it a million times before.

“I could think of a handful of reasons why,” I quip. “Should we start with the most important one? Or did you want me to give you the small ones first?”

“How about you go bother someone who wants to see you?”

“I am.” My chest lightly presses into hers, and she extends her arms so my body doesn’t touch her pies. “You just won’t admit it, and honestly, Short Stop, sometimes I don’t blame you. Other times, I do.”