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"Jake." Leon's voice.
"I'm providing context?—"
"You are not providing context?—"
"Excuse me, this is context, this is crucial context?—"
Pops leaned forward from his seat. "I need to know more about Geraldine."
"THANK YOU," Jake said.
I laughed. It came out full and real and without any management behind it. Beside me, Paxton made the sound he made when he was genuinely pleased, the low satisfied sound, and his shoulder pressed against mine.
Mama Bellport, from the head of the table, caught my eye.
She said nothing. She simply looked at me for a moment with a small grin meant only for me. A small, private gesture across the noise and the warmth of her dining room.
What had started as a night of nerves turned out to be one of the best of my life. Funny how breaking out of your comfort zone can do that.
Well, and having a super supportive Daddy. He makes everything better.
EPILOGUE
Paxton
The season was moving along nicely. Between the early morning practices, the travel for games, and the constant go-go-go of it all, I felt like I had a good handle of things.
I was extremely thankful I’d wound up in Bellport. While I didn’t have anything to compare it to, my knowledge of the league confirmed my situation here was elite.
Not only did we have a supportive staff for the team, but we also had fans who would go to bat for us any chance they got. Those same fans respected our privacy as well. I didn’t get bombarded for autographs or pictures anytime I went out. For the first time in ages, I felt like a normal guy.
It was fucking wonderful.
There were other things that made Bellport feel like home as well. I knew which coffee place had the best coffee for when I needed a pick-me-up away from home. I knew the fastest route to the stadium, which came in handy all the times my boydistractedme. I knew the names of the people on our street,which neighbors waved and which ones kept to themselves for the most part —though the second group had started opening up more as time went on.
Some mornings I woke up before he did and lay there in the dark thinking about our lives. Mostly I thought about the video call that finally got things moving. I’d long been obsessed with Grizzly Thorson before then. But that call changed everything. He saw me for the first time, and according to how he tells it, he realized he was in trouble because of the instant attraction.
I always argued it wasn’t trouble so much as it was the start of our forever.
It was a Saturday in late October when I first noticed that Pops was being more reserved than usual.
Not in a concerning way. More like he had secrets he didn’t want me to know.
The man had always been social to a certain extent. And with how much he liked to talk about his adventures, I was pretty well versed in the happenings of the older generations in Bellport. Not that he was all that old. Forty-nine didn’t feel as ancient now as it did when I was a teenager. I had a feeling the goalpost would keep shifting the higher my own age went.
That’s beside the point. Pops’s lack of sharing meant he’d found a group of people or a place he wanted to keep to himself. While I definitely respected privacy, I also knew better than to let myself worry over this type of stuff. He could be vague if he wanted, but I needed some kind of details about it all.
The man was constantly out and about. I’d try to stop by to see him whenever I was running errands or on my way home. Every single time I’d find the driveway empty and the house dark. If not for the garbage being taken out and the way he answered my texts like normal, I’d think he’d been kidnapped.
Despite my asking him what he’d been up to, the man was a fortress. He gave vague answers about friends and book club. He even claimed to be in a chess club, which was where my instinct kicked in.
He was up to something. And I had to figure out what.
The only way to get answers was to track the man down. Or maybe… I could wait him out a different way.
I was on the back porch with coffee when he came home on a Tuesday evening. The air had finally committed to something cooler, the particular relief of Louisiana fall that people who had lived through the summer appreciated.
Pops came through the back door, only to startle when he saw me leaning against the rail. His face twisted up for two seconds before he smoothed his expression.
