“We have one bottle left,” Mel said.
“Well, I say we finish this night good and proper and drink it,” Grace said.
Harper sat on a stool at the bar. Grace followed Mel into the kitchen and hopped up on the counter. Mel went to retrieve the last bottle of wine.
“Is this the design for the bookcases?”
Mel turned around to find Harper looking at one of Bennett’s sketches, which was on a stack of papers in the corner. It was with all of her other plans for the project.
“Yes.” Mel frowned as she grabbed the corkscrew that was still on the counter.
“Let me see,” Grace said, leaning across to get a look.
“Bennett might be an idiot when it comes to you, but he really knows what he’s doing when it comes to this stuff,” Harper said, pointing to the sketch.
“I know,” Mel said miserably.
Harper and Grace looked up at Mel in unison.
“I like him,” Mel said softly. “I wish I didn’t. I wish I could just get over him. But I really like him. Enough to where the next couple of months are going to suck. A lot.”
“Oh sweetie,” Grace said, reaching over and placing her hand on Mel’s.
Mel sighed. “I just feel like the world’s biggest idiot, you know? To think he’d ever like me back.”
“Hey,” Harper said. There was a certain sharpness in her voice that made both Mel and Grace jump. “Don’t you go talking about my friend that way.” She waved her finger at Mel. “The Melanie O’Bryan I know is beautiful and smart. But when you sit there and say that crap, you don’t sound like any of those things. That man would be lucky to have you in his life. Luckier than he could ever dream. So don’t you dare sell yourself short, because if you do, then everybody else is going to too. You said it yourself: life’s too short.”
Mel looked at Harper’s serious face for a couple more seconds before a smile split her own lips. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right. Here.” She put the wine bottle and corkscrew in front of Grace. “Open this.”
Mel reached over and grabbed a yellow steno pad that was next to Bennett’s sketches. She flipped to a blank page, then she reached over and grabbed a pen that was sitting in front of Harper. She pulled the cap off and wrote in big bold letters:
My “I Didn’t Kick the Bucket” List
1) No more dwelling on things I can’t change.
2) No more just thinking about the things I can change. If they can be done, do them.
“Three?” Mel asked biting the end of the pen and looking up.
Grace was pouring the wine and sliding now full glasses in front of everyone.
“Three is ‘Don’t give a flying fuck what anybody else thinks of you,’” Harper said, eyeing the list with approval.
“That sounds more like rules to live by than things to do,” Grace said.
“It’s both,” Mel said and wrote it down.
“Then number four should be ‘Get a tattoo,’” Grace challenged.
“I’m not scared to get a tattoo,” Mel said.
“Really?” Grace asked. “Then prove it.”
“I will,” Mel said, writing it down. She followed it with number five: “Get a dog.”
“Give me that,” Harper said, holding out her hands for the pad of paper and the pen.
6) Spend the night with a man who knows exactly what he’s doing between the sheets.
“Oh my gosh! Harper!” Mel said.
“What?” Harper asked, raising an eyebrow. “Can you honestly tell me you don’t want to be with a man that makes you lose your ever-loving mind?”
“Well, no,” Mel said, chewing on her bottom lip.
“That’s what I thought.” And with that Harper started writing again.
7) Be brave enough to take chances that you wouldn’t normally take. Be impulsive.
8) Go bungee jumping.
Harper kept writing until she got to fifteen, and then Grace snatched the pad and pen.
16) Ride a motorcycle.
17) Don’t let anybody hold you back.
And so the night went; the piece of paper got passed back and forth, and the list grew. It was going to take some time for Mel to do everything on it, and she couldn’t wait.
Chapter Six
Up to Bat
Bennett spent Thursday night, all of Friday, and the better part of Saturday morning trying to distract himself, but it was useless. A certain curly-haired woman kept crossing his mind. He still felt like a complete and total asshole about what had happened the other night, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to see her.
He’d spent quite a few nights with her over the past couple of months, and he’d more than liked spending so much time with her. He wanted to hear her voice. To talk to her about something. Anything.
But no, he was really trying to keep his distance. He was trying not to do something incredibly stupid, like getting involved with a woman who wouldn’t be anything but a long-term relationship. Bennett just didn’t do long-term. He didn’t want long-term.
But no matter how many times he told himself that, he just couldn’t get Melanie O’Bryan out of his head, and that had never happened to him before. In the past, if he couldn’t be with a woman, he accepted it and moved on. Yet he wasn’t moving on from Mel.
By Saturday, he felt like he was going more than a little bit out of his mind. But at least he had something to do for a couple of hours.
Last year, Bennett joined the Stingrays, which was a baseball league that Brendan, Jax, and Shep played for. He played his old position of third base. The league used the fields at the high school from July until September.
When Bennett got to the field that afternoon, Jax, Tripp, and Baxter McCoy were already parked in the lot. Baxter was a deputy sheriff like Jax. He’d come out of the closet a couple of months ago when he’d made his relationship with Preston Matthews public.
Preston had been outted by the abominable Bethelda Grimshaw. Bethelda had a blog in which she wrote awful things about the people in town. She liked to drag everyone through the mud, and she had absolutely no remorse about it. Really, she had no conscience. Her blog was one of those things that nobody claimed to read, yet everybody always knew what she was saying. One of those small-town mysteries.
Bennett got out of his truck and made his way over to the dugout.
“What’s up with you?” Baxter asked.
“Nothing.” Bennett dropped his bag on the ground and started searching for his cleats.
“Translation: you did something stupid,” Tripp said.
“I didn’t do anything,” Bennett said, looking up.
“Yeah, that’s not the way I heard it. You should watch out for Grace, by the way, ’cause she’s going to be on your ass like a pit bull.”
“Do mine ears deceive me, or is Jax gossiping?” Shep asked as he walked into the dugout.
“Not gossiping.” Jax shook his head. “That was a warning. Believe me. When it comes to Mel, Grace will draw blood.”
Shep frowned at Bennett. “What did you do?”
“Look, I didn’t do anything,” Bennett said, holding up his hands.
“That’s the point, apparently,” Jax said.
Everyone looked at Jax, more than a little surprised. Jax normally wouldn’t have anything to offer up on the insights into women.
“What?” Jax asked, raising his eyebrows. “I live with a woman now. I’ve picked up on a few things.”
“Huh. Who would’ve thought?” Bennett said.
Shep rounded on Bennett. “Don’t think we’ve moved off you yet, buddy. What did I tell you about Mel?”
“Not to hurt her. Which is exactly what I tried to do.”
“You want to explain that one?” Shep asked.
“Not really.”
“Do you like her?” Baxter asked.
“Yeah, I do. But it’s not as simple as that.”
“It never is,” Tripp said.
And didn’t Bennett
know that for a fact.
* * *
Mel finished stacking the boxes of chips on the corner of the concession stand and walked back out to her car.
The school was in charge of the stand during the games, and the teachers took turns supervising and helping the students run it. What were the odds that Mel would be scheduled for one of Bennett’s games? She knew she couldn’t avoid him. That wasn’t possible, considering the circumstances. And she knew she just needed to get over it.
What was rule number one on her list? She wasn’t going to dwell on things she couldn’t change. She couldn’t change Bennett and his lack of feelings for her, so she wasn’t going to care.
Well, at least she was going to try not to care.
Mel closed the trunk of her car and leaned to the side, stretching her tight back and her sore arm. All three girls had slept in Mel’s queen bed, and it had been a bit of a squeeze. They’d all woken up with headaches that morning and they’d been sipping coffee in the kitchen when Jax had showed up to get Grace. He’d given their rather disheveled looks a big smirk before he’d pulled Grace into his arms and kissed her like he hadn’t seen her in days.
What Mel wouldn’t give to have a man kiss her like that.
Nope, she wasn’t doing this to herself. She shook her head, which made her slightly woozy, and leaned back against her car. She closed her eyes and took a moment to breathe before the chaos of the next two hours started.
“You okay?”
Mel opened her eyes to find Stu Corson standing in front of her. Stu was a fairly unassuming man, with thick brown hair and a nervous smile. He was about five years older than Mel, and he’d been the chemistry teacher at the high school for the past four years. He was helping Mel run the stand for the afternoon.
“Yeah.” Mel straightened. “Just tired. It’s been a long week.” She gave him a small smile—it was all she could offer the man.
“You sure you’re all right? I can handle the kids by myself if I need to.”
She shook her head. “I’m okay.”
“All right, but if you need to go just say the word.”
“Will do,” Mel said. She turned and made her way to the front of the building, while Stu headed inside.
Six kids worked the stand with two adults. The kids got community service hours for college—and boy, did they earn those hours. The concession stand was nonstop busy throughout the entire game. A lot of people from around Mirabelle showed up for the men’s baseball games. The men loved watching a live sporting event, and the women loved watching the men playing said sporting event.
There were a handful of attractive guys on every team. And the team that Bennett played on—the Stingrays? Every single man on that team was ogleworthy, so today was guaranteed to bring out the women in droves.
Mel unlocked the wooden coverings that were on the two windows over the counter. She pushed back the doors before she turned and looked out at the field.
Men from both teams were on the red dirt: the Stingrays in black and white, and the Bears in orange and brown. Mel spotted Bennett right away. He was throwing the ball back and forth with Baxter, his muscles rippling under his shirt. And damn did his thighs fill out those tight pants, so did his butt.
Dear God, the man was attractive. He was what Harper had described as ho-o-o-o-o-t, every single inch of him…well, Mel was pretty sure every single inch of him would be.
“Caught in the act.”
Mel jumped, startled, and turned to find Preston Matthews standing next to her.
Preston was another incredibly good-looking guy, with his sandy blond hair and bright blue eyes. It was too bad he played for the other team, and Mel wasn’t talking about sports. Preston was tall and muscular, but not nearly as muscular as Bennett. No, Preston was lean and had the body of a basketball player, which made sense, since he’d played basketball all the way through college. Now he was a lawyer at his father’s law firm.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Mel said, shaking her head.
“You’re a bad liar, Mel. If you were staring at him any harder there would be steam coming out of your ears.”
“I plead the Fifth.”
“Which means you’re guilty,” he said with a grin.
“You’re obnoxious.”
“You’re just mad because I’m right. Admit it.”
“Fine, you’re right. But it doesn’t matter.”
“Why?” Preston asked, throwing his arm around Mel.
“Because he’s not interested.”
“Well, then he’s a moron,” Preston said seriously.
“Thanks. And why are you here so early, anyway? The game doesn’t start for another forty minutes.”
“My adorable boyfriend forgot his glove, so I had to bring it to him. And now I’m going to harass you for a little while.”
Mel couldn’t stop herself from smiling her first genuine smile of the day. She hadn’t seen a lot of Preston lately, and she was excited about getting to spend a little time with him. He’d been pretty busy with his new, and first, boyfriend. Mel couldn’t be happier for Preston and Baxter.
“Come on,” she said, heading toward the stand. “I’ll buy you a soda.”
“I don’t think so. I’ll buy you a soda.”
“What is it with men and their refusal to let me buy drinks?”
“Who refused to let you buy a drink?” Preston asked raising his eyebrows.
“No one.”
“Ah, Muscle Man Wonder. Well, that’s one point in his favor.”
“Muscle Man Wonder?”
“I think the nickname is apropos. I mean he was the reason you were drooling a minute ago?”
She slapped his arm. “I wasn’t drooling.”
“Oh, yes you were. And to answer you’re earlier question, men don’t let women buy drinks when they are interested in them.”
“You want to buy me a drink, and we both know you’re clearly not interested. Much like you-know-who,” she muttered under her breath as they walked into the stand. Three of the kids were already there, and Stu was assigning them jobs.
“Like I said before,” Preston said, lowering his voice, too. “That man’s a moron.”
* * *
Mel was wearing those damn cutoff jeans again. The ones she’d been wearing the night Bennett almost kissed her. The sexy-as-hell ones. The ones that put dirty, dirty thoughts in his head and made it difficult for him to think of anything else besides sliding his hands up her bare thighs.
They really weren’t indecent shorts or anything. Mel was fairly modest in most aspects in life, and her clothing choices were one of them. She was a teacher and she was working with her students in the concession stand, so the shorts weren’t all that short. But for some reason they drove him crazy.
She’d journeyed out of the stand about halfway through the game and sat with their friends in the bleachers. Bennett couldn’t help himself from looking over at Mel. Unlike him, she was actually paying attention to the game, so she didn’t see him openly staring.
“Why don’t you just make a move already?” Tripp asked Bennett, as they waited for their turn to bat.
“It’s complicated,” Bennett said, pulling his gaze from Mel. He focused on the game again as Brendan hit a ball clear into the outfield.
“That’s just another way of saying you’re chickenshit.”
Bennett wasn’t even going to deny it. “It’s just a bad idea.”
“Scary bad or bad bad?”
“That’s part of the problem, I’m not sure.”
“Yeah, but in my experience, in that situation the only way to figure it out is to try.”
“And what happens when it turns out it was bad bad?”
“You get over it. But it’s a lot harder to get over the regret of never knowing.”
Bennett had a feeling that was going to be true, that he would always wonder when it came to Mel. But Bennett also knew something else, that the unknown was scary as hell. He
didn’t like unpredictable.
When Bennett went up to bat a minute later, he looked straight at Mel. That part of the stands was cheering him on, but he wasn’t really paying attention to anyone else. Only her. But she wasn’t cheering.
She was wearing sunglasses, so he couldn’t see where she was looking, but he could damn sure feel her gaze. There was a blush creeping up her chest and cheeks, and he had a feeling it had nothing to do with the September heat.
How the hell was he supposed to hit a ball in these conditions?
Focus, focus, focus. Yeah, right.
Bennett stopped at the plate, and pulled up the bat. He looked at the pitcher who wound his arm and let the ball fly. Bennett swung and—
“Strike one!” the umpire called out.
The catcher threw the ball back to the pitcher. Bennett rolled his shoulders and brought the bat back up. The ball flew through the air and—
“Strike two!”
He was choking. He hadn’t been close either time. He knew he wasn’t focusing on the ball but on the girl behind him, the girl who had him thinking about a different game altogether. Well, maybe a similar game. There were bases involved.
Tripp’s words repeated in his head: It’s a lot harder to get over the regret of never knowing.
Bennett already had a number of regrets in his life, and he didn’t want any more. And when it came right down to it, he needed to figure things out with her, no matter his fears.
The pitcher’s arm came forward and Bennett swung. The bat connected, and the ball sailed through the air and over the left-field fence.
Home run.
* * *
Mel watched Bennett round the bases. The man really was a sight to behold. When he got to home plate he headed into the dugout, and Mel stood up. Earlier, two extra kids had shown up, and it had gotten crowded in the concession stand. Stu had insisted that Mel go watch the game from the bleachers and take a break, but she would feel guilty if she left him in there the whole time.
Unstoppable (A Country Roads Novel) Page 8
