There was a whole joke about this two months ago, how he married the mascot… doesn’t anyone pay attention?
Do you think the mascot is jealous of this hot side chick?
“If Owen figured it out, others will too,” she says. “We were too naive to think we could hide this for an entire season.”
The words hit me square in the chest. “You want to be more careful?”
If she says she wants a break, I’m going to quit my fucking job.
Her gaze searches my face. “Is that what you want?”
“Fuck no.”
She lets out a little surprised laugh. “Okay.”
“Wait, do you want…” I put my hands on her shoulders and really look at her. “Molly, whatdoyou want here? Because I want everything. Whatever you want, at your pace… but I want you. I refuse to hide how I feel about you. I can be more subtle, maybe, but you’re going to have to not be so damn beautiful as you play with my grandson.”
“I don’t want you to be subtle.”
“Once we go public, there’s no taking it back. People are going to have opinions. They’re going to say things?—”
“Let them.” Her chin lifts in that stubborn way I love. “I realized something important today. I’m falling in love with you. Not just that I love you, because I figured that out immediately—that’s its own special thing. But I’m also, every day, falling deeper and deeper in love with you. And I don’t think that’s going to stop all season long, and it would hurt to try to pretend otherwise. I know that in other circumstances, what we have might be wrong, but?—”
“It’s not wrong.”
“Human Resources might say otherwise.”
“We’remarried.”
“Thatisprobably going to make this easier, at least with my boss.”
“Do you even have a boss?”
She stops and thinks for a second. “No, I guess I don’t.”
“One less thing to worry about,” I mutter. “But I still want to protect you from the scrutiny. From people like Owen makingassumptions.”
“Owen’s an asshole who was going to be an asshole regardless.” She tilts her head. “And I can handle scrutiny. But I don’t think I can handle sitting in the family section, cheering on my husband’s team, and pretending all season that I’m just a guest.”
My husband. Christ, I love hearing her say that. “You’re a force of nature, Molly Henderson.”
She beams at me. “I think I prefer when you call me Molly Rosehill, Coach.”
Christ indeed. “Then tomorrow we’ll talk to management and legal and figure out the next steps.”
A small smile plays at her lips. “I have another idea.”
“Of course you do, Whirlwind.” I kiss her forehead. “What is it?”
She’s already typing something on her phone. “What do you think of this?”
I read it as she types it out.
Some of you noticed me at today’s game. Hi, I’m Molly. I work in PR for the Outlaws, and three months ago, I had to step in last minute and serve as Captain Citrus when our favorite coach volunteered to get married at home plate. And then something funny happened… (Follow for part two if you want more!)
“Wait, so… you aren’t going to tell them?” I think I’m too old to understand her idea here.
Good thing I have a wife to translate it for me. “Not yet. I know that we need to run this by the team. That’s important. As someone who worksfor the front office, I know we need to have a coordinated response here, but it needs to be timely, and we need to show the team that we’re going to make this fun, not a drama, not a scandal.”
