(Complete) Kenzie Lynch grew up around baseball, but her father refuses to let her get involved with any players. Christopher Jett's loves baseball, Coach Lynch and the girl he can't have. After six years, can they learn to be friends and will frie...
Late scratch: When a player is taken out of the starting lineup after it has been posted.
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Present day...
Jett looked up and smiled at two of his teammates' wives when they entered the clubhouse. They stopped and turned around to stand directly in front of him.
One he knew well and the other he'd never met. Deanna was the wife of a veteran starting pitcher. She was not as young as her friend. Jett always enjoyed listening to her sweet southern accent.
"Hey ya, Jett. We're recruiting help with a project. Can we count on your girlfriend to help?"
"Sabrina isn't my girlfriend."
"Oh, silly me! Your fiance, y'all make a perfect couple."
Jett shook his head. "I'm not getting married."
The other woman, younger than Jett and the wife of a rookie pitcher laughed. "Maybe not yet but what man would turn down a beauty like that?"
Me, he wanted to scream. He wasn't happy after Sabrina spoke out about Maisy. To be fair, he had never mentioned he had a little girl in his life. Not only did he love Maisy, but he had always felt a need to protect her from the moment he held her for the very first time. He took his job of godfather seriously. He wished he could have the privacy that Maisy deserved.
His association with Sabrina had stopped working a long time ago, but it took Kenzie coming back into his life for him to realize it. Everything was different after years of avoidance. They had spent years with parallel lives sharing Maisy, Coach, Ben, Betsy and even Kimmy, but never at the same time. The only one who knew the truth was high most of the time, so if she talked the others would not believe her.
He chose not to address his relationship with these two women. They'd learn the truth soon enough.
"I'm sorry I'm not much help without a wife." With regret, his mind went to Kenzie. Knowing their projects were to support kids with cancer, he asked, "What're you doing this time?"
"We're writing a children's book."
The other added, "One to help them learn to read."
Without a thought, he mentioned. "I have a friend who teaches first grade if you need some advice."
"Oh perfect! We're meeting at my house on Thursday at ten am."
The younger one said, "We'll send you the deets."
"But I have to ask her." He tried to explain.
"How could any woman say no to you?" the older wife said with a wink.
Kenzie would. How would he get Kenzie to agree? Mad at himself for suggesting it, he debated calling Kenzie, but decided not to risk his life.
Jett had been waiting for a massage with the trainer. He had a sore hamstring that needed attention. Lying on the table while strong hands worked on his tender spot, he considered whether Kenzie would be receptive. Her representing him with the other player's wives fulfilled his dreams. Too bad that dream wasn't real.
It didn't surprise Jett when they scratched him from the starting lineup. The top of their division was coming in for the weekend and he needed to be behind the plate for those three games. If he needed a night or two to rest, he wouldn't argue, because he didn't want to find himself on the injury list for ten days.
Meanwhile, his publicist was sending him messages. They were working with Sabrina's people to end their affiliation. Jett was reluctant to call it a friendship, because he never enjoyed her company. Having dinner with her was as boring as making out at that party, but having Kenzie meet Sabrina was worse than her seeing him kiss that girl.
It wasn't unusual for the catchers to have days off, because it was a physically taxing position. What Jett didn't realize was his publicist put out a press release announcing the breakup between the baseball player and the model about a half hour before the team announced he was a late scratch from the game.
Within seconds speculation had him unable to play due to a broken heart. Once again lies dominated his narrative. He would spend the game, laughing in the dugout to prove no broken heart was keeping him from playing. If it did, he would have washed out the summer they drafted him.
Unfortunately, he wouldn't be in the dugout the entire night, because the trainer wanted to work on his hamstring. He grabbed his phone on the way to the training room, so he could call Kenzie, but first he needed to get his courage up.
"What the...!" he exclaimed. He must have had a missed text from everyone he knew. Scrolling through he was wrong, it was everyone minus one. The person he needed to call hadn't texted him at all.
