“Nope,” AJ said simply as he sipped his coffee, feeling all eyes on him.
“Who?” Livi asked curiously.
“AJ and the coach’s daughter were out last night,” Nathan annoyingly offered, a little too eager, “like real late.”
“Yeah?” AJ asked, feeling himself get hot. “I didn’t know I had a curfew you were keeping tabs on.”
Nathan laughed; then his younger sister Em added, “I saw that when I checked my email today. Oh c’mon, Nathan, you know all those stories are a bunch of lies.”
“I’m just saying whenever I stay out as late as he did I usually don’t bother coming home.”
Sabian was grinning from ear to ear. No doubt the idiot thought AJ was going to fold under the pressure and admit what he was sure his smug teammate already knew.
“Well, I’m not you,” AJ said, trying not to sound as agitated as he already begun to feel. “Clair invited me to go with them. So I went. But we’re just friends.”
Nathan smirked, still looking completely unconvinced but turned back to Emi. “Did you see the other article? The one that counters the lies about AJ being Clair’s dad because they have proof that the dad’s the very married Barsetti from the Cubs.”
“What?” AJ was too quick to jump on that, and his brother brought his hand to his mouth and laughed out loud at AJ’s louder-than-expected reaction. “You lying sack of shit.”
“Oh.” Nathan laughed even more now. “You’re gonna get all crazy eyes on me over that when you and Addi are just friends. But I’m the lying sack of shit?”
“I’m not the one making shit up.”
“I’m not either,” Nathan said, shaking his head adamantly. “There was an article that said that. And weren’t you the one who said she and her little girl just moved out here from Chicago?”
The coffee went down hard as AJ stared at his brother, still not convinced he wasn’t making this up.
“I read that one too,” Emi said, making AJ’s head jerk in her direction. “And I almost believed it, until I read the other headlines on that same site: the one about the first lady having an affair with the secret serviceman and the one with the ultrasound of the octuplets some lady is having after being abducted and impregnated by aliens. It’s one of those outrageously ridiculous sites, AJ. The story’s as false as you being her little girl’s daddy. So relax.”
Relax? God damn it! Had they all noticed how completely incapable he was of keeping his cool about this?
“I am relaxed,” AJ lied, trying desperately to appear so. “It’s none of my business anyway. Thing is I was thinking of bringing her by for the barbeque later today, and I don’t want you guys making more of it than it is. We have her daughter to think about.”
They all stared at him as silent and as curious as he’d known they’d be, even before this morning’s revelations. He turned to Livi this time, trying to act like he didn’t notice how quickly he’d silenced the room. “I’ve told Clair a lot about King and Queen,” he explained. “She’s never seen a Komondor in person, and I’ve been saying I’d bring her to see them one day. You think maybe you can bring one or both today? Otherwise, I could swing by your place so she can see them there instead.”
“No, I could bring them,” Livi said, smiling big. “They’ll be excited. They haven’t gone on a trip in a while.”
AJ turned to Nathan, who he knew was the most unconvinced in the room. “She wants to see the dogs, okay? That’s all this is, ass.” AJ watched his brother smirk as he popped a grape in his mouth. “Don’t go embarrassing me or saying anything stupid.”
Placing his cup in the dishwasher, AJ let them know he was getting in the shower and would be right out. Even as he walked out the kitchen, the quiet in the normally noisy kitchen with these many people in it was all too telling. They weren’t buying his “just friends” story for a minute.
~~~
If his family’s reaction to the media speculation was any indication of how not easy it would be to keep this under wraps, the mood on the field and the locker room was just as bad. AJ had already texted Addison to ask how she was doing with this morning’s media excitement. Her response made him smile. “Slow day for the tabloids, I guess.”
Clearly, she wasn’t too worried about it. When he met with her and Clair on the field, there were noticeably more photos snapping away. The moment Clair was far enough away to not hear, AJ asked what he’d begun to worry about. “Has she noticed the stories?”
“Are you kidding me?” Addison said with a smile and a playful roll of her eyes. “It’s the first thing she said to me this morning when I walked into the kitchen. ‘They think AJ’s my dad.’ She thinks it’s a hoot. I’m surprised she hasn’t brought it up.”
AJ had a good feeling why she hadn’t. Clair had been too busy giving him the heads-up on Jefferson, the short stop standing in for the Cardinals today. Their starter pulled a hamstring in yesterday’s game, and Clair had to wait until this morning to know for sure who’d be on today’s lineup. He saw her talking to today’s pitcher with her little notebook in hand. She must have been giving him her spiel on Jefferson’s batting stats. It made him smile that this would obviously be the bigger thing on her mind. He wouldn’t worry so much anymore about the stories that would likely keep coming the more he was seen out with Addison and Clair.
Apparently, even the guys on the other team had heard the stories and were going to rib him about it. During one of his at bats, he was brushed back away from the plate by a high inside pitch. It came so close to hitting him that AJ had jumped back and it got everyone in the stadium riled up. The next pitch hadn’t come as close, but before the third, as AJ set up to bat, he thought he heard Bigsby say something about him crowding the plate. The next pitch zoomed by so close to his chin AJ almost felt it, and he lost his footing, trying to avoid getting hit again. He hit the ground and the stadium went wild. Bigsby said something AJ didn’t catch again.
“What did you say?” he asked as he stood up, dusting himself off.
Bigsby crouched back down in position behind the plate, not bothering to look up at AJ but did respond louder this time. “I said stop crowding the plate.”
“Is that you telling him to brush me back?” AJ asked as he approached the plate again.
Bigsby was on his feet and pulled his mask off. “It’s all part of the game. Everyone knows you’re less likely to connect with something high and inside. Nothing personal, lover boy.”
The crowd got even louder, seeing them face to face. Although, AJ was in no way facing off with the guy as he’d done plenty of times in the past with other players just before a bench-clearing brawl. Hearing the crowd, though, did make him look back at his dugout where his teammates appeared ready to run out if needed, but he shook his head, holding a hand up, letting them know things were cool. Bigsby was just being the arrogant smartass he was known to be. Obviously, he’d read the stories in the tabloids. Hence, the term of endearment he’d chosen for AJ today.
On a mission now, AJ set up to bat again, pulling back a little. The next pitch was a fast ball right down the middle, and AJ got a good whack at it. He’d hit home runs enough to know this one was out of there. A two-run home run put them up by two. The stadium, of course, went wild as he trotted around the bases. No matter how many times this happened, it was something he knew would never get old, especially with an at bat like the one he’d just had.
His teammates were all waiting for him at the plate with high fives and pats on the back. As he made it through the crowd at the plate, he walked by Bigsby, who was standing off to the side with a smirk. “Guess last night was that good,” he said.
AJ peered at him for a moment but didn’t give him the pleasure of responding to his stupid remark. Instead, he turned up into the stands and waved at his cheering fans then turned and met Addison’s eyes. She was smiling brightly and clapping. Clair, jumping up and down next to her and waving both hands in the air, got his attention, and he smiled, waving at them both.