Page 56 of Run Home

“I hear you,” I say. Raising one hand to my chin, I rub my fingers across my goatee. “I don’t want Sam to think I’m pulling away from her, though. I don’t want to give her the idea that I don’t like her or I’m not serious. I promised Sam that I’d never leave her guessing about how I feel about her. How do I pump the brakes without making her think something’s wrong?”

Griffin grimaces. “I don’t know.”

Holding up both hands to my sides, I exclaim, “Bro! How you gonna tell me what to do but not tell me what to do?”

Sighing again, he walks over and leans against the desk next to me. “I’m not sure exactly how to strike that balance. Listen, man, I love you, but you are impulsive.”

Standing to my feet, I turn toward Griffin to argue, but he plants a hand on my chest and pushes me back to the desk. “Geez, stop getting so instantly defensive,” he states with clear exasperation. “I’m just saying you need to dial back the instant intensity and think through things a little more before you say or do them with Sam. How much thought did you give to posting the photo of the two of you on your Instagram?”

Blanching with guilt, I frown. “Not a lot.”

Griffin holds a hand up like a lawyer resting his case. “These big moments in your relationship—think them through first. Don’t tell her you love her on a whim. Don’t go from just friends to immediately spending every free second together. Don’t let her plan her schedule around your availability because she absolutely would. Don’t randomly kiss her without it meaning something.”

Scowling again, I say, “I’ve already told you I’m serious about this. Everything means something to me. When I kiss Sam, of course it’s going to mean something. I’m not some playboy.”

“I know you’re not. I’m sorry for making it sound that way,” Griffin apologizes, and my hackles lower. “I’m only trying to watch out for Sam. She needs to feel secure in your emotional connection as you move forward.”

My brow furrows as I try to comprehend what he’s saying. “Man, you sound like a therapist. All these big phrases. I can’t keep up.”

“That’s because I’ve been to therapy, idiot,” he says, smiling. The smile fades quickly, though, as he says, “And I’ve been on the listening end of a lot of Sam’s processing. She always needed to repeat what she learned from her therapist to someone else, like repetition was her mind’s way of holding on to the information.”

He stares at his feet as he concludes, “I just don’t want my sister getting hurt again. I don’t want something to undo all the healing she’s worked for these past few years. Especially not you. Because as much as it makes me physically ill to picture you kissing Sam—”

“Liar. I don’t think you care nearly that much,” I cut in with an impish grin.

Griffin glares before revising his statement. “As much as it weirds me out, I actually really like the idea of the two of you together. And I want it to work.”

There’s no mischief in my smile as I respond, “Thanks, man. I appreciate that. And I’m sorry for getting so defensive.”

“For a second there, I was sure I was about to get a Spanish tongue-lashing that I wouldn’t understand,” Griffin jokes.

“You were seconds away, tonto,” I say. “But it’s okay. Because I don’t want to accidentally do anything that could hurt Sam. Although, now I’m confused how to prove to Sam that our connection is real without taking things too fast. If we lose today because you got me all up in my head worrying about this, I’m sending the fans after you in the postgame interview.”

Griffin grins, standing from our place at the desk. “Whatever. Sam’s gonna be out there watching you. We sit close enough that you’ll be able to make eye contact with her coming in and out of the dugout. I know your inner peacock is going to strut around for her on the field. The Crowns are about to hit this one out of the park.”

Shoving him as we walk to the door, I say, “Well I am going to send Coach after you for making me late to warm-ups. If I get fined, you’re paying the bill.”

Chapter twenty-two

Sam

We’re on our feet cheering for Adrian after he successfully stole second base. He brushes red dirt off his white uniform and grins at us from across the infield.

When we sit back down, I whine to Griffin, “Why’d you have to give up the suite? It was so much nicer watching summer afternoon games in the air-conditioning.”

He looks at me with a teasing side-eye as he says, “I’m sure you could arrange to join Lily in their suite sometime now that you’re officially a Crowns WAG.”

I side-eye him back but can’t hide my smile. “Wives and girlfriends club. Didn’t see that one coming, did we?”

Jason sits on the opposite end of our foursome next to Danae, and he starts spouting off Carlos’ current batting average as he steps into the batter’s box. Normally, I like to sit next to Jason when we come to games together, but Danae wanted to separate him from being featured in the barrage of photos that are sure to get posted on social media today.

Pictures of me. Watching Adrian play. For the first time as his girlfriend.

It’s still surreal, despite the very real amount of time we spent together yesterday. We sat on Adrian’s back patio eating sushi and talking until the sun set. Although I got back to my apartment by 9:30 p.m., I was awake for another couple of hours responding to countless messages from friends asking if the dating rumors were true.

I wound up talking to my mom on the phone for thirty minutes, reassuring her that I’m in a good headspace with this relationship. She knew that Adrian and I had started dating, of course, but I think she was caught off guard that we’d be so public about it after Griffin and Danae held off press attention for as long as possible.

By the end of my conversation with Mom, I started second-guessing my decision-making, so then I spent another thirty minutes on the phone with Alice. I should send her flowers for staying up so late talking when she has to get up early for work, but I needed her voice of reason to calm me down.