Double Header (Hardball 2)

Hoping he was right, he stepped up and grabbed Chris’s shoulder before he could throw another chair, just like he’d grabbed his shoulder before he could sock the out-of-control player back in the day. “Hey there, pal. Let’s tone down the rage, or you’re going to end up pissing in a cup, okay?”

“Not really the time to joke!” Chris warned, stalking away. He didn’t go far, once he realized how many eyes were on him.

“So,” Taylor said in a low, cautious voice, “I take it the rumor is true, then?”

Chris took a deep, audible breath. “Yeah. It’s true. Maggie and I are engaged. We were waiting until the start of next season to announce it. After I… you get it.”

“People would have known anyway, man,” Javier tried to console him. “They would have guessed.”

“But the consequences wouldn’t have been so bad. Right now, I’m still playing for her. No one would have been able to prove that our relationship started before my career ended if we’d just been able to wait.” He pulled off his cap and tossed it into his locker. “I’m sorry for the outburst. I didn’t want it to go down this way. I just wanted to protect her from the fallout, and I can’t.”

Javier couldn’t say anything but watched him walk out of the clubhouse still suited up.

Behind him, Taylor said quietly, “Think that’s the last we see of him?”

Javier hoped not. He really hoped not.

And then he thought, I’m sorry, Zach. You’re going to be so mad at me.

* * * *

Javier met Chris at a bar downtown. Not their usual bar, a weirdly upscale one with a taxidermy rhino head hanging just inside the entrance. It wasn’t the kind of place Chris would normally go. It was the kind of place Maggie would go.

Nervously, Javier wondered if she would be there. He didn’t know the owner very well. Not after he’d come on way too strong during her welcome reception. She’d been firm, but polite, and cordial the few times they’d spoken after that. That was fine by him; the point had been to maintain his reputation as a smarmy ladies’ man. It would be weird to hang out with her, and very weird to do it on such a shitty day.

Chris sat alone in a high-backed booth near the back of the bar. His eyes flicked up when Javier sat down, then he went back to concentrating on shredding the napkin in front of him.

“Oh good, I don’t feel overdressed,” Javier said, gesturing to his black button-down shirt and Chris’s corduroy jacket.

“I wanted you to hear it from me, first,” Chris said, without any preamble. “The season is over for me.”

“What?” Javier was pretty sure his eyebrows had never gone so high. “I thought it was just a ten-game suspension, until they figure out what they want to do.”

“Maggie thought it would be for the best.” Chris scoffed. “I stood by her, and what does she do? Supports the move to fire me.”

Javier whistled his surprise. “Wow.”

“Yeah, wow.” Chris laughed bitterly and balled up the shredded napkin pieces. The short glass at his elbow had two ice cubes in it, nothing else. He lifted his hand as the waitress passed, motioning with two fingers.

“No, man, I don’t want to drink anything hard—” Javier began, but he cut himself off sharply. The least he could do for the guy was have a drink with him. “So, she fired you. Did you fire her?”

Chris traced the rim of his empty glass. The large watch on his wrist caught the light, reflected it onto the dark tabletop. “No. That’s the fucking stupid thing. I still love her. I just…”

“You just wish you could finish out your season the way you wanted to. I get it.” Javier couldn’t imagine what he would feel if someone told him that today had been his last day playing.

But Chris shook his head. “No, you don’t. I don’t mind being let go. Shit happens. I was going to retire in a few months, anyway. But I feel like, if I’m going to walk away from the team, I want it to be on my terms. I wanted to say, ‘Fuck this, I’m out.’ And I wanted to do it to protect Maggie.”

“Ah.” Javier could understand that, too. Way too well. “You wanted to save her from the situation with a grand sacrifice.”

“I know, it sounds stupid.” Chris thanked the waitress as she slid two glasses onto the table.

Javier lifted the glass to his lips, the scent of the scotch burning his nose. If he was going to go all-in, anyway, this was as good a place to start as any. “It doesn’t sound stupid. I’m in the same position.”

“I doubt it. Unless Minika bought a baseball team.” Chris grimaced as he swallowed down his scotch, almost draining the glass in one swallow.