“That seems to be a common complaint. But just so you know, guys get lonely, too.”
“I know they do. It’s one of the issues I help players deal with, especially the new ones.”
“If your father covers the team, he must be on the road as much as the players.”
“Yeah. When I got old enough, he took me with him a lot.”
He took all three of his oldest children with him. It was one of the reasons she’d held out hope he’d been one of the good ones. Why have kids underfoot if you were wining and dining potential bedmates?
“Just you?”
“No. We all got a turn. Except for my sister. She never wants to go, doesn’t like the sport at all. She’s more my mother’s daughter.”
“What makes you say that?”
“My mother owns a pottery studio. Gives lessons, creates works of art that she sells at shops in Rocky Neck and Rockport. She’s an earth mother. Long skirt, peasant blouse, Birkenstock sandals kind of woman. My sister loves working the wheel, has developed quite a talent in clay.”
She’d tried throwing clay when she was Scarlet’s age, but she’d failed dismally. Her hands were better suited to catching a softball than trying to mold soft, gooey material into some kind of vessel.
“How many siblings in all?”
“Three. Two brothers, Carl and Jackie, and Scarlet. All with the same parents for some reason.”
She’d never really given that more than a cursory glance but was there intention there? Did Ida go back with Bob when she wanted another child? She was going to ask next time she visited the pottery barn.
Mateo said, “I always wished for siblings. Having only one child was hard on my mother. I was gone a lot and she had much on her shoulders.”
She met his eyes. There was genuine sadness there.
“What happened to your father?”
“He defected to Miami when I was six.”
He said it matter-of-factly, with no rancor at all.
“He left you behind?”
“He told my mother he would bring us over when he was settled, but instead, he married another woman and had another family. That is something that happens quite often.”
It happened often? What the fuck…
“They never divorced?”
“He saw no need.”
“But it meant she couldn’t start over again with someone else.”
“It did not seem to be high on his list of concerns.”
That son of a bitch.
“I’m sorry. That had to suck for her. And you.”
“Very few of us get an idyllic childhood. Our struggles can strengthen us if we don’t let them bury us.”
No truer words had ever been spoken.
He was different than she’d imagined. She’d been so busy those first few days she hadn’t asked him anything about his personal life, only his baseball history. It was important information for her to have for the decision to sign him or not. She hadn’t seen beneath the surface, hadn’t looked. Or maybe she had, more than she’d thought. He was self-motivated, disciplined, and…wise. Her mother would call him an old soul. She’d thought it might be interesting to introduce him to her, get Ida’s take. She’d been right about Steve. Told her he wasn’t a man she could count on and she’d been right. Allie must have listened to “Before He Cheats” a thousand times. There were a few others included in that cycle but that was the one she immersed herself in. She’d wanted to take a Louisville slugger to his head, not his headlights. Everyone on the team knew, everyone on staff. Everyone but her. He’d made a fool of her and it took months to get over that betrayal, to face the men who’d kept it secret. The men she had to work with. She’d almost quit but was saved from that decision when management traded him, something she had nothing to do with.
She was struck with a thought, and her stomach clenched.
“Did you leave anyone behind?”
“I would not do that. If there was someone there I cared about, I would have brought her or not come. I have only married once.”
He looked so serious she believed him. She was beginning to suspect he didn’t have a duplicitous nature. It didn’t matter one way or another; she didn’t need to test it. She wasn’t in this for life. Only until they got his mother here.
“We should start the process for your mother’s visa.”
“As quickly as possible, please. I don’t like knowing she’s alone there. This time I can’t return if she needs me.”
“Monday I’ll call an immigration lawyer I know, and we’ll get it started.”
“Thank you.”
She let the silence settle over them and she was surprised that it felt comfortable. He looked relaxed. His head was back; his eyes were closed. She wondered what he’d do to fill his time now that practices had been suspended until after the funeral.
“Have you made any plans for the next couple of days?”
He glanced over and said, “No. Seb said he’d call, that maybe we’d catch up tomorrow. Now, I’m not sure.”
She gave him a wry smile. “He may be too busy crying in his beer to come and get you.”
“That, and if he knows you’re living here, he might be averse to hanging out.”
“He doesn’t have to know. I’m going to be gone a lot over the next couple of weeks. I need to check in with the minor leagues, see if there’s someone who we should extend an invitation to spring training to that we haven’t. There are a couple of players we were on the fence about. I need to watch them play one or two more times before deciding which way to go.”
“Travel is part of your job.”
“It is. We’ve got a variety of minor league teams. Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Port Royal, South Carolina, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, a training center in the Dominican Republic, and one in Puerto
