Read Online Baseball and Other Lessons (Devil's Ranch Book 2) by Aubrey Gross - Free Book Online

stereotyped. I do have to say that I am a bit surprised at Mumford and Sons, though. You really do seem more like a heavy metal sort of guy, or hard rock at the very least.”
    “Eh, I used to love that stuff back in my twenties when I first made it to the majors.” He turned back towards the table, grabbed some bread for himself and began to pile the slices high with brisket. “People change. Musical tastes change. When I first got called up, bands like Linkin Park, Chevelle, Velvet Revolver, those were all blowing up and it seemed like everyone had one of their songs as their walk-up music. It was also great party music. I was never much into rap back then, although I did like Eminem and honestly still do. These days I don’t party as hard, and I’ve gravitated towards stuff like the aforementioned Mumford and Sons, Matt Nathanson, The Lumineers. Artists like that, who really seem to have something to say and are great musicians on top of being great songwriters.”
    Jenn stared down at the brisket sandwich in her hands, not wanting to see this side of Matt. The thoughtful, intelligent, great conversationalist side that she’d tried to tell herself for ten years had been a booze-filled mirage.
    Except neither of them had really been drunk. Tipsy, maybe. But drunk? No. She couldn’t lie to herself like that, no matter how much she wanted to.
    She cleared her throat and reached for unexpected common ground. “I stand corrected. So what’s your favorite Matt Nathanson song?”
    “’I Saw’ off of Beneath These Fireworks , but ‘Car Crash’ from Some Mad Hope is right up there.”
    “Mine’s ‘Weight of It All’.” That song had helped her get through the worst days of her life.
    His head snapped towards her. “Seriously?”
    She shrugged. “Yeah. What? Were you expecting me to say ‘Come on Get Higher?’”
    “It’s a good song.”
    “Yeah, it is, and I do love it. But it’s also the one most people know.”
    “So you like Matt Nathanson, too?”
    “Maybe if I’m feeling magnanimous one day I’ll let you go through my iTunes so you can see for yourself.”
    “I’m not saying I don’t believe you.”
    “I know.” She placed her brisket sandwich on the plate that wasn’t in Matt’s hand, picked it up and headed towards the living room. She sat on one end of the couch, Matt on the other, so that an entire cushion was between them.
    Jenn wasn’t sure a measly cushion was enough.
    They ate in silence, eyes glued to the TV and the baseball game playing out before them. She stared, not really seeing the action on the screen, too aware of Matt mere feet away from her.
    God, she so needed to get over this stupid… thing …she apparently still had for him. She wasn’t even entirely sure what the thing was. Attraction, yes. Jenn was grown up enough to admit that at least to herself. The attraction was as strong today as it had been that night ten years ago, possibly more so, and that in and of itself was frustrating.
    Why was she attracted to someone who’d pulled a wham, bam, thank you, ma’am on her? That night had been great. The things they’d talked about, the things they’d told each other? She’d never been that open with another human being in her life. And the sex? God, that hadn’t just been sex. It had been something so far beyond just sex she didn’t know what the word was for it. Hell, there might not even be a word for it. Transcendental seemed too artsy, like she was describing an indie film. Making love didn’t fit, considering she wasn’t delusional enough to think love had been involved at all.
    He’d touched her soul. That was really the best she could come up with.
    “Are you going to eat that or just keep picking at it?”
    Jenn jolted at the sound of Matt’s voice. How long had she been off in la-la land? She didn’t look at him, afraid he would see her thoughts on her face if she did, and said, “I’m going to eat. I was just giving it a chance to cool