Long Ball(17)

“Way to get your mojo back!” Kemp slaps me on the ass. “Proud of you, man!”

“Thanks, bro.” We hug it out and celebrate all the way back to the locker room.

I briefly catch a glimpse of Shelbie chatting it up with Octivio in the dugout as we go. I send him a wink of blessing and haul ass to the showers. I have a girl to find.

“Wanna catch a drink?” Kemp calls over the shower stall. “You owe us for last night, but you also kicked ass today and need to be rewarded.”

“Rain check.” I’m already out of the water, mind spooling. “I’ve got business.”

“Is this about Octivio and Shelbie?” Kemp follows me, still dripping. “Because I know you saw them in the dugout and I know he keeps making comments about her tits, but you know he’s harmless and— “

“Nothing to do with that.” I throw on a shirt and wave him off. “I’ll tell you more later, I promise.”

“Don’t be a bitch.” Kemp grins. I notice he winces when he sits. “But also, call me and tell me everything later.”

I Google up Megan’s phone number and address on the way to my car. Thanks to a website Everett pointed me to after we were both catfished by strippers from Portland two years ago, I’m able to find her easy. I plug the address in my GPS and am out of the parking garage before most of the parking lots around Kauffman are empty.

She doesn’t live far and my stomach is in knots. The good kind, though. Soon, so soon, I’m going to be able to talk to Megan again, for the first time in five years. This has to be fate. Kate said Cora’s dad isn’t in the picture. From the sounds of it, there’s no man in the picture. What are the odds that Megan and Cora would be here, and single, in my home?

I could have been traded. I could have never been called up to the majors. Okay, that’s a total lie, I’m an amazing short stop and there’s no way I would have been stuck in Omaha. But anything could have happened. Yet, here we are, in the same city. I read a book to her daughter.

Our daughter. Probably. Definitely. But possibly.

Very, very likely my daughter.

My cheeks hurt from grinning the entire drive. I pull into her driveway without even paying attention to anything around me, just those three little numbers on her house: 403. This is where my Megan lives. This is where my Cora lives.

This is where my family (probably, but definitely, but probably) is.

As soon as I turn off my truck, I freeze.

I have literally no plan. I have nothing to say. I just got in my car and drove over here like an idiot. What if Megan was actually at the game and the car in the driveway isn’t hers? What if she’s at the grocery store? What if the fact that I looked up her address and basically stalked her here totally freaks her out?

In hindsight, I should have called first. I slam my fist into my steering wheel. If I f*ck this up because I was over eager….

The curtains in the front window catch my eye and a tiny pair of blue eyes peaks out at me. My heart immediately soars. It’s Cora. She disappears from the window and in her place comes Megan, looking more beautiful than I ever could have hoped to remember.

My legs move on autopilot. They take me out of my truck, and up the small steps to the front door. I take a deep breath, steady my nerves, and knock. I only knock once before the door is thrown open, and I hear a painfully familiar voice yell out, “Cora, no!”

“Hi!” Cora chirps at me, beaming bright. She has all her teeth, nothing missing. I didn’t miss being the Tooth Fairy! I could hug her right now, if it wouldn’t be weird. Would it be weird?

“Hi, Cora!” We high-five and she hugs my leg. It’s the sweetest, most amazing hug I have ever had in my life. I may as well be a puddle on their stoop.

And then Megan appears and the world stops spinning. The birds stop chirping, the road noise disappears, even Cora’s tiny little voice drowns out. Our eyes meet and the moment feels like it stretches on forever, like we’ve been frozen in time and dumped back into the bodies of our younger selves, the day we met.

I still have no idea what to say, and my mouth doesn’t work anyway. And then Cora’s voice shatters the silence.

“… and I told them I would see you again because I liked when you read stories in that funny language and you did all the voices and they were really funny. I really liked the voice you gave the horse, when he got stuck under the apple trees, and he had to kick the fence down to get home. I told my mom about it and we ran around kicking the walls and sounding like horses and it was super funny and I bet if you did it….”

Words finally find my mouth at the same time they find Megan’s. We spit them out at the same time.

“You’re a MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYER?”

“IS CORA… IS SHE…”

“How did you?”

“Why did you?”

Cora blinks up at me, word waterfall dammed up, and smiles. There’s no question left in my mind or heart. Cora is mine. I want to fall to my knees and take her in my arms and hug her and never let go. Instead, I look at Megan.

“Can we talk? Go get coffee or something?”

She looks down at Cora and chews on her lip. For a moment, I really think she’s going to say no and my life feels like it’s ending before it even begins. But then, she nods, slowly, and holds up a finger before closing the door and disappearing into the house.