Wild Pitch

After Gray sent the text message, she went a little bit into panic mode. When was the last time she had brought a guy to a family function? Not that this was any sort of romantic thing, but she knew her family would speculate – especially her mother’s side of the family, which is exactly who they were going to see.

Trying to figure out just exactly what she had been thinking when she invited Camden to come with her, she called Joie.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“You’re coming tonight, right?”

“Of course. Why?”

Gray covered her face with her hand. “Camden called me because he got banned from today’s game. He was looking for something to do, so I told him to come over here and I’d take him to the family thing.”

“Wow, Gray. You’re in rescue mode, aren’t you?”

“What are you talking about?”

Joie sighed. “This is so like you. If we were in a bigger house and the lease allowed for it, I know there’d be dogs and cats and all sorts of strays all over the place. Every time you meet a guy who is in some sort of transitional stage, you want to fix him. Which is all fine and dandy until he gets back to normal and wants to go see what else he can find.”

“This isn’t like that,” Gray argued. “Camden just –”

“Just got dumped, his fiancée is dating an ex-teammate and is pregnant with that guy’s baby. He’s back home but he’s been gone long enough that he needs to settle back in. Lord only knows what else he has going on.”

“I can’t uninvite him now. He’s already on his way.”

“You can be his friend, Gray, but if you weren’t already a little bit into him, you wouldn’t be so worried about this. You know how fast you can fall for someone. Be his friend, but just watch yourself.”

“You’re right. I will. This is why I keep you around.”

“That and half the rent,” Joie teased. “I’ve got a short training session, then I’ll head over to Grandma and Grandpa’s.”

“See you there.”

Gray set the phone down and let out a breath. Joie was right; she had to keep her guard up. Camden was a mess right now; she wasn’t in such a bad place but she didn’t need another heartache.

“Just friends,” she repeated to herself over and over as she curled her hair and applied some light makeup. She had just pulled on a pair of jean shorts and a Grays t-shirt when the knock on the door broke her from her reverie.

“Hey,” Camden smiled, standing on the front porch. “You give good directions.”

“Glad you found it okay,” Gray returned. “Come on in.”

He stepped in and noticed how neat the place was. Everything had a nook or cubby it belonged in, and Camden almost felt like he needed to slip off his sneakers before he went any further. Gray noticed him observing the place and chuckled.

“Joie is the organizer,” she commented. “I just make sure everything goes back where she had it.”

“I’m impressed. Of course, you’re talking to the guy who lived by himself for three or four years before moving back home. Never been much of a neat freak.”

“Trust me, if it wasn’t for Joie, the place wouldn’t look half as good as it does. I’ve got to put together a couple things to take over to my grandparents’ house. Do you want to sit in the kitchen with me?”

“Sure,” Camden agreed. He followed her into the kitchen and took a seat at the bar. He watched her carefully as she filled a pot with water before setting it on the stove to boil. She pulled two boxes from the cupboard before opening another door and pulling down a mixing bowl. “Quite the cook, are you?”

“Hardly,” Gray snorted. “If it comes with directions, I’m not so bad. I couldn’t ever whip something up from scratch though.”

“What are you making today?”

“Pasta salad and cupcakes. Both come from a box and have very precise directions, which means it’s difficult to screw it up.”

“Are you going to let me lick the bowl?” Camden asked, a mischievous grin in his face.

Gray looked at him suspiciously; was he flirting? She had to avoid that – at all costs. “What did your parents say about Elizabeth?”

Camden’s face fell immediately. “My dad took it as an it-is-what-it-is kind of thing. My mother, however, informed me that she never liked Elizabeth much and implied that I should have known better.”

Gray found a two mixing spoons, one for each cooking project, and nodded. “Moms have a tendency to know, I suppose. You don’t seem too torn up about it, honestly.”

“I guess I sort of saw a break-up coming. Nothing like what’s actually happening – the parts about Marc still seem surreal. After that last fight though, I knew something drastic was going to happen. I don’t know – I’m the kind of person who, if a girl doesn’t want to be with me, why would I want to be with her?”

“The timing of it is really horrible. I mean, I guess I can understand wanting to tell you in person, but she really could have picked a better venue – and when her new guy wasn’t around.”

Thinking about it infuriated Camden all over again, and he took his own chance to change the subject. “What about you, Gray? Your fascination with baseball, I would have figured you’d be attached to some hotshot pitcher or something. Maybe even a major league player.”

Gray chuckled and shook her head. “No. Never had much luck on the dating scene. Bad taste, I suppose.” She thought of Joie’s earlier comments and added, “Or maybe bad timing.”

Camden didn’t say anything more as she fixed cupcake papers into the pan and poured the batter carefully in each one. The water on the stove boiled over, so she finished with the cupcakes and slid the pan into the oven before adding the pasta to the boiling water. He hadn’t explained very well why he wasn’t more torn up over losing Elizabeth and over the things she had done. Maybe because he didn’t know very well either. Maybe since learning of his mother’s terminal illness, he was learning to take things in stride – he was learning the things that really deserved his time and emotion, and the things that didn’t.

When the pasta was done cooking, Gray drained it out in the sink, then put it in a bowl to cool before mixing the rest of it together. Just about that time, the timer went off for the cupcakes, so Gray found a cooling rack for the pans. She set them on the counter, then went about finding a lid for the pasta salad container. While Camden watched her, he wondered what it was that was keeping him from telling her just what he was thinking. Maybe he didn’t want to put anything else on her plate until he knew they were really going to be friends.

“You doing all right over there?” Gray asked.

Camden snapped out his thoughts. “Yeah, sorry. Do you need help with anything?”

Gray shook her head. “Not until those cupcakes cool. You can help me frost them, if you want.”

“Do I get to eat one if I help with that?”

Gray laughed. “Not until you’ve had supper, young man.”

Camden pretended to pout while she put the pasta salad in the refrigerator. Another petite brunette came through the front door; she looked similar to Gray but Camden didn’t think the girl was a sister.

“Hi,” the other girl greeted. “I’m Gray’s cousin, Joie.”

Camden shook her hand. “Camden Attwater. Nice to meet you.”

“I didn’t think you’d be home before we left,” Gray commented. “Training session got cut short?”

“Something like that.”

Gray rolled her eyes; she knew Joie well enough to know what was really going on. She excused herself from the kitchen after warning Camden that all those cupcakes better be there when she got back and followed Joie to her bedroom.

“I have things under control here, you know,” Gray told her.

Joie gave her a pointed look. “Yeah, right. I saw the look on your face and his, Gray. You’re both in trouble here.”

“Don’t ruin this for me. I like hanging out with him – don’t look at me like that!” Gray slumped to the bed. All it had taken was the one knowing look from her cousin to defeat her. “I really hate that you know me so well sometimes. It’s not like I’m in love with him or anything, it’s just like … a little, teeny, tiny spark of something.”

Joie sat next to her cousin. “I’m not saying that you two wouldn’t be good together, you know? I’m just saying I want you to be really careful. God forbid you end up being his rebound.”

Gray nodded. “I’ll be careful. But you have to promise not to mother me about this.”

Joie chuckled. “I’ll do my best. Now get out of here so I can get cleaned up before we go.”
Gray stopped just before the door. “Please tell me you’re not riding with us.”

“It’ll save on gas,” Joie smiled.

“No, you just want to chaperone,” Gray said, rolling her eyes. She returned to the kitchen to catch Camden removing the wrapper from an unfrosted cupcake. “Camden Attwater! Put that cupcake down.”

Like a little kid literally caught with their hand in the cookie jar, Camden turned slowly and with a mischievous look on his face. He backed into a corner of the kitchen to try and get away from her and took a large bite.

“Gray, these are amazing!” he exclaimed. “You must have followed that recipe just perfectly because, let me tell you, this is making not being allowed to play today totally worth it. And there’s not even frosting on it yet!”

“Oh you want frosting?” Gray asked sweetly, getting a spoon and the can of frosting. “Let me help you with that.”

“No, Gray,” Camden warned. “Don’t you dare. Look, I’m putting the cupcake down.”
Gray scooped out a spoonful of the frosting and flung it at him. It landed square across his face. Camden’s jaw dropped a little bit; he couldn’t believe she would actually do that. He took off the Grays cap he was wearing and tossed it into the other room – this was about to get messy.

He picked up the cupcake again, tore off a piece and proceeded to smash it into her hair. Gray gasped and squeezed her eyes shut.

“You did not just do that.”

“Oh, I think I did,” Camden laughed. “We’re even now.”

Gray shook her head. “Not even close.”

By the time Joie was out of the shower and dressed, she stepped into a fierce food fight in the kitchen. Cupcake pieces were smeared everywhere – including all over Gray and Camden – as well as large clumps and smears of frosting. A box of cereal was open on the counter, and Joie could see the cereal pieces here and there between the cupcake and frosting smears.

“What are you two doing?” she exclaimed.

Camden froze in place with his hand, full of frosting, on Gray’s cheek. Gray had a fistful of cereal, ready to throw at Camden. She too froze and turned with a sweet smile to look at her cousin.

“Nothing?” Gray replied, her answer sounding every bit like a question.

Camden cleared his throat, slowly moving his hand away from Gray’s face so the frosting still smeared across her cheek. She glared at him but dropped the handful of cereal in the trash.

“Looks like we’re going to be a little late,” Joie muttered. “You two are a mess.”

“I’m going to get in the shower real quick,” Gray said, trying to stifle a laugh. “Then I’ll get this cleaned up.”

Joie held up a hand. “Just clean yourself up. I’ll take care of the kitchen.”

Gray couldn’t even make eye contact with Joie on the way to the shower. She knew her cousin’s eyes would be full of ‘Do you see now what I’m talking about?’ and she didn’t need to see it. Joie just shook her head and tried to decide where to start the clean-up.

“Please, let me help,” Camden said, wetting down a towel and wiping down as much as he could find. “I started it. I tried to sneak a cupcake.”

Joie felt a little bit of the tension leave her. “Gray is pretty particular when it comes to her food. She doesn’t like to share until she has to. You’re welcome to shower here, too, you know.”

“Thanks. That’s nice of you.”

“Any friend of Gray’s is a friend of mine,” Joie replied. “We’re really close. Really close.”
“I guess that’s why I got the feeling you weren’t so sure about me being around.”

Joie stopped where she was wiping down the counter. “It’s not that, Camden. Gray and I are just really protective of each other, but not so protective of ourselves. She has a habit of finding guys who are in the middle of a messy life. They stay with her so long as they are still getting it together, but once everything is back to good, they move on to someone else. I don’t want her to get hurt again.”

Camden nodded as he wiped down the table. “That’s understandable.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t know what to say to me, either,” Joie teased.

Camden chuckled. “You’re right, I don’t really. I’m not out to hurt Gray – not even really out to start a relationship with her. Not right now. Guess none of us can predict the future. I’m just saying that even though meeting her was unexpected, I’m glad that I did and that maybe we’ll get to be friends.”

Joie went back to her cleaning. “Whatever happens, just promise me if you have any doubts at all, you won’t let it get any further than friendship.”

“I promise you that much,” Camden agreed.

By the time Gray was out of the shower and dressed, they just about had the kitchen cleaned up. She appeared back in the room and nodded approvingly.

“At least you don’t have to clean up my messes very often,” Gray smiled.

“Seriously,” Joie replied, rolling her eyes. “I told Camden he could shower here.”

“Sure,” Gray replied, wondering why she hadn’t thought to offer. “I’ve got some baseball t-shirts that are pretty oversized for me but might fit you.”

“It’s all right,” Camden assured her. “I’ve got a change of clothes in the truck. I’ll go get that and be ready to go here quick.”

Gray waited for him to get the things from his truck, then waited for the shower to start. She picked up a rag to help Joie clean.

“What did you say to him, Joie?”

Joie shrugged. “Nothing. We were just talking about how close you and I are.”

“Right.”

“Seriously,” Joie insisted. “Don’t worry about it. You’re not going to leave your hair like that, are you?”

Gray frowned. “What’s wrong with my hair?”

Joie laughed. “Nothing. It looks fine, really. Do you have some back up dessert option since your cupcakes are now all in the trash in bits and pieces?”

“Not really. Guess we’ll have to stop at the bakery on the way.”



Camden insisted on paying for the backup cupcakes at the bakery. Gray argued, but only for a little bit – they were almost forty-five minutes late and she was going to have some explaining to do. Sure enough, her grandfather was sitting on the front porch when they arrived. Joie greeted him with a quick kiss, then went inside to greet the rest of the family.

“Gray,” Joe McCarthy smiled. He happily accepted the hug his granddaughter offered, then eyed the stranger with her carefully. “Who is this young man?”

“Grandpa Joe, this is Camden Attwater. Camden, this is my Grandpa Joe.”

Camden reached out to shake his hand. “Good to meet you, sir.”

Joe shook his hand but eyed him suspiciously. “You’re that new outfielder, aren’t you?”

“That’s me,” Camden chuckled.

“Interesting start to the season. About as interesting as Gray’s adventures a couple days ago.”

“All right,” Gray interjected, successfully cutting off any mentions of her arrest a couple of nights ago. “We better get inside. I’m sure Joie is regaling everyone with that tale already, anyway.”

Camden followed her into the house, noticing that Joe got up and followed them in as well. A myriad of family members were spread throughout the house. After setting the cupcakes and pasta salad down in the kitchen, Gray took him through and introduced him to everyone.

“I promise, there won’t be a quiz,” she chuckled when he started to look overwhelmed. “But be happy this is my dad’s family. My mom’s family is at least twice as many people.”

Camden’s eyes grew even more. Gray laughed again and took his hand to lead him back to the kitchen. Some people were already filling their plates; that’s when Gray’s parents came in from the backyard. They hugged their daughter eagerly.

“I hear you’ve been in a little bit of trouble, missy,” her mother said.

Gray blushed slightly. “Yes, well, it was that hothead gene acting up again.”

“She was sticking up for me,” Camden piped up. He extended his arm and shook hands with both of her parents. “I’m Camden Attwater.”

“Nicole to meet you. I’m Bill Attwater, and this is my wife, Paula.”

“Gray didn’t mention you were coming,” Paula noted.

“It was a last-minute thing,” Gray said. “Are you hungry, Camden?”

He accepted the plate she offered him and smiled at her parents. They were both dying to ask her about the young man who came with her to the family dinner, that was easy to see. Gray was avoiding answering those questions whatever the cost.

As they sat down to eat, Camden was suddenly barraged with a myriad of questions about his career, the team, and even some of his major league favorites. To his surprise, though, Joe Attwater remained quiet.

After eating, Gray helped clean up the kitchen with her mother and Joie. Joe and Bill ushered him out to the back porch and offered him a cigar.

“Thanks,” he replied, lighting it up like a pro. It made him think of the many night before he left for Nashville that he and his father with light up a couple cigars on the front porch of his house and just watch traffic go by. Since his mother had been sick though, there hadn’t been much of a chance for that.

Joe was the first to speak. “So I guess we should have figured Gray would find herself a ball player one of these days.”

Camden smiled. “It’s not like that. I just met her the other night; strictly a friends thing.”
“That must be Joie’s input,” Bill replied with a teasing glint in his eye. “Those girls are so protective of each other.”

“You know them well,” Camden chuckled. “I got a good talking-to from Joie before we came over here. It’s not just that though – Gray and I don’t really know each other very well. I’m just getting out of an engagement, too.”

Joe and Bill exchanged glances; Camden got the feeling they knew something he didn’t. His feeling was right, but he wouldn’t find out until a couple of years later just what that something was. For now, he continued to enjoy his cigar as the subject changed away from Gray and back to baseball.



It was not long after dark that they returned to Gray and Joie’s house. Joie excused herself inside to work on a training routine for the next day, leaving Gray and Camden to stand at the porch and say their goodnight’s.

“Thanks for taking me with you,” Camden smiled. “Your family is great. I hope you’ll take me again sometime.”

Gray smiled back. “Yeah, that would be nice.”

“So, I’ll be on the road for a while,” he informed her.

“I know,” Gray nodded. “Travel safe. Don’t start any fights.”

He laughed. “Yeah, well, you stay out of trouble, too. I won’t be here to bail you out.”

“Funny,” Gray returned. “Maybe I’ll see you when you get back?”

“You will.”

Camden looked at her smile and had the sudden urge to kiss her. It wasn’t her long, dark brown hair or her green-hazel eyes. It wasn’t the cupcake fight earlier in the kitchen. It was the fact that he knew he could tell her anything, and she wouldn’t be any less than understanding and compassionate. Joie’s earlier words ran through his mind though, and that stopped him.

“Good night, Gray,” he said, allowing himself only a friendly kiss on her cheek.

“Night, Camden.”

He turned to go but only made it a few steps to his truck before turning around. “I’m a mess, Gray.”

She had just opened the screen door to the house and turned on her heel to face him again. “What?”

“I’m a mess. Not just because of what happened with Elizabeth, either. That much I honestly don’t really care much about, and it’s because of my mom. She’s sick – real sick. The doctors are giving her months, at best. I’ve learned what matters and what doesn’t. A fiancée who cheats on me with a teammate and doesn’t tell me about it for months – that’s not worth the emotional breakdown. Having a friend like you who gets baseball and is supportive enough to take me to a family dinner when I need to get out of my head even though she barely knows me and who will just listen when I need to talk, that matters. I’m not going to pretend like in the last couple of days there hasn’t been something in me that wants desperately to maybe see if this could be more than a friendship. You’re beautiful and – well, I already said some of the other things I like about you. The things that matter. But I don’t need a girlfriend right now, I need a friend. Mixing the two would just be a mistake, I think.”

Gray’s face was calm as she kicked at the cement. “So I guess now I know what you and Joie talked about while I was in the shower.”

“Yeah, she told me about your other boyfriends. I don’t want to be that to you. I know you enough and you matter enough already that I know I don’t want to be one to use you up and then leave you. I don’t know if we were even headed in that direction, but I think there was some potential there. It’s just not a good time, and I think getting this out in the open now is the best.”

“Of course,” she replied, her half-smile betraying some of the hurt she felt. “Joie’s right and you’re right. It’s better to just be friends. Thanks for being honest and getting it all out there, I guess.”

“So you’re not upset?”

“Why would I be upset,” she returned, although it didn’t really sound like a question. “I better get inside before Joie thinks we’re up to something not allowed. Be safe on the road, Camden.”

With that, Gray walked away from him and back into the house. Camden’s shoulders fell. He hadn’t said that as well as he thought he could, at all. He felt, though, that he would hurt her either way. A little bit of hurt nipping it all in the bud was better than completely breaking her heart later on. That’s what he told himself as he pulled out of the driveway and navigated back home.