“And that’s where I met Christy,” she finally said.
I looked at her after shooting a quick glance at Chris. He was 100 percent checked out. “Did you say Christy?” I asked. “With an eee?”
“Yeah. The girl who lives next door to Chris.” She said it like it was obvious.
I stared at her until she shrugged. “So that’s how we met,” she finished. “I saw him in the hallway of his building.”
I heard a low chuckle from behind me and turned to meet Jack’s twinkling eyes. I shot him a WTF look, and he winked back at me.
Because I was an evil person and couldn’t help myself, I turned back to her. “And when was this?”
18
Jack
“Yesterday,” she said.
I reached out and squeezed Teo’s shoulder to keep from laughing. He clasped my hand with his own and squeezed it until there was no blood circulation left.
“And we’re so happy you’ve joined us,” Teo said in his typical friendly voice. “Would you like another beer? I’m going to get some more food.”
Chelsea nodded gratefully while Chris sank noticeably lower in his seat. What a jackass. But I was happy to see him affected by Teo’s bringing me since that’s what Teo had wanted out of all of this.
And if I was a little sick to my stomach… well, it was probably the relish. I excused myself from the conversation with Logan and his sister and stood up to meet Teo back by the counter where the food was set up inside the suite.
He walked right up to me and leaned his forehead on my shoulder. “Help,” he whispered. “I think my ears are broken.”
I put my arms around him and kissed the top of his hair, inhaling the lemony aftershave I remembered from the first time we got together. Everything about him lit up my senses.
“Hey, Tee,” Chris called. “Will you grab me another beer too?”
We pulled apart so Teo could grab them some beers from the fridge. I poked through the rest of the food offerings, grabbing a few carrots and dip. I liked Teo’s friends. With the exception of Chris himself, they all seemed friendly and fun. Jay flirted with me but didn’t seem to mean anything by it. Logan was fascinated by my job and asked a ton of questions, and their friend Sam had made sure to offer me something to drink every time they got up to get anything.
As I stood there glancing out at the game and munching on carrot sticks, I suddenly realized that this was the exact point Millie had been trying to make to me for so long. Here I was, enjoying a baseball game on a gorgeous spring day with a welcoming group of interesting, friendly people. It was like having an actual social life outside of a hookup app or a quick dinner with a coworker on an overnight trip.
I pulled out my phone to text my sister.
Jack: I’m at a Cubs game with Teo’s friends. You were right. I’ve been missing out on having fun.
Millie: I’m sorry, who’s this? I know it’s not my ungrateful, know-it-all brother.
Jack: No, it’s your reformed, you-told-me-so brother.
Millie: Send me pics of Kris Bryant and use your zoom lens.
I laughed and moved to the front of the box to see if the third baseman was visible. He wasn’t.
Jack: Cubs at bat. Gimme a little while.
Millie: Mom is super excited to meet Teo.
I did a double take on the text before frantically typing back.
Jack: What?! How does she know anything about Teo? You said if I agreed to bring him, you wouldn’t tell her.
Millie: I lied. You haven’t dated anyone since Ty. It was too good to keep to myself.
I looked up at Teo, who was in an animated conversation with his friend Hannah about her recent pet-sitting gig. He was so happy and alive. I’d forgotten what it was like to be somewhere with the person you were dating and be able to look across the crowd at them and feel that special something. It was like… like you had intimate knowledge of them and access to them in a way no one else in the room did. That feeling was like a warm little hearth fire in my chest, a feeling I hadn’t had in years and didn’t realize I was missing.
Teo caught my eye and stopped talking for a minute before lifting an eyebrow in an unspoken Are you okay? question. I smiled and winked at him before he resumed his conversation with a noticeably pinker face and neck. The hand that wasn’t holding his beer flapped along with whatever he was saying to Hannah.
My stomach twisted again. He was such a good man. A sweet human being. He deserved the best. I looked at the back of Chris’s head where he sat blatantly ignoring his chatty date. He certainly wasn’t the best, and he for damned sure wasn’t good enough for Teo Parisi.
I gritted my teeth. It was none of my fucking business.
But, god. I was starting to want it to be my business. And that was bad. The man was in love with someone else. It didn’t matter if I wanted him. He wanted Chris.
And I’d promised to help Teo get him.
I wondered if it would make a difference if I chatted up Chelsea to get her attention away from Chris. Then maybe Teo could get his attention and spend some time with him.
After grabbing a couple bottles of water out of the bucket on the counter, I made my way over to the stadium seats and scooted past Chris and Chelsea to sit on Chelsea’s other side. I offered her a water.
“It’s warm out here. Nice to see spring finally springing,” I said.
“Oh thank you,” she said, taking the water and cracking it open. “Too much beer is going to go to my head, and I’m taking the LSAT in the morning.”
“Are you? I heard you talking about changing jobs, but I didn’t know you were considering law school.”
She nodded. “I’m nervous. I can’t stop thinking about it. My dad doesn’t think I’m smart enough, but I’m tired of doing the work of an attorney and getting the pay of a PA. I figured I’d give it a shot. Besides, a friend of mine got help from Legal Aid one time and I thought they were awesome. Maybe…” She looked unsure. “Maybe if I make it through and actually get the degree, I can try to work there and really help people.”
I thought back to what she’d said earlier and realized I’d totally misunderstood her complaints. I’d made assumptions based on my first impression of a bubbly, chatty woman. I was an asshole.
I reached out and put my hand on her arm before meeting her eyes. “You’re going to do great. And I think my sister knows someone at Legal Aid, so let me get your number in case I can help at all.”
After exchanging numbers, we continued to chat for a while about my experience moving to the Chicago area and what I liked and didn’t like about it so far. I explained that I’d rented an apartment in an old house by McKinley Park and I enjoyed being able to run in the park and hop on the Orange Line to get to the airport or downtown Chicago.
“I live almost exactly halfway between the two,” I said. “Twenty minutes west is Midway, and thirty minutes east is every restaurant, theater, and shop I could ever want. It’s perfect.”
“Maybe that’s what I need,” she said. “Someplace with a little bit of both. I wonder if I could come see where you live and check it out sometime?” she asked with a smile. “You could show off the park, or maybe we could go running together.”