Ace's Wilder

Seventh inning stretch and September call-ups

"Limping toward the seventh inning stretch," Ally rematerialized from the offices across the concourse and took Max's seat next to Ace. "Sounds about right."

Ace couldn't help but laugh. "You're telling me. What do you do here? I'm sorry we've never met."

Ally just shrugged, smiling as she took a pull off the dregs of her lemonade cocktail and shaking the remaining ice. "It's ok. I was here a while back, and then my job opened up and I came back again. From what I hear, I think we just missed each other."

"Yeah I didn't start coming down here until the 2004 season. I was here almost every game that year, and then less and less after that until 2008, when they sent me on the road for good," Ace explained unnecessarily. She'd been the one asking questions. What just happened?

"Ops and Analytics, right?" Ally asked, leaning back on two legs of the chair just as Max had earlier.

Ace saw Carroll County watching Ally from the corner of his eye and she protectively wanted to lunge at him. She settled for clearing her throat and narrowing her eyes in his direction. "Yeah, that's right."

She smiled. "You're a smarty. Max's told me a lot about you."

Ace nodded.

"Oh, yeah, I'm the marketing director," Ally finally revealed, as if she'd just remembered the original question. "But of course in double-A ball that means I do a whole lot of everything. Our media guy conveniently quit last week, so I've been writing the season wrap in there. Sorry, I'm not usually this antisocial."

"Well that's some bullshit," Max finally rejoined them and leaned over on the back of Ally's chair, forcing all four legs back to the floor and stepping on the back rail, presumably to keep her from trying the other direction. "She's the worst. As antisocial as they come."

Ally laughed. "Said the hermit."

Ace enjoyed their easy banter. "You guys should date."

Oh fuck, that was inappropriate, she realized a little too late.

Beside her, Max and Ally laughed softly.

"Sorry, that's none of my business," Ace blushed.

Ally chuckled to herself. "Funny, you're not the first person to say something like that."

// // //

Ace and Javy had made no promises to each other. They'd exchanged numbers, but neither seemed to know if it was ok for them to call. Maybe they'd both known how hard it would have been: talking, when they were so far away, living such different lives, not knowing how to get back on the same course.

Or something like that. It was also possible that life just got in the way. Ace went back to Hopkins, and Baltimore, and dove deep into her job over the fall after yet another subpar season for the Orioles.

Back from Puerto Rico, Rich Dyer took her under his wing again, and began training her to be a scout, although he quickly realized she didn't need a lot of training. Of course he'd have to send her to scout school, but he was pretty sure she'd be, well, bored. Ace had instincts that he'd never quite witnessed before, especially in someone so young. And never in a woman. Sigh.

But, Ace crawled back into her shell. Puerto Rico seemed like a distant dream—one she wasn't sure she'd ever really had, although sometimes the memories of it were so clear they took her breath away.

The 2004 season started, and someone started the season in AAA Ottawa—about as far as he could've been, so when the Orioles sent her to report on the AA teams in Bowie, making Prince George's Stadium her most frequent outpost from Camden Yards, she was ok with it.