Page 12 of Between the Pipes

“Anyone else?” The captain’s voice snaps me out of the spiral of embarrassment I feel for not being able to read the damn name tag.

“I’ll do it,” I call out softly, raising my hand. “I want to meet as many fans as I can while I’m still relevant.”

A few of the guys try to hide their smirks, but most just flat out laugh while Mr. Talbot wheels in an empty cart for our dirty uniforms.

“Kid, you’re gonna be relevant for a damn long time if you keep playing like you did tonight,” he says while knocking a flying jock out of the air with someone’s stick. “Keep it up and you’ll be moving up to the Bigs in no time.”

After some congratulations and the quickest shower in existence, I’m back in my suit to head to the box where the fans get together with the players. While I was rushing to get cleaned up, the captain – who introduced himself as Jason thankfully – explained that on Friday night home games, the fans can enter a raffle for a local charity for the opportunity to meet with some players after the game. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Unfortunately, that good idea puts me into an enclosed area with Bitchy and Tim until Wally has them escorted out – again. I really hope that I won’t have to deal with them showing up regularly because Tim without Mr. Kinsey is a curse I do not need in my life.

“You were amazing!”

I look down at the most adorable little girl on the planet as she runs up to me. Between the jersey turned dress and the pigtails, I think I might have found my new favorite fan. I immediately kneel down to be able to speak to her on her own level and am absolutely entranced by her energetic recreations of my best saves of the night.

“Daddy says you’re gonna be staying with Mister Sammy. Does that mean you’ll be coming over for Christmas dinner, too?”

I know I must have that deer in the headlights look when her adorable giggle echoes through the space. Before I can answer, she runs over to the captain to talk to him. He picks her up like this is a normal occurrence and I can’t help but smile at their enthusiastic conversation while he carries her around the room to the other guys that decided to come out to greet the fans.

“Allie can be a bit much until you get used to her,” Mr. Talbot’s voice comes from behind me while I’m still kneeling. Thankfully, I only flinch a little bit and don’t have a complete jump scare flop around. Tilting my head back, I look up at my new temporary roommate and have to swallow hard.

Thank God for jock straps and loose fitting trousers because this view is something I will be thinking about when I am alone in the shower.