Dropped Third Strike (Portland Pioneers #1) (5 page)

How could I have even let myself believe it was a date?

Why would Reid Benjamin ever be interested in dating me?

Then, she began analyzing herself. She hated the way she acted around him. She had catered to his schedule, never called him out on being late, and turned into a quiet mouse whenever she was around him. That wasn’t her. Being with Reid had been an emotional boost, but he had effectively killed her confidence and turned her into someone she didn’t know.

Well
,
those days are over.

By the time Monday rolled around, Katie had re-discovered her confidence and self-esteem. A weekend of hiding in her room watching her favorite movies helped her get back in touch with the real Katie Elizabeth Marks. The one who didn’t go gaga over some guy just because he looked good in a baseball uniform and had a smile brighter than the Arizona sun.

The hard part was pretending not to notice Reid when she passed him in the hallway. He gave her his usual wave and smile, but she averted her gaze and ignored the way her stomach flip-flopped. It took considerable effort to put Reid out of her mind. He made it particularly difficult by taking the seat behind her in pre-calc. That alone was enough to unnerve her, but then he went a step further. She heard him lean forward and then his voice was right in her ear, sending a shiver through her. She hoped it wasn’t visible.

“You left in such a hurry Friday,” he said. “Are you mad at me?”

“Of course not,” Katie said. “Why would I be mad?”

“I don’t know,” Reid said. “You just didn’t seem … well, as talkative as usual.”

“There wasn’t room for everyone to talk,” Katie said. “And it was clearly a boys’ night out, so I just let you all have your fun.”

Reid sighed. “I’m sorry it turned into that. I really did want to celebrate that ‘A’ you helped me get. I guess I shouldn’t have invited the guys. Either way, you shouldn’t have tried to pay for your pizza. Dinner was my treat. I picked this up after you left.”

He held the folded bills over her shoulder, but Katie brushed them away.

“I can pay my own way,” Katie said. “You didn’t owe me anything.”

Reid withdrew the money and leaned back. He was quiet for a few moments and Katie wondered what he was thinking. She heard him lean forward again and she could tell he was just about to say something when class started. Katie was somewhat relieved, and as soon as class was over she left quickly, wanting to avoid any further conversation with him. She successfully evaded Reid for the rest of the day and felt a rush of relief when she arrived home later that day. Admittedly, she also felt a twinge of sadness as she sat down at the desk in her bedroom to do her homework that evening. She was usually at the coffee shop by now, waiting for Reid.

She wasn’t the only one troubled by the change in her routine. Around eight that night, her mother called for her and said she had a visitor. Katie made her way downstairs and was surprised to see Reid standing in the entryway of her house.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

And how did you find out where I live?

“I could ask you the same thing,” he said. “I’ve been waiting for you at the coffee shop since six.”

“Oh, I guess I thought we were done now that you got an ‘A’ on that test,” Katie said. It wasn’t the complete truth, but she figured it was a passable lie.

“It was just one test. I still need your help.”

“Fine. We can start again on Wednesday.”

“Why not tonight? I’m here now, and tomorrow’s assignment is hard.”

Katie sighed. “Fine. I’ll go get my books from my room and meet you in the den.”

She’d used the word “fine” twice in a short span of time. If Reid had been older and a little bit wiser when it came to women, he might have gotten a clue that she was not being completely honest. But the boy’s mind was filled only with thoughts of pre-calc and baseball, so he missed the signs that anything was amiss.

She pointed him toward the den, and she heard her mother offering him popcorn and soda as she went back up the stairs. She had finished her pre-calc homework already, but she picked it up along with her history book. Before she left her room, Katie couldn’t resist giving herself a once-over in the mirror. After school, she’d traded her jeans and blouse for yoga pants and a t-shirt, and she’d pulled her long hair back into a low ponytail. Katie decided it was acceptable for studying with Reid – especially since he’d made it clear he wasn’t going to notice anything but her math skills.

When she returned, Reid had one hand in the popcorn bowl while the other held a pencil over his notebook. His attention was on his open pre-calc book, so he barely noticed Katie’s return. She sat down next to him on the floor, using the coffee table as their desk.

“So what are you stuck on?” Katie asked, opening her notebook to her homework.

“The third problem,” Reid said.

“Ah,” Kate said, finding the problem in question. “That one was a little tricky.”

She explained her process of finding the answer, and Reid listened carefully, working through the problem. They repeated this cycle a few more times, and between help sessions, she was able to finish reading her history assignment. She expected Reid to leave once his pre-calc homework was done, but he surprised her by hanging around to do other homework, just as he had when they worked together at the coffee shop. It was after 10 when he stood up and stretched.

“I still have reading to do, but it’s getting kind of late so I should go,” he said.

Katie nodded and stood. She yawned, surprising herself. She hadn’t even felt tired until that moment.

“And that’s definitely my cue to go,” Reid said. “Sorry for staying so late and keeping you up.”

She shrugged. “I don’t go to bed very early anyway. I’m kind of a night owl.”

“Me too,” he said with a smirk.

She often stayed up late reading and watching bad TV. Somehow she doubted his nighttime activities were as tame. She’d seen the girls who hung all over Reid and his friends. She’d also heard about some of the parties the athletes and popular girls attended. She was certain Reid could have his pick of female companionship even though he always appeared to be single. She had to will herself not to let her mind wander too far as she watched him pack up his things.

She walked him to the door, and he insisted on thanking her parents before he left. Moments later, he was gone, and she went back to her room to do a little more reading before finally calling it a night.

They continued meeting at her house to study from there on out. Katie’s parents liked Reid, and they always had snacks ready when he arrived. They were also good at keeping Katie’s sisters out of the way while the two studied.

Katie wasn’t all that surprised when her mother asked if there was more to their relationship than math. Katie quickly and thoroughly denied any romantic interest, which seemed to disappoint her mother, but only briefly. Her father never asked, although Katie suspected he hoped there was something going on. A former athlete, he was undoubtedly disappointed when none of his daughters had elected to participate in sports. At that point, there was still hope for the younger girls, albeit a slim hope. Katie often watched games with him, which was how she first got into baseball. They’d bonded over baseball for years – her father was a lifelong Mets fan, and Katie was true to her hometown Diamondbacks. Still, Katie supposed he was excited at any opportunity to discuss sports with another male, and Reid was all-too-happy to oblige a brief exchange on the latest sports headlines before their study sessions began.

Katie noticed she was making a conscious effort to be dressed casually whenever Reid came over. In her mind, it was a way of preventing her imagination from getting carried away again. She saw the kind of girls who fawned over him at school. If they couldn’t get his attention, there was no way she could. Besides, she didn’t want to be one of those girls. She’d avoided it thus far in her high school career, and no boy – no matter how cute he might be – was going to turn her into a passive, uninteresting Barbie. She attempted to keep that mantra in her head, but Reid had a way of turning her resolve to mush. He was completely charming, although he didn’t seem to be aware of it. And that, in turn, made him even more charming. It was a losing battle. More often than not, they would take study breaks and end up chatting for an hour longer than the 15 minutes they had intended to set aside.

Once Reid discovered Katie knew a little about baseball, he was eager to discuss the subject, quizzing her and listening to her insights. Katie had watched lots of games with her dad over the years, so she was already aware of the basics and some of the more popular stats. Talking to Reid provided her with a different angle on the sport. Through their conversations, she was able to get inside a player’s head and see the game in a different light. The more Reid talked, the more Katie realized how cerebral baseball was. It was a lot more than just throwing a ball and hitting a ball. There was a lot of mental game to go along with the physical. In fact, she quickly figured out that the mental aspect was more important than the muscle, and she began to see how smart Reid really was. While she’d never really thought of him as dumb, she knew he wouldn’t be graduating with honors either. She was starting to realize there were different kinds of intelligence, and Reid hadn’t missed out on all of them. His math might not have been good, but if there was a course on baseball history and strategy, he’d ace it. She had no doubts about that.

Looking back, Kate realized those study break conversations had formed the foundation for her future career. She didn’t want to give him credit, but deep down, she knew Reid deserved some acknowledgment for her success. He’d broken her heart, but he’d also helped provide her with some of the tools she needed for a successful career in baseball management. For that, she supposed she should be grateful to Reid and his lackluster math skills. If not for their nights spent doing pre-calc homework and subsequently talking baseball, she doubted she would be sitting in major league general manager’s office today.

This realization gave her a slight sense of obligation to hire Reid. Fortunately, he was also the best man for the job. She knew it was the right decision for the team, even if it meant opening a door to her past she’d never imagined going near again.

After phoning the communications department to begin drafting a press release regarding Reid’s hiring pending his acceptance, Kate opened her e-mail and scanned the messages. Most of them immediately went into the trash. Next, she went to a popular sports web site to check out the latest transactions and rumors. News was slow at the moment; if only Reid or his agent would call to approve the contract, she could make the hiring official, and the Pioneers would make a splash in the press. Not only would there be plenty of analysis about the risk of taking on Reid and his history, but he would be the youngest hitting coach in the game. The airtime would thrill James Scott. Kate glanced at the phone again, almost willing it to ring. She was anxious to publish the headline. A small part of her knew she also wanted to hear Reid’s voice again, but if he called her “Katie,” she might not be able to continue playing it cool around him.

Finally, as Kate was straightening up her desk and office, which she did at the end of each day, her phone rang, and her assistant relayed the one caller’s name she’d been waiting to hear.

“Hey Kate,” Reid said, after she picked up her extension. “The contract looks good. I’m in.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Kate said. “Our communications folks have started doing a press release. Could I transfer you to them so they can include a quote or two from you?”

“Sure, but not until you agree to have dinner with me tonight,” he said.

“I don’t know how late I’ll be here,” Kate said despite the fact that she had been preparing to leave when he called. “You might have been the biggest thing on my to-do list, but you weren’t the only thing.”

Reid chuckled, and Kate blushed as she replayed her words in her head and realized how unintentionally suggestive her statement sounded.

“I understand,” Reid said. “I’d be happy to wait until you’re done at work. I don’t like to eat alone and you’re the only person I know in this city.”

“Last I knew, Reid Benjamin made friends wherever he went.”

“That may be true, and I’ll have plenty of time to make new friends, but tonight, I’d like to have dinner with an old friend.”

Kate sighed. He wasn’t backing down. The communications department was waiting on his statement, and Reid was waiting on her acceptance of his invitation.

“Fine. You still like seafood, right?” she said. “I’ll meet you at Splash around eight.”

“Perfect,” Reid said. “Now let me give my statement, so I can clean up in time for dinner.”

She rolled her eyes at that comment. She’d seen Reid only a few hours earlier and he looked fine. She couldn’t imagine any reason he’d need to clean up. But right now, she wasn’t going to call him out on that. She punched a few buttons and talked to the communications director before connecting Reid to the department. She then finished the task of closing up for the evening and headed down to the communications department to sign-off on the press release.

By the time she climbed into her car, she had just enough time to drive across the city to Splash. Traffic required her concentration, but it wasn’t enough to distract her from the myriad of emotions going on inside her. She couldn’t decide how she really felt about this meeting. On one hand, she was interested in catching up with Reid. A lot had happened to him since they had last spent significant time together, and she was curious to see how it had changed him. Despite her inner protestations, she did still care about him on some level. On the other hand, she dreaded the old feelings this dinner might dredge up. She couldn’t afford to go back to that emotional turmoil – especially not with her job on the line. Then again, she was going to be seeing him frequently now, so maybe it was best to start getting used to chasing those old feelings away.