“Would you send your sister to us?” Jamie asked.
“Bien sûr.” Didier winked at him.
She shook her head. “You’re joking, right? This is a crazy idea.” She studied Jamie, blinking when she saw his seriousness. “You aren’t joking.”
“Breathe, darling.” He lifted her hand and kissed it. “Would it be so bad to go into business with me? Look at it like it’s your promotion. You can even pick your own title.”
“This isn’t a joking matter,” she said in a low voice, leaning in.
“I’m not joking, love.” All the masks fell away from his expression and his hand tightened on hers. “I’ve been thinking about asking you what you thought about the idea for a number of days now.”
“You mean it,” she whispered in wonder and, truthfully, shock.
His face shuttered just a little. “I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t mean it.”
“No, that’s not what I meant. It’s not because I’m reticent. I’m just shocked you’d want me.” She clutched his hand, hoping to press into him how she really felt. She’d craved something like this. She could make the money she wanted—and deserved. She knew he wouldn’t quibble on salary like TMI always did, squeezing blood from a turnip, her being the turnip. Plus, she’d be working withhim. After not working with good teammates, as he would say, she couldn’t begin to imagine how wonderful it’d be to work alongside him.
“We need to work on you not selling yourself short, love.” His brow furrowed. “This is important to me. I’ve been numb for so long, allowing life to happen to me because it was easier than caring, but I don’t want to be numb anymore. I want to feel.” He hugged her hand to his chest. “Since I’ve come here, everything’s changed.”
She always believed one word could change everything, but she remembered putting her feet in the fountain and how that man had followed her lead, and now she knew that one action could change everything too. She got that he was implying it was because of her, and she shook her head. “Everything’s changed because you wanted it to.”
He conceded with a tilt of his chin. “Which is why I came to Chicago, because I was done going on the way I had been. It feels good too.”
“So…?” She looked at him askance.
“So think about it.” He kissed her hand. “But if you decide it isn’t your path, then it isn’t your path.”
“It is her path,” Didier said, his eyes on the field.
They both looked over at the Frenchman.
He must have felt it because he shrugged. “It is obvious,non?”
She spent the next couple innings going back and forth about working with Jamie. How wonderful would that be? Or would it be a disaster? She tried to picture working with Kevin and nearly threw up in her mouth at the mere thought.
But Jamie wasnothinglike Kevin. To even mention them in the same thought was sacrilegious.
Actually, she was going to stop thinking about Kevin, period.
She was patting herself on the back for her smarts when Jamie beeped.
She glanced at him. “Are you making noise?”
“My mobile is.” He shook his head apologetically. “I have it set to ring only if it’s certain people. Do you mind?”
“Of course not.” She watched as he pulled out his phone and checked it. A soft smile curved his lips, telling her it was someone he cared about.
He typed in a quick message back, silenced it completely, and put it away. “My mum. She said hello to you.”
Rachel blinked. “She knows about me?”
“Of course.” He looked amused by her surprise. He put his arm around her shoulders like it was the most natural thing in the world. “She wants to meet you, of course.”
“What did you tell her about me?”
“I didn’t have to tell her anything. I sent her a picture I took.” He ran his fingers along her shoulder, to her neck and back. It made delicious little goose bumps rise on her skin. “She knew right away from the photo that you were special.”
“How?”