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“Hey bud, you ready for your first game?” Ryan asked as Owen ran up to them. He and Leo had hit it off well, despite Leo being a year or so older. The two of them were peas in a pod and were luckily close enough in age to play on the same team.
“Yup,” Owen said, smacking his fist into his glove like a seasoned veteran. “Leo, do you want to go catch first?”
“Yeah!” Leo said, and they took off for the field.
Ryan, Allison, Mallory, and I watched them run down the hill and through the fence to the outfield grass of the park they would be playing on. Owen had a ball already, and they started tossing it back and forth in the haphazard way that kids still getting used to tossing a baseball around do. They looked so great in their uniforms, and I felt my chest tighten.
“Aww, man,” Ryan said. “This is cool.”
“Memories, right?”
“Just like old times,” Ryan said. “You, me, Camden, Mark, Victor, all of us out in an open dirt field.”
“Good days.”
“You were always the best player,” he laughed. “Camden and I never could figure it out. We were bigger than you, and yet you kicked our ass.”
I shrugged.
“I had a gift.”
“Still do,” he said. “Now you get to coach our boys. Circle of life.”
I laughed.
“Come on,” I said. “Let’s get down there. The rest of the team should be here soon.”
We made our way down the hill and into the park. Ryan was volunteering that day as a third base coach, while I coached the team. Allison and Mallory split off with the girls and put down a blanket on the ground a little way away from the fence to protect them. I glanced back and watched for a moment as Mallory played with our little girl, toys scattered around them. Mallory looked over and saw me and smiled, running her hand over her growing belly. Baby number three was due soon.
I never would have thought having children would have been such a joy for me. My life had always been dedicated to myself and my baseball career. It was selfishly focused, only on me and what I wanted to do. The glamour and glitz of it all seemed like so much. But now, my life was completely different, and I couldn’t imagine it being any better. I lived for my kids, and the kids at the school where I taught and coached.
As long as Mallory was happy, I would keep having kids. If I had my way, I would end up with enough to field my own team one day, one at every position. I turned my attention back to the boys tossing the ball to each other and Ryan helping guide them in their form as best he could.
When the game started, I fell into the routine of coaching, though admittedly a lot calmer with the little ones than I was with the high school kids. It had become an easy transition, and there were colleges contacting me as well as major league clubs, asking if I wanted to coach at a higher level. Maybe one day I would. But for right now, there wasn’t anything about my life I wanted to change—or was willing to.
Little league games were fun on their own, mostly just seeing the kids learn through play and act like their heroes. Owen ended up getting a hit in his first at bat, a squeaker between first and second, and was so happy that I thought he might smile for a year. Leo also ended up with a hit, a blooper to center that sent Ryan jumping in excitement at third base and forgetting to wave another kid home.
Even with the error in coaching, we ended up winning, and I fulfilled my promise. A pizza party was on me. We went out to the local pizzeria, and the boys piled in wearing their uniforms and took up their party room. It was chaos but delightful chaos as the boys ate and made noise and otherwise acted like happy boys.
Allison offered to take the girls home, but Mallory wanted to stay. She didn’t mind the noise. It was a celebration, after all. When we finally got Owen into the car, I thought he would be wired for a while, but only a minute or two into driving and he had his head laying against his sister’s car seat, both of them sound asleep.
“Oh no,” Mallory said. “He’s out.”
“That’s okay,” I said. “It was a big day.”
“It’s getting late. He needs a bath before he goes to bed. I just don’t want to wake him up.”
“Dirt’s good for him,” I laughed. “He’ll be fine. I’ll tell you what. I’ll be in charge of laundry tomorrow. I’ll wash the sheets for him and get everything clean.”
She laughed. “All right then,” she said. “I get the day off.”
“Sure,” I said. “You chill out tomorrow. I’ll handle everything. You just be cute and bake our new baby.”
She laughed and leaned her head on my shoulder as I drove. I kissed the top of her head.
When we got home, I scooped up Owen, and Mallory grabbed our little girl. We took them upstairs and tucked them into bed, Owen sleepily getting undressed before zonking out again. It was one of the nice things about both kids. They slept like rocks at night.
After putting them both to bed, I headed back to the living room where Mallory was sitting on the couch. We had brought home one of the pizzas, and she was happily snacking on a slice. I went into the kitchen and grabbed a beer and a water bottle, bringing her the water as I sat down and cracked open the bottle.
