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Josie watched anxiously as the clock counted down from ten seconds and listened as her supportive audience shouted out the final seconds in unison. "10�9�8�7�" She could hardly stand it anymore. Nervously, she tucked a curly strand of her blonde hair behind her ear and in the process it momentarily got caught on one of her long fingernails. She's painted them a pale pink color to match her dress and as she glanced down at them, she had to fight the strong urge she felt to put them to her lips and bite them as hard as she could. Her heart was pounding so hard that she wanted to do anything to take her mind of it. It had become apparent to her by this time that Sam wasn't coming after all, that he didn't really love her. Why had she been so foolish to think that a kind, compassionate man such as Sam would ever fall for someone like herself�Josie Grossie? Although her brother Rob had insisted that she was no longer the awkward, shy young woman she'd been in high school, she wasn't quite as convinced herself. She still felt the same inside: scared and very much alone.
Standing there on the pitcher's mound, she caught a whiff of the hotdogs that they were grilling outside the concession stands. Her stomach growled rather intensely as she breathed in the smell. She hadn't been able to eat a thing all day for all her nervousness, and at that moment she thought that she alone could probably consume each and every hotdog that they had to offer. Of course, this was also her anxiety talking. Maybe she thought that shoving her face full of those hotdogs would somehow fill the hole that grew bigger in her heart with each passing minute.
Time had completely run out. The five minutes were up. Fighting back the tears that wanted to make their way down her cheeks, Josie let the microphone she'd been holding slip through her fingers, and it hit the ground with a dull thud. She couldn't help wincing at the echo it made. Desperately trying to save face, she forced a smile to come to her lips. Oh, well, she thought, I've been alone for twenty-five years. What's another twenty-five more? Of course, she didn't really believe that she could survive that long, not after she'd come so close to love�
After the unbearable humiliation Josie suffered following the whole egg incident with Billy Prince, she closed herself off inside, vowing that she'd never let herself be hurt that way ever again. Of course, being the hopeless romantic that she was, she couldn't exactly swear off love in all its forms. Instead, she focused her energy on writing poetry and having detached crushes on movie stars. After all, if they didn't know her and she didn't really know them, they couldn't hurt her.
When she agreed to take the undercover assignment at South Glen South, she hadn't planned on finding love. Actually, she hadn't planned on anything except writing her first undercover feature. When she first saw Sam, of course she thought he was handsome. She would have had to be blind not to notice his rugged good looks, but that wasn't what drew her to him. It was the way he treated his students like his equals and the way he seemed to understand her. She'd never felt so comfortable with another human being that wasn't her family before. Even with Anita, who was one of her best friends, she didn't always feel like they were on the same level.
None of this mattered now, of course. She'd simply have to put it all behind her. Sam wasn't coming. He didn't love her�
Sam had never driven so fast in his entire life. He found himself passing every car on the road and even pulling out in front of people. He'd never gotten a ticket, probably because he obeyed the rules of the road to the letter. Today, however, he didn't care about that. He didn't care if he ended up with one million dollars worth of tickets. He had to get to her�
Luckily, nearly every local radio station was covering the big game, mostly because of Josie's story. "Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that the place to be tonight is the high school baseball state finals, where Chicago Sun-Times reporter Josie Geller is waiting for her mystery man," a cheerful female voice exclaimed on Sam's radio. "Of course, I don't really need to go into the details, do I? We all know the story by now!"
"Damn!" Sam shouted, pounding his fist on the steering wheel. "I think everyone in Chicago must have known about this before me! Don't worry, Josie, I'm coming. Wait for me. I'm coming�"
"Well, Ms. Geller's mystery man had better show up pretty fast," the female voice continued, as if to provoke Sam. "He's got about a minute left!"
Upon hearing this, Sam accelerated, nearly rear-ending a conversion van in front of him. Glancing down at his speedometer, he saw that he was going seventy-five miles per hour and the speed limit was fifty-five. Of course, this still wasn't nearly fast enough for him.
Just when Sam thought he would lose his mind, he caught sight of the stadium. Passing the all too slow conversion van on the right, he made a hard right turn into the parking lot. Darting around the parking lot like a madman, he finally found an open space near the very back of the lot. He promptly hopped out of the car, and in his haste left the lights on and the keys in the ignition. Of course, he didn't even bother to notice this. He ran as fast as he could to the nearest door he saw, which came out at one side of the bleachers. He sprinted down the stairs and finally saw Josie standing on the pitcher's mound. She'd never looked more beautiful to him, her hair curled softly around her face and wearing a pretty pink dress. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the time on the clock had already run out, which only caused him to run faster to get to her. Finally, he reached the bottom of the bleachers and pushed the gate aside. He watched as Josie's eyes fell upon him, noticing how a smile lit up her entire face. She had been crying before, he realized when he saw a few moist spots on her cheeks. It pained him to realize that he had been the reason for her tears.
Sam wasn't entirely sure what he'd do once he reached her, but the moment he came close enough, his body completely took over. His arms found their way around her waist and pulled her close to him as his lips met hers in one graceful motion.
Josie couldn't believe this was happening. The kiss was like nothing she'd ever felt before in her entire life. She no longer heard the crowd cheering around them, and she completely forgot where they were for the moment. Her arms found their way around him and her fingers brushed against the hair at the nape of his neck. He smelled of some kind of virile cologne and the aroma completely overwhelmed her. His arms felt warm and comforting around her. As far as she was concerned, they were the only two people in the world. All that mattered was what she had once fantasized about�the only thing in focus was herself and this person: Sam.
When the kiss ended, Josie didn't know whether to laugh or cry. A few stray tears made their way down her cheeks and Sam carefully wiped them away with his hand. "Sorry I'm late," he whispered. "It took me forever to get here�" He had meant that the traffic had been awful and that he hadn't even read the article until a short while before, but as soon as the words escaped his lips, he realized the deeper meaning they held�For both of them. He'd never felt this way about anyone before, not even in the beginning with Lara. He wanted to hold on to her forever, to never let go.
"I know what you mean," Josie said, smiling at him. Gazing up at him, she noticed that his hair was a little disheveled and that his breathing was labored, as if he'd come there in a fervent rush. She loved the way he was smiling at her just then, with such an innocent, dazed look in his eyes. She wondered if she looked the same way to him. They leaned in to each other for another kiss, which lasted even longer than the first. This one continued even as the players began to rush the field. They were only interrupted when they heard the voice of Rob. He shouted, "Let's play ball!" Josie and Sam ended their second kiss then, looking toward the dugout, where Rob was standing with a megaphone. He took the megaphone down from his mouth and smiled at the two of them for a moment before raising it again and shouting, "Hey, Jos, is it okay with you if we start?"
Josie laughed with joy, nodding her head vigorously. She began to walk toward the bleachers with Sam right beside her. They had only taken a few steps when he reached for her hand, squeezing it tightly in his own. He didn't want to stop touching her, not even for a minute.
Josie caught sight of Anita, Gus, and Aldys standing on one of the lower bleachers, waiting for the two of them to come up. "Oh, I'm so happy for you!" Anita exclaimed, throwing her arms expressively around Josie, who was forced to let go of Sam's hand momentarily.
"Pam Kitterman?" Sam questioned with a wry laugh. "I should've known that you two knew each other."
"Actually, it's Anita. Yes�We do know each other. We work together," Anita told him.
"I can see that there's a lot I need to know yet, but I'm sure I'll find out soon enough." Sam grinned, obviously amused.
"Here, sit down! Enjoy the game!" Anita insisted, patting an open spot on the bleachers between herself and Aldys. Sam sat next to Anita and Josie beside him next to Aldys. Once they were seated, Sam took Josie's hand again, smiling at her. She smiled back, still not believing that all of this was actually real!
The game ended with South Glen South beating their opponents by only a few points. For a good portion of the game, both teams were neck-and-neck, which kept the excitement factor high.
Spectators from the other team left immediately following the game, but everyone else stayed around to visit with the South Glen players as well as with Josie and her "mystery man." Josie had never seen so many reporters in one area before, but she didn't feel the least bit nervous about talking to them. She really wasn't Josie Grossie anymore and with Sam by her side, she felt like she could do anything.
Josie and Sam stayed and talked with reporters for about a half an hour after the game ended before they were finally able to leave. As they made their way to the parking lot in the dark, hand in hand, Sam asked her, "How did you get here?"
"Oh. I came with Anita," she replied.
"Good. We can both leave in my car."
"Where are we going?'
Sam smiled sheepishly. "I don't know�I guess we'll see, won't we?"
It wasn't until they reached Sam's car that he remembered the state he'd left it in. The lights were on, and he was positive that the battery was dead. How were they supposed to leave now, since everyone else had already gone? Sam's was the only car left in the entire parking lot!
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