“How is he coming along?”

“It’s only been a couple of weeks, but it’s hard for him. Moving here from California, having surgery, recovering. And getting used to this team takes some time.”

“I hear that.” Her brother chuckled. “They are a bunch of jokers. We always have a good time playing the Sonics in interleague; you never know what to expect. Watch out for the shaving cream pies, the cold-water showers, the fake calls to the bullpen.”

“I know,” Jessica acknowledged. “It’s all part of their charm. I think he’ll fit in well once he gets used to everything, and gets over the initial hump. But he’s having a tough time being patient.”

“We all do. Remember the time Logan got hurt? We were all ready to kill him.”

“Yep. I was just thinking of that recently.” When I was talking to Gavin on our walk, trying not to think of how damned attractive he was…

“So on another topic, I happened to see that the Sonics play Cincinnati next week. They’re coming to New Jersey for interleague games.”

She was rounding home and stopped dead in her tracks.

Cleveland. Zach. Her eyes closed as she pictured him, tall, dark and gorgeous, with that sexy smile and killer eyes. She’d resisted going out with him for weeks, ignoring his flirtation and the chemistry between them. But as a true alpha male, he’d simply waited her out, found the right time, and coerced her into his arms.

At first, it had been everything she’d dreamed. He made her feel special, important, and pretty. They went everywhere together, confided in each other, and had a great time. For Jessica, it was her first real relationship, and she couldn’t believe that this beautiful man wanted to date her, spend time with her, and make love to her.

Yet she never had the sense he was truly hers. There was always something missing, a feeling of trust and unconditional love. Her fears were confirmed when she caught him cheating on his first road trip, courtesy of the local Tattler.

The worst part was that he didn’t even lie about it. Instead, massive ego talking, he explained that he was entitled; after all, he was a major league player, and he was good-looking. Girls threw themselves at him all the time. What did she expect him to do?

“You there?”

“Yeah.” Jessica picked up the pace and resumed her jog. “I’d forgotten about the schedule.”

“Hey, sorry. Didn’t mean to upset you. I just thought if you need to get away for a couple of days, you know, while that tool bag is in town, you are welcome to stay here. I won’t even be home. We’re on the road that week.”

“That’s really sweet,” she said, surprised and touched. Much as she loved her brothers, they weren’t normally big on thinking about her, considering her needs. But they had all offered to beat the crap out of Zach and made it clear she was way too good for him, something she desperately needed to hear at the time.

“Just wanted you to know there’s a port in a storm, if you decide to get out of Dodge.”

“I appreciate it, but I’ll be fine. Besides, I have work here. I’m right in the middle of Gavin’s rehab. And I can’t run out of town every time Zach shows up.”

“I know, but it’s only been what, a year? That’s not that long. But I get it. You always were a tough guy.”

“That’s me,” she said, swallowing the knot in her throat. She’d never dreamed that a breakup could be so difficult, and wondered if the day would ever come that she could think of Zach without pain. “So what’s going on with you? How about them Red Sox?”

“We suck,” he said, and Jessica broke into much-needed laughter. “The only good thing is the Yankees do too.”

—

Gavin made it to the bar even though he knew he shouldn’t. He was tired, discouraged, and his knee was on fire. In retrospect, he was glad Jessica hadn’t been there during his swim; she would have been pissed to realize he’d done this to himself and would have let him know it in no uncertain terms.

He’d been almost home when at the last minute he turned into the parking lot of the tavern. He saw Jake’s car there, and Chase’s convertible. Gavin was still driving a rental, something he had yet to address. It was almost as if he didn’t want to acknowledge the permanence of this move, and buying a sizable asset would force him to do that.

But as he walked toward the building, he knew he had to accept what had happened, all of it. Kristin was gone, and he was one of the Sonics. And instead of dwelling on what he’d left behind, he needed to look ahead, embrace change, and start forging new friendships. He had to make a life here, for however long it lasted.

The Sonics took up half the place. There were more members of the team present at the watering hole than at their morning meeting. His amused glance took in Chase and Jake, Brian, Cody, Shaun, Roger…practically all of them. The only one missing was Pete, and Gavin wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him show up at any moment.

“Hey, here’s the surfer dude!” Shaun called out, pouring him a beer from a pitcher and thrusting it into his hand. “What’s happening?”

“Whatever it is, it looks like it’s here.” Gavin accepted the drink with a grin. Ignoring the throbbing pain in his knee, he sipped the beer, finding it surprisingly good.

“It’s local,” Chase said in response to his unasked question. “They have a microbrewery here, and make a line of craft beers.”

“I like it a lot,” Gavin said appreciatively. “I was expecting the usual light-beer happy-hour special.”

“That’s frog piss,” Brian said with a snort. “We take our beer very seriously here.”

But not the game, Gavin couldn’t help thinking. Even now, Brian was riding Shaun about missing a catch that day, Jake was doing a dead-on imitation of Pete that had everyone laughing, while Chase threw out a couple of dazzling one-liners.

The Sonics were a lot of fun, he had to admit. And he had been around long enough to know that sometimes it was better to laugh and think about other things and give the brain a rest.

It felt good to relax after the day he’d had. This was the right decision. If he had gone home alone to his townhouse, to sit and ache and brood over his breakup, it would have made everything worse, and tomorrow he’d have an even bigger mountain to climb. Now he felt the tension leaving as Jake passed him a basket of fries, and Brian slapped his back upon telling him an off-color joke.

“So how are things going with the redhead?” It was Roger who asked, and Gavin realized that he had more than a passing interest in Jessica.

“Okay.” He shrugged cautiously. “Doing a lot of walking, swimming, and those PT exercises.”

“She knows what she’s doing,” Chase said as he downed his beer. “I worked with Phil season before last. He’s excellent, and I hear she’s even better.”

“What I’d like to know is what she’s like in bed,” Roger said, giving him a knowing smirk. “You know what they say about gingers.”

“What?” Shaun asked dreamily, and Gavin noticed a suspicious cloud of aromatic smoke around him.

“They are really wild,” the ballplayer continued. “She had me doing some leg raises earlier today, and I thought I’d like to raise her legs, get them high over her head while I…”

“I don’t think it’s cool to talk about her like that,” Gavin said, putting down his beer. He knew what he was risking speaking up; he was the new guy, but he felt he had no choice. “After all,” he continued, “she is a professional, and is trying to help us get healthy.”

Roger’s eyes darkened and he started to rise, but Jake stepped deftly between them and put his hand on his shoulder. “You’re both right. Jess is a great girl, and we all think she’s hot. But we do owe her some respect for what she does for us. Besides,” he added, shooting Gavin a knowing grin, “how the hell is California Boy supposed to work out with her every day if he’s thinking like that?”