Page 10 of Broken Love (Love 2)
The crowd is roaring and rocking the bleachers.
They can feel it, history about to be made for our school.
I cheer as loudly as I can.
Pike looks at the catcher, shakes his head. He doesn't like the signal. The replacement gives him another signal. Pike shakes his head again. Finally, he calls for an inside strike.
Pike doesn't hesitate. Just throws a rocket directly above the player's knees. The batter swings wildly and misses!
Strike three!
Holy shit! We win!
The team rushes the mound, everyone jumping on top of Pike and ending up in a pile on the dirt.
I can't run out and celebrate with the team, so I just stand here, clapping.
It is the greatest moment in my life up until this point.
Even greater than when both Pike and I were picked in the first round of the major league draft a few weeks earlier.
I didn't know it at the time, but that injury would end my baseball career.
My phone beeps with a text, giving me the name of the hospital, and brings me back to the present.
Carter: Pike will be pissed if he finds out you are at the hospital.
Me: I don't give a fuck anymore. It's partially his fault we broke up.
Carter: What do you mean? I thought you and Palmer broke up over a business deal.
Me: Over a nudity clause. When Pike asked me to take her on as a client, he made me promise that I wouldn't let her do that. And before their dad died, he said pretty much the same. That's why I was so adamant about it.
Carter: So you weren't just being a jealous prick?
Me: No.
Carter: So you fucked up your relationship with her in order to not fuck up your relationship with her brother, but in the end fucked them both up?
Me: Pretty much.
Carter: Sucks. You need to fix it.
Me: Can't. Pike hates me. He doesn't forgive. Or forget.
Carter: Fuck him, bro. I mean you need to fix it with Palmer. After all, you caught the garter. You're destined to be the next at the altar.
Me: Screw you.
When I get to the hospital, Carter comes down to get me. Apparently, Pike's location in the hospital is being kept a secret. No surprise, really. I'm sure the media is hounding the hospital for information in every way they can think of.
"Cade," Palmer says as my brother sits next to her and wraps his arm around her. I want to kill him, but she leans into it, apparently needing the comfort. "You didn't need to come."
"I have a meeting I can't get out of," Carter says, giving her another squeeze before getting up. "Cade is going to stay with you."
Maybe I won't have to kill him.
A few minutes after he leaves, a man dressed in scrubs comes out. "Palmer Montlake?"
"Yes."
"I'm Doctor Swann, the team's surgeon. Pike is stable, has been given antibiotics, and is now being prepped for surgery. He's got an open compound fracture of the tibia that we'll reposition to its normal alignment using screws and a metal plate. The fibula is fractured, as well, and we expect to find a lot of ligament damage that we'll address. He'll spend a night in the hospital then should be good to go home."
"Is he going to be able to play again?"
"It's really hard for me to say at this point, but the damage is pretty severe."
"Take good care of him," Palmer begs.
The doctor smiles at her. "You can be sure we will."
As soon as he leaves the room, she throws her hands over her face and cries, "It's all my fault, Cade. I jinxed him."
"What do you mean?"
"Last year I wished him good luck before the playoff games, and he lost. So this year, he made me wait until the World Series. And he didn't want me to wish him luck. So, I told him to break a leg. And he did!"
I wrap my arm around her and pat her back. "It's not your fault, Palmer. Really, it's not. It was a freak accident. He'll be fine."
A big-chested knockout in high heels teeters into the room. "Palmer! How is he? All the reporters are saying it's going to be the end of his career!"
"Hey, Bethany. I'm not sure. He's going into surgery. I'm surprised they let you up here. It's supposed to be family only."
"I'm practically family," she says, showing off a diamond almost as big as a baseball on her right hand. "See what Pike gave me for luck? As soon as he wins the World Series, I'm pretty sure he's going to propose!"
"That's great," Palmer says flatly, clearly annoyed by her presence.
"Bethany, I'm Cade." I hold out my hand. "Why don't we go get some coffees?"
After we walk down the hall for a bit, she pulls a flask out of her purse. "Coffee is a great idea. I need something to put this in. I'm so stressed! What if he can never play again?"
"I'm just hoping he can walk again. That's what you should be worried about."
"What? Like he could be paralyzed?"
Pike never did date the smart ones. "Um, no. That only happens when you injure your spine. The ankle joint allows us to walk properly. It's probably going to take a while before his will work again."
"Do you think they'll still let me go on the field if the team wins the World Series? Will I get to go to all the parties? Be interviewed?"
"I don't know. Did he give you the special passes?"
"No! Shit! All this work to get here, and he has to get himself hurt. I have the worst luck."
I want to go off on this woman, but I don't. I don't want to upset Palmer any more. I point Bethany in the direction of the coffee shop in hopes that she won't be able to find her way back.
"Where is Bethany?" Palmer asks when I return to the waiting room and take a seat next to her.
"I take it you don't like her?"
"She only dates baseball players, and she's traded up to him. Pike's always been dumb when it comes to women."
"I know," I say, recalling several times in college when he got into trouble because of a girl, and even when he went on to the pros, I often had to bail him out of some kind of mess. He told me it was a good thing I was going to law school. He had a reputation for going through women faster than he went through bats. "I sent her on a coffee mission in hopes that she wouldn't find her way back." I chuckle.
Palmer's face breaks out in a smile and, for the first time since I got here, she laughs. "That is why I love you."
I suck in a big breath of air. I've longed to hear those words.
Just not in this way.
"Oh," she says, awkwardly. "You know what I mean. You always took care of me. I appreciated it then, and I appreciate it now. Pike would appreciate it, too."
"No, he wouldn't. He'd be mad."
"Don't be so sure. I remember him sitting by your side at a hospital in Omaha after you got hurt when he could have been out partying with the team."
"That was a long time ago."
"Still. A friendship like that should have been lifelong. And would have been, if it weren't for me. I'm sorry I screwed everything up for all of us, and I'm really sorry it's taken me so long to apologize. Do you think we could ever be friends again?"
I take her hand and pat it gently. "I think we already are, Palmer."
"They actually had a Starbucks on site!" Bethany's voice booms through our quiet moment. "Thank God! I needed a green tea Frappuccino to soothe my nerves." She takes a drink from a cardboard tray and hands it to Palmer. "I wasn't sure what you liked, so I went with a skinny caramel macchiato."
"That's my favorite, Bethany," Palmer lies. Her favorite has always been a non-fat peppermint mocha with whip.
"And for you," Bethany says to me. "I ordered the barista's favorite. Some sort of a peppermint concoction. He said it reminds him of when he drank peppermint schnapps and hot chocolate growing up in, like, Minnesota? Whatever that is." She hands it to me. "So, is there any news? Do we know how long we're going to have to be here? And what should I tell the press if they want to speak to me?"
I set my drink on the table
next to Palmer's. A few seconds later, while Bethany is busy asking a million questions, I pick up the caramel macchiato, switching drinks with her. Palmer smiles at me and mouths thank you.
"You know what, Bethany?" I say. "I think I would let the team's PR handle any questions. You shouldn't have to deal with that."
She sits up straighter. "You're right. I shouldn't have to deal with such pettiness. I'm just so stressed by all of this. It ruins everything."
"I hate to see you stressed," Palmer says, "but imagine how my brother feels. He was playing in the biggest game of his life."
"That's exactly my point! I had to buy a whole new wardrobe to wear to all the events, for traveling, and for the games. Now, I don't know if I'll get to wear them all!"
Palmer rolls her eyes.
"You know what, Bethany? Why don't I get my driver to take you back to your hotel, so you can get some rest. I'm going to send Palmer home soon, too. There really isn't anything either of you can do while he's in surgery. Go get some sleep and come back here in the morning when he's awake."
"That's a great idea," she says, checking her phone. "The team is back at the hotel now. I could join them for a quick nightcap and then get some sleep."
"Exactly," I agree. I call my driver and escort her out of the hospital.
When I get back to the waiting room, Palmer is pacing and watching the clock.
