Page 64 of Batter Up!

“We’ll take good care of her,” Hayden called out as he walked over to us.

“Yeah, we’ll make sure no other guy even thinks about looking at her,” Cooper said with a very serious tone.

Tyler and I both laughed. “Thanks, guys.”

“Let’s go, man,” Tucker said next to the bus door. I guess he had arrived while we were saying our own goodbyes. I gave him a wave and wished him good luck.

“I love you!” Tyler exclaimed one last time and waved to his former teammates.

“Don’t come back,” Cooper called out with a chuckle. “We love you but get your ass to the Cyclones. Save me a good locker.”

Tyler shook his head and nodded as he climbed up the bus steps. As I watched him get to a window seat and look back at me, I felt several of his teammates surround me. Hayden pulled me in for a tight hug, and I didn’t even bother to try and wipe the tears as they flowed down my cheeks. I was glad to be part of their baseball team family.

Tyler opened his window and waved. The bus driver started the bus and began to drive away. “Love you, Strawberry Shortcake!”

Before the bus even disappeared around the bend, my phone dinged with a text message. And yes, this is how Tyler is now saved in my phone.

My Everything: Miss you already ♥?

A few of the guys walked me back home, which was really sweet of them. Cooper even offered to spend the night and keep me company. Hayden hit him on the back of his head. Cooper explained he loved me like a little sister and had planned to sleep on the couch. I told him I would be okay but thanked him for the offer. As soon as I locked my door, my phone rang.

“You doin’ okay?” Tyler’s deep voice asked over the phone.

“Honestly?” I asked.

“Always.”

“I’ve been better. It’s going to be hard to sleep without you next to me.”

“I know, baby. I just got off the phone with my parents.”

“Really? How did that go?”

“Well, Dad was surly at first, and when I said I was on a bus, he thought I was coming home and said I’d have to find a new job. When I told them why I was on the bus, Mom cried happy tears, and Dad grumbled about them not giving me much notice.”

“It does suck, but I’m glad your mom is proud of you.”

“I’m glad, too. Then, I talked to Carter, and he said in a few weeks my new team will be playing the Nashville Hornets. That’s the team we grew up watching and cheering for.”

“Really? That’s awesome.”

“Do you want to come?”

“To Nashville?” I asked, already opening the calendar app on my phone. “When is it?”

“The first Tuesday in June,” he said. “I know it’s asking a lot for you to drive down there, or maybe you could take a bus, but do you think Penelope could watch the bakery?”

“Tyler, it’s not asking too much at all. I would love to come! The reason I promoted Pen was so she could watch the bakery for times like this. I will be there in twenty-seven days.”

Tyler sighed, “It doesn’t seem like that many days, but it also seems like a lot at the same time.”

The first few days of him being gone were the hardest. We talked as much as we could on the phone and texted all the time. Penelope would take a picture of my growing belly every Tuesday morning. She called them “The Bun in the Oven” pics and would make some sort of bread to correlate with the size the baby was that week. I knew she was trying hard to make me laugh and be happy since I missed Tyler like crazy. We both knew going into this relationship that the distance was a very high probability, but it didn’t make it any easier.

Tyler told me about how the guys on his new team were nice enough, but he doubted he’d ever find the closeness that he found with the guys on the Raptors. Hunter Montgomery was the shortstop for the Lightning and had been a first round draft pick the year before out of college. He and Tyler were about the same age, and Tyler said he was the only one who he really hung out with. Tyler shared a room with Tucker, but more often than not, Tucker had a girl in their room, so Ty spent a lot of evenings on Hunter’s couch.

I was busy stocking the pantry shelves from my trip to Costco when I got a Facetime call. I put down the bag of sugar on the shelf and quickly answered the call. “Hi, babe!”

“Hey, gorgeous!” Ty’s face came up on my cell phone screen, and I was glad I still got those butterflies of excitement every time I talked to him.

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