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“Here.” He rubbed at his chest.
“Wait. When you run, your chest hurts?”
He nodded. “And it gives me a cough.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound like any fun.”
“It’s not.”
“Do you think you might like running and exercising if that didn’t happen? Or are you like me, just absolutely against it no matter what?” I nudged him with my shoulder, trying to lighten the mood, but still keep him talking.
Yet another kid stepped up to the plate, missed the first pitch by a country mile, listened to some instructions from Gabe, then had another try. Jesse watched intently as the kid’s swing connected with the pitch and the ball sailed over Jake’s head.
“Jesse?” I prompted. “If running didn’t make you cough, do you think you might like it better?”
“Yeah, maybe.”
I bit my lip. I wanted to ask more, but it wasn’t my place. The best thing to do would be to talk to his dad about it.
I didn’t get my chance until more than an hour later, when all the kids that wanted to had finally had a turn at hitting practice and Gabe and Jake were packing up.
Gabe was in the dugout, stacking baseball bats into a large bin. “Hey, can I have a minute?”
“You can have anything you want.”
Oh. I cleared my throat. “It’s about Jesse.”
He dropped the last bat in the bin and stepped out of the dugout, much closer to me than was technically necessary. I should step back, of course I should. But I didn’t.
His eyes found Jesse across the diamond, hanging out with Chloe and Mila. “What about him?”
“Well, it’s probably nothing and maybe I’m overreacting, but it was something he said…I thought, maybe…”
“Jesus, Allegra, you’re killing me. What did he say?”
Taking a deep breath, I said, “I think he might be asthmatic.”
He blinked in surprise. “Really? What makes you think that?”
“Just that, when you were running those drills, he was watching, and he sort of looked like he wanted to join in. I encouraged him, told him he could have a try if he wanted, but he said when he runs too much, his chest hurts and he gets a cough. That’s how my cousin found out her daughter had asthma, she described it exactly the same way. So, you know, I was just wondering, and thought maybe I should mention it to you.”
The smile he gave me almost made me take a step back, it was so bright. “For sure. I’ll get it checked out. I probably should have taken him to the doctor for a check-up anyway, but I definitely will now.” He quickly reached out and rubbed his hand up and down my arm. “Thanks. I really appreciate you looking out for him.”
“No problem.” Okay, so now my voice was squeaking. Excellent. His hand had left a trail of tingling fire across my skin and it made me want to lean into him, into his warmth. It was cold out here on my own, avoiding him. That thought made me realize it was most definitely time to run. “Anyway… I’d better get going. Need to get Ben and Ollie back to New Bern before it gets late.”
“No problem.”
I started walking away, folding my arms across my chest.
“Allegra.”
That made me shiver. I glanced back at him over my shoulder. “Yeah?” He was still smiling, but now it was that hot little half smile, where one side of his mouth went up.
“Thanks again.”
“You’re welcome.”
Yeah. Definitely,definitelytime to get the fuck out of here.
