Curveball(42)

When I walk into Luciano’s with Olivia on my arm, I see all my fraternity brothers and old team members are taking up the first and second floors of the restaurant along with some of the agents and staff from DMG, the agency I signed with last month. I signed a contract with Charlotte Coachman, a super-hot sports agent who is dating Alex Parker, one of the Philadelphia Flyers star players. She goes by the name Coach, which makes things a bit more confusing when she’s in the room with Coach Jordan.

My baseball coach and my agent are sitting next to each other at one of the many round tables scattered throughout the first floor. Coach brought Alex Parker with her, attracting a lot of attention to her table, as my friends are all hovered around him.

Photographers snap our pictures as we make our way through the crowded restaurant. Since today is draft day, local news outlets are here to film my reaction to the announcement. I keep my fingers crossed the Phillies pick me, but I am up against some stiff competition this year.

Everyone I know has come to hopefully celebrate this day with me. Sammy and my mother are at their own table with some of our relatives who started to acknowledge us after I was able to convince my mother to enter a detox program.

My accident had been a wake-up call for my mother, and between Sammy and me begging her to get help, she’d eventually agreed to enter treatment.

Without my supplemental income and with no car, I had no way to support them. We were living off whatever I had left in savings until I was healed and able to get an office job in the city. I never imagined myself working in a law firm and preparing legal briefs even though I chose law as my major. But I only went that route, so I could bullshit with Luca and Hunter during class.

“Look at all these people who are here for you, baby,” Olivia says to me, her eyes wide with surprise. “You deserve it. After all the work you put in…”

She still takes my breath away, giving me the same giddy feeling I had in the beginning of our relationship every time I lay eyes on her. I fell in love with my professor of all people. I never thought I was capable of loving a woman until I met Olivia. If all goes well tonight and I get that payday I have been hoping for, I plan to ask her to marry me.

I lean down to kiss her forehead, and she peeks up at me beneath her brows, smiling.

“If I didn’t have you through all the bad times, I’m not so sure we would be here right now.”

“You had a few rough months after the accident, but look at how far you’ve come since then.”

“It was all because of you. You always believed in me, even when I thought I was worthless.” Steering Olivia toward the family tables, I hold her tight against my side. “I’m never letting you go, you know that?”

“You’d better not,” she shoots back. “If you get famous and leave me behind, I will hunt you down and beat the shit out of you.”

I laugh. “I’d like to see you try, Teach.”

She playfully smacks me on the arm. “Call me that again, and you’re going to have to excuse yourself and follow me into the restroom.”

“Don’t say shit like that right now, woman. Between all the excitement and your tits in that dress, I’m having a hard time not getting hard.”

Olivia just shakes her head and laughs to herself.

When we approach the middle of the restaurant, where I find all my close friends and family, Luca’s eyes light up. He’s been there through some of the darkest hours with my mother and me, he’s helped me support my family when I had nowhere else to turn, and he’s always been the brother I wished I’d had.

He cups his hands around his mouth to yell, “Mark is here. They’re announcing the draft in five minutes. Get ready!”

Luca’s entire family gathers at the tables across from my family, some of them mixing and mingling with mine. He has a huge Italian family that likes to talk and eat. And they love to kiss. A lot. So, when I approach the table, they assault my cheeks, about ten different people kissing me in a row. They do the same to Olivia, who I can tell is taken a bit off guard by having everyone in the Marchese family kiss her.

After Luca kisses Olivia and welcomes her, he clamps his hand down on my shoulder. “Are you nervous, bro? This is a big night for you, for all of us.”

“A little bit. Where’s Hunter?”

“He got stuck in the airport on a layover from Cali, now that he’s a hotshot playing for the Niners. I doubt he’ll make it on time for the announcement, but we’ll make up for it later.” Luca motions for the waitress with his hand.

She hands each of us a beer from the tray and walks away.

Luca holds his glass out for us to toast, and all of us tap our drinks together with a loud clink. “They would be stupid to pick Clemson over you, bro. You got this.”

“Thanks, Luc,” I say with a tiny smile. I’m afraid though that everyone has gathered here tonight for no reason.

What if the Phillies pick another pitcher?

Sammy comes darting through the crowd in a pale pink dress with her hair pulled into a ponytail on top of her head. She crashes into my chest and wraps her arms around me.

“I missed you,” she mutters against my shirt.

“I missed you, too, kid.” I kiss her hair, and she hugs me tighter. “Sorry I haven’t been around as much.”

She takes a step back, releasing me from her iron grip. “At least Mom is better, now that you fixed her. She brings food home from work a lot, and sometimes, she even surprises me with the apple pie I like from the diner.”