He hung out for just a little longer on the Cardinals’ side of the field, listening and laughing with the guys at all of Bigsby’s backhanded compliments. The guy talked so much shit it was a wonder he didn’t have skid marks on his teeth. But that was further proof of the coach’s wise advice. If AJ had never taken the time to get to know the guy, he might not shake off so easily all the shit-talking he did on the field.
“See you on the field,” AJ finally said, wrapping up his mingling and already anxious to go see about Addison.
“Good luck. You’ll need it,” Bigsby said, putting on his catcher’s mask and strutting backwards as he addressed AJ. “Let’s face it, son. When I’m in this house, I own that plate.”
AJ rolled his eyes with a smirk but refrained from flipping him off like he might’ve if there weren’t so many cameras around. He’d learned his lesson about doing or saying things on camera even if he were just playing. Journalists had a way of twisting things to make an otherwise mundane article more interesting. He jogged back to the other side of the field with Sabian, who’d gone over with him to mingle.
“That guy is such an asshole,” Sabian said as they jogged back, but AJ laughed.
AJ was actually proud of how far he’d come. A few years ago he might’ve been cussing under his breath and talking shit about Bigsby too. At that moment, he couldn’t care less about the guy’s smartass remarks. All he could think of was Addison.
Clair was on him as soon as he reached the other side. AJ could only assume the wide-eyed little guy next to her, using his inhaler, was Harrison, and he’d been right.
“Harrison, meet AJ Romero, Padres catcher extraordinaire,” she said as soon as he reached them.
AJ greeted Harrison as did Sabian. The little dude was pretty much what AJ expected, except he didn’t wear glasses like AJ had pictured. But he was wearing a yarmulke with the team’s SD logo in place of a ball cap, and the baseball glove on his hand looked brand spanking new. AJ had to smirk because the kid looked anything but athletic. He’d probably never played catch in his life. He’d bet his life the kid’s interest in baseball had everything to do with his adorable new best buddy.
Addison once again was nowhere to be seen, and AJ had just about given up hope of seeing her yet again. Then Clair pulled him aside as Harrison got busy with some of the other players who were signing his glove.
“Harrison’s birthday was last week, only he didn’t get a party on account of his religion and all.” Luckily, they were in a noisy ballpark so whoever wasn’t supposed to hear probably didn’t because, for someone so little, she whispered pretty loudly. “I still think he needs to celebrate; only I can’t tell him it’s what we’re doing because he’s a terrible liar. If I tell him and his mom gets an inkling, he’ll sing like a canary when she questions him. So he doesn’t know why, but my mom’s taking us to Galaxy Pizza after the game. You wanna come with us?”
It was such an unexpected invitation, and AJ was still chuckling about Harrison singing like a canary he barely had time to let it register. AJ wasn’t sure how to respond. He doubted Addison knew Clair would be inviting him. He was still trying to think of a way to turn her down nicely when she added the clincher.
“She said I could invite whomever else I wanted, but my grandparents can’t come, so she’ll be all alone while Harrison and I play all the video games and stuff.”
“You sure about that?” AJ asked, remembering her date last night.
“Yeah.” Clair nodded, glancing back in Harrison’s direction. He was still busy with the other players. “She said she’d be fine alone—that she’d just work while we played—so I asked her if that meant she was bringing a date. She laughed when I told her why I’d think that and said she really was working last night and Papa’s just silly. She’s bringing her laptop to Galaxy Pizza to keep her busy, but I still think it’d be better if she had company.”
The only reason AJ didn’t jump all over that with a hell yeah was because Clair also mentioned her mom was actually there at the game. She was sitting with her grandmother in their family suite, which meant one thing: after weeks of not seeing or hearing from him, she’d had no interest in coming down to the field to see or say hello to him. Just like last night AJ had begun to feel like a complete idiot. Clearly, everything he’d built up in his head about the day they spent at Niagara Falls was exactly that.
All in his head.
The best he could do was give Clair a noncommittal, “I’ll see if I can.” Despite the blatant “not interested” signals Addison was sending, he still couldn’t bring himself to flatly turn down the opportunity to keep Clair’s mom busy. Clair’s response was a thwarted nod. It was at that moment that he began to think maybe having allowed himself to get this close to his little buddy was not such a good idea. Taking her up on her invite might make it worse.
Chapter 7
Addison
Going down onto the field had been beyond tempting, but Addison hadn’t been able to risk it. Clair had really wanted her to go down too so they could show Harrison around together. Just like last night she had to force herself to stay away. Thankfully, she’d dodged that bullet when her dad happily agreed to show Harrison around himself. Addison would’ve stayed home altogether again today, not just off the field. But she’d promised Clair earlier in the week she’d come to at least one of the games this weekend and that she’d take her and her new best buddy to Galaxy Pizza. So she figured she’d kill two birds with one stone today.
It sucked that her mom’s thrombophilia was acting up, but it’d come in handy. Her mom needed to stay off her leg as much as possible. For once, Addison was grateful for her mom’s stubbornness. If her dad had been able to convince her to bring her wheelchair, Addison might’ve been forced to go down to the field with them. Instead, she’d been able to convince Clair that she didn’t want to leave Nana all by herself in the suite.
So far, the evening had gone well. The Padres won, and they’d be out of there soon enough. Addison and her mom waited in their family suite for her dad and the kids. She knew today would likely be a bit longer than normal because Clair was still giving Harrison the grand tour.
They’d only been sitting there waiting for a few minutes after the game when Clair and Harrison rushed in. “We can go now,” she said, smiling big. “And we don’t have to go back to Papa’s to get your car either. We can go straight there.”
Addison sat up, but she and her mom exchanged confused looks. “I thought you guys had that banquet in Highland tonight.”
“I thought so too,” her mother said, looking back at Clair. “Did Papa say we’re not going after all?”
“No, you’re still going,” Clair said with a big gap-toothed smile. “Papa said to tell you he’ll be up to get you in a minute. But we can go now, Mom.”
Sitting back, Addison smiled, shaking her head. “And how do you propose we do that, silly girl? We all came in one car, remember? Papa has to drop us off so I can get my car.”
“AJ’s taking us.”
Addison nearly spit out the sip of water she’d just taken but managed to keep it in. “What?”
“You said I could invite anyone else I wanted, so I invited AJ. He said he’d take the fastest shower ever and for us to meet him in the players’ parking lot in fifteen minutes. It’s about that long of a walk from here, so we gotta go.”
With her heart already pounding, Addison stared at her daughter’s face, trying not to appear as astounded as she felt. “You invited AJ and he agreed?”
“Yeah.” Clair nodded, smiling big.