“I never said that!” I whisper-shout as I grab the bottle.
Once she’s out of the row, she stands up straight to look at me. “You didn’t have to. Just the fact that you mentioned him told me he was.”
She walks toward him, and I feel my face flush from embarrassment. I know if I don’t go down there, she’ll make aneven bigger scene, pointing and waving for me to join her—if she does, in fact, get a chance to talk to him.
I roll my eyes, then stand up and follow her as I run my hands down my hair, making sure it’s not a frizzy mess, then check to make sure my clothes are in line and not looking frumpy.
We get to the kids just as Nolan grabs a ball from Evan.
Instantly, he turns to show me. “Mom, he gave a ball to me!”
I put my hands on his shoulders and smile at Evan, not sure if he’ll even recognize me since we only met once and he’s probably seen a ton of people here today.
No such luck.
“Hey. Christy, right?” He points at me in question. “Is this Nolan?”
Nolan’s eyes open wide as he turns to me, then back to Evan. “You know my name?” he asks in absolute shock.
Evan smiles at him, and I hate what it does to the butterflies fluttering in my stomach right now.
“Sure do, bud. Your mom and I had a long conversation about your name today.”
“You know my mom?” Nolan hops up and down like a jumping bean, not able to contain the excitement racing through him.
“Yep. I met her today when she cut my hair. Does she cut your hair too?”
“She does!”
“High five! We have the same hairstylist,” Evan says, making me laugh out loud.
“That’s so cool!” Nolan slaps his hand. “Mom, why didn’t you tell me you knew a baseball player?”
“I didn’t know he was a baseball player,” I respond, smiling at my son, then facing Evan. “Neither he or his sister ever mentioned it.”
Evan gives me a soft grin. “I wasn’t trying to hide it. Just don’t like going around telling people.”
I nod my head. “Makes sense.” I point to his hat. “That hat makes more sense now too.”
He chuckles. “Yeah, I was afraid that was a dead giveaway when you mentioned it.”
My sister nudges me, then reaches her hand out to Evan. “Since my sister here isn’t going to introduce me, I’ll do it. I’m Sasha, her sister. And these two are mine.” She acknowledges Jackson and Layla, who are standing next to Nolan.
“What’s up, guys?” He gives them both a high five.
“My dad was talking about you the other day,” Jackson says.
“Yeah? He’s heard of me?” Evan asks.
“He said you’re going to be a good addition to the team. He’ll be jealous we got to meet you.”
Evan smiles. “Then how come he didn’t come tonight?”
“He’s a firefighter, so he works weird hours.”
Evan leans down to Jackson. “I work weird hours, too, as a baseball player, so I get it. Here.” He raises his finger, like he’s telling us to hold on as he goes and grabs another ball from a bucket, then takes a pen off the table on the field. He comes back to us and signs the ball, then hands it to Jackson. “You can give him this since he missed tonight.” He then holds his hand out to Nolan. “Give me yours, too, and I’ll sign it.”
Nolan hands him the ball and places his hands on the railing as he jumps up and down, barely able to contain himself.
