Page 53 of Home Run

I shook my head. “They were coming anyway, Holiday’s onThe Tonight Showthis week, and they’ve come to watch. And they’re coming to the game tonight.”

“That’s cool.”

“Yeah, but get this…” I paused, waiting for Lux to look at me. I was probably supposed to keep this a secret, but it was too exciting not to share. “She’s been asked to host theSNLseason opener.”

His eyes lit up. “No way?”

“Cool, right?”

“When is it?”

“End of the regular season.”

Lux groaned, though it was halfhearted.

We were bigSNLfans. During the early baseball season, it was the best way to unwind on a Saturday night after a game, and if we were flying out, then we had it on the plane screens. But the first episode of the new seasonalways clashed with the end of our season, so we’d never been able to score tickets.

Even though it looked like we’d be going into the postseason as favorites, and would miss the Wild Card Series, we needed to be resting as much as possible if we were going to make it to the World Series.

It had been drilled into us since the first day of Spring Training.

Our boss, Penn Shepherd, wanted that trophy. He’d even had a plinth built, and it sat in the entrance of Lions Stadium for us to walk past every day. The empty pedestal at the top served to remind us of the pressure we had on our shoulders this year. But we all wanted it. We wanted to win so badly we could taste it.

Not being in the audience to watch Holiday live onSNLwould be a small price to pay if we lifted that trophy in November.

“When’s she on Fallon?”

“Thursday, I think.”

“We’ll watch on the plane.”

I nodded. On Thursday we’d be on the way to Seattle for our series with the Mariners. It was a series we both needed to win, the Mariners probably more than us, but we had no plans to take it easy. We were less than a month away from the postseason and had been teetering at the top of the National League for the past few weeks, switching back and forth with the Phillies and the Braves.

The Mariners needed this win to ensure they had a spot for the Wild Card Series.

“How are your parents going to take the news?”

There was the million-dollar question.

“They already have a ton of grandchildren, so it won’t be a novelty, and they’re awesome grandparents. But I’m their baby boy, right?” I added with an eye roll, tossing the banana peels in the trash and wiping down the counter. “At least in my mom’s head. I think my dad will be cool once he knows Millie’s not after my money, my mom will want to move to New York and control every minute of every day.”

“I think we’re all out of space here, bud. She’ll have to find somewhere else.”

“Yeah, right? Thank god.” My body shuddered.

It wasn’t exaggerated either. When I first moved to New York, my mom wanted to move here, too, even though Holiday was already living in Los Angeles at that point. Thankfully it was right around the time my eldest sister, Riley, had her first baby, and the pull of being a grandmother was too strong.

Lux got up and flicked on the coffee machine. “Good luck, man. I’m sure it’ll all go fine.”

Letting out a deep sigh, I threw him a look that saidI hope soand picked up the smoothies I’d made. “Anyway, I have a pregnant girl to take this to. I’ll catch you later.”

I might not have thought through this moving situation in any way whatsoever, but I couldn’t lie and say I didn’t enjoy her being so close, especially when I could cross through the emergency stairwell we shared and knock on her door.

I loved being able to see her as often as I wanted, even if that just meant a passing visit. It didn’t matter because I could have another passing visit later that day. I loved that I could check on her. It made me feel like I wasn’t missing out as much as I might have done otherwise.

Since we’d gotten home from our last trip, Millie had been the last person I’d seen before heading to bed every night, after checking on her when I returned from a game. I didn’t want to read too much into it, but I swear I’d been sleeping better because of it, and Iknewthat’s why I was waking up so much earlier.

Because seeing Millie first thing had become the best way to start my day.

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