by Maria Geraci
Aubrey swiped the tears from her eyes. “That’s me.”
“I’ll need to see some I.D., ma’am. This package is to be delivered strictly to one Miss Aubrey Adams and to be opened immediately in my presence.”
“Who’s it from?” Felicity asked while Aubrey rummaged in her purse to produce her driver’s license.
“That’s confidential, ma’am.” He studied the license, then handed it back to Aubrey, who then had to sign a document stating she had received the delivery. Only then did hand over the package. “This is for you.”
Aubrey took the package in her hands. The size and weight felt familiar and…
She ripped the brown paper off as fast as her trembling fingers allowed. Beneath the paper, wrapped in soft blue flannel was Sweet Lucy.
“Is that what I think it is?” Jack asked in awe, leaning forward to touch the famous bat.
The delivery man nodded, then wiped his brow free from sweat. “Thank God that’s out of my hands. Do you have any idea how much we had to insure this for?” He produced an envelope and handed it to her. “Have a great day!” he said, then disappeared through the front door.
Aubrey swallowed hard as she stared at the envelope. What was Brian thinking? Giving her Sweet Lucy on the very day of his big game! He needed his bat to practice with. It was his ritual, and she knew enough about baseball players now to know they never messed with rituals.
“Aren’t you going to read it?” Felicity asked impatiently.
She carefully unsealed the envelope to find a simple note that read: Take good care of Sweet Lucy. I’ll be coming back for both of you.
He loved her.
He could have said it a hundred times but to leave Sweet Lucy with her was the ultimate way to show her how he felt. She didn’t deserve this. Not after the way she’d treated him. But maybe, if she showed him how she felt, too…
“Jack, do you think you could book me a ticket to Tucson direct from Miami. I know it’ll cost a fortune, but—”
“Done.” He began tapping away on his cell phone.
Felicity sighed. “Sometimes having a rich, ambulance-chasing fiancé comes in handy.”
Jack glanced up from his phone. “Former ambulance-chasing. But the rich part, yeah,” he added with a grin.
“You’ll have to sign the Barefoot Brides contract yourself,” she told Felicity. “Or fax me the contract and I can sign, too, or—”
“Not a problem,” Felicity reassured her. “You just go to Tucson and get your man.”
“Don’t worry. That’s exactly what I intend to do.”
#
Today should have been the best damn day of Brian Callahan’s life. He’d just signed a deal with the Bombers that would most likely take him all the way into retirement. Not many ball players could say they’d spent a career playing with the same team they’d loved since they were kids. Phil, of course, was ecstatic, but then any check with lots of zeros on it pretty much guaranteed that. His parents, who were here to watch the game, sat in the family section, ready to cheer him on. The stadium was sold out and the bull pen for once, was healthy. Tonight promised to be a hell of a game.
Except, the one person he wanted here most was over two thousand miles away. The fact that she had Sweet Lucy and hadn’t called or texted him should have had him gnawing at his finger nails. But despite her silence, he trusted her. After they won the game tonight, he’d celebrate with the team, hug his mom, shake his dad’s hand, then get on the first plane back to Florida.
Neil Jorgensen gave the team his last pre-game pep talk, then the players walked out of the locker room to begin warming up. It was strange, not having Sweet Lucy here, but he wasn’t so superstitious that he thought it was a bad omen or anything. Austin playfully slapped him on the back as they took their places on the infield. “Glad to have you back, buddy. First base wasn’t the same without you.”
“Glad to be home,” Brian said, and he meant it. He gazed up into the packed stadium. There were banners everywhere welcoming him home. He caught his mother’s eye and waved to her, but he suddenly felt sick to his stomach.
What if Aubrey decided he wasn’t a good risk? What if she couldn’t handle the long distance thing?
He shook off the thought. He shouldn’t let a woman play with his head right before a big game. He tried to think of the new contract. Of the fans. His parents. Anything but her.
They finished their pregame warmup and both teams went back to their respective dugouts. He stood while country singer superstar Billy Brenton sang the National Anthem, then ran to first base to take his place as the Atlanta Braves went up to bat.
The Bombers’ bull pen might be healthy, but they still sucked. After just one inning, the Braves were ahead six to zero. It was going to take some mighty batting to even the score, let alone win the game. But he’d give it his best. He went to the pitching mound and automatically took a bat without looking.
Then he froze. He didn’t have to look at the bat to know what he held in his arms. She was as familiar to him as his own limbs.
Sweet Lucy.
Which meant Aubrey was here.
He turned and frantically searched the bleachers but there were too many lights and too many people to see clearly. “Hey!” he called to the bat boy who’d handed him Sweet Lucy. “Where did you get the bat?”
“Security had it. They said this crazy lady insisted on bringing it to you. She said it was Sweet Lucy. One of the security guys recognized the bat so I said it was okay.”
“Where is she now?” His heart was beating faster than the time he’d gotten a lead home run off the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw.
The boy shrugged.
“I’ll give you a hundred bucks if you find her,” Brian said.
“Wow!” With that incentive, the boy ran off in search of Aubrey.
They announced Brian’s name over the intercom and the crowd went crazy. He tipped off his hat to them, still looking for her. Damn it. Why hadn’t she called to tell him she was coming? What if they took her off in handcuffs or—
“Hey! Boom-Boom! I found her!” The bat boy stood a few rows up from the dugout, waving his hands in the air to get his attention. Next to him were two armed security guards and Aubrey. One of the guards held her by the elbow, clearly hell bent on escorting her out of the stadium.
Her face lit up when she saw him. “Brian!” She waved to him.
The fans sitting next to her noticed their exchange and began snapping pictures. “Hey, babe!” he called back. “Thanks for bringing me Lucy.” He held the bat up in the air for everyone to see. Now, the whole place took notice. Cell phones came out of nowhere, aiming at him and his famous bat. Out of the corner of his eye he could see they had him on the Jumbotron.
Perfect.
“Hey!” he called to the security guards, “Would you mind taking this lady to sit over there, by the family section.”
The guards looked at one another in confusion. “But, she doesn’t have a ticket or a pass.”
“That’s okay, she’s my crazy baby mama!”
The Jumbotron caught it all. The crowd began to go wild snapping pictures. He could just imagine tomorrow’s headlines. But he didn’t care. Aubrey was here. That was all that mattered.
“Correction. His future crazy baby mama!” Aubrey said, laughing. “I love you!” She blew him a kiss and then turned and bowed to the crowd, who was eating up the antics as fast as the two of them could dish it out. Then she meekly took a seat next to his mother, who looked as if it was Christmas morning right now.
He waited till the stadium settled down (there was some showmanship to baseball, after all), did his usual routine of taking a few warm up swings with Sweet Lucy, then reverently handed her to the bat boy, who gave him a game bat.
Aubrey loved him. She’d told him so over the Jumbotron for all the world to see. He loved her, too, and when this game was over he’d see to it that they figured it all out. Six months in Florida, six months in Arizona. Whatev
er she wanted. Somehow, they’d make it work.
He took his place at the mound and faced the pitcher. They were down six runs and the game had barely started. But he had every confidence in the world the Bombers would catch up and win tonight’s game, because when all was said and done, fate had always been damn good to Brian Callahan.
THE END
Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoyed my repeat trip to Barefoot Bay! Thank you to the wonderful Roxanne St. Claire for allowing me to write in the fabulous world she’s created. If you’d like to read more about Jack and Felicity, don’t forget to pick up their love story, Barefoot Bay: Hold On To Forever, available exclusively from Amazon Kindle Worlds. And don’t forget to pick up the first romance in my Whispering Bay series, That Thing You Do, for FREE! To get the latest news on all my releases, please sign up for my newsletter.
More from Maria Geraci:
Barefoot Bay: Hold On To Forever
That Thing You Do
Then He Kissed Me
That Man of Mine
The Best For Last
This Can’t Be Love coming December, 2016
About the Author
Maria Geraci writes contemporary romance and women’s fiction with a happy ending. The Portland Book Review called her novel, The Boyfriend of the Month Club, “immensely sexy, immensely satisfying and humorous.” Her fourth novel, A Girl Like You, was nominated for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA ® award. Her current addictions include watching the STARZ adaption of OUTLANDER to drool over Sam Heughan, hitting the beach on the weekends, and searching for the perfect key lime pie recipe (but not the kind they served on Dexter). You can visit her website at www.mariageraci.com
