The Rookie: Book 2 The Last Play Series (9 page)

He felt his cheeks blush. “Out with yours!” he demanded.

“No!” she resisted.

“Yes!” He jumped to his feet, leaned down, and tickled her beneath her chin.

She burst out giggling. “No!”

He kept tickling. “Let’s see, Helga?”

“No!”

“Olga?”

Wriggling herself out of the chair she stood, her face flushed. “This is a hospital. Stop.”

He moved in on her. “Bertha. Don’t feel bad about it, Rook.”

She giggled and held up her hand. “Okay, okay. I’ll tell you, but you have to promise not to tease me about it because it’s bad.”

Putting his hand over his heart, he took on a serious tone, “I, Legend George James, vow to never tell the name of Charity, middle name not yet known, Saint’s middle name. Today or in the hereafter.”

Scowling, she puffed out a breath. “You never stop until you get what you want, do you?”

The idea that she thought that about him made him feel good. “Nope.”

“Grr…fine. It’s Agnes.”

Trying to keep a straight face, he held his breath and gave a few nods. “Agnes. Perfect. Totally. I would have guessed that.”

Zooming up to him, she held a finger to his face. “I mean it, Legend George, do NOT ever tease me about it. Agnes is a Catholic saint.”

Liking her proximity, he matched his finger to hers. “Don’t worry, Rook, I already got a nickname for you.”

They both stood there, within kissing distance. Every part of him wanted to lean down and press his lips to hers.

Taking in a long breath, she took a step back. “Look, maybe we need a break from each other today.”

He tried to control the rapid beating of his heart. “Okay, sorry, I didn’t realize I was being so annoying.”

Her eyes fluttered. “No, I’m sorry. It’s not…it’s just, I kinda feel guilty having so much fun with you when I’m supposed to be at my grandpa’s bedside.”

“But you are at your grandpa’s bedside.”

Her teeth gritted down. “Reverently, mournfully at his bedside. Not living it up.”

He nodded, a bit confused himself about everything he was feeling. “Okay.”

“Thanks.”

He sighed, feeling determined he wouldn’t bug her this much. “Okay, but first, listen, do you want me to quit calling you Rook?”

“Would you?” she shot back.

He thought about it for a second. “Well, I guess I
did
plagiarize it from you.” He pointed at her. “And, yes, I’ve been waiting to say that word to you for awhile now.”

She smirked.

He rolled his eyes.

“Ya know, I’ve grown accustomed to you calling me Rook, so I guess you can.”

He liked that. “It
is
a term of endearment.”

“Whatever.”

“Six.”

“Shut up,” she said it quietly, and the moment grew more intense.

He was sure she could hear his heart pounding. He turned and stared at her grandpa. For the first time in forever he said a little prayer in his head that her grandpa would wake up. “Okay, I’m going.”

Giving him a faint smile, she narrowed her eyes. “Tell me he’ll wake up, please.”

The center of his chest tightened. “Of course he will. Rosie says so.”

Tears filled her eyes. “Thank you for saying that.”

“No problem.” He meant it. He moved for the door. “Okay, really going to go.”

A soft smile formed on her lips. “I did have a lot of fun today.”

He hesitated. “Can I come back in two hours and take you to dinner and drop you off at home?” He put his hands up, surrendering. “I promise I’ll go to the hotel tonight.”

A slow smile filled her face. “Fine, but your stalking is getting a bit out of control.”

P
ark City Main Street
was busier than it had been last night, Charity noted. They’d chosen a casual little place called Hal’s Burgers. They were out on the patio watching people stroll by and listening to the band down the street.

Legend held the menu in front of him. “Did you see the palm reader a few stores back? I totally want to get our palms read after this.”

Her stomach growled, and Charity tugged her menu closer to her face.

“I won’t say anything, Rook,” Legend whispered.

This made her smile, and she put the menu flat on the table in front of them. “Okay, and after we eat, can I ask you some questions for the exclusive?” She grinned. “The real exclusive.” She figured she knew enough about Legend that if she could get a few more personal touches, she could have this article finished in the next few days.

“Sure.” Legend closed his menu and a server came over to them.

Their server Hal also happened to be her grandpa’s favorite fishing buddy. He had his trademark toothpick between his teeth, and his bald head shone in the overhead lights.

He reached for her shoulder. “How’s your grandfather?”

Charity smiled sadly, putting her hand over his. “Still hasn’t woken up. Did Rosie spread the word?”

He took the toothpick out and held it in the air. “Yeah, she came down yesterday and told us what was happening.” He shook his head. “We’ve been praying for you guys.”

“Thank you.”

Then he swung to Legend, his eyes wide. “And Rosie told me she met Legend James the other night, but I just realized that now so have I!” He reached out and took Legend’s hand and began pumping it up and down. “We are big fans. Huge. Listen, if you ever want to mention the restaurant on television, we can work something out for a lifetime of free burgers.”

Legend took it in stride, smiling back. “We might be able to do something like that.”

“Really?” Hal ran a hand over his head. “That would be amazing.” He took their orders.

Charity shook her head. “Man, do you get used to that?”

He shrugged. “Not really. Not so far.”

Legend had showered, and he was wearing khaki shorts with a blue Park City t-shirt. She wanted to ask him how he always seemed to keep his facial hair at just the right length, not too short, not too long, to look scrumptious. Then she shook her head, trying to clear it.

“What?” His green eyes creased, and he cocked his head to the side. “Were you just checking me out, Charity no middle name Saint?”

Since it was impossible to deny, she simply shook her head and tried to ignore the sound of his light laughter.

“Man, I like to see you blush.”

Which she knew made her blush even more. “You wish I was checking you out.” She tried to sound cocky, but it just came out all wrong.

“Ha, ha, ha. Nice, I can see my ego is rubbing off on you.”

She took a sip of water.

He leaned over the table, clasping his hands in the center. “Hey, so why don’t you plan to get away this fall and come watch a game in Dallas?”

Awkward. She cleared her throat. “I don’t know if I’ll have the funds to do that.”

“Hey, there
are
perks to being Legend James’s friend.”

“Maybe. Isn’t that weird?”

He leaned back. “What?”

“To think you’re like a king summoning people to the court.”

“Whatever.”

“One,” she accused.

The side of his lip cocked up. “I guess you’re rubbing off on me, too.”

Charity couldn’t say why staring into his eyes or having him tease her like that made every part of her feel alert, awake, totally ready to jump, but it did.

The food came, and it was even better than she’d remembered it. Hal stayed a while and talked to Legend about all his greatest hits.

Before she knew it, others had gathered around them and were talking football. It amazed her how many people seemed to clamor for his attention without him even trying. He was respectful and kind, and she thought he looked sincere as he talked to everyone and laughed at their jokes.

When she’d finished, she winked at him and got up, moving to the other side of the room and taking pictures of him with the group from different angles. These would be good shots to add to the exclusive. They would show how down to earth he was.

She was finding that he was totally down to earth.

Jerking her head to the door, she motioned for Legend to follow her. Immediately, he paid Hal and dismissed himself from the group, patting some of the guys on the back as he left.

The air outside felt perfect to her. One thing she loved most about Park City was that it cooled down at night in the summers and the mountain air felt refreshing, though it was cold enough to make her shiver a bit.

Legend fell into step beside her as they walked up Main Street. “Are you cold?” he asked, slipping his arm around her.

It felt so natural. Completely natural and good and, even though she wanted to deny it. “Um, I’m okay.” She didn’t want a boyfriend. She’d been reminding herself of that fact all day long. Even if he was completely hot and on the verge of being a mega millionaire.

Veering off to the palm reading lady who was perched at a cardboard table in front of the Astrology store, he grabbed Charity’s hand and pulled her over with him.

Long black eye lashes stared back at them. The lady was wearing a bright purple mu mu kind of dress, and an orange scarf was swept on top of her head and pinned with an intricate-looking silver star brooch that held it in place above her forehead. A sliver of a grin touched her lips, and Charity was reminded of a witch she’d met one year for Halloween when she was little at a community party in the park near her house. The way that witch had looked at her and then widened her eyes, in much the same way this woman was now, had completely freaked her out.

She was pretty much having the same reaction with Legend that she’d all those years ago with her mother in the park. With a silly amount of adrenaline and strength, she yanked his hand away.

At that exact moment, the woman’s eyes somehow got even wider, and she said, “It’s you.”

Which freaked her out even more. “Ohmygosh.” Charity’s hand went to her chest because she felt like her heart would stop. She yanked at Legend, again, and knew that she was only making a dent in him going with her because she had caught him off guard.

“Holymoly.” Legend let himself be drug with her.

“Wait!” the mu u witch lady called after them.

“Do. Not. Stop.” With the force of a tsunami Charity blazed forward.

The witch hurried after them, her jewelry clinking as she waved for them to come back. “But I have a message from your grandfather.”

T
hough he would never admit
it, Legend was slightly terrified when Charity stopped yanking him up the street like a woman who’d just seen a ghost. At first he’d thought they’d both reacted completely insanely to each other, but now, as he saw Charity’s mouth wedge into that determined line and her blue eyes turn to steel, he knew the witch lady was about to pay for bringing up her grandfather.

Releasing his hand, Charity raged back at the lady, “How dare you! If you think I’m buying crazy, lady, you can just pack up your wares and sell them somewhere else!”

The witch stood in front of her cardboard table. A pile of face cards rested in a perfectly formed stack in front of her. A jar of marbles sat to the other side of her. Her face was stonily rigid. “You think I
want
to know your grandfather is lost somewhere between this life and the next?”

Tears filled Charity’s eyes, and then she let out a breath. “Whatever. Do not mess with me. I know you heard Rosie and Hal and everyone on this street talking about my grandfather.” She pointed to Legend. “And since they said his grand-daughter was hanging around with a famous football player, you’ve taken this chance to…to…” Charity grabbed her head. “Ahhh. What are you doing?”

The witch cocked an eyebrow. “It is not me; it is the spirits getting your attention.”

Legend had had enough. It was one thing to mess with this stuff for fun. He’d thought it would be silly and get Charity’s mind off of her grandfather, but it wasn’t funny to watch someone jerk around with Charity. It really ticked him off. He moved in front of her, putting his hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

“It hurts.” She fell into him.

Not knowing what else to do, he turned to the lady. “What’s going on?”

“She will stop hurting once she listens to the message.”

Red rushed through him. “Stop whatever you’re doing to her.” He knew she was a tiny witch lady, but he seriously wanted to throttle her.

Her eyes went to him. “Your love for her is pure, Legend James. Help her receive the message.”

A strange, completely erratic energy surged into him.

“Ahh.” Charity sagged back into him.

He tried to think of the right thing to do. “Charity, are you okay?” He would pick her up and carry her to his car and to the hospital if he had to.

Then she looked up at him, their eyes locking.

“It’s okay.” He smoothed back her hair and gulped in a breath. “Are you okay now?”

Nodding, she took in a shaky breath. Then she squinted and threw darts with her eyes past him. “You’re a crazy lady.” She started to go.

But he held her hand. “I think you should just hear what she needs to say.”

Trying to pull her hand away, she frowned. “Let me go.”

“Fate has taken its course, but it is up to you to take a chance on love.” The woman sat at the table.

This made Charity stop trying to get away. “What?”

“He says he is giving you this time to figure out what you really want.”

Legend let go of Charity’s wrist and focused on the lady. He knew she was crazy. He knew this was stupid, but what he felt totally made him believe what she was saying.

Charity’s face was cold. The way she looked at the lady told him that she was trying to take it all in.

The lady waved her hand as if to dismiss them. “And yes, I remember you from the park that day.” She cleared her throat. “Now, please go.”

C
harity sat
on her grandfather’s couch in a halfway catatonic state. Legend had immediately walked her back to the house and fired a million questions at her. ‘Did you know that lady?’ ‘What park was the lady talking about?’ ‘What did she think the lady meant by “fate has taken its course, but it was up to her to choose love?”’

Legend had his arm around her, rubbing her outside arm up and down with persistent, obvious nervousness. He’d taken a blanket off of the back of the couch and covered her. “Rook, I’m kind of getting nervous. Do you think you could talk to me?”

Letting out a breath, she nodding, trying to connect her eyes to his. “I saw her when I was five at the park by my house.”

The center of his eyebrows squished together. “That’s weird,” he commented without any emotion.

It sounded weird. But the thing the witch lady said kept coming back to her.

“Rook.” He gave her a gentle squeeze. “Did she hurt you or something?”

“No, I mean I did have pain in my head, and then…it stopped.”

This seemed to comfort him. He let up on his pressure and sat back into the couch. “Man, I shouldn’t have pulled you over there. I’m sorry.”

She sat, thinking about ‘the message.’

Legend went back to absently rubbing the side of her arm. “Man, there’re some crazies out there. You’re sure your head is okay?” He turned back to her.

She gave him a nod. It felt like the shock was lessening, and her mind was calming down. “My mom said the same thing to me before she left for Australia.”

Jolting, he released her and positioned himself to the side so he could get a better look at her face. “Excuse me?”

Charity shook her head and stood. “My mom said to me, ‘don’t try to get in the way of fate.’”

Legend stood. “Her last words to you were the same ones the witch said?”

Thinking about the conversation, Charity nodded. “Pretty much, other than the car’s broken and don’t forget to visit grandpa.”

Without asking her, he got her phone off of the counter and brought it to her. “Call your mom.”

“What?”

Legend handed her the phone and knelt by the couch next to her. “Call your mom and tell her what the witch said. And put it on speaker.”

Charity pressed her mother’s number and didn’t have to wait but two rings for her to pick up.

“Hello! Hello! Charity!” Her mom’s voice sounded desperate.

“Mom, mom, it’s okay.”

“Grandpa?” she questioned in the same desperate voice.

“No word. Still the same.”

“Oh my.” She let out a long sigh. “What’s going on, sweetheart?”

“Well…” she hadn’t exactly told her mom that Legend was with her. All she’d told her was that he’d taken her up to Park City. It was awkward with Legend’s knee brushing up against hers while he waited to hear what her mother had to say about the witch lady.

“You’re making me worried, dear. And I’ve hardly been able to eat the whole time we’ve been here. I swear I think I’ve lost ten pounds.” Her nervous laugh filled the line. “Unfortunately, worry is not a diet that has ever looked good on me.”

“Mom, do you remember when I was five and we went to the park for that Halloween party? I saw that freaky witchy lady and totally wigged out, and you had to take me home?”

“Uhh…”

Her mother was notorious for not remembering little details of Charity’s life the same way Charity did. Charity would remember them so clearly being one way, and her mother always remembered them being almost completely different. Instantly frustrated, she wondered why she’d even bothered calling her.

“Oh, wait, that lady with that thing on her head and her eyes were like saucers. I do remember that. Yes, I do because I remember how I felt, like you two had some kind of connection. It was almost tangible in the air, a flash of lightning.”

“Exactly!” Legend jumped to his feet. “That’s exactly how I felt when you two locked eyes.”

“Wait. What?” her mother clucked into the phone. “Who is that?”

An embarrassed look washed over Legend’s face, and he put his hand to mouth. “Sorry,” he whispered.

“Charity. Charity!” her mother demanded.

She rolled her eyes at Legend and reluctantly told her, “Uh, mom, remember how I told you that Legend James had taken me to the hospital after Grandpa’s stroke?”

“Oh, wait. Yes, that’s right. He’s that nasty football player that got you fired from your job.”

Now the look on Legend’s face turned to vexation. It made her giggle. Which was weird, she thought, considering she’d just been so wigged out by the witch lady. “Yes, mom, that’s him.”

“You listen here, son. My daughter never lied in that article, and that was rotten of you, just rotten of you, to say that.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Legend’s face turned serious, and Charity heard his good southern manners coming out.

“Furthermore, well, actually, I do appreciate that you took her up there. That darn car has had problems for over a year and I just haven’t had it properly looked at.” She let out a long sigh. “It’s just like everything else breaking all the time.”

“What are you talking about, mom?”

“Shelia said doors have been sticking and there’s a toilet that’s running in the green bathroom upstairs.”

“It’ll be fine, mom. Don’t worry.”

She hesitated. “Oh, and so you were with her when she saw the witch lady tonight.” She got back on track.

“Yes, ma’am,” Legend said.

“Okay, please quit ma’aming me and tell me what happened.”

Legend hesitated, looking at Charity.

She nodded.

“I take full responsibility. You see I wanted to keep her mind off thinking about her grandfather, so I dragged her over to the crazy woman’s palm reading booth, and then Charity started yelling, saying her head hurt. Then the woman told us the message.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Charity,” she accused, “you never told me she hurt you!”

“She didn’t mom, it was just some kind of pain in my head, but it’s gone now.”

“I don’t like that,” retorted her mother.

Charity nodded. “I didn’t either, but the weird thing was—”

Her mother cut her off, “What was the message?”

“That’s what I was going to tell you if you would listen, mama.”

“Sorry, dear.”

Legend grinned, and Charity rolled her eyes. Embarrassed by the message, Charity took the phone off speaker and turned away from Legend. “The message was…”

“Uh-uh.” Legend had the phone back in a second.

Then it turned into a battle of who would have the phone. Making a quick jump at him, Charity grabbed the phone, but Legend still hadn’t let go.

“Give me the phone!” Charity yelled.

“What is happening?” she heard her mother squeak out.

Legend easily dropped her onto her back on the couch. He grinned and pushed the speaker button. “Uh, sorry about that ma’am. We had some technical difficulties.” He pointed to the phone and gave Charity a severe look. “Tell her.”

Rolling her eyes, Charity told her the message, “Fate has taken its course, but it is up to you to take a chance on love.”

Her mother gasped, and then it sounded like the phone had been dropped.

“Mom!” Charity spoke closer to the phone. “Is everything okay?”

“Oh, heavens.” Her mother was back, clear as a bell.

“What do you think about that, mom?”

“Well…” Charity could imagine her mother fixing herself and pushing her hair back to proper order.

“Well?” Charity insisted.

“Honey, if you want to know what I think, I think it sounds like fate is standing right in front of you. Maybe you need to kiss Legend James and test it out.”