Alex took a deep breath before she answered the door. "Oh, hi Clara."
"Emily! I was starting to wonder if you'd gotten lost in there," Clara teased.
"Well…uh…Ben…uh…he needed some help," Alex replied. Her eyes traveled up and down Clara, who was wearing what looked peculiarly like a baseball uniform. "What can I do for you?"
"Well, you know, it's funny you should ask that," Clara smiled. "I'm off to participate in our little community baseball team. Boys vs. Girls. Gives the kiddies a bit of a kick."
Alex nodded. "Sounds like fun," she finally said.
"Really? Well, that's just perfect! See, the last couple that lived here, left us with two empty places…which you and Ben would just fit mighty fine!"
Alex's eyes widened. "Oh…I…"
"What's going on?" Bobby asked, making his way out to the front door.
"Emily thought it would be fun to participate in our little baseball league!" Clara cooed. "You two would be perfect. Ben here is on the boys team, Emily is on the girls. Practice starts in a half hour. Game is this afternoon at two. We always put on a nice lunch at the field." Clara popped on a jaunty cap. "It's so great that you two are ready to participate in our community! See you soon!"
Bobby turned to Alex, arching an eyebrow as she shut the door.
"Don't look at me. I didn't say anything. She managed to talk us into it without me saying a word.""I've noticed a lot of people around this town have got that habit," Bobby replied. "You ever played baseball?"
"I can hold my own."
"We better get something to wear then."
"Do we need to go shopping?"
"Well, didn't Clara mention uniforms?"
"No. She just told me that practice starts in half an hour and game is at two this afternoon."
Bobby sighed. "I guess we're going to play baseball then. At least I can work off all this energy."
Alex's eyes widened as she watched him leave the room.
"You're here!" Clara cried excitedly. She raced up to them with two caps. One, she jammed down on Alex's head. She tried to reach up to Bobby's height, but failed, and instead pressed the cap into his hand.
Alex tried not to laugh as Bobby put it on.
"So, Emily, you're with the girls team obviously, and Ben, you're with the boys." Clara gestured over to where there were a couple of bored looking kids watching the group. "That's my two young ones, Nora and Steven. We'll get more kids when lunch is on. So, any questions?"
"When is lunch?" Bobby asked. He let his hand trail down Alex's spine, resting just comfortably on her hip. Feeling her twitch of surprise, he allowed himself a small smirk of satisfaction.
"Not too long now," Clara promised him. "I'm sure you'll both get a quite nice workout here today. Sure beats going to the gym."
"We were actually working out this morning when you arrived," Bobby replied.
Alex looked up at him, her lips parted in a silent plea for him not to make them stay around his woman any longer…and to stop stroking just above her butt. It was giving her tingles…not unpleasant ones.
"Really? Thought you looked flushed." Clara smiled. "Well, off you go Ben. Play with the big boys."
Bobby turned around to Alex, a small teasing smile playing on his lips. "Good luck today," he told her, before bending down and pressing a brief but intense kiss to her lips.
Alex watched him jog off to where a group of men were standing, swinging bats and making jokes about legs and chicken.
Clara had disappeared over to where the group of women were, talking about cakes and dirty diapers.
Suddenly she felt very alone.
"Hey, Emily."
She turned around, surprised to see Jessie walking up to her.
"Hi. I uh, didn't expect to see you here."
"Didn't expect me to be stupid enough to get roped into this shambles?" Jessie smiled good-naturedly. "Me neither. In fact, our good friend Clara over there, interrupted me and Mike when there were no kids in the house and we had scheduled some "just the two of us time." She shrugged. "Naturally, we were too keen to get rid of her that we agreed to anything."
Alex wrinkled her nose. "She has some kind of radar."
"You too huh?" Jessie shook her head. "She should be locked up. It's a crime against humanity to interrupt newlyweds."
Alex looked at her, confused. "We've been married for three years."
A sly smile spread across Jessie's face. "Could've fooled me."
Bobby adjusted the cap on his forehead."Ben, isn't it?"
Bobby turned around. "Yeah."
The man stuck a hand out. "Matthew Graham. Jessie's husband."
Bobby found the handshake surprisingly firm. "Good to meet you. You're the cop, right?"
Matt nodded. "Yeah." He grinned. "Jessie tells me that you're a carpenter?"
"Yeah. I work mostly on bigger things, but my hobby is to do smaller, intricate pieces like cabinets and drawers."
"Sounds great. Maybe I should get you to make something for our place."
Before Bobby could reply, Clara's husband, Ted, came over to the group.
"Okay fellas. We need to do some hard core training today. I don't trust those women. And we need to break in a new guy. Ben Cormwell."
Alex's rotated her arms. She was looking forward to the break. Her body ached. It had been a while since she had participated in baseball. But she wasn't going to tell Bobby. It was going to be too interesting to see his reaction to her game play. Hopefully she hadn't lost too much of her form.
"Hey." Bobby jogged up to stand beside her.
"You're fraternizing with the enemy," Alex said, arching an eyebrow.
"We're the new couple. We're allowed to fraternize."
"Really?"
"Sure, it's in the rule book."
"There's a rule book?"
Bobby grinned. "Allegedly."
Alex chuckled. "So, having fun with the boys?"
Bobby rolled his eyes. "It's…interesting. I have to say, Matt Graham is okay. And so is Greg. He's the guy who we're having dinner with tonight."
Alex nodded. "At least he's not Clara."
"I would be greatly disturbed if he was."
"Have you gotten any look at the food?"
"A peek. Looks like it might fill us up."
"Good to hear. I'm starving. As well as aching."
Bobby smirked. "Not used to this sort of game, huh?"
Alex gave him an innocent look. "No. I'm just here to play."
Bobby watched Alex from where he sat with the guys. She had her feet up on a separate chair, and her plate was balance precariously in her lap.
"Nice view, huh?" Greg said, sitting down next to him.
Bobby turned around, almost like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
"Hey man, no one blames you," Ted told him. "She's certainly a looker."
Bobby felt a little creep of protectiveness curl in his belly. "Well, she's taken."
"It's kind of cute, the way you two still act like newlyweds," Ted murmured. "Of course, Matt and Jessie still do as well."
"I heard that," Matt murmured, joining the group.
Bobby looked up, kind of glad to see Matt joining them. He was hoping that the focus of the discussion could be taken away from him and Alex.
"So, is Emily a good baseball player?" Greg asked.
"I don't know. We've never really talked about baseball prowess. Or at least, I've never seen her play. She might be hiding it from me, just waiting for a moment like this to whip out her skills," Bobby murmured, his gaze going back to Alex.
"Just like a woman," Ted agreed.
Bobby watched Alex curiously, and wondered if perhaps she was about to whip out her baseball prowess. Nothing about that woman would surprise him.
"So, Emily, dish the dirt," Clara started.
Alex quietly ate some more of the chicken. "Dish the dirt on what?"
Jessie rolled her eyes. "Mind your business, Clara."
Alex shot Jessie a grateful look over her lunch.
Clara was duly chastened, giving Jessie a dirty look.
Thankfully, Alex was saved from any further questions, by Ted coming over. "Game on!"
