Page 42 of Fake Love

“Time to spare for what?” I ask, not moving.

“You’ll see. Go change.”

I do what he says and fifteen minutes later, and three outfit changes under my belt, we take an uber down to the piers.

“Are we going to Alcatraz?” I ask, spotting the sign as soon as we get out of the car.

“As much as I would like to, not today, but that’s definitely something we need to do before the season is over.” He says, taking my hand and guiding me down the sidewalk.

I try really hard not to over think the fact that my hand is in his. We’re in public, of course he’s going to hold my hand.

“Then where are we going?” I ask, matching my strides with his.

“You’ll see,” He throws a wink at me and continues to guide me down the path.

By the time we reach Pier 39 and I see where he’s guiding us, I instantly know where we’re going.

“The aquarium?” I ask as we approach the ticket booth.

“Sort of,” He says, throwing me a wink before talking to the person behind the glass in the booth. “I have a reservation under Bauer.”

You can make reservations for the aquarium?

I guess so because the employee nods at Maddox and hands him a piece of paper before telling him where to go.

With a thank you, Maddox grabs my hand and follows the guy’s direction. Within minutes we are inside, making our way through the aquarium.

Growing up where I did, a little over two hours from San Francisco, I would go to the aquarium all the time. It was one of my favorite places to go to when I was a kid and even as a teenager. It was an escape of sorts for me.

When I moved here, I came to this very aquarium a few times, but it never felt the same way it did when I was home, so I stopped coming.

In the handful of times that I’ve talked to Maddox, I never mentioned anything about the aquarium. So him bringing us here is making me scratch my head.

I’m about to ask him why we’re here and where we’re going when we stop at one of the exhibits that is filled with people.

From the looks of it, it's an event and given the amount of Miners logos there are displayed, it's a team event.

“Is this a Miners’ event?” I ask, when a group of kids run past us, yelling about seeing jellyfish.

Maddox nods. “A low key charity event to help raise money for one of the exhibits. It gets put on by one of the outfielder’s wife. He told me about it yesterday, and I thought it would be cool to stop by.”

That explains why he’s wearing a team hat.

“And here I thought you did some digging on me.” I say, not thinking about the words that are coming out as I take in all the different takes around me.

“What do you mean?” he asks, pulling my attention back to him.

“The aquarium is one of my safe places. Especially the one back home.” I tell him and the smile that he gives me is one I have to return.

“Really?”

“Yes, really. Not only is this a good content opportunity but also a good ‘date’,” I say with air quotes around the word date. Given that we’re in public and I’m already feeling eyes on me, I lean up on my tip toes and place a small kiss on the cheek. “Thank you for bringing me.”

Maddox is a little surprised by the small kiss but he is able to compose himself a bit when someone calls out his name.

“Maddox, glad you can make it,” a set of big muscular arms comes into view and for a solid minute all I can do is stare at them.

“Aaron, thank you for the invite. This is a cool thing your wife is doing here.” Maddox says, greeting muscle arms.

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