“All right, squish, what are we going to watch?”

“We should start with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.” Norah squeezed against me on the couch, eating her pizza.

“Fine, but you can’t tell your friends at school. You got me in trouble last time when I let you watch Signs.”

“I promise I won’t tell anyone. Besides, I know it’s fake, Aunt Kenna. It’s okay.”

“You’re growing up on me, squish. It makes me sad.”

“Then let’s not think about it and just watch the movie.”

“Sounds good. Now go get your blanket and I’ll clean up our food.”

I was putting the last of the food away and grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge when the doorbell rang.

“Who’s there?” Norah asked, dragging her blanket out of her room and arranging it on the couch.

“I don’t know. My X-ray vision stopped working today,” I teased her as I went to look out the peephole.

“It’s Grandma and Pops.” I opened the door and my parents rushed in.

“What are you two doing here?” I asked after they hugged Norah and my dad tickled her until she squealed.

“Well, Mom wanted to come and yell at you in person and I wanted to see my little girl,” my dad answered.

“Why does Grandma want to yell at Aunt Kenna?” Norah asked the same question I was wondering.

“Because you didn’t tell me you were going to play today. I wouldn’t have known if I didn’t have the game playing in the background as I cleaned.” My mom crossed her arms and glared at me before she cracked and laughed.

“Was Claire hurt?” my dad questioned, plopping down on the couch as Norah climbed on his lap.

“No, she just wasn’t doing as well as Trip wanted her to, and being our first scrimmage he wanted to win.”

“Trip?” My mom’s eyebrows rose and I realized too late I had fallen into her trap.

“Coach Butler,” I tried to amend.

“Oh, baby girl, you better just answer her. You know she isn’t going anywhere until you let her know what she wants.” My dad started to braid Norah’s hair.

I watched them for a second, remembering how he used to do the same thing to me when I was a little girl.

“Yes, as you remember Coach Mae used to be Trip’s old coach. When he hurt himself Coach Mae asked if he’d come help out with us while he healed.”

“If we remember.” My mom snorted. “That’s one of the reasons you went to play with Coach Mae,” my mom teased, going over and sitting next to my dad.

I ignored my mom’s remark and continued my explanation. “His PR person thought it would be a great idea. He saw me pitch during practice and has been riding me hard. He wanted to see if I could do better than what Claire was doing.”

“Are you okay with that?” She studied my face.

“I am, Mom. I promise.”

“She even took down all of his posters. Aunt Kenna’s going to find another uncle for me.”

“Oh, baby. Was he an asshole?” My mom’s voice changed no longer teasing. She got up and put her arm around my waist.

“At first I thought he might be an ass, but he redeemed himself. We’re friends and nothing more,” I said quickly when my dad’s eyebrow cocked up.

“I just thought it was time to grow up. I’m almost done with college and I’m about to become a doctor. It was just time,” I repeated lamely.

“Well, if that’s what you feel is right. We love you and stand by you. We stand next to all three of you girls.” My mom looked around, noticing Renee was missing.

“Where’s your mom?” my dad asked, noticing my mom searching around.

“She’s out with Brian,” Norah supplied the answer.

“Brian Wright, as in the catcher for the Pappies?” My dad leaned over so he could look at Norah.

“Yes, that Brian,” my mom answered.

I looked at her, surprised, and she smiled at me.

“Don’t give me that look, McKenna. I talk to Renee more than I talk to you lately. She told me Brian’s been coming around and wanted to get my opinion.”

“And why is this the first time I’ve heard of this?” My dad sulked.

I grinned and went over to kiss the top of his thinning hair. He always wanted to be in the know with what we were doing and he hated when my mom knew something before he did.

“Because she wanted to keep it a secret until she knew where it was going. She’s scared, Michael. This is the first guy she’s had serious feelings for and she was afraid to jinx it.”

My dad’s face softened as he took in my mom’s words. “Well, he better treat her right, or he’ll have to answer to me.”

“He’s really nice, Pop,” Norah said. “He talks to Mommy every night and then he gets on the phone with me and lets me tell him all about my day. He even told Mommy he doesn’t want to date anyone else.”

“Ahh.” My mom smiled as she patted Norah’s newly braided hair.

“Well, what are you two up to?” my dad questioned, glancing at the paused movie.

“We have a date. Aunt Kenna’s sore from pitching an awesome game today and we planned to veg out.”

“Do you want more visitors?” my mom asked, already settling in on the recliner.

“Yay! It’s going to be an even better date.” Norah grinned widely.

“Sounds like a plan.” I snuggled close to Norah as my dad moved over to my mom and she sat on his lap.

“I still want to know about this Trip situation,” my dad said firmly before I grabbed the remote to unpause the movie.

My mom winked at me as the movie started. We didn’t get far until we were interrupted by the doorbell again.

“Who’s that?” My dad moved my mom off him so he could go check.

“I don’t know,” I answered his back, smiling at him still going into protective mode.

“Hello, sir,” a deep southern drawl spoke from outside.

“Trip.” My dad moved aside to reveal Trip standing in my doorway with a white bag in his hand.

“You must be Kenna’s father,” Trip said when my dad continued to stare at him.

“Oh, yes. I’m Michael and this is Grace, my wife.”

My mom shook Trip’s hand. They both stood in front of him, kind of starstruck, and I couldn’t stop giggling.

“Hi, Trip.” Norah pulled on Trip’s free hand and brought him into the room. “We were just about to start a movie. What do you have in the bag?”

My parents finally snapped out of their frozen state and followed Trip and Norah.

“Well, Brian called and said he was taking your mommy out on a date and I thought I could sneak you two some ice cream. That is unless Aunt Kenna’s still mad at me for making her pitch today.”

He looked at me and gave a smirk I couldn’t help but return.

“I can be bribed to forgiveness if you have the right kind of ice cream,” I flirted then remembered my parents and niece were in the room and stopped smiling.

“Ahh, well, let’s see how well I did. I have chocolate, strawberry, or cheesecake.” Trip wiggled the bag in front of me.

“Aunt Kenna loves cheesecake,” Norah offered and I shot her the evil eye.

“Enough that you think she’ll forgive me?” Trip asked, digging in the bag and handing me a pint of cheesecake ice cream.

“She’ll forgive you. Aunt Kenna can’t stay mad at anyone.”

Damn kid is giving away all my secrets.

“And what flavor would you like?” Trip held the bag out to Norah.

“Strawberry, please.”

Trip gave her the strawberry and pulled out the chocolate for himself.

“Would you like some?” he asked when he noticed my parents were watching our exchange.

“We’ll just share with, Norah,” my mom answered, her head moving back and forth between me and Trip.

“I’ll go get the spoons.” Norah ran into the kitchen. The drawer opened and slammed shut.

“Would you like to stay and watch the movie with us?” my mom asked and my dad looked startled at the possibility.

“I would love to.” Trip took the spoon from Norah and heading for the couch.

Norah climbed on top of my parents and they dug into the ice cream as I pressed play.

Trip sat next to me and I tried to pay attention to what was going on, but his closeness was making it difficult. When he’d laugh or adjust himself on the couch I was completely aware of him.

Norah fell asleep in the middle of the movie and my parents put her to bed and claimed exhaustion.

When I hugged my dad goodbye he whispered that he’d call me in the morning for an explanation on what Trip Butler was doing in my living room bringing me and his granddaughter ice cream.

When they left I sat where I had been, Trip next to me. I grabbed the remote and realized we didn’t have to really finish the movie at all. I also wondered if maybe he needed an excuse to leave himself.

“Do you want to finish the movie?” Shyness taking over.

“Sure.” Trip leaned back on the couch and propped his feet on the coffee table.

When I didn’t start it right away he moved his head to see what was going on. I stared at him as I tried to comprehend how surreal this whole thing was. Trip Butler was in my house, with his feet on my coffee table, watching a movie with me on Saturday night.

“What is it, Raine?” He turned so I had his full attention.

“Don’t you have something better to do?” I blurted out.

Trip’s face fell and his feet hit the floor with a thud as he stood up.

“Wait, that wasn’t what I meant. I just mean, you’re still Trip fucking Butler. I know you have a lot more fun things to do than to sit in my living room and watch fantastic movies.”

Trip laughed, his features relaxing.

“I want to be here, Raine. I told you I want to change. I don’t want to go back to being who I was. If you want to know the truth I went out tonight to a new club in town, but it didn’t hold any appeal.

“All of those people surrounding me were fake. None of them cared I just got by on the skin of my teeth keeping my biggest sponsor. It was all, what could I do for them. Hell, I don’t even think the women rubbing up on me really saw me.”

You’re his friend, Kenna. I reminded myself when my stomach wanted to heave up the ice cream and pizza I just ate when he mentioned the women around him.

“I realized I really didn’t want to do it anymore. And the funny thing was when I thought about where I wanted to be the first person I thought about was you.”

The smile on my face slowly crawled up my cheeks. He knew exactly what to say to melt my heart and the friendship thing just became even harder.

“I’m glad you came. You made Norah happy bringing her ice cream. I’ve never seen my parents so starstruck before,” I added with a giggle.

“Your parents are awesome. They remind me a lot of mine.”

“What are your parents like?” I turned on the couch and tucking my feet under me, forgetting the movie.

“They’re awesome. My mom’s extremely supportive. She drove me and my sister to everything we wanted to try. She does the same for my nephew. My dad was always with me. He was my manager when I was first drafted.”

Trip’s face fell when he mentioned his dad and I instinctively reached out and put my hand on his.

“He’s mad at me,” Trip said, his fingers lightly playing over the tips of mine.

“Your dad?” I asked, my voice sounding somewhat breathless to my ears.

Trip nodded. “He kept trying to get me to stop playing around and buckle down. He even made me get another manager because he wanted me to be more professional. My dad used to always tell me how proud of me he was. After the car accident it was the first time he walked out of the room without saying it.”

I squeezed his hand. “He’s proud of you, Trip. He just doesn’t want to see you get hurt or do something to ruin what you’ve worked so hard for.”

Trip gave me a smirk. “Thanks. I know that’s true. It just hurt. That’s one of the reasons I decided it was time to change. I want him to be proud of me again.”

“Well, friending me shows you’re going in the right direction.”

Trip snickered and the sadness lifted from his face. “I think you’re right.”

“Do you want to finish the movie? Or do you want to talk?”

“Let’s watch the movie. I think I did my quota for spilling my heart out for the night.”

Disappointment pushed through me, but I didn’t give it attention. Trip had opened up to me and he was here instead of at some noisy club being worshipped, or worse, in his bed with some random harlot being worshipped. I wasn’t going to be greedy.

“Hey, Raine.”

I looked up just before pressing play. “Yeah?”

“Before you start the movie can you get me some ice?”

I laughed as I slowly got up, groaning as all my muscles complained, and hobbled to the kitchen. Grabbing two ice packs and two waters, I walked back to the couch and tossed them to him.

He winked at me and my stomach fluttered. I returned my attention to the movie and hoped the zombies would distract me from the beautiful man next to me.

Someone cleared their throat and brought me back to the land of the living. My head was propped on something hard yet comfortable and it smelled delicious.

I cracked an eye open to see Renee and Brian staring at me with smiles on their faces. My pillow moved, causing me to sit up quickly. I then realized my pillow had been Trip’s pec.

We must have fallen asleep during the movie. Both of us had ice packs molded to our shoulders and we were blinking sleep away.

“Wasn’t expecting to see you here,” Brian said, not bothering to hide his amusement.

“I brought Kenna a bribe so she wouldn’t be mad at me and hopefully pitch for me at the next tournament.” Trip propped his elbows on his knees and rubbed his palms into his eyes.

“That’s a good start,” Renee said, grinning widely.

“What time is it?” I asked, not bothering to find my phone.

“It’s almost two in the morning,” Brian answered.

My head went to the side as I caught Renee’s eyes. Her face turned a slight shade of pink.

“Did you two have fun?” I teased and Trip snickered next to me.

“We did. I have an early call, so I need to get going,” Brian said, squeezing Renee’s hand. “I’ll call you tomorrow.” He kissed Renee lightly on the lips.

“I should get going too,” Trip said, getting up from the couch.

I stood up after him and immediately wished I’d remained sitting. Now I was standing next to him awkwardly.

Trip didn’t seem to have any of the awkwardness that always accompanied me. He hugged me to him and I went willingly, sad when he let go.

“See you tomorrow, Raine.”

Renee and I watched the two of them walk out the door. We turned off the lights and locked everything up silently.

In the hallway at my door Renee lingered.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I knew my friend and her need to purge.

“Yes.” Renee ran to her room and changed into her jammies as I settled in bed.

She crawled under the covers and hugged the majority to her.

“Where did you guys go?” I grabbed my emergency Renee blanket at the bottom of the bed.

“We went and got massages and then went back to his house.”

“Oh yeah.” I wiggled my eyebrows, knowing she couldn’t see me.

She snorted and I could almost hear her eyes roll. “It was amazing. He gave me some of his sweats and one of his hoodies while he cooked dinner. We ate on the couch and talked for hours. It was the most relaxing night I’ve had in a long time. It was like he knew going out and partying wasn’t my thing. I asked him why we didn’t go anywhere, and he said he wanted me to have the night off.” Renee sighed as I smiled widely at her in the dark.

“I’m glad you had a good time and were able to relax. You don’t do it enough.”

“So what was Trip doing here?” she asked, her voice getting sleepy.

“Mom and Dad showed up to grill me about why I didn’t tell them I was pitching and about Trip being my new coach. Trip just happened to show up with ice cream. You should have seen it. Mom and Dad went super fangirl.”

We giggled.

“Why did he bring ice cream?”

“He said he wanted my forgiveness for making me pitch, and then he stayed to watch the movie. I guess we fell asleep.”

We talked more about our nights as light started to shine through the window.

“I missed this. It’s been a long time since we stayed up all night talking,” Renee said with a yawn.

“I missed this too.”

“Things are changing, aren’t they?” Renee’s voice sounded sad.

I nodded my head, feeling the melancholy mood her sentiment brought.

“I’m glad you’re with me through this. Remember, Kenna, whatever happens, you’re my family. You’re my sister and we’re going to kick this life thing’s ass.”

Her eyes were pleading with me. Ever since Renee and I became friends the unknown would put her in panic mode. She said almost the same thing when she started her clothing website. Renee needed assurance I wasn’t going anywhere and we were closer than friends.

“Hell yeah, we are going to kick ass. I’m not going anywhere, Renee. I promise we’ll get through whatever happens.”

Renee smiled before she yawned again. Seeing her yawn brought another one to my face.

“Now shut up and go to sleep. We’re going to have a crazy four-year-old bouncing in here demanding breakfast in a couple of hours.”

We both giggled thinking of Norah and her boundless energy as we drifted off to catch the couple hours of sleep we were going to get.

“Come on, Raine. Stop dragging ass,” Trip yelled as I threw another crazy ball into the fence.

“Yes, Coach,” I muttered, my teeth grinding together.

I was exhausted from staying up all night. Because of the game yesterday we had a half a practice, most of it consisting of the coaching staff going over things we could have done better during the game.

When Trip suggested Claire and I go out and throw a couple of buckets I wanted to bludgeon him with a bat.

I reached into the bucket and realized I only had two more balls left.

You can do this, Kenna.

I threw both balls and gave a weary smile at the satisfying smack each of them made, verifying I hit my target.

“Good job, both of you. Let’s call it for today.”

“I can throw a couple more buckets if you want, Coach,” Claire added, her voice high-pitched as she tossed her hair over her shoulder.

I narrowed my eyes at her blatant attempt at flirting.

“That’s a good idea, Hoffer. Grab a couple more buckets.”

My eyes widened and I hated the jealousy I felt swimming through me.

Claire smiled and gave me a bitchy look as she headed to collect the balls. I turned away and tried not to stomp to the locker room.

“Raine,” Trip called out and I wanted to ignore him.

I stopped, but I didn’t turn.

“Hey, don’t be mad at me,” he said when he caught up to me. “You’re the one who doesn’t want to be my starting pitcher even though you’re better than Hoffer by a long shot.”

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself from smiling.

Don’t fall for his southern charm.

“I’m not mad,” I said, finally turning around.

“Are you jealous?” he asked, the side of his mouth pulling up.

Yes.

“No, you’re my coach on the field and friend off. There’s nothing to be jealous of.”

“You’re right.”

Trip stared intently in my eyes as if he was trying to say something else. Before I could figure out if I was hallucinating he turned around and jogged back to Hoffer, leaving me staring at his sculpted ass.