Page 47 of Batter Up!

“You better be since I’m due in the off-season, and you’d have no reason not to be there.”

“I’m so glad about that. You hear that little one? Your daddy will get to be there.” He then pulled me into his arms and brought me down to my feet. Tyler kissed the top of my head and said, “It literally kills me, and I hate to cut this date short, but Ivan is my closest friend on the team. Cooper said he’s losing control. Ivan is a starting pitcher and never loses control.”

“Of course! I totally understand,” I said honestly. “You’re a good guy, Tyler Stone.”

After a lengthy good night kiss, Tyler dropped me back off at the bakery. It was only a little after seven o’clock, and I had taken a nap earlier in preparation for a long date night. I wish there was something I could do for Ivan and Camila and thought maybe I could send her a bakery box of goodies to cheer her up.

Before baking anything, I knew I needed a shower. I was all riled up and discarded my soaked panties into my hamper, wishing Tyler was joining me in the shower. I took a quick one, only needing to wash off the stickiness left from the strawberries. Afterwards, I toweled off and put on a pair of comfortable yoga pants and an oversized t-shirt.

I found myself back downstairs. My Mimi always knew I was stressed when she would find me baking at night. I remember one time in high school, I was having a lot of trouble in a math class, and she woke up to the kitchen filled with muffins and tons of pieces of scrap paper all around the room where I had been studying for the math test. I not only aced the test, but my teacher loved the basket of muffins I had given her to put in the teacher’s lounge.

I looked around my bakery kitchen, walked to the pantry, began mindlessly grabbing flour and sugars, and began filling my stand mixers with different ingredients. I would make a variety of my favorites. Then I went into my AF Kitchen and began making some of Tyler’s favorite crumb cake bars and chocolate chip muffins.

I just realized I hadn’t even told Tyler about what happened at the doctor’s office. I was worried he would be upset again, and I just wasn’t sure how to tell him. I began to throw my own worries for myself and Camila into my baking.

I lost track of time, and before I knew it, the back door was swinging open as Pen walked in. I couldn’t believe I had been baking all night long.

“What in the world is going on here?” Penelope asked as she took inventory of all the baked goods all over the kitchen.

“Have you ever heard of stress baking?” I asked as I pulled out another tray of muffins out of the oven and slid a tray filled with bread pans in its place.

“Oh my gosh. Did the date not go well?” Penelope asked, rushing over to my side.

“No, I mean yes,” I commented and let myself sit down for the first time that night, beginning to realize how tired I really was. “It went great. What time is it anyway? Why are you here so early?”

“I’m here at my normal five in the morning, Molly,” Pen said, clearly shocked. “What time did the date end? And what are you stressed about, babe?”

“It’s five? I’ve been baking for… I don’t even know how many hours. Holy shit.” I finally let myself look around the kitchen. There were piles and piles of baked goods on every countertop, and I had a feeling the AF kitchen would be about the same. “Ivan’s wife went into labor, and Tyler ended the date to go be with his friend.”

Penelope sat next to me and rubbed my arm, “That’s really great of him, but that doesn’t explain the stress-baking.” I hadn’t told anyone what the doctor said, and now, I wanted to tell Tyler before anyone else. It wasn’t the only thing stressing me out, but I had to tell Penelope something, so I went with one of the lesser stressors.

“I really like him, Pen, like a lot. I might even love him.”

“Wow! And I think he likes you, too. He might even love you, too. I’ve seen how he looks at you.” She chuckled as she began putting baked goods into containers. “But…”

“But I’m scared. What if he gets called up, and I’ll be left all alone? I think of poor Camila all alone in her country while her husband is here, hardly making any money. Now, she’s in labor. Ty and I talked about how my due date isn’t until the off-season, so I’m thankful about that, but I’m scared, too.”

“Well,” Pen began as she held up one finger. "First off you won’t ever be alone. You're stuck with me for life.” She then added a second finger. “And secondly, I hate to say it, but your boy is a damn good player, and I think the likelihood of him getting called up is pretty high.” She held up a third finger.

“I know, I know. Thirdly, it’s his dream and going to the majors is what he’s working towards. I want him to achieve his dream, but I’m just getting to know him, too. I’m being selfish.”

“Molly, you may be a lot of things but selfish is not one of them. Wanting to spend time with your new boyfriend is very reasonable, especially since he’s the father of your unborn baby, but I know you and your love for baseball. When he gets called up, you’ll be happy for him.”

I nodded and rested my head on the small space of the kitchen island that Penelope had just cleared. “I know I will, too, but I already miss him, and he hasn’t even been called up yet.”

“Molly, go upstairs and get some sleep. Being on your feet all night couldn’t have been good for the baby. I’ll open up myself.”

I nodded and slowly raised my head. “You should do a sale on all this. Anyone who has a ticket stub from a Raptors game or has Raptors attire on can ‘buy one, get one half off’ or something. I think I’m going to give Ivan some of the proceeds. If we make enough, maybe he could fly home? I have no idea how much a plane ticket is or if the league will even let him go home, but they have to, right? If not, then he could send it to Camila for diapers and baby clothes or whatever she needs.” I really was tired if I was rambling so much.

“See, Moll, not a selfish bone in your body. Go get some sleep, and I’ll make sure this stuff gets sold.” Penelope gave me a big hug and pushed me towards the stairs to my apartment.

The sun shone brightly in my eyes, and I looked around my room, very confused. “Oh my gosh! I’m late! Why the hell did Penelope not wake me up?” I said to myself as I quickly jumped out of bed and rushed to the bathroom. I rubbed my face and saw sleep lines all over my face when I looked in the mirror. I found my phone and saw that it was 9:23 a.m., and the bakery opened at 6:30. How could I have slept so long? That’s when I remembered my all-night baking spree and Pen sending me to sleep when she arrived. Four and a half hours wasn’t much sleep, but I was now wide awake and ready to go. I had a business to run and would have to sleep later.

I walked into the bakery and was shocked by the line. Usually, Friday was a busy day, but the line went out the door. I was also shocked to see Lilly, one of the people I had originally interviewed for Penelope’s job, at the cash register. Cash, the teenager that had hit on me during his interview, was boxing orders and grinned over at me.

“Heya, boss lady!” he said.

“Good morning, Sleeping Beauty!” Penelope said while she was adding whipped cream to a caramel mocha. “I hope you don’t mind, but I had to call in reinforcements. Their numbers were in your computer, and they were both available right away. I did call a girl you interviewed named Janel, but she said she was only interested in baking, and since you did enough of that last night, I figured we didn’t need her today.”

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