Ch 13
A bit later, they finish up the photo session.
"I can not wait to get these developed. I'll have them for you in a couple of days."
"Thank you Abby. You were great with her. Really put me at ease at the beach."
"You're very welcome." Abby packs up and leaves.
Chris turns to them. "What sounds good to eat? Our treat for tricking you."
"Italian?"
Chris nods. "Sounds good. Just follow us."
Rita looks at him and smiles. "Sam special?"
He nods. "Said we'd bring Sammy next time anyway.."
"That we did."
Chris helps Rita get in the car and puts her crutches in the trunk. He gets Sammy loaded up and the stroller and one of the bags in the trunk.
"Ready?"
"Yeah. Can we go home after? Need to get off my ankle for a bit."
"Of course."
They head to their spot. Cap and Frannie pull up beside them. Chris gets the crutches out of the trunk and helps Rita up. "You good?"
"Yeah."
He grabs the diaper bag and the car seat. "Hey Sammy girl."
They walk in and their booth is available. "Want Sammy by you?"
Rita nods. "Please."
He nods and puts the car seat in first then she slides in. "Good?" Frannie slides in by Chris and Harry by Rita.
"Yeah."
Sammy starts whimpering.
Rita smiles at her. "Hey Sammy girl. You're ok." She gets her out of the car seat and holds her close.
Maggie,their usual waitress,comes over and smiles. "Is that Sam?"
Rita nods. "Yeah." She carefully turns her so she can look around.
"Oh she's cute."
"Thanks."
"Sam special and tea?"
"Give us a few."
She nods. "Be back."
Harry smiles. "Sam special?"
"We'd come here a lot for pizza and always ordered the same thing and always did Sam as the name. And when we would eat here, we'd order it too. So it became the Sam special."
"I love it."
"It's not even on the menu. When we call it in all we have to say is either one of our names and they put it down for us and sometimes we'll order other stuff.."
Frannie smiles. "We have to have this Sam special then."
"What do you want to drink? We would get beers or tea if we were on duty."
"Tea is good."
The waitress comes back over. "Ready?"
Chris nods. "A large Sam special and 4 teas."
"Got it. Can I take her back and show him?"
Rita nods. "Of course." She hands Sammy to her and smiles.
"I'll bring her right back." She walks back in the kitchen. "Mario! Chris and Rita brought Sam."
He smiles. "Oh she's a cutie."
"Yeah she is."
"Sam special?"
"Yeah. A large. They have company."
He nods. "Got it."
Sam starts whimpering.
"Ok pretty girl. Let's get you back to Mama."
She takes Sammy back and hands her to Rita. "She's so sweet."
"Thanks. She's the best."
"I'll be back with your teas."
"Thank you."
Rita kisses Sammy's cheek. "You're ok."
Sammy calms down and grabs on to Rita's top.
"I know baby. You're ok."
Frannie smiles.
"She does that a lot when she's not by either one of us for a bit."
"Poor thing."
The waitress comes back with their drinks. "Can I get you anything while the pizza cooks?"
"I think we're good. Thanks."
Rita carefully puts Sammy back in the car seat and puts her hand on Sammy's chest.
Harry smiles. "She ok?"
"Yeah. She's fine. Once she's back to sleep I can have my hand back. It's just a trick we've discovered if she has to be in the car seat and we aren't in the car."
Harry looks over and her and smiles. Rita carefully pulls her hand back. Sammy sighs and stays asleep.
"One large Sam special. Let me know if you need anything."
"Thank you."
Harry looks at them. "Why do you call each other Sam or Sammy?"
Chris and Rita smile. "Slammin Sammy Snead. The pro golfer."
"Got it. So that's why you named her Samantha."
Rita nods. "We didn't get a chance to talk about names before.." She starts getting choked up.
"Hey, it's ok."
Rita takes a breath to calm down. "If she had been a boy, I was going to name him after his Daddy."
"Two Chris Lorenzo's…"
Rita laughs. "Yeah. But at the time I thought I had lost him for good and I wanted him to be a part of his life. Probably would've called him CJ."
"That would've been cute."
"But I'm glad we have our Sammy girl. Did you know she picked her middle name?"
Frannie smiles. "She did?"
"Yeah. They laid her on my stomach and Chris asked about her middle name. I couldn't decide between two. Rose, after Chris' grandma. Or Frances…after you."
Frannie melts into a puddle of goo. "You guys."
"So Chris said Rose and she snuggled in closer so we knew that was her middle name."
Frannie smiles. "That's so sweet. Maybe if your next kid is a girl she can have Frances."
Rita laughs. "Give us time to enjoy Sammy first. She just barely six weeks."
"I can't believe it."
"I know. That's crazy. Still seems like yesterday you told me you were pregnant Rita."
"Yeah. I don't know what scared me most. Telling you Chris and I were together, that I was pregnant or that I had to leave."
"I'm just glad he's back where he belongs and you are too. That bullpen wasn't the same without you."
Chris smiles and rubs his foot along the back of her calf.
She smiles at him.
Harry grabs her hand. "New piece of jewelry?"
She nods. "Everything happened so fast Chris didn't get me an engagement ring. Sammy helped him pick it out. His birthstone and hers."
"It's perfect for you."
"Yeah. And he got me a locket too."
"Making me look bad Lorenzo."
Chris smiles. "Making up for lost time. Missed her birthday, the anniversary of us becoming partners. A few are just because I wanted to remind her no matter what I'm there."
