Page 73 of Last Night Was Fun

On cue, Vera and Frank both lit up. Their enthusiasm admittedly caught Emmy off guard. Any talk of her job often left everyone looking for a change of topic.

“That’s our girl,” Frank said, his eyes shining. Of the two of them, he’d always been more supportive. “She’s gotta be tough as hell to work in men’s sports. No offense to you, of course.”

“None taken,” Gabe said. “And she is tough. One of the toughest people I know.” His lips quirked like he was thinking of a secret. “She deserves everything.”

Emmy swallowed a hard, hot lump in her throat that struggled to go down thanks to the force with which her heart was beating. She looked over at her mother to check if she was satisfied with the answer she’d been fishing for. Based on the glow on Vera’s face, she was.

Wrapped up in the spirit of it all—the sun melting in the sky, the decadent meal, sounds of her loved ones near—Emmy couldn’t have been blamed for thinking it really did matter what her parents thought of Gabe. That their opinion of him would need to extend beyond this weekend and reach back into real life. It didn’t, because this wasjust a favor, and she and Gabe werejust co-workers. But imagining they were more felt too easy in this golden paradise with his hand wrapped around hers and him saying all the right things. She quietly longed for this version of life to become reality.

“How’d you get into baseball, Gabe?” her father asked as the waitstaff began clearing plates for dessert.

Emmy tensed again, nervous about skirting the dark-edged topic. Gabe felt it and gently smoothed his thumb over her hand in small circles.

“I pitched in college,” he said. “But I also majored in math and went to grad school to get a master’s in statistics, so here I am. Now I love the strategy of it all. The way it’s one giant formula.” He flashed them his million-dollar smile, and Emmy silently thanked him for leaving out the part about his career-ending injury.

“Ah, I thought I recognized an ex-player,” Frank said. “You’ve definitely got the reach.” He lifted his hand as if to demonstrate how tall Gabe was. “Have you ever considered coaching?”

“Actually, I’d love to get back on the field,” Gabe said. Emmy turned to him in surprise. “Not as a player, of course. But on the training staff. It’s always been a bit of a dream.”

Emmy squeezed his hand at the small ache in his voice. She wasn’t sure her parents could hear it, but she did. She knew what he ached over.

Their conversation then turned to the wedding and tomorrow’s schedule. It would be a full day of preparation and celebration. It had been so long coming, Emmy was both thrilled for it to finally happen and eager for it to be over with.

As she sipped the final drops of her final glass of wine of the night, she caught sight of her sister radiating joy across the terrace. Piper laughed with her head tilted back, dark hair cascading over her shoulders and shining in the candle- and moonlight. She wore a white jumpsuit and a glittering wreath necklace that looked like icicles dripping from her throat. Another Carmichael family heirloom, certainly. The night had, miraculously, gone off without a hitch. Sure, they were crammed into a smaller space than planned, but that made everything all the more intimate.

Her sister was happy; her parents were happy; she was happy. The moon was full, and Gabe Olson was stifling a yawn beside her and looking ready for sleep.

“Bedtime?” Emmy asked.

“It was a long day,” he said, and wiped the tiny tear that had pinched out of his eye.

“Well, tomorrow is going to be even longer.”

“Maybe for you. I’m just a plus one freeloader.”

“I believe you made a fishing date with my dad, and you can’t break a promise to Frank Jameson.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Based on the honest glint in his eye, she could tell he was serious.

She smiled at him and then nudged his knee. “Come on. I think we are safe to make an exit right now.”

They slipped away from the party without any fuss and headed for the shuttle stop. As they whizzed through the grounds in a golf cart, Emmy grew increasingly aware of Gabe’s presence beside her. She’d been aware of it all day. And if she was completely honest, she was always aware of it. In any space they shared, whether it be an office, a hotel room, a dinner table, a zippy little golf cart, he waslike an anchor pulling her in. A sun around which she orbited. She’d never realized how aware of him she was until she’d started paying attention.

When the shuttle deposited them outside their building, a breeze blew through the archway leading to the beach like a hand beckoning them. The salty air curled over Emmy’s face and shoulders, fresh and inviting, and made her want to stay in the open a while longer before she was back someplace where Gabe’s presence and her thoughts over what to do with it would overwhelm her.

“Want to go for a walk?” she asked, and nodded toward the path leading to the beach.

“Sure,” he said with a nod.

They passed through the building and out into the dark on the other side. Except for the tiny ground lights lining the path every ten feet or so, the only light came from a few balconies glowing above them, the villas dotting the distance, and the moon on the water. They walked in silence for a while, and Emmy let the rush of the waves soothe her nervous thoughts. They’d been inching closer and closer all day, in many senses, and she wasn’t sure how close they might continue to get.

“You don’t actually have to hang out with my dad, you know,” she said when they stepped off the paved path and into the sand. The beach was empty and bleached black and white by moonlight.

“Of course I do. I want to.”

She looked over at him and felt a warm smile spread across her face. “Well, be careful. He might try to adopt you.”

Gabe snorted a laugh. “Frank and Vera Jameson seem like pretty cool parents, so I might take him up on the offer.”