Ace's Wilder

A friend

"Does he know you're here?" Max asked, leaning back on two legs of his folding chair next to Ace in the pressbox.

Ace just shook her head. "Don't ask questions you already know the answer to, Max."

"Fair enough," he conceded, falling back to four-leg stability. "I really miss that guy. Although, I bet that's why you're here, too. Right?"

She smiled, her turn to lean back on two legs like they were both 22 again. "Something like that, I guess."

"You always were a woman of few words," Max smiled.

"That's why we're friends," She reminded him. "Comfortable silence."

"Mmm."

Ace laughed softly and turned her attention back to the game. That same catcher was getting a workout. As bad as the Baysox pitchers had been all season, this guy on the mound for the SeaWolves wasn't doing much better tonight. For not the first time, the catcher laid out to snag a wild pitch with a guy on third. She grimaced, as if she'd been the one making the stop herself.

Next to her, Max was trying not to grin. "You sure he doesn't know you're here? Looks to me like he's showing off."

Ace cut her eyes at Max. Desperate to change the subject, she quipped, "Whatever happened to that girl that was here your first season...the one you were obsessed with?"

Max did grin this time. "You're about the least subtle person I know."

Ace laughed. "Fine."

Max laughed with her at her resignation. "There she is. I've missed you, girl."

From over their shoulders, someone came in and set down a large cup of concession stand lemonade in front of Max. Ace eyed the cup suspiciously before turning around to see who'd made the delivery.

"Ah, thanks," Max turned to grin at a tall, lean woman with long, wavy light brown hair. "Ally, this is Ace. She's from up the road," he nodded to the side as if no further explanation was needed.

"Oh hi!" Ally beamed. It was immediately apparent that she and Max were on some different wavelength from the rest of the planet. Instead of taking the seat next to Max, she simply stood behind them and sipped her own drink. "How's it going out here?"

"Eh." Max and Ace both grimaced at the same time.

Ally nodded and pretended to squint at the scoreboard. "Yeah, it's moving slow for sure. Don't they know it's the last game of the year?"

"You headed back inside or you sticking around?" Max turned back to her with smiling eyes.

"Gotta get some more work done. I'll be back out before it's over though. Nice to meet you, Ace."

"You as well," Ace called after her as the woman turned to leave, mass of wild and beautiful hair following behind her. "Is that what I think it is?" she asked Max.

Max nodded at his yet to be touched cup. "One way to find out."

Ace reached for the cup and took a long pull off of the straw. Trying not to betray the ill-mixed cocktail in her expression, she just raised her eyebrows. "Yep. Some things never change I see."

Max grinned again. "Just on the last day of the season now. It's kind of our tradition."

"Hey, you don't have to explain yourself to me," she assured him. "I remember being part of that tradition for a couple years, and it wasn't only on the last day of the season."

Ace had started with the Orioles as an intern in Baseball Operations in the fall of her sophomore year of college. She'd spent a lot of time watching these Double-A games in Bowie. Instead of putting her out in the stands with the Scouts, the Orioles always put her in the pressbox, and that's how she'd met Max. He'd come sit next to her and shoot the breeze while she took notes for the parent club.

They'd both been young and restless—both dealing with broken hearts, one more fresh than the other—and though they'd never gotten together romantically, they did become pretty good friends. At one time, they might have considered each other best friends, but then life and time put distance between them and they'd lost touch.

"Do you still sit in here during games or—"

"Nah, I'm usually down by my office these days, but somebody let me know you were on the list tonight, so I figured I'd stop in for old times sake."

Ace felt her heart swell. It was nice to have a friend.