Somebody Like You (Starlight Hill Series Book 2) by Heatherly Bell Page A

“What happened to you after high school?”
    “I went to Chicago State. You know that.” She tossed that ponytail and stared at her smart phone.
    “Yeah. I wanted details.” A painful subject, but one they’d have to broach sooner or later if they were going to work together.
    “There’s nothing to say. I got my degree, and came back home. I don’t like winters in Chicago.” Brooke shot him a look that told him he might be swimming near a rocky shore.
    “If it will make you feel any better, you can say I told you so.” If he’d been to college instead of going straight to the minor leagues, he’d at least be a washed-up player with a college degree. Not only that, but who knew what would have happened with Brooke?
    Most of his team mates had married their college sweethearts. Would Brooke have been the one?
    “Why would I say that?” Brooke asked.
    “I should have stayed in school. You were the one who told me I should.”
    “You’re kidding, right?” She put her phone down. “You were right, and I was wrong.”
    This he had not expected. Brooke, hater of all things athletic, now believed he’d made the right choice? “No, you’ve got that backwards.”
    “I don’t think so. You’ve done pretty well for yourself. Wouldn’t you say?” She waved around the room, no doubt meaning the winery.
    “Brooke, what I made might have to last me for the rest of my life. And I’m not even thirty.” Not to mention that he couldn’t do the one thing that he still had passion to do, just because his body had given out on him. No one seemed to care about that.
    “Let’s not have this conversation.” Brooke rose, grabbing her laptop.
    He knew what this was all about. They’d had this argument a handful of times as kids. Even then, Brooke knew her own mind. And it was different than ninety-nine percent of the people he knew.
    “Let’s.” He stood up. “I’m not the one who sets the salaries. None of the players do.”
    She looked at the ground as if praying for patience. “If we paid teachers what we pay athletes, maybe we’d have the best educational system in the world. But you know how I feel about this.”
    “I do. I just wish you’d stop blaming me for the way things were set up long before I even picked up a glove and a ball.”
    “You always said that, but you were a part of the system. You accepted the status quo. All of you do.”
    “I just wanted to play ball. You of all people know that.”
    For one second it looked like she would understand. But that kind of acceptance didn’t happen in one conversation. Too many years stretched between them like a wound up coil ready to snap.
    “Say what you want, but you’ll never convince me that you’re not the luckiest man I know.”
    “I wouldn’t even try.”  He’d had a great career, been smart enough to stash away a small fortune, enjoyed a loving family’s support, and now stood in front of Brooke Miller.
    She cracked a smile. “I’m going to set up some meetings, and I’ll get back to you. We have work to do.”
    “You bet.” Maybe if he played this inning right, he’d have a second chance with Brooke.
    This time, he wouldn’t drop the ball.

Chapter 7
     
    For the first time in her life, Brooke might have too many lists. There was so much to do she didn’t even know where to begin. She’d never been a part of a venture from its inception in this way. Not that they were starting from scratch. They had rows upon rows of grapes. They needed to be harvested. Like yesterday.
    Harvest time usually began no later than late August, and they were now in early October.
    Back at her kitchen table, she tore off another piece of paper and made a list of items to be done in order of chronological importance.
Harvest.
Check on the tanks.
Apologize to Billy for being a bitch.
    Brooke tore off that piece of paper. No, she didn’t need to apologize, but dammit if Billy didn’t make her feel like she did. It was in those eyes— they said