Page 106 of Unexpected Forever
“I’m just tired.”
“Let’s go home.”
He kisses my forehead and I smile, letting him lead us to the car.
I blow out a breath and force away the tiny embers of dread burning in my chest.
TWENTY-TWO
nate
The next daydawns bright and humid.
The parade that kicks off the Summer County Fair starts in a couple of hours, and I’m looking forward to it, even if I risk recognition with all the tourists around.
I sit at the kitchen island, waiting for Charley so we can head to town early. Staring down at the phone in my hand, my thumb hovers over the email with the subject “Bull Sharks Offer” from my agent.
Lou gave me a rundown of what the email was about when he called me yesterday. But if I don’t open the email, I can stay in my little bubble with Charley. Where the reality of our situation doesn’t seem so complicated.
According to Lou, my old team wants me as manager of the team bad enough to give me virtually anything I want.
But the real shocker came when they said they want to retire my number. It surprises me to say the least, seeing as I haven’t been retired for long, but the front office made the call.
The fact a jersey with my name and number will hang along with the greats in the stadium, number seven never to be used in the Bull Sharks organization again, is a bit surreal for me.
Never when I first started playing ball to escape my home life did I imagine I’d end up here.
It’s fucking incredible.
The ceremony will be before the last home game of the season, and I want Charley to go to the game with me. I want to share the place that’s been my world for the last decade-plus—and half of my life—with her. See it through her eyes.
But the thought of the media being around and sharing her with the world makes me sick to my stomach. They can be relentless, and what she dealt with the one time is nothing compared to what I’ve seen them do when they want a scoop. I don’t want her subjected to it. Even though I can’t imagine getting this honor without her there, it will be her call.
I’ll have to make sure the team has tight security.
Aside from that, I don’t know what my future looks like anymore. I’ve spent nearly my whole life playing the game. It was all I knew. I don’t know anything else.
If I take the job as manager, my schedule will be the same as if I were a player. Before I met Charley and we started down this road, managing had been the next logical step for me. It was a no-brainer decision.
But all that changed when Charley told me she was pregnant.
It makes the back of my neck prickle thinking about it.
Aside from the occasional one-night stand and arm candy for a function, I haven’t seriously dated much. I don’twantto have to factor other people into my life decisions; I live my life that way on purpose.
It makes my life easy. It keeps my heart intact.
Relationships with a major league player are hard. Add in a kid, and they’re even harder.
But ever since I answered her knock that night months ago, my life hasn’t been the same. It was more than the fact she was pregnant.
I’d thought about her every day after our first night together. Several times I picked up the phone to call or text her. But something stopped me every time.
Now I’m here, and a life without her sounds like a prison sentence with no possibility of parole.
But I can’t imagine my life without baseball either.
I scrub a hand down my face, a headache brewing behind my eyes. I need to think of what’s best for Charley and the baby.
