“Frankie,” I laugh. “What are you talking about? Do you know someone in Niagara Falls?”
“Well… sort of. You know him, too?”
“Who?”
“That border agent from this morning.”
I blink rapidly and stare at her dumbfounded. “What do you mean? How do you know his name is Theo and how—”
She cuts me off by brandishing a note. “He slipped this in my passport before returning it to me.”
The note said, “Would love to meet up after work. Call me if you’re still around tonight.”
I sigh. “Frankie, I swear you don’t find trouble. Trouble finds you.”
She shrugs. “I don’t think he’s trouble. I think he looks like a lot of fun. Do you think he’ll bring his handcuffs?”
I stare at her dumbfounded again. “Really?”
She grins widely now, but then her gaze shoots to something behind me. “Oh, there’s Casey!”
My heart stops. Literally stops, and I don’t know how I’m still breathing. No, I don’t think I am breathing. I’m pretty sure I’m going to faint or die, whichever comes first.
“W-what?”
“Casey. He’s pitching.”
I turn quickly, afraid that I’ll lose my nerve and let out a huge sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God.”
“Oh, wait, did you think I meant here?”
“Yeah.”
“Why would that bother you?”
“I’m just not ready to see him again.”
“I don’t want to pry, but what happened that night?”
“He explained how important baseball is and that he doesn’t have time for anything else in his life. And he doesn’t plan on coming back.”
“Oh, that’s too bad. I had a huge crush on Casey in high school. But he never paid any attention to me. I don’t think hepaid any attention to anyone in the Falls. He always had his sights set outside of our town.”
“Yeah. I guess so.”
“Oh, he just struck the first guy out.”
I’ve never missed a game before. In fact, I would probably be at the game right now with Jane and the family if I wasn’t too scared to face my own feelings. Seeing Casey right now hurts, even if it’s on the small screen.
But today I promised myself to stop dwelling on the negative things from my past and move forward with new memories.
“Should we go inside and watch the ending before our food comes?”
“Sure,” says Frankie.
We stand in front of another bar, this one with the television set behind it and set our drinks on the counter.
“He looks like his old self again,” says Frankie.
