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cutting through my thoughts.
    “Thanks.”
    “Your number has always been eleven. Is there a reason for that?”
    Her question surprised me. She’d clearly done her research. Yeah, the number had significance, but only a few people knew about it. I certainly wasn’t going to share it with the whole school. “Nope,” I lied. “Just like the number.”
    “I noticed you get really in the zone when you’re out there,” she observed.
    I nodded, unsure of what to say. It didn’t really seem like a question.
    “There was only one time where you even seemed to notice the crowd.”
    My stomach knotted. Did she see me looking when she fell?
    “It was in between innings when you smiled at the older couple sitting in front of me. Are they relatives of yours?”
    I raised a brow, surprised by the personal question. What did my grandparents have to do with baseball? But I decided to answer anyway. What could it hurt? “Yeah. They’re my grandparents.”
    “Do they come to your games often?”
    “Almost every single one.” I smiled.
    “Really?”
    “Yeah. My grandpa used to play ball when he was younger. They enjoy coming to the games.”
    “Is he the reason you love baseball?”
    I shook my head. “Um…no. Not really.” Holding my breath, I prayed she wouldn’t continue to pry.
    “So it was just your parents who encouraged you to play then?”
    I was grateful that she worded it that way. All I had to do was nod.
    “Were they here today? I didn’t see your grandparents talking with anyone else.”
    “Um…” I scratched the back of my neck, finding it difficult to draw breath. “No, they weren’t.”
    “Oh.” She opened her mouth like she was going to ask another question, and panic bloomed inside of me.
    “Look, it’s really hot, and I’ve been out here since early this morning. Can we try to wrap this up?”
    She reeled back, looking stricken.
    “Sorry,” I muttered, wishing I hadn’t been so harsh with her. But damn it, why did she have to be so nosy about my personal life? I thought we were supposed to stick to baseball. “I’m just exhausted.”
    Her expression softened, and her shoulders relaxed. “That makes sense. You did work hard today.” She scribbled something on her pad of paper. “I actually think I have all I need in order to write the article.”
    “Okay.” I stood, relieved to be finished.
    “Thanks for letting me interview you.” She stood too. “Do you want to see a copy of the article before it goes live?”
    “Nah. I trust you.” I winked, and pink rose on her cheeks. Seriously, I needed to reign in my flirting. She was the last girl I wanted to give the wrong impression too. It was bad enough that I had Calista breathing down my neck.
    “All right. Then I guess I’ll see ya around.” Her eyes shifted nervously behind her glasses.
    “Yeah. See ya.”
    She turned to walk away, and I went in search of my bag. Knowing that the interview was over, it was like having a weight lifted off my shoulders. I hadn’t even realized how worried I was about it until now. The entire time she interviewed me it was like this ball of nerves sat right in my gut. I thought I had been irritated about it because it was a waste of time. But now I knew it was more than that. I had been worried about the questions. Concerned that she would somehow find out about my parents. And that was something I didn’t want to talk about.

CHAPTER 7
    London
     
     
    It was late Sunday afternoon when I finished writing the article. I would’ve finished it earlier, but when I came back from the game yesterday I ended up taking a nap. Normally I didn’t sleep in the middle of the day, but maybe all the heat had gotten to me. Then last night I got engrossed in my latest novel, so I didn’t start working on the article until today. Sitting at the desk in my room, I read back over it. First, I had summarized the baseball game and described Cooper’s pitching style. Then I went into some of our interview.