Page 48 of The Road to Home Base
I felt Rome’s body tense. He didn’t like the answer. Regardless, he said, “Is there anything I can do to help? I can hire security.”
I smiled and forced myself not to laugh at the thought. Me, with a man in sunglasses and packing heat, following me around when Rome couldn’t. A sweet, if not funny, sentiment.
“I think you traveling will help. It’ll give me the distance I need so I can continue to work on this. I’m starting to realize it’s more ofmealso distancing myself from him, mentally. If thatmakes sense.”
Rome reached out a hand to run along my bare arm. “It does. After we lose, I don’t review replays until the next day. I need the night to empty my head so I can come at it with fresh eyes the next day.” He gripped my bicep. “I know it wasn’t in the way you wanted, but do you think you at least made some progress for yourself while I was gone?”
“I did.” That was an easy answer. Ricky’s reaction was negative, but I at least said what needed to be said. “Yeah, I did.”
“We’ll do the same thing again, then. Keep the chatter to a minimum. I know you’ll be literally in my home, but I’ll try and keep quiet when I’m gone so you can focus on you.”
I rolled up on an elbow so I could see his face. “What about you? What will you work on now that you came out to your team?”
“There’s a couple of them who didn’t take it well. I need to clear the air. Figure out if they just have something against gay guys or that they’re mad I kept a secret.” With his other hand, he reached out to cup my face and smiled. “What do we plan to do when I get back?”
“Aside from more of this? I’ve actually got something in mind. Something I’ve had stewing around in my head for awhile. Is it okay to go in public together?”
His thumb ran along my lips as his brow curled upward. “Yes. Of course it is. Did you want to have dinner somewhere?”
“No. Something better. You fly back the fifth or the sixth?”
“The evening of the fifth, after the game. Won’t get home until early morning on the sixth.”
I nodded and kissed his thumb as it made another pass along my lips. “Is, say… eleven too early? Can you be up by then and out the door?”
“For you? Any hour works. What do you have in mind?”
“A surprise. I think you’ll like it.”
He grew a quirky half-grin. “Okay then. Something to look forward to.”
I snuggled back into the safety of his arms and fell asleep to the sleepy sound of his breathing and the steady rhythm of a heartbeat at rest.
Chapter Fifteen
Rome
WEWOKEUPtogether on our last day before the weeklong stretch when Alex would be by himself in my home. That morning, he made coffee while I made breakfast, a new routine that I could see forming between us when things eventually grew. I’d enjoy the morning with him before heading to the stadium for our second and final game against the Pensacola Piranhas. We won the first game, eight-to-seven, and I could already feel it in the air that we’d win the second game. That second win would put us at ninety-two wins total. We flirted dangerously close to making postseason but none of the players would speak it aloud. I had no doubt each of usthoughtabout it every day.
I plated up breakfast for my man and sat next to him at the kitchen island. He had poured us both a generous mug of coffee and I let mine cool before taking my first sip. As always, I took a quiet moment to myself to say grace, when Alex surprised me by taking my hand.
I looked at him, curious and a little confused. “Go ahead. Aren’t we supposed to hold hands?”
Something hitched in my throat, preventing me from answering. I cleared it away with a quiet cough and said, “Yeah.We are.” I squeezed his hand and bowed my head to say, more audibly this time, a blessing. I crossed myself when finished and Alex release my hand to begin eating.
We consumed our food in silence. That gesture, however small, would stay with me for the day and, I knew, well into the week. He hadn’t done that before. Each meal we shared started out semi-awkward as the token Catholic did what he needed to do. And yet, Alex moved past it, pushed us into a new territory, and joined me.
It was only halfway through our breakfast that Alex broke the silence. He had drained his coffee and stood to grab another cup. I still nursed my first. “So listen. There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”
Felt like I sank into the cold plunge back at the stadium. But no, I mentally came out of that. I needed to grow accustomed to Alex’s sudden truth bombs or whatever pressing issue he had on his mind. So far, none of them had been catastrophic to our relationship.
“Okay,” I said confidently. “Let’s hear it.”
He sat back down and held his coffee mug between his hands. “Remember awhile ago when you asked me when I pierced my ears?”
I did. It was during one of our earlier video chats, one that lasted late into the evening. I had asked more out of random curiosity. Alex told me he had them pierced on his twentieth birthday for a special kind of celebration. Before I could ask more, he moved the conversation along to his twenty-first birthday and how he, literally, ended up in a gutter by the end of the night. He had me howling with laughter. So much so that I forgot about the odd comment about the earrings.
“I do,” I said. “You said it was a special celebration.”
