I'm becoming a little more infrequent... bad news, my car died... good news, I got a new car.
Telling Sanders:
It had been a few days since they met with Oscar, Al and Buck. Spring training was 10 days away. They needed to tell Blip, which meant they also needed to tell Evelyn. Those two couldn't keep a secret from each other to save the world. They also needed to figure out a second person in case Blip wasn't around. This was one of the few arguments they ever had. Mike wanted Butch, Ginny thought Tommy would be good. Both agreed Blip should have a say, they just need to tell Blip.
Ginny had spent the day helping Evelyn paint the restaurant. While Evelyn could have contracted out a lot of the manual labor, Ginny convinced her the paining would be great to help her rebuild her muscle, great time for them to spend together and give her something to do during the off season. They had planned on heading out that night to check out another restaurant that would be Evelyn's closest competitor. She and Evelyn were just going to clean up at Ginny's house, and Blip would meet there. Mike and Ginny planned to tell them before heading to dinner.
Ginny had all of her stuff in one of the "guest" rooms as part of the rouse. But she also liked getting ready in her own space. It was just down the hall from the master room, where she spent every night. She'd never spent a night in her own bed.
Evelyn showered and changed first. Then while she did her hair and make up in the adjoining bathroom, Ginny showered. Ginny came out with just a towel on her hair in her underwear. The ladies each had a glass of wine, were singing to the music Ginny put on and having fun getting ready for the evening.
Mike came down the hall, completely forgetting Evelyn was there, walked into the room, with Ginny still only in her underwear and towel on her head. "Hey, Gin… Have you seen my blue striped shirt? I wanted to wear it tonight?"
"It's still at the dry cleaners. You'll have to figure something else out. What about that new one you just got last week?"
"And I thought only I could make good calls." He slapped her ass as he walked out the door.
Evelyn had been out of Mike's eyesight for the entire conversation, but she had been able to see it all. As soon as he was gone, Evelyn ran over and turned off the music. "What the hell was that all about? It didn't even bother you that Lawson saw you dressed like…, well, not dressed at all."
Ginny let her face do the talking. "What girl! Are you two hooking up? Blip is going to kill Mike!"
"It's not like that Ev. We've been dating since before I moved in. Exclusively. This is the real deal, all in. I love that man, and he loves me. The roommate situation was so we could 'Hide in plain sight' as Mike likes to say. We planned to tell you and Blip tonight. But we're not telling the rest of the team until after the trade deadline."
"Details… I want all the little details. Start at the beginning, from the first kiss and don't leave anything out!." The ladies gossip upstairs until Blip arrived.
Ding Dong… "Ginny, Ev… Blip's here!" Mike shouted from downstairs.
Blip had barely made it through the front door and was ready to get right back out. "You ladies ready to go? I'm starving"
Ginny yelled back as they headed down the stairs, "I made us reservation for hour from now. Don't worry, I have an appetizer. Mike was supposed to put in the oven while we were getting ready." She looked over at him and he rushed to pull it out. "I didn't make it, it's frozen, so no food poisoning to worry about."
"Anything to drink? We have some news to celebrate tonight." Mike asked, not knowing Evelyn was already current on their love life.
After drinks were handed out, Blip asked, "Does this mean Ginny will be in Peoria with us?" Evelyn made sure she was right next to Blips side, because she knew how her husband would have a hard time with the news.
Meanwhile, Mike was also standing right behind Ginny, with one hand on her shoulder, the other holding his beer. He started "That's half of the good news."
Ginny continued "I get to go to spring training, but have to start my first few weeks in the minors. Management does plan on pulling me back up to the majors, but once they do, I will play less often, so I last for a longer season."
"That's great. So what's the other news we get to toast to?" Blip asked.
By this time, Mike had pulled Ginny in close to him. Any normal person could have read the body language and seen that they were in love. But Blip… He needed it spelled out.
"Honey… " Evelyn started and motioned for him to just look at them.
"Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing? Because If I'm seeing this, I'm gonna have to beat your ass Mike Lawson."
Evelyn grabbed her husband's hand, "There in love, my Bug. No ass beating needed."
Ginny's turn, "She's right, I'm in love with this mess of a man, not sure why." She said with a wink towards him and bumped his chest. "And before your pretty little head starts spinning on about the team, we've already told Al, Oscar and Buck."
"So you two? How long? All off season, or did this just start up?"
Mike started "I fell in love with her and that's why I asked to be traded to the Cubs. But we didn't have our first kiss until after the playoffs."
And suddenly it was all clear to Blip, why Mike wanted to leave the Padres, the betrayal, everything came into focus, and he was finally able to forgive Mike. "Oh, man, I better be your best man when you make an honest woman of her, which you will do some day."
-After Dinner-
Dinner had gone well. Ginny and Mike brought Blip up to speed on their relationship and plans to keep it private. Out in public, no one suspected they were a couple. They had to keep their distance, and watch their body language. It wasn't easy, they didn't want to do it often, but it was possible.
They returned to the Lawson/Baker house for one last drink after their meal.
"So Blip, there is one last piece to this secrecy puzzle we want your help with." Mike said. "As co-captain, we thought you could help find a second person to make sure we stay professional when management and you aren't around. Ginny thinks it should be Tommy, I think Butch. What do you think?
Blip stood up, put his beer on the counter and walked over to where Mike kept his Whisky and poured himself a glass. "You good to drive, babe?" as he looked over at his wife?" He was going to need this shot, because he was about to toss a hand grenade into his best friends relationship.
"Nope! It's an Uber kind of night."
"Bae, you want to call that Uber, we should get home to that sitter." He paused knowing it would take a driver a bit to get to the house. "You're not going to like what I think. But it needs to be Livan. Duarte needs to know what's up. He needs to know why you two had, have this connection that he will never have with Ginny, and that it's okay. Otherwise there could be other issues that come up. Pitchers and catchers need to trust each other, you both know this better than anyone else and if you think about it long enough, you'll realize I'm right." He downed his drink. Now that the verbal grenade was tossed, he wanted to leave, quickly. "This has been quite the evening. Not what I was expecting. Our best friends - dating." He said with a little headshake.
Mike corrected him, "Your best friends – In love." And with that correction, Blip and Evelyn gave a congratulatory hug to the couple. Good bye's were said and the Sanders headed off for the night.
After Blip and Evelyn left, Mike and Ginny stared at one another. "Table the Livan conversation until tomorrow?" Ginny asked. It was just late enough and she didn't want to get into any deep discussions this late in the evening. For now, she just wanted her big bear of a man, to hold her until she fell asleep. Mike kissed her and didn't argue.
-Next Morning-
Ginny could smell the coffee brewing, and pancakes on the griddle. Mike was up, and probably aiming to soften her to his way of thinking. She headed down to join him. But not without tossing on his favorite t-shirt. She paused at the top of the stairs. Coffee and pancakes be damned, she stood there and looked at him working away in the kitchen. She could imagine life - post baseball, with kids, out of the limelight. It was a life with him she wanted. Who ever they chose to monitor their professionalism in the clubhouse didn't seem so important anymore.
Ginny had paused at the top of the stairs in his favorite worn out shirt. Is there anything that woman didn't look good in. He had this image of her pregnant years from now filling out that shirt. Patience. She needs to have her time, for her career first. Just because he was ready for kids, didn't make it right to assume she was. He was ending his career, she was just starting.
She sat down at the bar top. "So, who do you want to tell our sweet little secret too?" Ginny asked as she sipped on her freshly brewed coffee.
"Livan. Blips right. We both know it. I don't like it, he's a hot head, but it's the right thing to do." Mike responded.
"When's the last time I told you I loved you?" She said.
"Every time you look at me."
Next up: Telling Livan & Spring Training