She turned her attention to preparing her own fajitas and tried to distract herself from her inappropriate reactions to him. Maybe being so domestic with him and Katie wasn’t such a wise thing to do if she wanted to maintain her professional distance.
Which, of course, she did, she told herself.
“Are you looking forward to going to Philadelphia, Katie?” she asked.
Will was about to depart on a twelve-day road trip. Because he would be gone so long, he’d arranged for Gareth to fly with Katie out to Philadelphia during their three-game series there.
Katie nodded.
“I’ve never been there,” Jasmine said. “I’m sure you’ll have tons of fun.”
When Katie signed something, Jasmine looked to Will to interpret. She’d been trying to learn some basic signs, but she didn’t know many yet.
“She says you should come,” Will answered. To Katie, he said, “Jasmine has another job, kiddo. You’ll see her when you get back.”
Katie signed something else.
“What did she say?” Jasmine asked when Will didn’t immediately interpret for her.
“She wants you to see me play,” he replied, his attention on loading up his tortillas. “Jasmine has more important things to do with her time,” he said to Katie.
“I’ve seen your dad play many times,” Jasmine told Katie. “We put his games on the TV at the bar, and I went to a game with my sister and our friends earlier this week. Maybe once you’re back in town, we can go to a game together.”
Katie smiled and nodded.
Jasmine exchanged a look with Will. She read in his expression that she had not only surprised him with her admission, she’d pleased him. Her face grew uncomfortably warm under his scrutiny.
His slow smile told her he noticed. “These are delicious,” he said, lifting his fajita to take another bite. “Definitely much better than your sidewalk chalk art.”
She lifted her chin as though he had insulted her. In truth, she was relieved he’d let the other topic drop. She wasn’t sure what she’d say if he asked whether she’d always been such a baseball fan or if her passion for it had developed more recently.
Because of him.
“That sounds like a challenge,” she said, “What do you think, Katie? Should we have a chalk draw-off after dinner so we girls can crush your dad’s ego with our talent?”
As she nodded, Katie let out a little sound. Both Jasmine and Will stopped in mid-chew.
Had that been a giggle?
Jasmine met Will’s gaze. She saw his disbelief and towering hope. Knowing that acting strangely or commenting on it could ruin whatever progress they’d just made, she swallowed the bite of fajita in her mouth, put on her competitive game face, and did her best to pretend she hadn’t heard it.
“That’s it, Campbell. Your fate is sealed.”
It took Will another long moment to say, “I look forward to it.”
Something in the softer tone of his voice told Jasmine there was more he wasn’t saying. It had her heart stuttering.
She once again asked herself what she was doing. By blurring the line between her professional and personal relationships with Will and Katie, she was only going to make it harder on them when she fully transitioned into her dance career. The last thing she wanted to do was break their hearts.
You’re helping Katie, she reminded herself. You’re doing what you can to boost her emotional and mental well-being in addition to helping her learn a new skill. You’re just being a good teacher.
But when she saw the banked heat in Will’s gaze the next time their eyes met, she knew she was deluding herself if she thought he and Katie were the only ones likely to get their hearts broken when things between them inevitably came to an end.
Chapter Thirteen
Ten days into the team’s twelve-day road trip, Will sat in an uncomfortable metal folding chair in the Arizona bullpen. As usual, he’d set up his chair away from the majority of his fellow relief pitchers, most of whom only gave the game minimal attention. There were several conversations going on that had nothing to do with baseball, as well as a game of quarters in one unused corner of the pen. Because Cole Parker was the starting pitcher, most of the guys knew they wouldn’t be needed that evening.
Will, on the other hand, always assumed he might be entering the game. He sat with a pair of binoculars, a notepad, and a pencil, using them to watch and document Cole’s pitching strategy against each of the opposing hitters.