Jessica's Fate

Chapter 48

It didn't take long to get to the ballpark and Tony soon had the truck parked and came around to my door to open it for me. He offered me his hand to help me out of the cab. He steadied me as my feet hit the uneven ground as parking was in a large field. "Thank you." I looked up at him and smiled.

"My pleasure."

Gosh darn it. Those dang butterflies kicked up something fierce as his voice struck a cord and I almost shivered. My smile widened and I put my purse over my shoulder as we started walking towards the gates. It seemed a bit awkward and I reached out and latched on to his arm as we walked. I looked up at him. "Is this all right?"

He smiled down at me. "Sure, whatever you're comfortable with." He said, tucking his arm a bit closer to his body as I wound my arm around his.

"Well, I like this." I shrugged. He laughed softly and presented our tickets when we got to the gate. 'I haven't been to a baseball game in a long time." I said.

"So, you have been to one before?"

I nodded. "We were traveling, went to a game in Florida when we went to Disney World." I said. "It was right before my 13th birthday."

"Major league games are fun." He nodded slightly and paused at a concession stand. "Are you hungry?" He asked, nodding towards the stand.

"I could eat." I shrugged. "I was maybe a little nervous today and didn't eat as much lunch as I would have normally."

His grin spread across his face. "Well then we'll have to have something now, we have plenty of time to eat during the game." We stepped up to the counter and I made him order first while I studied the menu before deciding that the polish dog he'd ordered sounded good. We got the hot dogs and lemonades before moving to the condiment station to fix our dogs. "Now the true test..." he eyed me for a moment. "Are you an all-in kind of girl when it comes to hot dogs, Jessica or are you more of a minimalist?"

I put my sunglasses up on the top of my head and eyed him. "I could ask the same of you." I arched an eyebrow at him, setting my lemonade down and starting with the spicy deli mustard. He smirked but didn't answer, matching me at every move as we topped our hot dogs. No ketchup. Relish, onions, sauerkraut... it all got piled on top. Then I reached for the jalapenos. I smirked at him and added a few slices of the pickled pepper. "Your turn." I handed him the tongs.

His eyes widened in surprise but he grinned and added one more slice to his hot dog than I did before laughing. "I think I'm going to like hanging out with you." He said softly, reaching to pull several napkins from the dispenser and tuck them in his pocket before we picked up our drinks again and headed down into the stadium to our seats.

We ate the hot dogs. I'd been a little overly enthusiastic when I added the peppers and had to admit defeat after only eating two of them. Tony ate the others for me. I was starting to think that the whole point of a baseball game, after it started, wasn't so much about watching pitchers throw the ball and the batters try to hit the ball but it was entirely about food. And Tony was generous about feeding me.

We split BBQ pork nachos and cotton candy. Root beer floats and kettle corn. He offered to get something else around the 7th inning stretch but I declined with a laugh. "I'm not sure any of my clothes will fit tomorrow."

His gaze dropped and he studied me from head to toe before pulling his gaze back up to meet my eyes. "There's nothing wrong with you at all." He declared, his dark eyes locked on mine. "I mean that, most sincerely."

I let my eyes take a leisurely stroll down his body and back up again to meet his gaze. "Well, I don't think there's anything wrong with you either. Also, meant, most sincerely." I said solemnly. We stayed locked in the gaze for a moment before we both broke into gales of laughter and took our seats again as the bottom of the inning started up.