Lindsay started making a gagging sound. “Ew. Don’t even talk about that. The thought of you showing anyone anything like that makes me wanna puke.”
I burst out laughing. It was almost too easy to get Lindsay riled up.
“So really, that’s the best you’ve got? Nina Randolph is the only girl who ever turned you down?” she said, turning on the water to rinse the dishes. I leaned against the counter next to her and ran a hand down my face, not sure I wanted to tell her any more.
“Well . . . I was turned down one other time.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“It was kind of recent, actually.”
Lindsay looked up at me with surprise on her face. “Are you kidding?”
I shook my head. “I wish I were. Apparently I misread some signals.”
Lindsay stopped what she was doing and turned her whole body to face me. “Who was it?”
I paused. I didn’t really want to tell her, but I knew she would get it out of me anyway. I looked at the floor, suddenly feeling sheepish. “Addison Bryant.”
“Jason!” Lindsay chastised. “Did you ask her out during the playdate you had with her kid?”
I groaned. “Not during.”
“Ohmygod, Jason!” she said, throwing a towel at me. “So now she thinks you used her kid to get to her!”
My head whipped up to look at her. “That’s not how it happened! I didn’t even know she was hot until they showed up!”
“You did not just say that,” Lindsay said with a smirk.
I smirked back. “What? So she’s hot. So what?”
Lindsay rolled her eyes and sighed. “You’re a pig. So, fine. Then what happened?”
“I don’t really know,” I said thinking back to the whole day. “We were talking and having a great time. She batted her eyelashes at me,” I said, turning toward Lindsay. “I swear she batted her eyelashes at me!”
Lindsay turned the water off and grabbed a fresh towel to wipe off her hands, turning all her attention on me.
“Go on.”
“I don’t know. I just . . . when I told her I’d like to take her to dinner, she just got stiff and couldn’t look at me and just kept saying, ‘no . . . just . . . no’ and took off in her car without any explanation.”
She threw the towel on the counter and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Jay, I love you. But you are an idiot.”
I snorted as she continued.
“Her husband died six months ago. Six months. That’s not a whole lot of time to grieve over someone you spent several years building a life and family with. Think about how long it took your mom to get over your dad.”
“I thought about that while we were taking the tour,” I said, shifting my feet. “But I swear I was getting this vibe that she was as interested in me as I was in her.” I ran my hand down my face again. “I don’t know. Now I’m worried about exactly what you said . . . that she’ll think I’m using Jaxon to get to her. And that’s not true. I really like the kid.”
Lindsay’s lips quirked up in a small smile. “He’s a really special kid.”
“Yeah, he is.”
“So call her and ask if Jaxon can come over and play.”
I threw my head back and roared with laughter at her use of words.
“I’m serious. Show her that even though you are interested in her, you wanna be Jaxon’s buddy, too.”
I looked up at her. “We have another home game in a couple weeks. He had such a good time on the tour, I was thinking of inviting them to come to the game. Meet all my teammates and see what I do.”
“And not ask his mom out again.”
I wish I could say that didn’t disappoint me, because it did. I liked Addison and wanted to get to know her better. She was nice and funny and really cute when she got nervous. I was secretly hoping Lindsay could give me some advice on how to get her to go out with me, not just tell me to back off. But she was right. It had only been six months since her husband died. I guess she just wasn’t ready yet.
“Yeah, you’re right,” I said reluctantly.
“What’s she right about this time?” Sam asked, walking in and grabbing a glass from the cabinet.
“Pfftt, what am I not right about?” Lindsay asked, putting her arms around Sam and pulling him in for a hug. As I watched them interact, for the first time I started wondering what that would be like. Not to just hang out with someone, but to build a life with someone. I knew I wanted that someday, but I wasn’t gonna go looking for the woman of my dreams in the middle of my career.
But I couldn’t stop wondering if that perfect woman had just fallen into my lap. From a distance, there wasn’t really anything that different or unique about Addison. But our connection felt different. The comfortable way we could interact felt different. If she was my perfect woman, what do I do now?