Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 489(@200wpm)___ 392(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
The reality was, Skylar wasn’t Robbie’s girlfriend, though. Not really. She’d shown up at Boston Garden tonight unsure if he’d even left a ticket at the box office. There had been no communication between them since their kiss in the parking lot, a kiss that she could still feel wash over her body every time she closed her eyes. Maybe waiting for Robbie to stop being mad was hopeless. Maybe love wasn’t enough when two people had doubted each other the way they had.
Or maybe she needed to make a gesture. Something more than showing up at a game and sitting in a seat. She’d spent the last three days trying to come up with an act of love to show she’d been paying attention, that every moment they’d spent together had been important, the way Robbie had done when he’d offered to catch her first pitch in the parking lot. As of now, she was still drawing a blank.
“I hear you’re a big-time pitcher,” Angela said, smiling, her Long Island accent offering the pronunciation pitcha. “Robbie says you’re a phenom.”
An embarrassing level of heat pressed behind Skylar’s eyes. He talked to his mother about me. Maybe this wasn’t so hopeless after all. “Yeah, I am pretty good,” Skylar murmured without thinking.
Robbie’s mother cracked a laugh. “I love that confidence!”
Skylar smiled through her flush. “That’s how I met Robbie, actually. Did you know the Bearcats have a rivalry with some local baseball players? One of them is my brother. Imagine my surprise when I was dragged out of bed on a Saturday morning to pitch against a professional hockey team.”
Angela shook her head, only mildly astonished. “I’m sure my son was the ringleader. He’s a good boy, but wherever he goes, trouble follows.” Quickly, she reached over and squeezed Skylar’s hand. “Not that you have any reason to worry.”
“I’m not worried,” Skylar reassured her, meaning it. One hundred percent meaning it. She trusted that man down on the ice with her life. Her heart. “He’d probably say he’s the fun kind of trouble.”
“You’re right, he would say that.” Angela gave her a once-over. “Why aren’t you wearing his jersey?”
“Oh, I . . .” Skylar trailed off, not knowing what to say. She ended with a jerky shrug, giving Angela an apologetic look for not having an answer.
Robbie’s mother scrutinized Skylar’s expression and made a sound of understanding. “You’re unsure about where you two stand after your little tiff, is that it?”
God, this woman got to the point fast. “It wasn’t so little.”
“Well, it couldn’t have been that big, either. He talked our ears off about you all damn night.” She elbowed her husband in the ribs, sloshing his beer. “Didn’t he, Clark?”
A long-suffering sigh. “Yup.”
“Robbie has never talked to us about a girl before. Suddenly, there he is getting choked up talking about the little gold flecks in your eyes. Fight be damned, all right?”
“All right,” Skylar responded, grateful for the insight even though it made her heart all the heavier. If he was so enamored of her, why hadn’t he called? Texted?
He needs that gesture.
You’re blowing it.
“Dinner was gorgeous, by the way. Have you been to Mamma Maria? I had a chicken piccata that was well worth the heartburn, let me tell you. My ankles are swollen from all the salt.”
“Here we go again with the ankle talk,” muttered Robbie’s dad—and maybe Skylar had no right fantasizing this way, but she could only imagine the hilarity that would ensue when these people met their polar opposites in Vivica and Doug.
“Robbie kept getting phone calls during the meal from his real estate agent, but all in all, a lovely night.”
Skylar’s ears perked up. “Real estate agent?”
“He’s been planning a move for over a week. He didn’t tell you?”
Over a week? Skylar was almost too stunned to respond. “N-no.”
“Don’t worry, sweetheart, it’s not like he’s leaving Boston.” She patted Skylar’s knee. “He just wants a place of his own.”
Skylar stared straight forward, pulse tickling her wrists, trying to process that information. Robbie was moving out of his bachelor pad with Mailer? Was it possible, even just a little, that he was doing that for her? For their relationship?
No. No way.
Right? Wouldn’t he have told her, if that was the case?
Hypothetically, however, if he was moving out of his party palace and into his own apartment to show he was serious about their relationship—and she’d still gone out with Madden for that drink—she was an even bigger asshole than she’d realized. Plus, she was falling even further behind on Big Gestures than she thought.
“Forgive my son if he’s taking a little while to straighten things out between you two. You see, Robbie used to get most of his advice from his grandfather. My father.” Angela crossed herself. “If he was still alive, he’d be sitting next to you with an extra large Coke giving you statistics for everyone on the ice. He was a big character.”