Second Chance (47 page)

Barb tells me she has some book
-
keeping
to do
and asks me to lock the door on my way out
.
She
disappear
s
down the
hall.
I pick up a stack
of
flyers
I printed
to advertise my photography
and
lean down
to
stuff them in
my backpack
.
Someone clears their throat.

I look up, and Gray is
leaning in the doorway,
decked ou
t in his
baseball uniform
.
He stands with one arm at his side and the other behind his back
.

“
Hey you,” he says and
smiles
. H
is skin
is flushed
,
his hair is all messy and
his eyes are bright
.
T
here’s dirt all over his ches
t and up the side of one leg. S
eeing him in his uniform makes me want to do one thing
.
Rip it off
.
He’s
standing there all normal like I should be expecting him
to show up in his game clothes
.

“Hi,” I
say, standing
up
.

He
glances down at my outfit
and
walks towards me
. H
i
s
f
ace
i
s
glistening with sweat
.
It looks like he
sprinted
here after the game
.

“Congratulations on your
first
show,” he says and from behind his back he pulls out a handful of
my favorite flower, B
irds of Paradise
.

I reach out and trace the
ir
bright orange
petals with my fingers
.
I take the
bouquet
c
arefully,
like he gave me a rainbow
and I don’t want to disrupt the beauty of it
.

He looks around at the empty room
.
“Sorry I missed
it,
” he says
.

“Sorry I missed your game,” I say
.

“No you’re not,” he says
.
“
You don’t have the attention span for b
aseball.”

I’ve
only been to
one of his games
. Un
til a week ago I thought he’d throw a ball at my head if he caught sight of me in the stands
.
I sat with Liz and tried to concentrate, but by the fourth
inning
I couldn’t sit still and spent the rest of the game playing
sports photographer
.

“It could just use a few more exciting features.” 

His eyes slide down my body
.
“
Like what
?”

A few sexual ideas come to mind
.

I clear my throat
.
“Well,” I say
.
“
First,
I would
change the
uniform
.
You
would
all play in boxer briefs.”

“Nice,” he says
.
“I’m sure our mostly male fans would respond very well to that.”

“And there would only be four innings.”

“Four?”

“And each batter gets one ball and o
ne strike
.
That’s it
.
T
he pitcher would have to
throw
the ball
through a flaming circle of fire
.
And after every game there’d be a firework
show
,
followed by a
team strip dance.”
 

He just smiles, one of those lazy smiles that
completes
my day.

“I wouldn’t recommend going into sports marketing, not to kill your life ambitions,” he says
.
He walks around the room and studies
my pictures and I just
study
him
.
He should look out of place
wearing
a baseball uniform in a
n art
gallery
,
but it just makes him
look more masculine
.
He’s still wearing his cleats and they tap on the wood floor.

“These are really good,”
h
e says
.
“You’re so good at seeing people.”

“It’s not that hard,” I say.

Gray asks me about a few of the pictures
and I point out my favorites. T
hen he turns to me
. H
e’s so close I can smell dirt and sweat
,
but mostly just him
.
He leans in
closer until his forehead is touching mine
.

“I didn’t
really
come here to see your photos,
” he says
.

“You didn’t?”

He
shakes his head and leans away so he can look in my eyes
.
He slowly brushes the hair off my shoulders
.
He takes his time
.
First o
ne side
.
Then the other
.

“I
wanted t
o see you in a skirt,” he says with another lazy grin
.
He runs his fingers down my neck and chest
, until they land at my waist
.
I try to swallow or think but all I can do is
feel the trail of his hands
.
He
pulls me c
loser and closes his eyes and I think he’s about to kiss me so I close mine
.
But he stalls and then his lips are against my ear.

“You know I
love
you, right?” 

His breathing gives me the chills
.
Or maybe
it
’
s
the
words I’ve been waiting to hear for months
.
 
 

GRAY

When I drop Dylan off, we both
hesitate
.
We know
what will happen if I go inside
.

Everything will change
.
 

I turn down my stereo, but
neither of us
says
anything
.
S
he picks up her bag and gently lifts the
flowers
off her lap when she opens the door
.
I know she’s waiting for me to make
the c
all
.
She
leans over and kisses my lips
.
She takes her time
pull
ing
away
.
She
says goodnight and I watch her walk up the cobblestone path to her apartment door
.

She closes the door and I panic
.
What the hell am I waiting for
?
A written invitation
?
There’s no reason to hold back now
.

Because everything already has changed.

I
turn off the engine
, grab a
CD,
and get out of the car
.
I cross the driveway and
open the door
without knocking
.
Dylan’s sitting on the bed
with her
legs
crossed
.
She was expecting me
.
She’s already stripped down to her underwear
.
I
t’s a
black,
matching set.