“As a team leader, you need to set the example, and it’s part of your mental training,” he’d said. “Especially for you. The friendlier you are with the players on the other team, the less likely you are to take things too personally on the field and the less likely you are to lose your shit.”

It made sense to AJ; though after nearly losing it against his own teammates more than once that past road trip, he wondered now just how accurate that theory really was. But it didn’t hurt to do it, so he’d continue to do so.

Clair ran up to him once he was back on his team’s side of the field during batting practice. She looked as excited to see him as he surprisingly felt about seeing her. She was wearing the jewelry he’d given her for her birthday. It was the first thing AJ noticed when he saw the bracelet on the hand she held over her mouth. While the hand blocked her mouth, those big bright eyes were very telling of the smile she was hiding behind it.

“Two things happened while you were gone,” she said, still talking behind her hand.

“Is that right?” Just looking at her made him smile bigger. “What happened?”

She took the hand away and smiled big, revealing her missing two front teeth.

“Oh wow.” He laughed. “Both at the same time?”

“Yeah, my mom says that’s how it always happens,” she explained. “They fall out in the order they came in. She said my front teeth came in at the same time.”

On that note, AJ glanced around casually for her mom but didn’t see her anywhere, and he didn’t want to ask.

“Well, that’s cool,” AJ said, squatting down in front of her to examine the nice-sized gap in her top row of teeth. “I take it you collected from the tooth fairy.”

She tilted her head, making a face. “Now, AJ, you know I don’t believe in that stuff. It’s not my fault I read more than most kids my age. I’ve known the truth about that and Santa for years, but Christmas morning I still expect to see gifts under the tree. So, yes, I asked for my entitled compensation and got twenty bucks for both teeth.”

“Twenty bucks!” he asked with a laugh. “Inflation’s gone up from when I was a kid. I was lucky if I got a buck.”

She shook her head and peered at him skeptically. “You weren’t born in the thirties. I’m sure you got more.”

That made him laugh even more. “I’m serious. I got a buck for each of my teeth.”

She still didn’t look like she believed it, but he was curious about something and wondered if maybe that might answer the burning question of where her mother was. So he changed the subject.

“You said two things happened while I was gone. What was the other?”

“Oh yeah.” She smiled big again.

Here he’d thought she couldn’t possibly get any cuter. The gap in her teeth did just that—make her smile even more adorable—and he smiled just as big as she did.

“I got a new best buddy.”

“What?” He clutched his chest, feigning pain.

“But don’t be jealous,” she said quickly. “You’re still my best buddy out of school.”

Though he’d apparently put on a good act of pretending to be jealous, inwardly he was happy to hear it. As cute as he thought she was with those thick glasses and adult-like personality, he was sure she didn’t have too many friends. Her mom had confirmed it the day at Niagara Falls that Clair had a hard time making friends her age she could relate to. But AJ had pretty much guessed it before that.

“So what’s her name?”

“His name,” she corrected him, making his brows go up, “is Harrison. He’s in the third grade.”

Instinctively, AJ’s big brother radar was on. Clair was just finishing up second grade but only because she’d skipped a grade. “Isn’t that like a lot older than you?”

“Not really,” she said, shaking her head. “He skipped a grade too. So he just turned eight. Besides, I said he’s my best buddy, not my boyfriend. Obviously”—she made a silly face—“there are no age requirements to how old your best buddy can be. And technically, I’m bigger than he is—a whole inch taller. You can meet him tomorrow. He’s dying to meet the team.” She smiled even brighter then frowned. “He wanted to be here tonight, but he had a piano lesson he couldn’t get out of.”

When she was done telling him about Harrison, she finally got to the subject AJ was dying to hear about. At first, it was just a colossal disappointment when she confirmed her mother didn’t come to the game with her and her grandparents tonight. Until she added something that had him feeling much more than disappointment.

“She said she had some work to do, but grandpa called it a date.”

AJ had stared at her, his jaw locking, but didn’t dare comment. Of course, the one time he would’ve liked his little chatterbox buddy to elaborate she hadn’t. Instead, she pushed up her glasses, pulled out her notebook, and proceeded with her usual pre-game ritual. She read him her latest stats on the Cardinals, tonight’s opponents.

~~~

Even after last night’s galling revelation, that he’d either been way off about Addison’s interest in him or she was really one of those chicks—the kind that reacts to him and all his teammates the way she did, despite her relationship status with someone else—AJ still found himself glancing back across the field to the Padres’ side in search of Clair. He hated to admit it, but he was still hoping her mom might be with her this time.

Under normal circumstances, when AJ was looking to hook up with a chick, he didn’t really care about her relationship status, unless, of course, he knew she was married. He didn’t do married chicks, but he also didn’t have time to do too much investigating when he was just looking for some fun. So while he wasn’t actively trying to bag someone else’s girl, he knew it was likely he’d been with more than his share of chicks with boyfriends. Maybe even a few with husbands. He made no apologies. It wasn’t his job to keep those women honest.

In Addison’s case, he’d like to say the circumstances made him care whether she was seeing someone else because of whose daughter and mother she was. It’d be too awkward to continue so much as a flirtation with her if, in fact, she was seeing someone else. But AJ knew it was more than just that.

“I hear congrats are in order.”

Jolted out of his thoughts, AJ turned to see a smiling Win Bigsby, the Cardinal’s catcher. He held out his hand and AJ shook it. “Yeah, thanks. Took a few years, but I own that home plate now.”

AJ and Gillespie, the soon-to-be Hall of Famer and the Padres former starting catcher, had been sharing the title of starting catcher on paper. Technically, AJ had been starting for years now while Gillespie was in and out of surgeries. With Gillespie formally announcing his retirement earlier that day, AJ was now officially the starting pitcher for the Padres.

“Well deserved,” Bigsby said. “I always said Lara only picks superstars in the making.”

He winked at AJ with a smirk, and AJ did one of his customary polite laughs. Bigsby was probably one of the more cocky players in the majors he’d met to date. AJ expected nothing less than that last comment from him. Like AJ, Bigsby had also been mentored by Coach Lara once upon a time. But as Lara always said, Bigsby earned the right to be cocky. The guy was on every list of awards, including four Golden Gloves at catcher. He’d also won two World Series in his relatively short stint in the majors. The guy’s nickname was Win Big for crying out loud.

AJ smiled inwardly as some of the other Cardinals’ players walked over to chat and congratulate him. He was certain if he mentioned Bigsby’s accomplishments to Clair she’d be quick to break out that little notebook of hers and point out that in AJ’s three years in the majors he’d won two Golden Glove awards and a World Series, among all the other awards and records he’d broken while in the minors.