“Damn, Miss Avoidance,” Gabby snarks.
Tay tsks. “She’s got you there.”
“Um, you actually may know him, or at least knowofhim.”
“I do?” Gabby is interested now.
“Mmhmm. His name is”—I take a deep breath before opening these floodgates—“Preston Fields.”
“Preston Fields?” Tay asks.
“Preston Fields? As in the baseball player, Preston Fields?”
“Uh huh.”
“As in, starting second baseman for the Tampa Tides, Preston Fields?”
“Yep.”
“Oh shit, he plays for Daddy Mike?” Tay does this shit purely to annoy me.
“Oh my fucking god, do not call him that.”
“That’s him though isn’t it? Oh shit, he is smoking!” Tay must be on his social media now.
“Yes, that’s him.”
“Did you know it was him?” Gabby asks.
“I vaguely recognized him, but didn’t place him at first. When he made a brief reference to baseball and then my dad mentioned a player went on vacation, it clicked.”
“Better question, did he recognize you? I bet he did and he’s just playing it cool.”
“He did. He didn’t tell me he recognized me until after we went snorkeling. Get this, he told me he had a confession and then was nervous I would be upset he didn’t say anything sooner.”
“Aww,” Tay gushes.
“Are you hanging out again?”
“I’m not sure.” I want to. I’ve seen Preston since the video call but there’s an underlying tension in the air now. I don’t know if he wants to see me. Plus, if we have to leave the resort, there are more important issues to solve than whether I can snorkel and find sunglasses.
“Why not?” Gabby softens her tone from her investigating voice.
“We leave in two days now. I also may or may not have FaceTimed my dad the other day while we were hanging out on the deck.”
“You didn't,” Tay gasps.
“I bet that went over like a lead balloon.”
“What? Why?” Tay’s confused question lingers. I’m not sure how to answer but Gabby does before I can find the words to explain it.
“Because his star player and team leader is not only not at home where he should be waiting on the call for the season to be rescheduled, he’s in a foreign country with no way back for several weeks and to top it off is hanging out with his daughter.”
“Ooh, Daddy Mike was big mad, huh?”
“That pretty much sums it up. I don’t know what I was thinking. He yelled at Preston. It got awkward after that and Preston left.”
Gabby grunts. “It’s nothing worse than how he probably is to Preston normally or in a game. He’s used to it. I wouldn’t think anything of it.”
