I had to shut my phone down for a few days. I told my mom to send me an email if there was an emergency. Chase and Aaron warned us that the press would descend after we came out publicly, but we didn’t prepare adequately. My phone rang all day long if I had it turned on. Fortunately, most of the feedback wasn’t negative. We had a few cranks who didn’t like gay couples, but in general, the words were both complimentary and supportive. I wished that I could speak to all of the well-wishers and thank them, but it was impossible.

I started volunteering more at the animal shelter to get away from thinking about the press crush. I was looking forward to the holidays and getting back to a serious gym training program, but the rest of October still stretched out ahead of me.

Eric met me at the door to the apartment with a kiss after a long day of helping out at the shelter. He said, “I’ve ordered Chinese. It’s on the way, and I’ll be gone for a few hours tonight. Chase asked if I’d stop by the station and be a guest on his sports call-in show tonight. I told him I’d show up to answer a few questions. I hope they stick as close to baseball as possible and don’t ask too much about our relationship.”

I hugged Eric and said, “I don’t know how you do it. I love the fans, but enough is enough for now. I need to pull back. I turned my phone off.”

Eric shrugged. “One big chunk of the reasons that I’m going is that Chase is such a good friend. He would do anything for us, so I thought the least I could do is chat with him and answer a few questions. He gets a radio exclusive, too. That should boost the station’s ratings. He told me that people are likely to listen in from all across the country via the Internet.”

I turned my attention to important matters. “And you ordered Chinese? Did you get those little dumpling things for me?”

“The pot-stickers?”

I grinned. “Yeah, that’s what they’re called. I don’t remember the Chinese place having them back home, but they’re great.”

As I walked across the room to the couch, and Eric followed in my wake, he said, “Hey, why don’t we figure out somewhere to go to get away from Charlotte for a few days. Can they spare you for a few days at the shelter?”

“Yeah, if you have an idea of somewhere that you want to go.”

“I’ve not been that much of a traveler. I guess we could go to Mexico.”

I said, “Yeah, Indianapolis was a big trip for my family when I was a kid, but I always wished we could spend more time in the different baseball cities during the season. Why don’t they give baseball players a couple of free days in between games? We could blow off some stress and enjoy the local scene.”

Eric laughed and said, “Because then we would only play eighty games, and all of the teams would go bankrupt for lack of ticket sales.”

“I guess that is a small problem, isn’t it?” I cuddled up against Eric and unbuttoned a button of his shirt so I could slip my fingers inside.

Eric asked, “How about if I ask Chase about that on a commercial break?”

I smiled and said, “That’s not a bad idea.” I was settling in comfortably when the intercom buzzed with the news of the arrival of our dinner.

I was sleeping soundly on the couch when Eric got back from the radio station. I told myself that I would stay awake to listen to Eric on the radio, but I fell asleep on the couch in the middle of an old Andy Griffith Show episode on TV. I heard the door open and woke up startled and a little disoriented when Eric returned.

He joined me on the couch and kissed me. “You didn’t need to wait up. You could have gone to bed. I know you had a long day at the shelter.”

I rubbed at my eyes. “I wanted to listen to you on the radio, but the TV didn’t keep me awake. Damn! I wanted to know what questions they would ask you. How was it? How were the callers?”

“They were great. One of them asked me if you were as good as Mickey Mantle.”

I laughed. “And you said?”

“I wanted to say that I’d bet you’re better than Mickey Mantle in bed. You know how to hit home runs every night.”

I chuckle. “Aww, you are so sweet, but instead you said what?” I pulled Eric down onto the couch with me and kissed him again before he could answer.

“Mmm, are you sure you want to talk right now?”

“You can squeeze it in between the kisses.”

Eric said, “I was diplomatic. I didn’t want to sound as biased as I am, so I said that with more experience you could be. I suggested that they all keep a close eye on you and come to the games so they could tell their grandchildren about watching you.”

The next kiss was longer. As our lips parted, I looked into Eric’s eyes. “And did you ask Chase about time away? Surely, he might have some destination suggestions.”

Eric slipped a hand under my T-Shirt and teased a nipple. I closed my eyes and moaned. He said, “Oh, yeah, yes I did. See, you’re distracting me.”

“I’m distracting you?”

“Yeah, all the time. Anyway, Chase said we should talk to Mo.”

I asked, “Talk to Mo?”

“Chase said Mo has a great place on the Outer Banks right on the beach. As soon as he said that, I remembered a conversation I had with Mo. He invited us out there. We talked about it shortly before the end of the season. I forgot about it in all the crush of the end of the season and our reporter issues.”

“We’d go visit and stay at his place?”

“Yeah, does that sound fun?”

I nodded. “Yes, it does. I’ve never actually seen the ocean from the ground.”

Eric’s eyes opened wide. “You haven’t?”

“Only from the planes to Boston and New York.”

“Oh, damn, I need to take you to Savannah then, too. My family always went to the Sea Islands there. Chase and I drove out there on our way to Charlotte from spring training this past year. Do you like to swim?”

“I love to swim. I had friends in high school whose families had boats. They’d take them out in the lake, and I loved to dive off the boat. I tried water skiing a few times, but I sucked at that. I learned that baseball skills weren’t always transferable to other sports.”

Eric said, “Let’s do it tomorrow. We’re giving Mo a call. I think he’s going to have some weekend houseguests if he’s up for it.”