So, when he hit the bench, Bobby got slaps on the back from the entire team. They stood around in a semi-circle recalling all the plays and enjoying the win, as the sun began to go down and the huge buildings that surrounded the park began to spread their long shadows across the field.
The crowd began to melt away and everyone on the team began to head home for their wives, families and girlfriends.
Yeah, it had been one of those games. They had only scored two runs and he’d driven in one and scored the other. Yeah, it was sweet. But the best part, as the crowd melted away and his teammates left, was that standing right there on the third base side of home plate, was Melissa.
She’d been in the crowd by the third base stands sort of hiding out as she would explain it to him later. She had a tendency to draw attention, so she’d tucked herself in there.
“Wow.” She said as he came over. Then he got a nice light, kiss on the lips. She had to tilt her head down a little and he tilt his up, as she was a little taller than he was.
“You’ll walk me home.” She said like they were two kids in the neighborhood and so he did. She lived on 70th Street and the Heckscher Fields were on 63rd Street so they walked along inside the park as the sun continued to set. Then she stopped at bench and they sat. That’s when she explained for the first time what he already knew, that she was four years older than him. That she had a seven, year old daughter. That she had a job and he had to finish his education. And, last that she was seeing someone who she would most probably marry and she was not the kind of woman who would have an affair.
He was about to explain to her that since she wasn’t married, technically, she couldn’t have an affair but he never got the words out because as she went on to explain, what they could do, was make out.
Then they kissed sitting on a park bench just a little bit north of the Heckscher Fields. It was their first real, tongue in the mouth kiss and it seemed to knock the back of his head off, so he had no complaints. Then they kissed again and again and then she got up and they started to walk towards her apartment building. This time, they were holding hands.
They stopped a little further up at the next empty bench and then did the same thing. They couldn’t do any more than kiss as people were passing by in the park but then a few blocks before they’d leave the park, he spotted a few bushes and trees clumped together and he pulled her in behind them. Then his hands went to work combing her body. It was the first time he ever touched her breasts. When his hands started to make their way down her body, she slapped them and then his cheek, just ever so lightly.
“We’re just making out. I, said. Remember.” She teased.
“Yeah, I got it. But that’s what making out is. My hands roam and you defend. That’s the game.” He answered.
“Well, you only got to second base today, two doubles. I saw them both.”
“No. I scored once.” He countered.
“That’s was that game. This is, this one, and I’m the umpire. When I say you’re out, you’re out!” She, said.
“Okay.” He, said. Then he took his hands away, moved back a bit and then just stuck his face forward, lips first and they kissed again. Then he moved back in and held her tight and buried his head in her neck. He could smell her, smell her skin, her hair. He never wanted to ever, let go.
She pushed him back and, said. “I have to get home.” It was getting dark. The sun would set, real fast once it got beyond the skyscrapers.
So, they walked holding hands and stopping to kiss here and there till they left the park and walked along Central Park West, no longer holding hands. It was nighttime now. The street lights had come on and the sky out to the west only held a last glimmer of light.
When they got to her block she stopped at the corner and, said. “This is a far as you go. I’ll call you.”
Then he watched her as she walked away down the block, lithe and blond and beautiful. He watched as she walked under the street light and then disappeared into the night’s shadows. Then she was out of those shadows and into the splash of the next street light with her blond hair shining in that light. Then she was back in the shadows and then out again, till she got to the front door of her building. Then she stopped and turned, saw him still standing there and blew him a kiss. She was a third of the way down the block but he could taste it, sweet and moist, and feel it all over, gentle and warm.
https://outskirtspress.com/bookstore/details/9781977237132 or https://www.amazon.com/More-Than-You-Know-Frankel
