Changing the Play by Julia Blake

Author:Julia Blake
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pocket Star

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN the rotunda and section 103, row three, seat two, Rachel realized this wasn’t just a first date. This was the first date. The one that blew all the others away.

She’d been wined and dined in New York City and every major metropolitan area with a sports franchise in between. Men had shown off to her and shown her off. Even the nice ones had felt as though they were taking her out just to prove to themselves that they were rich or connected enough to grab a powerful woman’s attention. She’d always accepted that this was part of the game. Until now.

Nick had managed in one night to show her what a date should be. Not a grand, sweeping gesture like renting out a ballpark necessarily, but a thoughtful night. He’d guessed what she might like—remembering her Tom Seaver jersey from high school and her love of the game—and he’d tailored the evening around her. He’d shown her that he paid attention.

The Mets commentators narrated Seaver’s windup at three to nothing in the fifth inning. She watched as the pitcher drew the ball down close to his chest, exhaled in one smooth breath, and then fired off a blazing fast pitch.

“He had incredible control,” Nick said next to her before taking a sip of beer. The sandwiches were long gone, but they’d been nursing their beers for a couple of innings now.

“One of the best starting pitchers ever to play the game,” she said. “My stepfather used to make me break down Seaver’s game on these VHS tapes we had. He was a Mets fan through and through.”

“But you were a Diamondbacks fan. And you wore a Suns hat from time to time.”

She blinked. “Why do you remember these things? You never really spoke to me. We weren’t friends.”

“I don’t know.” He moved his arm from around the back of her seat so that he could rest his forearms on his knees, his long fingers turning his beer in his hand. “I’ll be the first to admit that I screwed that up.”

On the game feed, the crowd cheered, but Rachel had no idea why. Her attention was fixed solely on the man next to her. “What do you mean?”

“I regret not telling you how much I liked you. I feel like I lost years when I could’ve been getting to know you. You’re incredible. You’re smarter than I’ll ever be. You’re fierce, and you’re not afraid of anyone. Me included.”

Emotion stuck in her throat. They were sweet words, but they weren’t true. At least one part wasn’t. She was afraid because right then and there, sitting in the middle of an empty Citi Field, she could see the possibilities open up before her. Nick had done what no man had before. He’d made her hope that maybe—if everything went well—they just might have a future together. One where they could come home at night, excited to just be around each other. She could have a partner to tell all of her aspirations and frustrations to.

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