Page 75 of Dibs
Dylan stuck out his hand. “Nice to meet you, sir.”
Aron chuckled slightly. “Just like I told your brother, please, call me Aron.”
“Yes, sir,” he responded.
Aron handed each of the boys a paper bag. “Hopefully, these all fit.”
The three of them opened their bags and pulled out orange San Francisco Giants jerseys. As they unfolded them, I saw Parker on the back.
“You could have at least brought them Slater jerseys. They don’t need no old and washed-up player’s gear,” I teased my former teammate.
Aron laughed. “I figured they already had your vintage jersey, old man.”
I snorted. “I’ve missed you, dude.”
“I’ve missed you too,” he said and then looked at Gage. “And it seems we have a lot to catch up on.”
I smiled at Gage. “Yeah, we do.”
* * *
After we ordered,and while we waited for our food, Aron asked me, “Take a walk with me?”
“Yeah, sure.” I smiled warmly at Gage and our kids. “I’ll be back.”
Gage nodded slightly and Aron and I headed out of the restaurant toward the courtyard at the back of the hotel.
“You didn’t introduce Gage as your boyfriend, you know?”
I blinked. “I … was I supposed to?”
“You don’t have to, but you know I know, right?”
“Yeah. Figured Drew would tell you.”
“He did.”
“Then what’s the issue?”
“You tell me. Why didn’t you introduce him as your boyfriend?”
“I didn’t know I needed to because I assumed you knew,” I stated.
“Wouldn’t you have introduced a woman with the title of girlfriend?”
I stopped walking and faced him. “What?”
“When I introduce Drew, I say ‘this is my husband’, so why didn’t you give Gage a title?”
I hadn’t realized that I didn’t. Gage was Gage. Yeah, he was my boyfriend, but Aron was right; I hadn’t said who Gage was to me.
“Are you still hiding your relationship?” Aron continued to probe.
“No, but—”
Both of our phones chimed with alerts. We pulled them out of our pockets and I read the notification on my screen:
Former Rockies shortstop, Chase Matthewson, was spotted at the Cardinals game. Sources confirm he was with his boyfriend, Gage Statler.
