“Yeah. Like, do you start at Single-A, then go to Double, and then Triple?”
“Not always. Some guys go straight into Double-A. Or some guys go from Double-A right to the bigs.”
“Bigs?” I asked, not knowing what he meant.
“Big leagues. Majors. The show,” he said as it dawned on me. Those were all different names for playing in the major leagues.
“Sorry. Yeah. Gotcha. The bigs. But you just go wherever the farm team is?”
“Yep. Wherever they send me, that’s where I’ll go play.”
“And who do you live with?” I never realized how many questions I had about this profession, but once we started talking, they kept popping into my head.
“Sometimes, the teams set up host families that you can stay with. Other times, a bunch of the guys end up sharing an apartment. You get paid to play, but it’s not much. My buddy Cole lives with his girlfriend. But he got a signing bonus, so …” he said, like that explained everything.
I watched as he grabbed his slice of pepperoni and folded it in half before taking a big bite. “Chance, I am so turned on right now.”
He stopped chewing and looked around, as if debating what to do about the situation he’d created. “Yeah? You like that?”
“You folded the slice in half! Hell yes, I like that.”
“That’s how you eat it.” He shrugged, and I wanted to climb across the table and kiss him square on the mouth.
I grabbed my slice, watching the oil from the cheese drip out as I did the same.
“Oh. This is good.” I shouldn’t have talked with my mouth full, but it needed to be said. It definitely tasted as good as it looked.
“Told you,” he said, taking another bite and practically finishing it off. “What about you?”
“What about me what?” I grabbed a napkin and dabbed at the corners of my mouth.
“You told me once that the plan was to work for your dad after college. But I never asked what you were going to do.”
I shrugged, wondering what exactly to say and how. “My dad would love it if I took over the company eventually, but like I told you before, he’d never force me to do it.”
“Is that what you want to do? Take over the company?”
It was funny, hearing Chance ask me that question. With Jared, things had been so different. In the beginning we seemed to share a vision, but when my mind started to shift and I talked about other options, Jared always dragged me back on course. He refused to let me change or alter our future plans, regardless of how I felt about them.
“I always thought so,” I said without adding the parts about Jared.
“But not anymore?” Chance folded another slice with a smirk before taking a giant bite.
“I don’t know.” I absolutely wanted to be involved in my dad’s company in some capacity, but as far as running the entire empire, I wasn’t sure my heart was in it that deep. I saw how hard my dad worked, rarely taking days off and never going on an actual vacation. I had no desire to be owned by my career. I craved that elusive work-life balance everyone yearned for. “I don’t want to disappoint my dad, but I’m not sure it’s the right move for me.”
“How come?”
“Having a career is really important to me. But I don’t want my entire life to revolve around work.”
“You have that luxury,” he said as he swallowed the last bite of his latest slice, and my hackles instantly rose.
“What does that mean?” I asked a little too defensively.
He held up a hand. “Calm down, Little Spitfire. I only meant that it won’t be that way for me. I will be whatever baseball needs me to be. I’ll go where it tells me to go. And I’ll do what it tells me to do. I’ll rarely get days off. I’ll miss holidays, birthdays, and important dates. And even in the off-season, I’ll be working toward the next season. Baseball will own me. And I’ll let it.”
I wasn’t sure exactly why Chance had felt the need to tell me all of those things, but it seemed like some sort of warning. Like he was giving me an out if I thought I couldn’t handle all the things he’d just explained.
“When you put it that way, it doesn’t sound too fun.”
He grinned. “Oh, it’s fun. I’ll get paid to play baseball, Danika.” His grin grew even wider, if that was possible. “You know how many guys want that opportunity? Almost every single one who’s ever played at some point. But I’m not under any illusions either. I’m realistic about what it means for my life and the people in it. I will miss important things. I will disappoint people. I will push my body to the brink of exhaustion and whatever else because I love this game and there’s nothing else I’d rather do than play it.”
“See,” I breathed out, completely in awe for the level of passion he had. “I’ve never loved anything the way you love baseball.”
“You will.” He winked before grabbing my hand.
“Will I?”
“Yeah. You’re gonna love me like that,” he said before bringing my knuckles to his lips and pressing a kiss there.
My heart raced. My body melted. I knew that we were still in the honeymoon phase of our relationship, but I found myself wondering … Is this thing with Chance forever?
I Have a Girlfriend
Chance
The next few weeks were cake. I’d gone on my first road trip with the team, and it was easier than I’d ever imagined it could be. I wasn’t sure why I’d thought there’d be issues between my girl and me, but there were none, and I was extremely thankful for it. The last thing I needed was any kind of drama when I was on the road. Maybe it was because everyone else on the team always seemed to get into fights with their girlfriends during away games, so I’d expected Danika and I would too. That we would have some sort of adjustment period, lack of trust, or something my parents had always half-warned me about. But she was trusting while I was away, and I called her every night from the bed of my hotel room while Mac made fun of us in the background.
Back home, we spent a lot of our nights together but not every single one. I thought it was important that Danika and I were able to be apart, although I had no fucking idea why or what exactly I was trying to prove by enforcing that. So, even though it was usually my idea to sleep alone, I hated whenever we did. Danika was easy to get used to, all curled and tucked up against my body. I missed holding her, kissing her lips, and being inside her.
Sometimes, she defied me and showed up at the house anyway.
“I like sleeping with you,” she’d say, knowing I’d never ask her to leave.
But mostly, I went to her place to sleep over. The girls took care of me like I belonged to both of them but not in some sort of creepy, sharing way. Danika would never go for anything like that, and to be honest, I had zero interest in anyone but her. The girls kept me fed, and I liked food.
But whenever I’d been gone for too many nights in a row, Mac would call me, whining, asking when I’d be home and complaining about how I’d let a girl replace him. I always told him that he could come over, too, but he never said yes.
“Just come. The girls cook and bake, and they’d love to take care of you the way they take care of me,” I tried to convince him one afternoon.