Page 82 of Home Run

“You’re welcome.”

“Hey, Tan?” asked Radley, slicing up a couple oftomatoes. “What’s Holiday said aboutSNLtonight, is she excited? Millie and I sent her some good luck flowers.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I spoke to her earlier.”

“I’m sorry you’re missing it,” I added, dropping my head on his shoulder.

“Me, too, but it is what it is. She understands, and she’ll host again.” He shifted my head so he could see me, and his brows shot up. “You two can go, you know? If you want to. I don’t need to come with you, but Holiday will organize it. I’ll call her assistant.”

Radley stopped cutting tomatoes and looked at me. For half a second I was so tempted, because I should go and support Holiday. But I was also very comfortable in my pajama pants and Tanner’s sweatshirt, and going toSNLwould mean getting out of them and making myself presentable. Plus, I wouldn’t get home until past two a.m.

Considering I went to bed closer to nine p.m. these days, I’d probably fall asleep.

“No, we’ll all stay in and watch together. We can support her from here,” I replied, and scooped a guac-loaded chip into my mouth. “Tanner and Mills under the blanket.”

“Okay, deal.” He grinned at me. “We’ll finish making dinner, eat, and watch the game, then reset forSNL. If the game finishes early, you might even be able to get a second nap in.”

“I like that plan.” I laughed.

“Thought you might.”

The Nats beat the Braves four runs to two.

It was much more closely fought than the score suggested, going to eleven innings. I wouldn’t have time for a nap beforeSaturday Night Live, but the energy of the game, along with the amount of shouting from the guys who’d decided they’d rather be playing the Nats than the Braves, meant I was wide awake enough to not need one.

“There’s no way we’re not winning the trophy this year, I can feel it in my bones,” announced Parker, echoing Tanner’s earlier sentiment.

As the game progressed, my phone began blowing up with vaguely threating messages from my brothers about Tanner and the Lions boys visiting their hometown. This, followed by a couple from my mom asking if she should get my room ready, and the last one, right before the final bat, asking me toplease come and visit, which I showed to Radley.

“Guess we need to plan a road trip to D.C., stat,” Radley announced, snatching up her phone from the table to find a similar number of messages to what I had. “You wanna leave after lunch? I’ll check with Jake.”

“Sounds good.”

Tanner twisted around to face me. “Babe, how about you bring your mom and brothers to the game? Doug too.”

“Yeah, your brothers can watch the Nats get a whopping,” Parker threw out as he got up to fetch more popcorn.

“Dude, shut up,” Tanner snapped, turning back to me. “What do you think? I can meet your mom.”

I chewed on my lip, though there was little point in hesitating. Tanner would have to meet my mom soon,seeing as the baby would be here before we knew it. And it would be better if he met her before our families descended on each other.

“You sure you want to meet her? You know you’re going to get grilled.”

“I’m ready for it. And no one can be worse than your brothers, right?”

In lieu of a response, I kissed his cheek, and sent out a little prayer to my dad to help make it all go smoothly.

Though in hindsight, that wasn’t the best idea, seeing as my dad would have kicked Tanner’s ass.

EIGHTEEN

TANNER

I takeback everything I’ve ever said about spooning.

Not that I’d said much, because thinking about it, I’d never reallyspoonedspooned. Not like this, and not in the morning, either, because I’d never been a sleepover type of guy, if you know what I mean.

And I don’t think I’d been missing out, because I couldn’t imagine doing this with anyone elsebutMillie. IfI had though, I would definitely be wrong, because this with Millie, was the best I’d ever experienced. It was tempting enough to hide under the covers and stay there until someone sent a search party.

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