Laughing, Slade shook his head. "Dude, relax. This sucks right now, but the team owes you a lot for turning Fin into the money-making star that he is. They aren't going to forget about you."
"Maybe." He scanned the field. The sight of all the vigorous mascot wannabes his heart sank into his cast.
"Smile, damn it. You can't mope. Or at least you can't let them see you moping. You're still the face of Fin and if you really want to keep your job, show management your sense of humor is intact." Slade pointed to the prospects chatting with Raymond from human resources. "So, who looks like they'd be a good fill-in for you?"
"So far, no one has impressed me. Or Ray. See? He's got that ticking vein in his forehead again."
"Oh yeah. That's never good."
Liam leaned forward and rested his hands on his thighs. "The guy on the end is about my height and weight, so using the same costume would be easy. But he can't do a handstand for more than five seconds. And his somersaults keep going sideways."
"Well, they put out the call last night and wanted to hold tryouts today, so I guess the pickings were slim. But I don't know why the team is rushing it. We don't need a new Fin for Monday's game."
"It's Opening Day. They want Fin to do something spectacular." Liam swallowed against the ball of hot resentment rising in his throat. "Those were Ray's exact words. So, if they go with one of those guys, I'll only have a day to work with him. But aiming for a spectacular stunt is going to be a stretch with that group."
He frowned as a small blonde woman he didn't recognize walked onto the field with another member of human resources. They spoke with Raymond, and then the woman shook his hand and joined the other prospects.
Slade nudged Liam's shoulder. "A late arrival?"
"I guess." He leaned forward again. The blonde pushed her sunglasses off her heart-shaped face and Liam's heart stuttered in his chest. Eyes the same blue as the sky sparkled with her smile. Her glasses rested in honey-toned hair that curved at her chin, accenting a delicate neck and shoulders. A red T-shirt with a gymnastics school logo skimmed her torso, hinting at her gentle curves and athletic build, and black shorts showed off tanned, toned legs.
She nodded at something Ray said, then tossed her glasses onto the grass. With a smile, she took a running start and then executed a few split leaps, followed by a somersault, back handspring, front handspring, and ended with a tuck jump.
"What the..." Gaze glued to the woman's face, Liam reached for his crutches. She was amazing. Not only amazing, but obviously a trained gymnast and better than him at two of the moves. Ray wanted him to weigh in with his opinion. Before the blonde's arrival, he'd been dreading talking to his prospective replacements, but now... "I need to get over there."
Slade helped him get the crutches under his arms. "She's really good. As good as you. Maybe even better than you."
Liam slowly pulled himself to standing. "You're supposed to be making me feel better here."
"Right. Um, well, you're a lot taller. And a decent roommate."
"You're no help at all." Liam clocked Slade's shin with the rubber foot of his crutch. "But you have a point on my being bigger. She's way too small to fit into my costume."
"Do you think Raymond would take the clumsy guy who can't tumble his way down the first base line just because he matches you size-wise?" Slade stopped Liam's movement with a hand to his shoulder. "You're not going to suggest that, are you?"
The thought ran through his mind for a second before his gut twisted at the idea. "I want to save my job but I'm not going to sabotage the team. Ray might be thinking it's the easier option because they can use the same costume but it's not the right one. But damn... she's really good. So good, there's no way Ray wouldn't choose her. So good, she might..." He glanced at his ankle, throbbing despite the painkiller he'd downed at breakfast. He needed to heal—fast—before it was too late. Maybe he could start weekly sessions in the oxygen chamber. Or...
"Li, hold up. They're heading our way." Slade's strong tone and hand squeezing his shoulder pulled Liam from his spiraling thoughts.
He shifted a step forward, careful of the crutches on the soft surface, and pasted a smile on his face.
Everything was changing. He couldn't control it, wasn't happy about it, and didn't see any way where it ended well.
CHAPTER TWO
CLAIRE
CLAIRE CAUGHT HER BREATH and rejoined the group, glancing at the men and women around her, sizing up the competition. She sought out Raymond and didn't know what to make of his raised brows. Was she a lot better than the others... or a lot worse? She hadn't performed in a while but the jumps and moves were second nature. Maybe she should've added a few more. Did she even have a shot? Stretching to her full height, she smiled big enough to show confidence and breathed in the sweet scent of fresh-cut grass.
When she'd dropped off her youngest sister for gymnastics practice that morning, she hadn't expected to spend her afternoon at the Riptide's ballpark. The email from her old coach alerting her to the audition couldn't have come at a better time. And the job promised to be a lot more fun than the thankless sales position at the auto insurance company. Provided she got it.
Raymond typed something into his tablet. "Thank you, Ms. Devereux. If you'll please come with me. The rest of you, thank you for coming in. Please follow the
