Page 106 of The Third Baseman

She dropped her head, only for me to slip my finger under her chin and tilt it back up.

“Marn, you don’t have to say anything about us. The only people who will really care are my parents, and you can tell them the truth – that we reconnected and we’re spending time together.” I tried to ignore the slow twisting in my gut that I had to explain this to her. “It’s no one’s fucking business anyway.”

Her light laughter put a halt on any further gnawing.

“See? It helps to be a grouch sometimes.” My fingers caught the ends of her hair, and I pulled her toward me for a quick kiss. “Come on, we’ve got gifts to dispense.”

I’d just opened the trunk when I heard a screech and peered round the car in time to find Emerson hugging Marnie. I’d known that screech hadn’t been for me, seeing as it had only been weeks, not years, since I’d seen Emerson, plus I’d spoken to her last night – not that she’d ever greeted me like that.

“Nice of you to finally join us, you lazy bastard,” drawled my brother-in-law, Drew, before pulling me into a one-armed hug so he didn’t crush his baby son cradled in his other arm.

I snorted, which turned into loud laughter. “Dude, you’ve forgotten what it’s like to work for a living. You’re lucky I was up before lunchtime on my first day off in weeks. Serves you right for listening to me in the first place.” I swept my arm around before continuing, “It doesn’t look like you were short of help anyway.”

“Oh, I know! Everything was done yesterday. I just wanted to see how early I could get you here.”

I saved the eye roll but called him a dick anyway, then nodded at the trunk full of gifts. “Here, you carry these in, and I’ll take Xander.”

“Did you clear out FAO Schwartz?”

“I might have gotten carried away, but I haven’t been to a birthday party since they were born, so figured I needed to make up for being an absentee uncle. In hindsight, I probably should have gotten them delivered here instead of my place.”

He handed Xander over to me. Even though his hair was dark, like Drew, he had Emerson’s eyes, which were almost exactly the same color as mine, and they were now staring at me, “Hey, Bud, how’s it going?”

He responded with a spit bubble, as his little hand reached up for my beard. “It’s better than your dad’s huh? His is going grey, but not Uncle Jupiter. He still has lots of life left in him. Stick with me, I’ll teach you what it’s like to work hard.”

Drew ignored the jab, shaking his head instead as I followed him inside. Marnie was long gone, swept up by my sister who I noticed hadn’t bothered to say hello to me, and I walked into the kitchen just in time to see her being taken into the backyard by my mom.

I could go after her, check she was okay, but Marnie Matthews had reminded me plenty of times she didn’t need protecting, and what was I to do but listen.

“Fucking finally, wondered when you’d roll out of bed!”

I spun around to find a group of degenerate dads, at least two of whom were holding a baby, standing in a corner. Though they weren’t really standing, more like strategically placed to avoid getting called for Kid Duty by their significant others. All of the guys were friends of Drew’s from his days playing hockey, and before the kids had come along, I’d often spent time with them during my off-seasons when I visited Emerson.

Plus, as fellow members of the elite sportsperson world, I used to cross paths with them occasionally.

“Dude, are you supposed to swear when kids are around? Isn’t that rule 101 of parenting or something? Even I know that.” I smirked at Felix, Drew’s best friend and business partner, who was casually throwing popcorn into his mouth.

The pair of them retired from hockey a few years ago to set up a foundation for kids with disabilities to help them get into sports. It was cool, and I’d donated a truck load of signed bats, balls, sneakers, and shirts for their bi-annual foundation galas that always raised a ton of cash. Then I sent it all again when I started at The Lions.

“Yeah, moves to New York and stays on Pacific Time.”

I grinned wide and walked to the corner where they were all standing.

“Clearly, as I told Drew, you lot have forgotten what hard work means.” I moved around the group, hugging them. “I see you’re already hiding.”

“This is not hiding,” Drew said as he returned with a couple of beers, and handed them around, saving the non-alcoholic one for me. “We’re in the way out there.”

We all peered into the enormous yard. The entire space looked like a fairground without the rides; face painters, a ball pit, a barbecue… and there were the balloons in a giant arch – yeah, I wasn’t going to be helping with that. Down at the bottom was the pool, and even from this distance I could see how many kids were in it. A giant unicorn slide was roped into the middle, and currently had six bigger kids on the top from what I could see.

It looked intense.

I swigged my beer. “How long have you all been here?”

“Couple of hours.”

A round of chuckles sounded as they got a look at my face. I know I said I wanted to have kids with Marnie, and I did, but the early mornings… I’ll pass on that, thank you very much.

“I dunno,” Jasper, an old teammate of Drew’s, nodded at me. “You look pretty at home with a kid in your arms.”

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