However,datingis exactly what it feels like when Duncan asks if I want to hit a bar for the best smothered fries in Copper Valley before he drops me back at my place.
“Is this a trick to get me to eat poutine?” I ask when I should tell him I have things I need to do.
Which wouldn’t exactly be a lie.
The things I need to do are to not spend the afternoon with him when he’s so damn likeable.
My mother used to tell me my father wasso damn likeablewhen they first met too.
And then she spent thirty-five years losing herself to try to make him happy when the truth was that nothing would make him happy.
He didn’twantto be happy.
But he certainly seemed to enjoy the power he had over her to make her try.
“You’d love poutine,” Duncan says as he steers his SUV around a corner. “But this isn’t a trick to get you to eat it. These are your typical American loaded fries. Cheddar, onions, bacon, and you can even smother it in ranch dressing if you want. They’re delicious.”
“Hmm.”
“Is that a no, or is that anI’ll be the judge of how good these fries are?”
“I can spare an hour for loaded fries.”
“The Stingrays will appreciate it when you order this next time for breakfast.”
I actually laugh at that.
“You ever order breakfast for the Fireballs?” he asks.
“No.”
“No Coach Addie question-and-answer time with the starting lineup?”
“Pro baseball players don’t need the same thing as college athletes on the women’s teams.”
Hehmms back at me.
“Hmmwhat?”
He shakes his head.
“No, really,” I say. “What?”
He opens his mouth. Closes it. Wash, rinse, repeat. For a whole block.
I twist sideways in my seat and stare at him, and he finally shrugs. “You looked happy.”
Not what I was expecting him to say.
I thought I’d getyou’d be surprised how dumb rookies can beoreven veteran players need to know they’re heard sometimes.
And Idohear my players.
All of them.
It’s why Cooper Rock asked for my advice before he retired. Why Diego Estevez sometimes pops in with relationship questions. Why Brooks Elliott and Luca Rossi ambushed me two weeks ago to talk about concerns they have about the batting order we’ve been using.
It’s why my brain has been swimming since Tripp’s comment that the guys had noticed a change in me this year, when I know I’ve clammed back up.
