It was early June in Charlotte, North Carolina. We had an evening game coming up, and I was lying back in the grass in right field stretching out my hamstrings in the mid-afternoon. I closed my eyes and daydreamed about living in a little house with Aaron on stilts above the beach. We could hear the waves crashing at night. We had a Great Dane, and we were considering adopting a baby. I smiled thinking about Aaron wearing a baseball jersey, for my benefit, with blue jeans as he made breakfast. I could almost smell the bacon frying.

“Hey, Chase, can I pick your brain for a minute?”

I opened one eye to see the long, slim frame of Mo Sadler leaning over me. He had sunken cheeks, and I could see dark circles under his eyes. I knew it wasn’t eye black, because he wasn’t an outfielder.

I said, “Hey, Mo, when are they gonna start feeding you enough? You could use a little bulking out.”

“Oh, you are awake. I thought you’d fallen asleep out here on the grass.” He reached his long right arm down to help me up.

I took his hand, but I only rose to a sitting position. I patted the ground beside me and said, “Sit. What’s on your mind?”

I watched as his lowered his lanky frame. When he bent his legs in front of his body, his knees rose almost as high as my head.

Mo groaned as he sat. “I hate to admit this, and at my age, but I’m having some romantic trouble.” He turned his head and looked me in the eye. “I know the situations are likely different, but I thought maybe you could give me some advice.”

My jaw dropped. I didn’t have an issue sharing observations about romance, but I wondered why Mo thought I had any experience that could be helpful. Somehow something about my relationship with Aaron must have leaked out.

I gritted my teeth and tried to hide any unease. Instead, I smiled a little too wide and said, “Sure, buddy. What’s up? At your age, I’d think you have women all figured out.”

Mo shrugged. “I’m not sure I have anyone figured out, not even me.”

I put a hand on his bony shoulder. To my surprise, I could feel thick cords of muscle, too. No wonder he was so scary on the pitcher’s mound. There was real firepower in those muscles.

I said, “Send her roses.”

“Roses?” asked Mo.

“Do you really care about her?”

Mo wrung his hands together. “Oh, yeah, I do. I hope we can get married someday. We’ve been dating for six months. She doesn’t seem as excited now about me as she was when we started. I want to figure out a way to jazz things up a bit.”

“Six months? You’ve been hiding her from all of us the whole season? Have you ever sent her flowers?”

Mo shook his head. “No. I’ve bought her a couple of presents when she mentioned things that she wanted.”

“Roses then, buddy. Surprise her. That’s the best way to bring the excitement back. Bring her a bunch of roses and then wrap the lucky lady in those long arms. Let me know how it goes.”

I breathed a sigh of relief when the conversation with Mo ended. I was shaking inside. I was worried about what would happen if news about the relationship with Aaron got out. That was bad enough, but what worried me most was how Aaron would react.

When I saw Aaron show up as batting practice got started, I waited until Eckert joined him, and then I approached the little group gathered around home plate. Aaron smiled in greeting. “Hey, Chase, do you want to be on deck?”

I spoke in a low voice and said, “I want to talk to you about something first.” I glanced over at Eckert and added, “In private.”

“Oh, sure, sure. Two more swings, and I’ll see if I can make a helpful comment. Then we can head over to the visitors’ dugout.”

I watched Price, our second baseman, take more swings. He was a tiny bit too early, and he was pulling every ball into left field. Most of them landed outside the foul line. I smiled to myself when I heard Aaron say, “Slow it down a bit. You’re jumping ahead of every pitch. It’s a timing problem.”

I ambled over toward the dugout with Aaron at my side. He began to chatter ahead of me, “Hey, I started watching a new series on cable last night. I loved it, but then I had to stop because I want you to watch it with me. I thought about watching it curled up in your lap, and that was ten times better than alone.”

I chuckled softly and asked, “Are you done? I’d love that, too, but I have something more serious to talk about.”

Aaron raised an eyebrow, “Serious? What’s going on? I hope there’s nothing wrong. Is your family okay?”

“Mo knows.”

“Mo? Knows what?”

“Mo Sadler. You know, our relief pitcher. He knows about us. At least I’m pretty sure he does. He was hinting at it about an hour ago.”

I watched Aaron look out toward the bullpen where Mo was leisurely throwing balls to Javier who crouched in a catching position. Aaron turned back toward me and asked, “Do you think Javier told him?”

I shook my head. “I’m not jumping to that conclusion. I don’t know how he knows. Maybe we weren’t careful enough. The only important thing is that he knows. What do we do?”

Aaron growled, “Shit!” He kicked at the turf. “I guess we need to take it easy and lay off each other for now.”

“What does that mean?”

“Only together in public.” Aaron raised his head and stared into my eyes.

“Why? Oh damn, I should have kept my mouth shut. I don’t know if I can do that. It’s going to harm my game if we stop cold turkey. That will harm the team. You’re a coach, Aaron. You don’t wanna do that.”

Aaron reached up and mockingly scratched his head. “Hmm, I thought your talent all came naturally.”

I scowled and started to open my mouth when I heard Eric’s voice behind me. “Chase, I heard there’s someone who wants to see you in the locker room. I think you need to go right now.”

I turned with a questioning expression. “In the locker room. Who wants to see me there?”

“The GM. I was tugging my jersey over my head when I heard, ‘Where’s O’Rourke? I need to talk to him now.’ I pulled the jersey down, and I saw Huggins dressed in a suit. It always looks weird to see a guy in a suit in the locker room.”

“Why me?”

“I don’t know, but I told him I thought you were on the field. I said that I would let you know he was looking for you.”

I turned back toward Aaron, and he added, “You better go. He’s not someone you want to keep waiting. Good luck.”

I wanted to reach out and hug Aaron, but after our brief conversation, I knew that wasn’t a good idea. Instead, I said, “See you both later this afternoon. I’ll let you know what’s up.” I jogged toward the tunnel to the locker room trying to pinpoint something specific in my head that might have caught the GM’s attention.

When I stepped into the locker room, Meyer Huggins was talking to Eckert. I hadn’t noticed that Eckert disappeared from the field while I was chatting with Aaron. I respected Huggins, but I was always nervous around men with enough authority that they believed they needed to dress in well-tailored suits during the daytime.

Huggins looked up and said, “O’Rourke! I’ve been looking for you.” He waved a hand to dismiss Eckert while turning his attention to me.

“Is there something I can help you with, Sir?”

“Indeed you can, young man.” He placed a thick, fleshy hand on my shoulder.

“What’s that? Do you want me to make a public appearance? I can shake hands at the Chamber of Commerce or visit kids in the hospital.”

Huggins shook his head. “No, it’s nothing like that. I just want you to make sure your head is in the game. I want it focused on baseball. No distractions, O’Rourke. This is the season where you set the standard for the rest of your career.”

I nodded. “Oh, of course. I got a little distracted the other day because Eric Hinsdale was so excited about his sister having a new baby. He’s an uncle for the first time, and…”

Huggins interrupted me. He squeezed the shoulder. “I think you know what I mean. Remember our talk about responsibility? It means no distractions. Focus on baseball. We might even have a chance at the postseason. Distractions can only cause problems.”

I nodded. “Yes, Sir. Baseball is my life. You can count on that.”

Huggins turned abruptly on his heel, and I watched him walk away. I heard my announcer voice in my head proclaim, And the GM delivers the classic pep talk to his rookie star.

I shook my head. I watched our starting pitcher for the day’s game pass in front of me and wondered again how Mo found out. I needed to make sure nobody was around the next time that I kissed Aaron.