“Two beers coming up!” Mike responds.
John stands to join him. “I’ll come help.”
The two leave, and Samantha cuddles up closer to me. “Good. We can have some girl talk.”
I giggle at how she’s acting.
“Tell me about you and Evan,” she says in a playful tone.
“Oh jeez.” I pause. “We just met.”
“But yet you’re here, with us, so it must have gone well.”
I inhale a breath as I think. “We had a good day together.”
“Just a good day? Nothing else?”
I laugh out loud. “What else is there to tell? We went shopping together.”
“Did he kiss you?”
I feel my face flush, and she cheers in response.
“He did!”
I cover my face with my hands, embarrassed to be having this conversation with his sister.
“So, was it just a small kiss goodbye or something else?”
I move my hands just enough to peek in her direction, and she jumps on me in excitement.
“You guys didn’t!” she exclaims as a statement, not a question.
“Oh, no!” I wave my hands back and forth. “No, he just kissed me.” I pause with a blissful sigh. “It was just really good.”
She wraps her arms around me in a hug. “I’m so happy for you guys.”
“We’re nothing yet, so don’t get too ahead of things.” I try to calm the situation down, mainly so I don’t get my own hopes up.
“Yeah, but you’re here. That means something.”
I close my eyes, then let out a breath. When I open them, she’s smiling from ear to ear.
“He’s going to be up soon!” Tyler yells to get our attention, thankfully getting the topic off me kissing her brother.
We both stand and join the boys, who are leaning against the railing.
Jake, the leadoff batter, gets a single, hitting the ball just over the head of the shortstop. Gunnar is up next and hits the ball tothe right fielder, who is able to make the throw to first base to get the out, but in the process, it moves Jake to second base.
I watch in awe as Evan steps up to bat in his black pinstripe uniform withParkerwritten above the number nineteen on his back. Samantha grabs my hand in anticipation as she places the other one on her chest.
“Go, Uncky!” Liam yells.
Almost like he can hear him, he turns toward us at that moment, gives us a nod, and goes back to taking his position in the box.
“He heard me!” Liam jumps up and down.
Samantha winks at me, knowing there’s no way he did, but loving that it made her son so happy.
