Page 74 of Wild Pitch
“Hey,” Jack said. “Back from the wedding?”
“Yeah. I landed about an hour ago. Walking in the door now.”
Liam came running to the door, stopped short, tipped his nose up, and turned his back to me. He probably thought I was Denise.
“How was it? Did you and Kylie get outed?”
“Not exactly. Unless you count Kelsey’s kid’s father—who walked in on us while we tried to get a moment alone, Kylie’s going to plan a dinner with her family once Sam and Kelsey return from their honeymoon. We’ll tell everyone then.”
“That’s progress.”
“How’s Craig handling the upcoming move?”
Jack had signed with the Minutemen when they made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. It was only a one-year contract, but it rivaled what they had paid Drummond just the year before. They planned to stick with long distance for the year and then figure out their plan after Jack fulfilled his contract. Craig had re-upped with Los Angeles for six years, about six months before their relationship went public.
“Yeah, we’ll figure it out. We spent the last year traveling together, in a state of constant togetherness. If we made it through that, we’ll get through this.”
“I sent you the contact of the real estate agent. Her name was Laurel. She’s great.”
“Thanks, I already reached out. I’ll be in town at the end of the month to look at a few places. Might need to crash with you if the timing doesn’t work.”
“Say when. Whatever you need.”
“Hey man, I’m happy for you and Kylie. You deserve to be happy—after everything.”
We said goodbye, and I brought my suitcase upstairs. We’d arrived back from paradise to six-plus inches of snow. Kylie had been as excited as a little kid and promised that we’d be playing in the white shit later on today after she unpacked and spent some time with Lily.
Lily wasn’t a fan of our relationship, and it wasn’t because of the age difference. She’d cornered me on more than one occasion and threatened me not to hurt her friend. Before this week, that wasn’t a promise I felt I could make.
Our future hinged on Kylie’s ability to be happy without marriage or children. I had even been thinking about asking her to move in with me. Something that I never thought I’d be able to do. I counted on one hand the number of nights she slept in her apartment since the season ended, so it wouldn’t have been a stretch to make that change.
Right before I left, a custom-built bondage horse had arrived, and Kylie hadn’t seen the addition to the playroom yet. I hurried to unpack so I could prepare it for later—after I indulged her by playing in this messy frozen water shit.
Even when I’d coached in Seattle, I spent the winters in LA or at our family’s beach house in Destin. Until the cold air blasted me in the face as I left Logan Airport—I thought I could handlethe cold. The sudden change from the warm Caribbean climate to the near-arctic blast forced me to jack up the heat. Turning on every gas fireplace in the house, including the one in the playroom, I did my best to set the stage for Kylie.
Kylie called to me from the bottom of the stairs, and it was hard to hide the persistent and intense desire I had to spend all of my spare time with her. We’d separated at the airport less than two hours before, and I missed her.
Usually, with just under six weeks before pitchers and catchers reported, I was getting stir-crazy and ready for the season to begin. This year, I wanted to make the most of every single minute with Kylie. Traveling for work no longer held its appeal.
I had loved my wife; I never doubted that. But this was different. Skylar and I had great chemistry. But we never had a friendship. I looked forward to sharing every little thing about my day with Kylie, and when she complained about her annoying coworker, I listened and laughed.
We stayed up late into the night, and Kylie shared where she hoped to be in her career five and even ten years down the road. None of that had included children, but seeing her with her nephew spending that afternoon with him made it impossible to ignore that Kylie had a maternal side. Whether that meant she wanted her own or she refrained from discussing it because I had made my thoughts known wasn’t clear.
“Up here.”
Her face was flushed from the cold as she ran up to meet me, arms laden with ski pants and a thick winter jacket.
“Hey.”
She greeted me with a kiss, dropping the bundle of clothes on my bed.
“Are we going out to play in the snow? This isn’t a joke?” I quickly lost hope that I could distract her from her plan. Shewas committed to us freezing our asses off. Her face lit up at the possibility, and even if I hated the cold, I would do it, just to keep that smile on her face.
“I promise it will be fun.”
“Kylie, you make everything fun, but after this last week, the cold feels aggressive. Won’t we get sick? Catch a cold?”
“Oh please, a cold is a virus, not from your body getting too cold. Trust me, I work in infectious disease. There is no such thing as it being too cold. You just need to wear the right clothes.”
