Taking the Field

“You appear to be in a good mood this morning,” Holly observed after taking a long sip of her coffee.

“Aren’t I always in a good mood?” Aaron countered.

This earned him a look from his best friend.

It was Sunday morning, the wind was unusually brisk, and the friends were gathered on their favorite bench with a breathtaking view of the Penobscot River.

“You’ve met yourself, right?” she quipped.  “You’re rarely in a good good, especially not when it’s this frigid and windy.”

He smiled and sipped his Snapple.

“Perhaps you’re right,” he admitted.  “I do tend to be a grump.”

“So what’s put that pep in your step, King of the Understatement?” Holly teased.  “Are you excited because we set the clocks ahead and you lost an hour of sleep?”

Aaron shook his head vehemently.  “As much as I love time travel, this one hour we venture forward every Spring does not count as such.”

“Then I’m all out of ideas for what might have overwritten your usual grumpy old man programming,” she confessed as a mischievous smile danced across her beautiful face.  “Just tell me.”

“Baseball’s back!” he exclaimed.  “How could you not guess that?  Is it because you’re a Red Sox fan and you know your team is going to struggle again this year?”

Holly rolled her eyes and sipped her coffee.

“The season hasn’t even started yet,” she informed him.  “I’m not getting sucked into this argument.”

“Was it a Freudian slip that you used the term “sucked” in your reply?” he challenged.

“Not at all,” she replied without hesitation.  “Clearly, I was referring to your Yankees.”

“If the lockout would have continued, we would have lost out on intriguing conversations like this one,” Aaron observed.  “Praise be to Zeus that baseball is back!”

“I look forward to watching games with you,” she remarked.  “You are going to allow that given that COVID is on a down slide, right?”

“I’m going to allow it because you always bring good food, and because you’re the only person who can put up with how stressed I can get during a Yankees game,” he replied.

She chuckled.

“Then I’m glad baseball is back,” she said and then took a gulp of coffee.

“And because of the lockout, Opening Day is now April 7, Yankees versus Red Sox.  Take the day off so we can watch it together,” he advised.

“It’s a date,” she replied.

And when he didn’t say anything about her use of the word “date”, Holly smiled.