Alex poured himself a second cup of coffee and stared out the window of his apartment. Eleven stories below, the water of the bay was a field of steely blue-gray. A lip of gold spread across the hills to the east, announcing sunrise. A wedge of pelicans flew between his building and the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance, gliding along in the formation that allowed them each to fly with the least effort. He stared toward the headlands across the mouth of the bay, toward the Center.
He’d managed to pull a couple night shifts at the Center after day games at home. Gage had designated him as an extra pair of hands and no one seemed to mind that his schedule was irregular. Jackie hadn’t been around. She’d flown to Hawaii, so he’d had no chance to make any sort of apology for his actions at the donor event. He wasn’t even sure what he’d apologize for; he just knew he had the urge to salve the unease nagging him.
Sabrina had given him a sisterly lecture as they’d driven home that night, and her words still ran in his mind. Jackie had won over Sabrina, that much was clear. Sabrina always put relationships first; he’d always considered that a female thing. But when he searched his heart, he knew that he too valued the people in his life. There’d just never been a love interest in that inner circle. He walked to the floor-to-ceiling window in his living room and watched a sailing yacht maneuver around Alcatraz, skimming the choppy waters.
Love.
This was no time for love. He glugged down his coffee and willed himself awake. He wasn’t sleeping well. Worse, he wasn’t seeing the ball like he wanted. And he wasn’t focused. That bothered him most of all.
Some nights as he lay awake in the darkness and played the events of the past months in his mind, he felt he was coming unseamed. He’d run the math over and over in his mind. If he didn’t snap to and rack up more hits, he’d blow his chance at the title and, perhaps worse, he’d let down his team. No matter how he crunched the numbers or considered the probabilities, it always came out the same: he needed to focus on baseball.
That couldn’t be so hard.
The dull gnawing in his gut told him it just might be.
The ring of his cellphone pulled him back from his puzzling thoughts. It was Gage.
“It’s six thirty,” Alex said.
“Thanks,” Gage said. “That’s exactly why I called. What a relief. I thought my watch might be off by a couple minutes and I thought I’d check yours.” Cell static garbled his chuckle. “What time do you have to be at the ballpark today?”
“You making me breakfast?”
“Water rescue,” Gage said through the static. “Bit of an emergency. I’m on my way to J dock at Pier 39. I need a big guy. You’re my nominee.”
“I can be there in fifteen minutes.” Action was always a good antidote for confusing feelings. So what if he used up some energy? At least he’d have a clearer head.
“You rock, Alex.”
And so what that once again he was putting something else before baseball? He could handle it. He couldn’t let the Center down.
Hell, he didn’t want to let Jackie down.