Page 24 of Rum & Coke

“I love baseball too, but I’m better at spiking a volleyball.” He motioned with his head toward the bags as though to ask me if I could get them by myself. I nodded, and he opened the back door of the car. “How tall was his father?”

I shrugged. “Not as tall as you, but not short.”

Vinny reached in and grabbed my son as I closed the back door. “Good. I hope he’ll be tall. I’ll teach him everything I know.”

“Then you’ll need to get him a volleyball.” We started toward the lobby.

“I’ll do that on Tuesday and bring it by your place.”

I was trying not to read into his words, but I couldn’t help it. I liked that he was making future plans with us. I knew if our relationship went further than friendship, I wouldn’t be okay with him sleeping with other women. Having men stare at my breasts while I danced on stage wasmuchdifferent from Vinny bringing a woman to orgasm with his body.

When the elevator arrived, we stepped inside, and he hit the button for our floor. As the lift ascended, he handed me a key packet. “Rooms are next to each other. I’ll get him in bed and then let you get some sleep. It’s going to be an exciting night.”

“Yeah, because the Dodgers are going to lose.”

“Should we make this interesting?”

“How so?” I was smiling. I couldn’t stop myself. I liked that we had this little rivalry of sorts.

The elevator dinged after coming to a stop. The doors opened, and we walked out into the hallway. “Well, it’s a three game series, and since the Dodgers won game one, and the Giants won last night’s game, whoever wins tonight’s game is the winner. Loser cooks dinner for the other person?”

I nodded, still smiling. “I hope you know how to cook steak and lobster.”

I took a quick shower as soon as I got into the hotel room. Colton was still asleep, which was good, but as I crawled into bed, he woke and started to panic about being in an unfamiliar place. I compressed his ears, and he looked up at me. “It’s okay. We’re in a hotel. Remember I told you we were going to a baseball game?”

He blinked rapidly to let me know he understood.

“Mommy needs to get some sleep. Can you go back to sleep? I’ll turn on your waves.”

He hesitated for a moment and then slid back down, resting his head on the pillow.

“Good boy. When we wake up again, you can play on the iPad. Okay?” He blinked quickly again, and I moved to plug in his nightlight.

I crawled into bed beside him before drifting off to sleep.

I could have sworn I’d just fallen asleep when I felt a little hand shaking me. I opened my eyes in the dark room with blue waves on the ceiling to see Colton staring at me. “What’s wrong, Slugger?”

He pointed at the TV, so I sat up and looked for the remote. Going to bed at eight in the morning wasn’t the best idea, but at least we arrived in L.A. with no problems. Now, I just needed Colt to watch TV or play on his iPad for a few hours more.

After spotting the remote next to the TV, I crawled out of bed and turned it on. “I don’t think we can getPAW Patrolon this TV. Do you want to watch it on your iPad?” He reached out as though I was holding the device, so I switched off the television, got him a banana, apple juice, his baseball, and the iPad from our bag, and then put him back in bed beside me with pillows propping him up. “Mommy needs a little more sleep, okay?”

He didn’t respond as he pulled up Netflix and went straight to his cartoon.

I woke again, but this time it was because there was a knock on the door. Looking at the clock, I noticed that it was a little after eleven. I crawled out of bed, glancing briefly at Colton who was engrossed in his iPad and rolling the baseball in his hands. Looking through the peephole, I saw it was Vinny holding a tray of what looked like coffee. Before opening the door, I ran my fingers through my long dark brown hair and prayed that one of the coffees was for me so I could mask my morning breath.

“How are you awake?” I asked as soon as I opened the door.

“Figured we could go to lunch and then hang out here for a few hours before we head to the field. That way, Colton can have a nap.”

“I’m going to need one too,” I admitted, and opened the door wider so he could step in.

“I brought you coffee. Not sure how you like it or even if you do.”

“Love coffee, and cream and sugar are fine.”

Vinny set the tray on the dresser next to the TV. “I brought this guy chocolate milk.” He turned and faced Colton who was still immersed in his iPad. “Hope that’s okay.”

I smiled. “That’s perfect.” He handed me the cup with a coffee lid on it, but the moment I touched it, I realized it was cold and must be the chocolate milk. I took it with me to the side of the bed and got on my knees. “Hey, Slugger. This is Mommy’s friend Vinny. He brought you chocolate milk.”