Page 81 of Make It Without You

“Who is she? Does she like baseball?”

That’s a tough question to answer. Dylan is too young to understand permanent loss. So I can’t say that she used to until she lost someone close to her.

“You know, I don’t know if she does. Do you think you could teach her how to like baseball?”

His eyes light up. “Yeah, I can do it, Dad.”

“I don’t doubt that for a second, buddy. But do you remember your teacher? Ms. Bailey?”

“Yeah,” he responds.

Just do it, Adam.“She’s my girlfriend.”

“Do I have to call her, Ms. Bailey?”

I ruffle his hair and huff out a laugh. “No, buddy. Maybe call her Ms. Emily or Emily. You’ll have to ask her.”

“Okay,” Dylan responds. And that’s that.

We finish eating and then Dylan is off to the living room with the sound of Transformers interrupting the quiet of the house. I clean up from breakfast and then head out to the backyard. I keep the doors open and pull up Emily’s number.

“Hi, baby,” she answers on the second ring.

“Hi, sunshine. I told him,” I come right out and say it.

I hear her suck in a breath. “How did he take it?”

“Pretty good. But I think he’s still too young to know what me dating someone is supposed to mean.”

“That’s understandable,” she agrees with me. “So what next?”

I sit on the chaise lounge she and I shared one of our first moments on. “Well, he has a game on Saturday and I told him you’d most likely be there.”

“Baby steps. This is good.”

“You’re nervous, aren’t you?”

Em blows out a breath. “A little. Not because of Dylan?—”

“But, baseball,” I finish her sentence.

“Yeah.”

I didn’t forget about Em’s need to go slow when it came to baseball. And while I’ll never understand the need to ease myself back into something, I’ll also never rush her.

“What are your plans for tonight?” I change the subject to something lighter.

I hear a clink of glasses through the phone and it’s almost as if I’m in her kitchen with her.

“The girls and I are doing a girl’s night,” Emily tells me with glee.

“And what goes on at these girls' nights?”

“You know, the usual. Talks about boys and how much we don’t really need them. Gorging ourselves on greasy food and drinking wine.”

“Huh,” I start. “So women don’t need men to satisfy your needs?”

Her laugh is audible and I fear I missed out on the joke. “You naive man. That’s what vibrators are for.”

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