Page 9

CHAPTER NINE

Christy

Nolan comes racing into my room this morning. “It’s game day. Wake up, Mommy! Wake up!”

I grab him and yank him into bed with me, noticing it’s barely six, and my alarm doesn’t go off until six forty-five. “How is it possible you’re awake right now?”

He sits up cross-legged next to me, looking as cute as ever in his Spider-Man PJs. “I was too excited to sleep. When I saw the sun was up, I jumped out of bed.”

I raise one eyebrow at him because the other is still lying against my pillow. “The game is tonight though, bud. You have to go to school first, so you should get some sleep because it’s going to be a long day.”

His little shoulders sag in disappointment, and I grab him again, pulling him into me to lie down.

With my eyes closed, I say, “I’m glad to hear, but just close your eyes for a few minutes longer so you don’t fall asleep at the game and miss anything.”

Of course, Nolan falls right back to sleep, but I spend the next half hour thinking about tonight and what will happen. I want to meet Evan’s sister, as I feel like I already know her from that one conversation, but what about everyone else? Will we be with his teammates’ families? Will people ask who I am? Who Nolan is?

It’s all too much, so I slide out of bed at six thirty, making sure not to wake Nolan, and head to the kitchen to get some coffee before I wake him up for good.

Sitting alone on my couch, I watch the rest of the sun rise while drinking my coffee and trying to calm my nerves. When my phone dings with a text, I see Evan’s name on my screen, and all attempts to breathe my way through my panic fly out the window.

Good morning. Here are your tickets for the game tonight. I’m not sure what time you can make it, but text me when you arrive, and I’ll try to come up to say hello.

I close my eyes, trying not to get too worked up about the thought of seeing him in his full uniform. The other day, he just had on white baseball pants and a black Terrors T-shirt. He looked amazing then, so I can’t imagine what the entire getup will look like on him.

I text back.

Thank you! Good luck tonight!

Because I don’t know what else to say, I leave it at that and get up to start getting Nolan ready for school.

I pull up to my sister’s house after work, and Nolan comes racing out as I step out of the car.

“Mommy!” He’s already got his stuff as he heads right to my back seat and opens it up to hop in.

Sasha exits the house, laughing at how Nolan is already sitting in the car, buckling himself in. “I have never seen this boy so amped up. It’s been absolute torture for him, sitting at the window, waiting for you to arrive.”

“Let’s go!” he says, jumping up and down in his seat.

My eyes meet with Sasha’s, and we both laugh.

“Have fun!” she singsongs.

I crawl back in the car and turn to Nolan. “Did you have a good day?”

“No, the day went by so slow .” He motions to the steering wheel. “Come on. Let’s go. Get to driving.”

I laugh out loud. “Yes, sir.”

We drive to the stadium, where people are already pouring in even though the game doesn’t start for another hour or so.

I show the gate attendant the parking pass that was included in our tickets, and they guide us to the suite parking lot, which is wrapped around the entire stadium in the back. After I park and turn off the car, Nolan unbuckles his seat belt and hops out of the car faster than I’ve ever seen him do it.

“Hold on, little man,” I yell after him when he tries to sprint off without me.

He runs back to me and grabs my hand, yanking me toward the entrance. “Hurry up!”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” I say holding up his baseball glove.

He snatches it from my hand. “Oh yeah. Thanks, Mom. Now let’s go!”

I smile from ear to ear because I have never seen him act like this in his entire life.

We get to the suite entrance, and they scan our tickets from my phone, then guide us up the stairs to where the suites are located.

Up here, there aren’t as many people, and I can see down the long, raised walkway that has suite doors every few feet, so when Nolan takes off, I let him run to get his energy out until he gets to where I think the suite is located.

“Okay, stop there,” I yell after him. “What’s the number on the door say?”

He looks up at it and answers, “Nineteen.”

“That’s us. Please don’t open the door. Wait for me.”

He motions for me to hurry up while bouncing on the balls of his feet, making me laugh even more.

I walk a little faster, not trusting the fact that he’ll wait for me, envisioning him opening the door to a whole bunch of strangers and getting off on the wrong foot.

Before I open the door, I lean down to Nolan’s level and remind him, “Remember, you need to be on your best behavior. This is a huge privilege for us to be invited here, and you want to be respectful to Evan and the other people in this suite, okay?”

He nods. “Yes, Mommy. I will.”

I give him a kiss on the forehead, stand, take a big inhale, and open the door to see a room with leather couches, a table with eight chairs around it, food spread on a table along the side wall, and a door that leads to seats outside, which are separated from the suite by a large glass wall that displays the stadium in all its glory.

“Mom, look!” Nolan jumps up and down, pointing to the field. “We’re up by the slide!”

The stadium has a big slide for kids to climb up and slide down that looks like a jungle safari with raccoons and other animals mixed in and huge green leaves.

“Can we go on it before we leave?”

I grin. “Yeah, I bet we can make that happen.”

A group of people are outside on the private terrace and turn to see us standing there. When a woman about my age heads toward me with a huge smile on her face, I walk toward her, thinking this must be Samantha.

“Christy?” she asks as she opens the door, coming back into the suite with everyone following her.

I nod. “Samantha?”

She opens her arms wide to welcome me into a hug. “It’s so nice to meet you in person!”

We hug, and I feel the comfort she offers instantly, just like she was on the phone when we first spoke.

“You too. When did you guys get into town?”

“Late last night. Here.” She turns to place her hand on the man standing behind her. “This is my husband, Mike, and my two boys, Liam and Tyler.”

I shake hands with Mike, then hold up my hand to high-five Liam and Tyler. “It’s nice to meet you all. This is my little guy, Nolan.”

“Come check it out,” Liam says to Nolan, motioning for him to join them outside on the balcony.

Nolan hands me his glove he’s been holding and runs outside to join them.

“How perfect. You have a son too. Some people don’t understand the insanity that comes with raising boys. I’m glad I don’t have to worry about keeping them calm at an event like this,” Samantha says with a chuckle.

I shake my head with a grin. “Oh, you don’t have to explain yourself—or them—to me. I get it for sure. I’m just glad he’s locked in this room so I can actually relax for a second. That’s one of the reasons I don’t bring him to games often. By the end of the night, I’m exhausted from just trying to keep him from running off.”

She grabs my arm and brings me into her as we head outside to join them. “Ain’t that the truth? Try it with two!”

“Ha! I can’t even imagine,” I reply.

She bounces her head back and forth in thought. “I’m pretty much losing my mind daily as they feed off each other. Right, honey?”

I turn to Mike, who just laughs.

“Yep, it can for sure feel like a circus around our house sometimes.”

She leads me to the balcony, taking in the entire field with a deep breath. “You don’t want to stifle their playing or creativity because it can lead to this.” She opens her arms up wide with a huge smile on her face, like she’s a proud mom.

“You guys must be so proud of Evan,” I say.

She turns to grin at me. “We really are. He’s worked so hard to get here. I remember going to his games in Little League, then him constantly asking me to throw the ball with him or load the tee so it didn’t mess up his flow by him having to do it himself.” She says the last part with a deeper voice, acting like she’s him.

“When our mom passed, our dad was always gone at work, so it was just the two of us alone a lot. I used to bitch about having to play with him, but I never really minded.” She nudges me playfully.

“What’s the age difference between you two?”

“Five years.”

“So, you really did take on that mom role then, didn’t you?”

She inhales with a sigh. “I did. And when I graduated high school, I couldn’t leave him alone while he was still in junior high, so I stayed local and didn’t go off to college. That’s when I met the boys’ dad.” She raises her eyebrows at me with a tilt to her head. “That’s a whole other story, but it got me my boys, and it got Evan here, so I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

“And your dad? I haven’t heard about him,” I ask.

“He should be here shortly. The stubborn ole mule hates to fly”—she leans in—“especially on Evan’s dime, so he drove here in his old-ass truck.” She laughs. “He won’t take anything from Evan, no matter how many times Evan has offered.”

“That’s sweet though. Where is home?” I ask.

“Texas. We live near the Arkansas border, so it’s really not that far of a drive.”

My phone rings in my purse so I reach in and grab it, seeing Evan’s name flashing across my screen. “Well, speak of the devil.” I swipe it and put it on speaker. “Hey, I’m sitting here with your family.”

Samantha leans over to speak into the call. “Hello!”

“Hey, everyone. Glad you all made it. Is Dad here yet?” Evan asks.

“Last I spoke to him, he was arriving around six fifteen,” Samantha answers.

“Sorry I can’t come out to say hi. I forgot how much tighter security is at these games,” he says.

“You’ve come a long way from your Single-A days, little bro,” she teases.

He laughs. “Yeah, no more rolling down the hills with the kids after the games for sure. I’m going to finish getting things ready here. I just wanted to call and make sure you’d gotten in okay.”

“I did. Thank you again. Nolan is so excited,” I say.

“Glad to hear it,” Evan responds.

Samantha wraps her arm around my shoulders. “We got her from here. You go be you.”

“I will. Love you sis,” he says.

Out of pure habit with my family, I almost repeat it back to him and am thankful when Samantha says it over me.

“Love you.” Then she motions to her sons. “Boys, come say good luck to Uncle Evan.”

They come rushing over. “Good luck, Uncky,” they say in unison.

“Love you guys!” he says.

“Love you too!” they both respond, then rush back to what they were doing.