times a month. Or maybe I’ll come back here. I’m not sure. We haven’t worked out the details. Our relationship will be relegated to squeezing in a whole lot of stuff in a few short days, and we’ll be waiting with bated breath every agonizingly long day in between.
Still, I’d rather have Ace in my life than not.
I’ll do whatever it takes to make this work.
“You doing okay?” I ask him. I’m probably annoying him because I’ve asked him this every other hour all day, but I saw the wistful glint in his eye as we returned to his home turf. I saw the sad smile on his face when his old coach wrapped his arms around his shoulders and pulled him aside. I saw how happy his old teammates were to see him, and I heard the melancholy in his voice as he assured them he was doing alright without baseball in his life.
“I am.” Ace nods, lips tight. “I’m better than okay, actually.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“In a weird way, it’s like I finally got closure. It’s like I’m free to finally move forward from all of this,” he says, hands slicking the steering wheel as we come to an exit. He veers right, checking the rearview mirror. “After today, I’m really looking forward to whatever comes next for me.”
“Okay, so what’s next for you?”
Ace lifts a heavy shoulder, letting it fall. “Still trying to figure that out.”
“The good thing is you have options. You can go anywhere. You can do anything.”
“Yeah,” he says, turning to me quickly. “I was thinking today, and I wouldn’t mind checking out the West coast. Not exactly a palm trees and sunshine kind of guy, but I can throw on some shorts and catch a tan if it means being closer to you.”
My jaw falls and I lean toward him, clamping my hand on his meaty bicep. “What? Really? Are you serious?”
“Yeah,” he chuckles. “Is that crazy?”
“Yes. Certifiably.”
“You want me to come with you?” he asks.
“Of course. But you’re going to hate it.”
“How do you know?”
“Because you might actually have to smile once in a while. Those Californians are laid back and generally happy most of the time. At least when they’re not stuck in traffic.”
“Jesus, Aidy, I’ll be smiling all the damn time if I’m with you.”
I bury my face against his arm, dragging in his scent. Cologne. Beer. Popcorn. Sunshine.
“I love you,” he says. “I’m coming with you. I’m not losing you again.”
Epilogue
Ace
One Year Later
“You two are like Barbie and Ken,” Wren says, lounging in a beach chair, her toes buried in sand. Baby Maeve sits in her lap, trying to pull off the white lace hat her mother snugly secured under her chin a minute ago. Tufts of bright orange hair stick out from beneath it and her chin is slicked in shiny drool. “Malibu dream house and everything.”
Chauncey and Enzo are down at the water’s edge, looking for seashells.
“The house was Ace’s idea,” Aidy says, returning from the bar patio with icy cold beers in hand. “He’s the one who wanted to put down some roots.”
“Kind of had to,” I say, defending myself. Six months ago, I signed a five-year contract with Satellite XFM, hosting a sports radio show. “My job is here. And the woman I love.”
Aidy peels her cover-up off, revealing a sparkling tangerine bikini that plays off her golden California tan. The West coast looks good on her, and as much as I hate to admit it, it looks all right on me too.
Aidy wasn’t kidding about the traffic, but the people here are so damn happy, and it’s always sunny, and there’s so much to do.
“Let me see that ring again.” Wren reaches for Aidy’s left hand, yanking it closer. Maeve places her hand out too. “Damn, that thing shines.”
Aidy smiles, glancing back at me and then placing her hand over her heart. Three months ago, I popped the question over a private dinner on a rented yacht off Coronado Island. I even presented the ring in that antique jewelry box Aidy bought after that weekend we spent together at the lake house in Rixton Falls. Maybe it’s a little soon, but I don’t care. When you know, you know. And I don’t want to lose her. I’ve got to lock her down before she realizes she can do better than me. I’ve told her that too, and she always reassures me there’s nobody else for her. I guess we agree to disagree on that.
I’m not sure