Page 34 of Rain Delay

A lot can change in five years, and it felt like we both changed as human beings. She didn’t know who I was, and frankly, I was having trouble understanding who this Eliana was that was living in my home.

This isn’t the Eliana I remember waiting for me after every baseball game to give me the biggest hug.

I broke her heart. I take full responsibility for that. It took hearing her words and hearing her telling me to leave to realize how bad I needed to hear it. She had her guard up, and it was going to take a lot to get that back down. To get her to open up and let me back in.

The worst part about everything wasn’t that Eliana had changed. It was the fact that I was realizing she had every right to. She had every right to push me away, because I walked away from something I had promised would be forever.

Chapter 12

Eliana

IT HAD BEEN A COUPLE OF DAYS since Wyatt’s little meltdown in front of my hotel door. He hadn’t spoken a word to me unless it was something social media related.

I didn’t expect an apology from him, nor was I going to give him one.

I’m still waiting on an apology from five years ago.

He had always played like he had something to prove. I noticed it when I got to Milwaukee. He was so hard on himself, and he never gave himself grace. One fuck up and he was thinking about every little negative thing that could’ve been avoided.

Especially after that Seattle game. I watched as he walked onto the bus, talking under his breath, avoiding all of his teammates. He was definitely thinking of everything he could’ve done to make sure he didn’t ground into that game-ending double play.

I know what I said was harsh and wrong too – But he needed to hear it. Someone had to tell him, and if it had to be me? Then so be it. People seem to tiptoe around the truth, and when it comes to Wyatt? I’m going to give it to him straight.

It hadn’t changed from when we were younger. He would ask how he did, and I gave him the truth. He always looked for ways to be better, constantly studying film, watching his at-bats from every game to see what he could change for the next one.

Even when I didn’t have much to say, he wanted to hear it.

I needed to stop thinking about this. It wasn’t worth the stress or headaches it was causing.

It’s an off-day today. I was going to log-off from the world and take a break from focusing on work.

I didn’t realize just how badly I needed a day off until I finished a project at nearly two AM and came to the realization that I had the next two weeks’ worth of content done and ready to go.

I needed to be away from the internet. Away from the sports world for just one day. Wyatt was at the stadium getting some extra batting practice in, so I had the house to myself.

I rummaged through my bins to find a bathing suit. I hadn’t fully unpacked everything, so half of my belongings were still in the storage bins they traveled in. Once I find the suit I wanted to wear, I slip a pair of shorts on, and I take a quick glance in the mirror at myself — Really noticing how my new exercise regimen was changing my body for the better. Thank you, Pilates.

I grabbed my Kindle and made my way downstairs to get to the backyard.

His backyard was huge, I’ll never understand why he doesn’t take advantage of this more. He lives in such a big house, but barely uses a quarter of the space.

“C’mon, Maggie, it’s a girls’ day in the sun.” I glanced back at the dog before I hear her collar jingle from behind me as I head outside.

Setting my water down on the table, I grabbed a lounge chair, spread my towel across it and settled in with the romance book I’d been reading.

I was always a sucker for a good romance. Especially a second-chance romance where the couple were friends in childhood and even dated before, and then find their way back to one another and re-fall in love.

Funny how ironic that sounds. I needed men in my life like the book boyfriends that are written in these novels. These books were setting my expectations too high – Maybe that’s why I couldn’t find the right guy.

At least fictional men apologized for their wrongdoings. They recognized what they did was wrong, and they fought like hell to get the girl back.

Can’t say what’s happening in my life is anything like that. Maybe that’s why I liked the fictional world better — Easier to find an escape.

The back door clicks, and I look over. Shockingly, Wyatt’s home early from batting practice.

“Maggie, girl, look at you getting your tan on!” Wyatt says to his dog as she lies sprawled out on the pavement. I hear his footsteps getting closer and then come to a halt.

I turn my head back in his direction, lowering my sunglasses to see why he had stopped so suddenly.