Small-Town Sweetheart (The Spring Grove Series Book 2) Read online

  She doesn’t know that, but maybe I can show her.

  “Ready?” she calls out to me, her eyes dark and tantalizing.

  I step up to the bag and nod. She steps back, swings her arm around, and then the ball is coming toward me. It isn’t even that fast; I don’t even know what Devin is talking about. I swing, hard, and when I make contact, I want to holler in victory, but then the ball is caught.

  Right in front of Delaney’s face.

  She lowers her glove, her face filling with heat, and my hands come up, palms facing her. I did not mean to do that. “Oh shit, I’m so sorry.”

  But she looks away, her brow furrowed as her team walks with her, asking if she’s okay. She doesn’t spare me a glance, nor does anyone else, for that matter. Their only concern is her, and she’s mine too, though no one will answer me.

  When I get to the dugout, Devin shakes his head. “I said Moe, not Delaney.”

  “I caught the ball wrong.”

  He continues to shake his head as Holden comes up beside me, his eyes wide. “You’re fucked.”

  “What, why?”

  “You know she thinks you did it on purpose.”

  I shake my head violently, almost giving myself a headache. “I did not!”

  “Well, she doesn’t know that, and she isn’t going to be nice to you.”

  I try not to think too much about it. But Holden wasn’t even kidding.

  They score six runs on us, mostly because Delaney hit a home run. When she was running the bases, I tried to say sorry once more when she ran past second, but she didn’t even look at me. When it was my turn to bat, she switched hands and struck me out.

  Four times.

  It was easy to say that McElroy’s Distillery lost.

  By a lot. Zero to six, to be exact.

  I stand behind Devin as we go through the line, wishing the other team good game. I can hear Delaney’s voice travel down the row.

  “Good game, good game, good game,” she continues, but then her hand grabs mine. “Fuck you.”

  I pause, not letting her hand go, and she glares up at me. “What did you say?”

  “I said, fuck you,” she says, turning her body to me, her eyes full of fire. “You tried to kill me.”

  “I did not. I caught the ball wrong. I wouldn’t hurt you.”

  “Oh, whatever. You just feel bad, and you’re probably shocked I caught it.”

  “But I’m not. You’ve always been good. I honestly didn’t mean to do it.”

  Her brow furrows more, and her eyes are dark and threatening as she yells up at me, “Lies. You’ve been Douchey McDouche since you came back.”

  “Douchey McDouche? What the hell?” I scrunch up my face as I press my hand to my chest. “I have not.”

  “You have too. I don’t get it. I’ve always been a good friend to you, and you come back treating me like I’m the shit on your shoe.”

  “Hide the bats!” someone yells, and laughter moves around us. We don’t move, though, and our gazes stay locked. Her breathing is heavy, and mine is the same. I feel a tingle up my arm, and my heart is knocking hard in my chest. What I wouldn’t do to cover her pissed-off mouth with mine.

  I may want to kiss her. Okay, I want to a lot, but I don’t know where she is getting off. One thing is for sure. It’s pissing me off. I narrow my gaze as I shake my head. “That’s not true at all. I haven’t even said anything to you. I’ve been working on me.”

  Her gaze widens, her other hand flying up and moving between us. “Exactly. And treating me like everyone else in this town. I didn’t do anything to you. I’ve always been good to you. But man, Reed, if you’re wondering why no one likes you, look in a mirror, you assfuck.”

  “Delaney!”

  “Oh, shut it, Sister Engelmann!” she yells, and you would have thought she cussed out the Lord himself. Everyone cries out in horror, Sister Engelmann’s eyes are about to fall out of her head, but Delaney is looking at me like she wants to claw out my eyes.

  I want to kiss her.

  I glance down to where we are still holding hands. When I look back up and meet her gaze, her glare deepens. She yanks her hand from mine and stomps off the other way, ignoring everyone. I watch her, my lips pressed together, and I realize something. I hadn’t realized I had been treating her wrong, and I sure as hell don’t want her to be like everyone else in this town.

  No, I want Delaney Kate to like me.

  Chapter Eleven

  Delaney

  “He makes me spittin’ mad!”

  I toss my glove across the living room while Mawmaw lowers herself into the chair. “And why is that?”

  “He’s an asshole! You saw him try to take off my head.”

  She sets me with a look that says otherwise. “I’ve known that boy since he was a baby, and he doesn’t have a violent bone in his body. He was just as scared as you were.”

  I whip around, my eyes turning homicidal. “I wasn’t scared!”

  “Oh no, of course not,” she says offhandedly and dripping with sarcasm.

  There’s no point in arguing with her. But I wasn’t scared. I was just surprised. I know how Reed hits. He takes the ball to middle right when he’s just hitting, but when he’s placing it, he can put it anywhere. That’s why I’m so upset. He aimed right for me. What the fuck did I do to him? It doesn’t make any damn sense. He won’t talk to me, which makes work oh so much fun, and then he tried to kill me. I have always been good to him. But instead, Reed is real nice to Maren, the girl who slept with Devin the moment he left.

  That makes loads of sense.

  “He makes me crazy!”

  “Is it because you have that crush on him?”

  My eyes widen. “Mawmaw! What the hell? I don’t have a crush on him!”

  She actually rolls her eyes, kicking the Lay-Z-Boy up and reaching for her beer. “No, that wasn’t you with the journal that read, ‘Mrs. Reed McElroy. Reed and Delaney forever. I love Reed.—’”

  “Mawmaw!” I cry, and I’m met with her cackle. “The windows are open!”

  She waves me off. “No one is listening, nor do they care.”

  “Everyone cares.” I fall back onto the couch with a huff. “He’s nothing but a jackass, and I want him to leave.”

  “Well, that’s a darn lie, and you know it,” she accuses.

  I want to scream. I love this woman, she is my best friend, but right now, I want to take her knees out.

  “He didn’t mean it, sweetheart. And like always, you let that damn temper of yours out, and now you’re gonna have to apologize to Sister Engelmann.”

  I groan loudly, letting my head fall back. I close my eyes, and I want to rip off Reed’s thick, strong arm and beat him with the bloody end. He makes me crazy. I don’t hate him; I care for him, even now. But I can’t stand how he is treating me. The teasing, that’s fine. I can handle that. But the deliberate disrespect, I can’t deal with.

  “Was this town really that bad to him? I mean, I get it. They weren’t as kind to him as they were to the other three, but it wasn’t like they threw rocks at him and called him an outsider.”

  “Oh, my love, you know it’s because of that one Christmas.”

  I lift my head, looking over at her. “What Christmas?”

  “The one when Mickey Moore told Reed that Shirley wasn’t really his momma.”

  I sit up, leaning on my knees, completely confused. “Huh? I assumed he always just knew.”

  Mawmaw shakes her head, inhaling deeply and letting her breath out in a whoosh. “God bless that boy, no. Shirley and Timothy, they didn’t want him knowing. It didn’t matter because his momma had passed and all that. They thought they didn’t need to tell him, but then you know how this town talks.”

  I do, but even knowing how this story ends, my heart is in my throat, and I feel for the little boy who had his world turned upside down.

  “Reed was only ten, I think, and he had beat Mickey at a game of four square. Mickey, the little jackass