She had high hopes for the team this year. The Rivers were currently in second place with two weeks to go until the end of the regular season. They were three games out of first and in the hunt for at least a wild card spot.
She loved sports, and always had. Maybe it had been a product of her growing up around sports players, being around them all the time because of her parents. The sports dorms had housed players of so many different sports—football, baseball, lacrosse, tennis—any sport imaginable. And her parents had treated every boy who’d gone to college there as one of their own. They’d often gone to the games, and if there was one thing her father had been good at, it was spotting a boy in trouble—someone who needed a little extra TLC.
Haven remembered her dad spending a lot of time with Trevor, though she hadn’t known why, by that point not paying so much attention to Trevor because she’d been in college herself, focusing on her own studies, her own social life. Whatever pitiful social life she’d had, anyway. One would think she would have been incredibly popular since she’d known all the jocks.
Not so much. None of the guys had wanted anything to do with her. She might as well have had Off-Limits tattooed across her forehead. Being the daughter of the dorm parents was just as bad as being the daughter of one of the coaches. No one had touched her. Not that she had wanted any of them.
Except for Trevor, who continued to wow her with the distance on his throws. He had one hell of an arm.
He was simply too good at this. Which, she supposed, accounted for his popularity, and the reason the teams made allowances for him playing two sports.
Seats were filling in all around her, but she barely paid attention because the teams were taking the field. She focused on Trevor in the outfield as the Rivers were on defense first and Chicago came up to bat.
Garrett Scott was pitching today. Her mom said Garrett had come by a few weeks ago to visit, along with his fiancée, Alicia, who also worked for the Rivers as a physical therapist.
Mom had loved that visit. It had brightened her spirits.
Haven saw Alicia out on the field working with one of the players. Very pretty woman, and, as it turned out, she was Gavin Riley’s cousin. Alicia and Garrett were getting married at the conclusion of the baseball season. She couldn’t wait to go to the wedding.
Closing her laptop, she focused on Garrett. His shoulder looked completely healed because he was throwing a combination of pitches out there, all of them hitting the mark. The first batter grounded out to second base. Garrett struck out the second batter, and the third batter hit a pop fly that Trevor ran down and caught.
Easy top of the first. Now the Rivers were up. Trevor batted fifth in the lineup, so she wasn’t sure she’d get to see him in action this inning.
The first batter grounded out. But when the second batter singled and reached first base, and the next doubled, unless Gavin Riley hit into a double play, she’d get to see Trevor hit.
Gavin took two pitches low and away for balls, the next right in the strike zone. He hit the next one into left field, which scored the two runners and sent Gavin to first base.
The stadium erupted into wild cheers. The Rivers were up by two runs, Trevor was up to bat, and there was only one out.
She could see how serious he was as he stepped into the batter’s box. Her stomach twisted in knots as she waited for Chicago’s pitcher to throw the ball.
Trevor took a strike on the first pitch, then two balls. He fouled off the next pitch.
Two balls, two strikes. She clasped her hands together and leaned forward.
The pitcher’s next throw resulted in ball three.
Full count now; she waited for the next pitch. It was right on the money, and Trevor slammed the ball. Unfortunately, it went foul.
So did the next ball, and the one after that. He was hanging in there, though, and she hoped he’d get a piece of one of these pitches.
He did, on the next pitch, sending it sailing into the left-field corner. She launched out of her seat, screaming along with the rest of the stadium as Gavin rounded the bases and headed for home. Trevor stopped at second base.
Excellent.
The next batter was out on a high pop fly, and the batter after that struck out, stranding Trevor, but he’d gotten an RBI and the Rivers were up three to nothing after the first inning.
The rest of the game was just as chock-full of excitement, with Chicago scoring two runs in the fifth, and the Rivers coming back to score four more before it was all over.
What an exciting game, and one the Rivers needed to stay in contention. Every player had given it his all. Haven had been tense the entire time.
She headed to the locker room after the game.
“Hi, Haven.”
She turned and saw Alicia standing there. They hadn’t had a lot of interaction, but they’d spent some time together at the hospital and getting to know each other after the funeral.
“Hello, Alicia. How are you?”
“I’m good. How are you doing?”
“Great. It was a good game today. Garrett pitched so well.”
“He did. Those three runs kind of sucked, though. He’ll be pissed about that.” Alicia paused. “Oh, I probably shouldn’t have said that. Are you covering today’s game for your news station?”
“No. I’m actually doing a feature interview on Trevor Shay.”
“That’s interesting. And should be fun. We love Trevor around here. He’s great and has been an incredible asset to the team. All the guys love working with him.”
Haven wasn’t sure if that was the truth or just the company line. “I’m glad to hear that. And you work for the team as well. That must have been so complicated for your relationship.”
“Are we on the record here?”
Haven laughed. “Not at all. I’m not writing about you and Garrett.”
“Then, yes. It was complicated as hell for a while. But we worked it all out. And the team has been great about it. I just don’t work with Garrett in any official capacity.”
“You do sports medicine, right?”
“Yes. So if he’s injured or needs any kind of physical therapy, one of the other therapists works with him. The only interaction we have together now is at home.”
“I guess that makes sense. No conflict of interest that way.”
“Exactly.”
“Have you worked with Trevor before in therapy?”
“I have, though mostly for general conditioning. He’s like . . . bionic or something. The guy has never been hurt. He knows his body well and knows how to take care of it. And considering that he plays two sports, I’m surprised he hasn’t had any issues. Doing as much as he does is hard on a body. But not on his.”