Bringing my gaze back to this ballfield, I see men of all ages. Many have been my parents’ friends, as well as parents and siblings of my and Alec’s friends. They are people I’ve known most of my life, and I know for certain that some of the guys on Alec’s team are part of the local police force.
I think of what could have happened if Malcolm and I had been caught. I would have officially died from embarrassment if one of these men or women would have found us parked back in that isolated lot. Despite what is supposed to happen when the police find someone in that situation, I’m certain that if that had happened, if one of my brother’s friends would have come upon my car, there would have been no confidentiality, no professional courtesy. Whoever found us probably would have called Alec while I was sitting right there. I can imagine one of them now: Hey Alec, I’m holding your sister and some man in my patrol car with a pending charge of indecent exposure. Do you want to come pick her up, or should I call your folks?
Honestly, it would be more embarrassing now than if it’d happened ten years ago.
“How’s kindergarten going?” Alec asks as he plops down next to me on the aluminum bleacher, his body weight and large equipment bag landing with a thud and making me jump.
“I’d rather not think about it. Jase is having fun tonight. Let’s let him be?”
“Okay. Then tell me about your date.”
“There was no blind date.” I’ve gotten good at sticking to that story.
“Yeah, I heard. Mom said that something came up with Brian and you never met up with his friend? Is Brian’s patient okay?”
“Yeah, I think everything worked out. Mostly Sally has apologized. Like I said, the blind date was a bust.”
He nudges my shoulder with his.
I flinch away from his moist touch. His shirt is saturated with an aromatic combination of perspiration, dirt, and grime from his recent game. “Bro!” I scrunch my nose. “You stink.”
Alec laughs. “Fine. I smell, but you stink at lying.”
He nudges me again as I make ‘ew’ sounds and dramatically scoot away. We may be adults, but there’s part of me that wants to yell to my father, “Dad, Alec’s touching me. Make him stop touching me.” Then I remember that I’m a parent and I can’t do that.
“Look at you,” Alec says with a sly, lopsided grin.
“What?”
“Tell big brother all about this guy. I’m not out of the loop. I know you’ve gone on a few dates. I want to help. I mean...” He nods to his friend Steve Stivey who actually caught two long fly balls in left field tonight, sitting with his wife a few rows down. “...give me a name and date of birth, and Steve can run a nice detailed report. In minutes, we’ll know everything: parking tickets, moving violations, misdemeanors, felonies...”
I shake my head. “You know why I love living in a small town connected to other small towns where it seems like everyone knows everyone?”
“Because we all have your back?”
“No. I was being sarcastic. It was a rhetorical question.”
Alec pulls out his phone. “Give me your phone. I can start with his contact information.”
I lean back and tuck my phone tightly into my lap. “No.”
“Listen, I know I said it was a good idea to go on that date, but now, this is different. You know what they say...better safe than sorry. I owe it to Jackson and Jase.”
“First, what I told Mom was accurate. Brian had some work-related emergency. He and Sally didn’t make it, so if the other guy, Brian’s friend, was there, I never met him.”
“The other guy...implies that there’s another guy.”
I start to stand, but before I can, Alec reaches for my hand. “I’m really not being an ass.”
“You are. Have I ever offered to do background checks on every woman you sleep with?”
Alec’s cocky smile evaporates before me as his blue eyes darken and forehead furrows. “You slept with him?”
“Oh! Shit. This conversation isn’t happening.”
“Listen,” he says in a hushed tone. “It was one thing when it was Brian’s friend. Brian’s an all-right guy. He’s even subbed on the team a few times and comes to Wayne’s Place with Sally sometimes. It was one thing when you were going to meet his friend. This is a pickup.”
“When did you get so critical? It wasn’t a pickup. It was fate, and it was one night. So you don’t need to worry about Jase. Like I said the other night, I’m not telling him.”
“But you’ve gone out with this other guy a few more times?”
“So?”
“So that’s more than one night. Stivey can run a quick—”
I lean down and kiss my brother’s sweaty cap. “Thanks. Have a little faith in me. He’s nice.”
“Why should I have faith in you if you don’t?”
His question catches me off guard, but before I can process what he’s said, my son’s voice rings through the air.
“Mom! Grandpa got me ice cream,” Jase yells as he rushes through the dirt and dust toward us with my dad a few paces behind.
“Okay. Stay there,” I reply, not wanting him to climb up the bleachers with a cone in one hand. “I’ll be right down.”
My expression hardens as I turn back to my brother. “What do you mean?”
“If you believed that he was a nice guy...if you had faith, you’d introduce him to Jase.”
“I love you, Alec, but shut up. You don’t understand.”
He lifts his hands in surrender. “Fine. I don’t. Just remember, a background check is a call away. Do you want me to give you Steve’s number?”
Shaking my head, I work my way down the bleachers as Jase stands at the fence, his little fingers of one hand holding tight to the chain-link fence separating him from home plate while the other hand grasps the dripping cone. His shirt is smeared with melted ice cream and the hand with the cone is quickly disappearing behind a steady drape of white as droplets land on the ground and on his dusty shoes.
“Look at you,” I say with a grin. I turn to my dad. “Thanks.”
Dad laughs as a half-eaten cone comes to my lips.
“You want some, Mommy?”
I quickly take a small bite, mostly to stop it from hitting my nose. “Yum.”
Jase looks out on the field as the teams warm up. “Uncle Alec said he’d take me to the batting cage sometime.”
I turn to see Alec who followed me down the stands as he gives me one of his brother-knows-best looks. “You did?” I ask Alec.
“You know, I asked Jase to hang out so that his mommy would have some time for mommy stuff, but apparently, I’m supposed to shut up.”
I take a deep breath and let it out. “No background check. Don’t push me. I have faith. I just need time.” I smile. “And thanks. Jase would love to go to the batting cage.”
“It would be a big sacrifice for the women of the world, but maybe after the batting cage...” Alec gets down on one knee and steals a small bite of Jase’s ice cream cone. “...we could eat pizza, stay up late at my place, and watch guy movies?” Jase vigorously nods his head as Alec looks up at me with big and pleading eyes, the same color as mine. “On a non-school night of course,” he adds.