“He intimated that he’d done some time-wasting,” I said, feeling nervous about all of this. Although, I reasoned, whatever had happened to Parker and Mason back then, they seemed like they couldn’t be closer now. Kids were kids. Brothers were brothers. But, when I looked at Mason, my heart ached for him. “It must be really hard for him to be back out here. Salt in the wound,” I said.
“For sure,” Laura added.
Carmen nodded. “Tim was so excited when he wanted to come back. As a friend, he was glad to see him get back on the horse. And as an educator, he knew Mason could really help these kids, teach them, not just about baseball but to learn from his mistakes.”
I nodded seriously. “Right. But do you think if Tim knew about this intense flame burning between you and Mason, he would still have hired him?”
Carmen swatted me, like we were old friends, and I felt myself exhale. I had taken a risk there. Ithoughtshe would think it was funny, but I wasn’t sure.
I guessed something good had happened, because boys started cheering and Mason’s team was running to the dugout. I looked over at him, and he caught my eye. I gave him a thumbs-up like I knew exactly what was going on and was so, so proud.
I had a moment—a brief one—of wondering if I wanted to get involved with him. I knew that former sports stars had the hardesttime moving on with their lives when it all went out in a blaze of glory. Maybe it was too much. Maybe I needed to move on. But then I saw him high-five the pitcher and tousle his hair and this surge ofsomethingpulsated around my heart. I loved that he was so invested in these kids; I loved seeing him in his element, even if I didn’t reallyunderstandhis element. But how hard could it be to learn the rules of baseball? I’d been through nursing school, for heaven’s sake.
“Oh my gosh!” Laura shout-whispered to Carmen, gesturing with her head over her shoulder to a man I didn’t recognize. Well, of course I didn’t. I knew like five people here.
“Oh my gosh!” Carmen repeated.
“What are we oh-my-goshing about?” I whispered.
“That’s the head coach for the ECU baseball team!” Laura said.
“How do you guys know this stuff?” I asked, peeking over Laura.
“Well, don’tlookat him,” Carmen said.
“I bet he’s here scouting Drew,” Laura said.
“So he’s, like, really good?” I asked.
“The next Mason Thaysden,” Carmen said.
That sentence hit me hard. I wondered how much pride Mason must feel in that. Or, alternatively, how hard it must be for him. I felt like I had so much I wanted to talk to him about. I hoped he wasn’t too much of a fixer-upper, but, well, that had never stopped me before. I was a nurse. I fixed people.
“Hey!” Carmen said. “We should get a glass of wine after this.”
I needed girlfriends here. Well, besides Aunt Tilley, who I was determined to ingratiate myself to. But as I watched Mason lean down, put his hand on a batter’s shoulders, and talk to him seriously, I knew nothing and no one could tear me away from our date tonight.
“Can we please, please have a rain check?” I asked. “I really want to, but…”
Carmen shook her head. “Ten points for not rubbing your date with the love of my life in my face.”
“A true friend would never.”
“Just be careful,” Laura said. “He’s finally growing up, but he’s still Mason Thaysden.”
I wasn’t totally sure what that meant. But I knew, in my heart of hearts, that “careful” had flown out the window the minute I saw that beautiful man holding that baby in the emergency room.
MASONConstellation
Winning as a coach was even better than winning as a player. As a player, if you were down, you could actually, physically do something about it. The not being able to control it was the hardest part of being a coach. But when you knew you had guided and pep-talked and inspired a group of boys to victory? Well, that was pretty cool.
And now, at the corner table of Carolina Style, my favorite restaurant—especially when I was trying to impress a woman, as I was now—the fifth man had just walked to the table to share his take on the game. “Now, Coach,” he was saying, “I know Drew is our star, but sometimes I think we rely on him too much. See, what I was thinking was that if we just…”
He kept talking, and I locked eyes helplessly across the table with Daisy, who seemed amused. At least she was being patient. When the first two people had come to the table, I was happy. I wanted to impress Daisy, for her to see that I was kind of a local celeb. But now it was getting egregious; she had unknowingly bought tickets to the Mason Thaysden show.
When Mr. Rinder left, I said, “Okay. We’re going to have to make a run for it.”
Daisy laughed. “No, no, it’s okay. Really, it’s your job, it’s fine.”
