“I don’t want to leave his sibling out without trying,” he says.
My mouth drops open slightly. I wonder if this stems from him being a twin. Of having his identity so closely linked with Brody. Is he transferring those feelings to this situation?
I approach Brady, moving directly in front of him. His citrus and woodsy scent washes over me again with the breeze. Brady’s tanned skin smells delicious. Like a drink I’d like to sip.
Wait a second.
Did I compare his scent to a drink I want to sip?
Lord, what is wrong with me?
I shove the thought away and gently hand him Petey, who accepts being placed into his large hand.
“Hey, Petey,” he says. “How are you?” Then Brady shifts his gaze to me. “Man, these guys are cool. I can’t believe I’ve never been exposed to them before.”
“I know, right?” I reply.
I step back, and Neil goes to work taking pictures. I watch with pride as my boys behave perfectly in Brady’s capable hands. Other outlets are taking pictures and video, and I snap my pics to release on social media, which will get a lot of play because of the ferrets.
“Addison, can you see if they will allow Brady to hold them in his mitt?” Neil asks.
I nod. I place my phone on top of my bag and retrieve the glove, which is next to Neil.
I smile as I stand in front of Brady again. “I’m not sure how to make this transfer.”
Brady chuckles. “Me, either.”
“George, why don’t you hold the glove so Brady can give Addison the ferrets?” Neil asks his assistant.
George approaches us, and I hand him the glove. As Brady hands me Willy and Petey, our fingertips brush, and my stomach gives a little flutter.
“Okay, got them?” Brady asks before completely letting go.
“Yes.”
I take them, and Brady gets his glove and slips it on. Wow, that thing is enormous. I have no doubt Willy and Petey will both fit in there—if they choose to cooperate, that is.
I place both ferrets in his glove, and Brady cradles his free hand protectively over both of them.
“Shoot quick!” I say, running off the mound.
Brady throws his head back and laughs at my words. Neil begins snapping away, and the moment is perfect. Willy and Petey stay in the glove for a few seconds, and Brady’s facial expression is one of pure joy as Willy begins to climb onto his chest.
His natural affinity for animals is right here for all of us to see.
But before I can capture the moment myself with my phone, Petey is trying to climb up his tattooed arm.
Brady is laughing, and so is everyone else.
“I think the shoot is over,” he says as my ferrets start climbing him like the greatest jungle gym ever built.
“Here,” I say, coming to him and lifting Petey off his arm.
“Thank you,” he says. I’m about to pick up Willy when Brady puts his free hand on him. “No, I’ve got him. As long as you’re okay with that.”
Juliette, the Soaring Eagles Insider host, approaches us. “Brady, can we talk to you about your shoot?”
“Of course,” he says, cradling Willy against his chest.
As the videographer moves to shoot the interview, I step back and hold Petey, because if I put him down, Willy would want to get down and run free with him. So I gently stroke the area under his cheeks—that’s Petey’s sweet spot—and watch the interview with interest. Juliette asks the basic things, like why did he want to participate, how did he end up with ferrets, etc. Once she finishes, people begin leaving the infield, except for a few team media relations people and Elisa.
“We’re officially done,” Chris Davies, the social media manager for the Soaring Eagles, says. “You’re free to go, Brady.”
“Thank you so much for participating, Brady,” Elisa says. She turns to me. “You can go home after this if you like. It’s been a busy day.”
“Thank you, Elisa,” I reply. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Chris, can we let the ferrets run on the field for a little bit?” Brady asks. “I mean if Addison is okay with that? They seemed to love it.”
“Sure. But leave before they lock up the stadium, okay?” he jokes.
Brady smiles. “Will do.” He turns to me. “Do you mind?”
“Not at all,” I say, putting Petey down on the grass. Brady does the same with Willy, and they take off, scampering once again across the grass.
Elisa walks off with Chris, and now I’m alone with Brady. The vast stadium is now empty and quiet, yet he stands very close to my side. I’m so aware of him, how tall he is, the scent on his skin, how the wind keeps blowing an errant curl across his forehead, and how he keeps pushing it away.
“Thank you for getting them some free time,” I say, smiling at him. “Look at how happy they are.”
“They did a great job today. Besides, I need to hear them dook again. May I offer you a seat?” Brady asks, waving his hand at the grass around us.
I smile and kick off my shoes. I sink down into the grass, feeling how the sun has warmed it now, and tuck my legs up underneath me. Brady lowers himself to the ground next to me, and we sit side-by-side, watching Willy and Petey play.
“So, how do you find Washington?” I ask, trailing my fingertips over the perfectly cut grass.
Brady leans back on his elbows, lifting his face up toward the sun. “The team or the city?”
“Both.”
A smile flickers across his face. My heart flutters the second I see it.
“I like DC. It’s so different from San Diego, where I grew up. Or Palo Alto, where I went to school, or even from the minor league teams in the Chicago farm system. This is the heartbeat of the nation. There’s a serious, professional, powerful vibe that I’ve never felt anywhere else.”
“I’ve lived very few places,” I say. “Born and raised in the Philadelphia area. College at the University of Virginia. Now DC.”
“So you aren’t a native,” he says.
I shake my head. “No, I’ve only lived here a few years. I’m still learning things about it. And I haven’t seen one-tenth of all the things I want to see.”
“What are some of the things you want to see that you haven’t?”
I pick a blade of grass and twirl it between my fingers. “The Library of Congress, for one. It’s the largest library in the world.”
“But isn’t it just for Congress?”
“No. You can get a library card and use it,” I explain. “But they also have exhibits you can see, like a replica of Thomas Jefferson’s book library or one of three original Guttenberg Bibles. And there is a reading room in the rare books and special collections division that I would love to sit in to peruse some of the old books. They even have medieval manuscripts, can you believe that? I’m dying to see it.”
“Wow. I just assumed it was a research library for Congress,” Brady says.
“It is, but it’s also so much more. And the architecture is supposed to be incredible. But the idea of being around all those people with access to those incredible books—I need to see it. I love books. Kindle books, printed books, old and new, it doesn’t matter. They are a weakness of mine. I buy them all the time. It’s about as bad as my habit of buying scented liquid soaps, which I’m also obsessed with.”