“He said to meet him at one. I’ll see you there.”
I send an email to Nick’s parents with the invitation and details and am surprised when I hear back right away, saying how excited they are for the opportunity.
* * *
When we arrive at the junior high, Drew is there with three buckets of balls, each spread out on the dirt field.
I admire him from afar as my sister approaches me.
She stands a few feet back when she says, “Oh, you’ve got it bad.”
I scrunch my nose at her. “Do not! Okay, I totally do,” I admit with a big smile. “But look at him!”
Matthew walks up to us. “What’s up, Auntie?” He waves but keeps his distance.
I want to hug the big dude like I normally do and am sad when I can’t.
I turn to Shelly. “Nikki didn’t want to come?” I ask about my niece.
“Nah, she was happy outside drawing with chalk,” Shelly replies.
Nick and his parents show up, and we all head to the baseball field.
Drew stands with his arms open wide. “Welcome to my practice à la quarantine.”
I introduce all of them to Drew. Nick’s parents show their appreciation and talk about Nick’s goals, moving forward, while Matthew and Nick stare at him in awe. Their faces crack me up, and I’m getting a kick from just staring at them.
“Okay”—Drew slaps his hands together—“the number one goal here is that we keep our distance, which should be easy, playing baseball, but then I thought,What about touching the ball?” He picks up a ball and holds it up. “So, I have three different buckets here.”
He points so we can see that one saysDrew, the middle one saysMatthew, and the third one saysNick.
“You are to only touch the balls in your bucket. Instead of throwing a ball back after you catch it, you just drop it to the ground next to you and pick up the ball from your bucket and throw that one instead. Does that make sense? So the other person’s ball will only touch your glove and not your actual hand.”
They both nod, and Nick’s parents smile at the lengths he’s gone to keep their son safe.
“Okay, you two go ahead and warm up. It’s good mental practice too. You have to think every time tonottouch the ball that was thrown to you. Baseball is a mental game, so this is an added bonus.”
Drew continues to talk to Nick’s parents as Shelly and I sit and watch. Drew’s attention keeps turning to me, and every time he does, I can’t hide the smile on my face.
“He is so stinking cute!” Shelly says. “Do you see how he keeps checking you out?”
I grin her way. “I know. It’s been so unreal too. I’ve never gotten to know a guy like this. It’s really forcing us to talk, you know?”
She laughs out loud. “Yeah, no sex to mess things up this way.”
I groan. “That’s the part that sucks. I want to touch him. Just once.”
Her eyes widen. “You haven’t even touched?”
“Nope.” I shake my head sadly but then turn his way as I say, “His mom has a compromised immune system, so he’s keeping his distance, and he’s been getting very creative on ways to be together without being together.”
“That’s adorable. You know, I’ve always said you’ll know how a guy feels by the effort he puts into getting to know you. I’d say, he’s all in.”
I smile at her as I shrug my shoulders and head toward him.
He sees me coming and steps away to talk to me.
“Thank you so much for doing this,” I say.
