His phone rang again as Oakland took the field for the bottom of the first. He pulled it out—same number.

“Hey, I’m gonna go take this,” he said to Penelope.

She nodded, cheeks full of pretzel, and Cole headed toward the main section, taking the steps two at a time.

“Cole Sharpe,” he said, once he’d gotten far enough away from the noise to answer.

“Hi, Mr. Sharpe? Is this the brother of Robert Sharpe?”

Cole froze. “Yeah, I’m Bobby’s brother. Who’s this?”

“This is Bellevue Hospital.”

Cole’s hand reached out blindly for the wall as he tried to steady himself.

Hospital.

The entire stadium drifted away, and it was only Cole, his ragged breath, and the voice of a stranger on the other end of the phone.

Oh, God. Bobby.

“Mr. Sharpe, I’m sorry to inform you that your brother’s been involved in an accident…”

Chapter 26

Penelope wasn’t sure how long she sat staring at the text on her cellphone, but it was long enough for Grace to give her a gentle nudge in the ribs.

“Pen. You okay? And where the heck is Cole; he’s been gone for like two and a half innings. I thought this was his team?”

Penelope opened her mouth, but no words came out. Instead she handed her phone to Grace. Jake leaned over to read the message.

Bobby was in an accident. Headed to hospital.

“Who’s Bobby?” Grace asked, her brown eyes wide with concern.

“His older brother,” Penelope replied.

Grace glanced at Jake in surprise. “Did you know Cole had a brother?”

Jake looked troubled. “Yeah. He rarely mentions him. I assumed they were at odds or something.”

Penelope swallowed. “He has Down syndrome and lives in a group care home. I can’t imagine what might have happened—”

Why hadn’t he taken her?

She understood Cole’s being in a hurry. Of course. But she would have gone with him if she’d known. She would have held his hand, and—

Penelope yanked her cellphone back out of her friend’s hand and typed a response to Cole.

What hospital? Is he okay?

Penelope spent the next four innings staring at her phone as she waited for a response that never came.

“Maybe I should just go to the hospital,” she said, for the tenth time.

“But which one?” Jake asked.

“All of them.”

“It’s New York City, hon. There’s not just the one hospital off Main Street.”

Penelope huffed out a breath. Jake was right. She’d already researched the various places where they could have taken Bobby, and there were a lot.

And she could call, but she was pretty sure they’d only release patient info to family members. What was she supposed to say? Hi, the brother of my nonboyfriend whom I only sleep with on weekends was in an accident.

“Come on, Cole,” Penelope muttered, staring down at her phone and willing it to give her a response.

“I can’t just sit here,” she said, leaning forward and curling into herself. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt so miserable or helpless.

Grace rubbed her back. “Do you want to head back into the city? That way, if he does get back to you, you’ll be closer and can go to him.”

It was true. Bobby lived in Manhattan, so chances were, whatever happened to him had happened there. The closer she got to Manhattan, the closer she’d be to Bobby.

And to Cole.

“Yeah,” she said, “but you two stay here.”

“Hell no. We’re going with you,” Jake said. Grace nodded in agreement.

Penelope opened her mouth, but Jake cut her off. “We won’t go into the hospital, once you figure out where he is. We don’t belong there. But we’ll be there every step of the way up until then, ’kay?”

“Are you sure?”

“He’s our friend too,” Jake said quietly.

“Penelope.” Grace put a hand on her arm, her expression concerned. “This isn’t some little fling, is it? It’s more than you trying to move on from that Evan guy?”

Penelope couldn’t stop the little laugh that bubbled up.

Evan. She hadn’t thought about him since they’d ditched him at the restaurant on Friday night.

That anyone could think that Cole and Evan belonged in the same sentence, or even in the same thought…

Penelope might have loved Evan once. She might have. The kind of love that became sort of desperate because of its unrequited nature, thus making you feel that it was the biggest love you’d ever known.

But now…

In hindsight, Penelope recognized it for what it was—a shallow love that, while genuine, had never had the chance to grow roots.

For the longest time, she’d thought that Evan hadn’t seen her because she wasn’t a certain type. Because she wasn’t pretty enough or flashy enough.

But in the end, Evan Barstow was a useless jerk, and Cole was…

“It’s more than a fling,” Penelope said quietly.

Grace and Jake stood in unison, perfect soulmates that they were. “What are we waiting for? Up, Pen! Let’s go!”

The subway ride back to the city was the longest journey of Penelope’s life, but she was rewarded when they emerged from the tunnel in Manhattan and she had a text from Cole.

“Bellevue,” she said, already dashing to the curb to hail a cab. “He’s at Bellevue Hospital.”