“You, too!”
“And this guy, with his arm around Gen like he thinks somebody’s gonna snatch her in broad daylight, is my brother Gavin.”
Gavin narrowed his eyes slightly at Troy. “You never know,” he said, his voice a monotone, before turning to Alison. “Nice to meet you, ma’am.”
“Oh, wow. Ma’am. How lovely. Nice to meet you, too.”
“And finally, this one with his arm around Abby and desperately in need of a haircut, is Jett.”
Alison grinned at Troy’s final brother, sticking her hand out to shake. “Oh, Jett, I think we’ve met. I’m pretty sure your band played at a fundraiser that I also sang for. Maybe one of The Angel Network galas a few years ago?”
Jett hesitated, and Donovan piped up. “Don’t be offended if he doesn’t remember, Alison. It doesn’t have anything to do with you. Jett used to turn partying into a science.”
Jett shot Donovan a dirty look, but one that was tinged with amusement. “Hey, at least I never got married when I was drunk.”
Gavin snorted. “As far as you know.”
“Okay!” Troy cut in, clearly making his best attempt to head off the conversation before it went any further down the road it was traveling. “Pretty sure it’s time to start the game. Let’s get going.”
The others started off toward the team’s dugout, but Troy placed a hand on her arm, holding her back. He leaned down toward her, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “That went pretty smooth.”
“Yeah,” she agreed. “I didn’t even need to be tough. They focused on ribbing each other, not me.”
“It’s a good sign. I think it means they like you.”
She felt unreasonably happy at the assessment but fought to keep her outward cool. “That’s good. The feeling’s mutual.”
Troy gave her arm a squeeze. “Ready to play ball?”
She shrugged. “To say ‘ready’ would be a giant overstatement, but what the hell. No time like the present. Let’s do this thing!”