Page 132 of Easy Out

Tell him to move his little legs. We’re about to start. I need to see your face.

I hate to break it to him, but Xavier isn’t the slow one. I’m the one waddling around the stadium.

“I see Papá and Dante!“ Xavier screams when we reach our seats.

“Sí. Sit down by Cisco and Cici." He doesn’t sit down of course. Xavier jumps up and down while holding on to the railing. He looks ready to launch himself right over the edge.

“Relax, piccolo. He’s just having fun," my dad says.

Tori and my dad are sitting on one side of our row. Sylvie and Stephen anchor the other, boxing in the boys. Our whole family is here for today’s game.

Hart and Dante are on the field with dozens of little league teams from underprivileged communities. Xavier and Francisco wanted to join them, but they are too little. I don’t have the energy to chase them around the field with baseballs flying all over the place.

Dante is only eight, a few years younger than most of the other kids, but he’s tall for his age. He’s his dad’s shadow. No way he was going to sit this one out.

“Where’s Manny?” I search the field for him. He’s one of the volunteers for the event. He’ll be heading to Newhouse in the fall. A full scholarship for baseball. We couldn’t be prouder of him and everything he’s accomplished. Carlos too. I wish he could be here today, but he had to work. This is his busy season. He would have loved to see this.

“Left field.” Of course. He loves it out there. I’ll never forget the first time I saw him climb the wall to catch a ball that should have been a home run. I was cheering so loud my throat was burning. I smile remembering how jealous Hart got.

“I don’t like you screaming someone else’s name.”

“It’s Manny.”

“Don’t care. You’ll be screaming my name by the end of the night, brujita.”

Hart captures my attention in my search for Manny. He’s gotten even more handsome over the years. He’s still the same quiet man I fell in love with, but something happened the first time Dante was placed in his arms.

His whole world shifted.

It wasn’t just the two of us anymore.

We were so young too.

I know we joked around about starting a family, but neither one of us expected it to happen so quickly.

We had only been married six months when we got pregnant. I was doing freelance work for Stephen. Hart was still playing in the minors. We lived in the smallest apartment in the state of Kentucky.

Smaller than my trailer if you can believe that.

Too small for a baby.

We made it work until Hart got called up and we headed back to Alabama.

We found a house in Hart’s old neighborhood. Sydney thought I was crazy for living so close to our parents.

It felt right to move there. I wanted to be near our familia. I wanted our kids to have their grandparents close and see their uncles when they were in town.

I remember walking into our new home for the first time thinking it was too big. It was just the three of us. Dante had a lot of stuff, but not enough to fill a five-bedroom house.

“Just wait cariño,” Hart said with a sly grin on his face.

He was right. In three months or so, I will lose my last guest room. I’ve never been happier.

“Hola mamacita." Hart climbs up the railing in front of us. Reminds me of our college days when he would hop over the rail and talk to me during his practices.

With a small push from my dad, I heave myself out of my seat. Stadium seating is not made for pregnant women. “Hi, Hart.” I bend down and kiss him. “Are you ready?” He nods.

“Papá. Papá. Papá. Papá. Papá.“ Xavier chants beside us. Hart chuckles.

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