Why did she decide to stay?

Because of him. Because of this man that intrigued her. Federico McGhee. What kind of name was that? What was he mixed with? Was he from St. Louis? How old was he? Was he married? Had kids? Did he like kids?

"Ugh!" She moaned out loud while her team escorted her to the luxury box her family and friends were in. She was not supposed to be thinking about a guy. She was focused on her career and not the possibility of more heartbreak.

"You okay, cuz?" Sheila asked her.

She was not going to tell her anything. As soon as she made it to the box, Autumn rushed over to grab her legs in a hug.

"Mommy!"

"My Angel!" She picked her up and kissed her cheek. "Did you see Mommy out there?"

"Yes! I wanna do it now."

"Little girl, that was hard work." She placed her daughter down and looked around the suite, fully loaded with all kinds of food. "Where's Pop Pop and Gran?"

Autumn pulled her arm to the front of the suite facing the field. It was a nice view to see the game. Not too far up like when she would come with her father, but not down in the stands in the hot sun. Her father was already standing and cheering at the game in progress. Everything was so loud it seemed to her. The announcers were loud, there was music being played loud and the crowd seemed loud for no reason.

When she was little and came with her father, she remembered being bored to tears but never complained because her father would buy her treats her mother normally would not let her eat.

"Hey Dad, how'd I do?" Impressing her father with anything in sports would be a feat. All her life she wanted to be the son he wished for when all he had was a girl that did not care for sports. That's where all her male cousins fit in for him. He was one of seven siblings and she had a slew of cousins way older than her living around them growing up.

"My little girl looked like a pro out there!" He grabbed her in a hug and felt like a little girl again. She knew he would have been proud of her no matter what, but somehow she needed the validation. Only child syndrome or something. "If I knew you had an arm like that I would have put you in softball. Hell, you could have played-"

"Now you know she was not gonna do any sort of thing like that," her mother jumped in, sitting with her Aunt Sofia, her father's sister. Sofia was somewhere in her sixties and had five children all older than her. "But she looked so cute out there."

"Making us proud," Aunt Sophia stated, decked out in Cardinals red and sharp. The Fosters were always dressed to impress. "Keep up the good work. Now you know I don't listen much to that type of music, just the Lord's music."

She held in an eye roll over her very sanctified aunt. Whatever floats her boat. She sang church music when she was growing up, as well as all of her cousins. That's when she realized she was better than everyone else but wanted something more. That's why she entered the singing competition as soon as she turned of age.

"This kid out here pitching now, the best we've had in a while," her father stated.

She looked down at the field, shielding her eyes a bit from the sun with her hand. She could not see who it was, she was blind as a bat even with her contact lenses in.

"Who's pitching?"

"Federico McGhee, the rookie pitcher that has been turning up the heat. Never seen a kid play like this in a long, long time."

"Oh?" She paid attention to the mound as Rico prepared to throw. He looked so comfortable out there, in front of all the tens of thousands of eyes. How she felt when she performed to a crowd twice the size. 

Rico threw, the hitter swung, and it was the third strike for him, and the third out for the visiting team. She came up to the suite while it was the middle of the first inning. She had not missed much of the game. The stands were not even full yet.

"He was the pitcher I worked with Daddy. Nice to know he's the best."

"Whoa! Nice to know my baby girl made it to the big league and worked with the big guns."

She took a seat next to her father, pulling Autumn on her lap so they could watch the game. Now she was into it and wanted to see more of Rico play. There were two rows of seats, with five seats in each row. Her aunt, then her mother, then her father, and she took an empty seat next to him, with one empty on the end.

In the row behind her, were two of her uncles and three male cousins. They were a lot older than her twenty-five. All three were in their late thirties. She was not extremely close to them growing up, but they would always step in as big brothers when needed. She was the youngest cousin from her father's side. First cousins, that is, Sheila was one of her oldest cousin's daughters. In her big family, there were no first, second, first-removed, or distant, just cousins.

"Tika, why are you out here in the heat, you will frizz up your hair," Malaika called out from behind her in the suite.

"I'm fine!" No way was she going to tear her eyes from the field. "Daddy, when does Rico hit? I mean, that is how it works right? He gets to hit."

Her father chuckled as if she told a joke. "He's actually a pretty good hitter as well. Already has a couple of home runs under his belt for a few weeks into the season. You don't get most pitchers being good hitters."

"Really? So what happens if he was not a good hitter?"

"They call in a pinch hitter. A player is just there to take their place at bat. Federico has no problems there though."

"Are you two going to talk sports all day?" her mother stated.

"Dear, we are at a sports game," her father said, patting her hand.

"Hey niece, get one of your peoples to make me a plate of all that good food," Aunt Sophia said to her.

"Auntie, they are not your maids," she said to her. She snuggled against Autumn a bit. "Princess, do you want anything? I'll get them to bring you over something."

"Cotton candy!"

"No!" she quickly said to her.

"Let the child have a little cotton candy," her mother, the fitness junkie, said to her.

"I like how you guys throw out all the rules for her," she said snidely, snapping her fingers to Sheila, who rushed over to them. "Go and take Autumn inside and let her have anything she wants."

"Sweet!" Autumn jumped from her lap. "I love you, mommy!"

She needed to get back to the game. Nothing much to see watching the players come up to bat, and swing at a little ball that to her seemed impossible to hit. The second man at bat made it to first base safely. The third guy hit it to the back of the field, but the guy caught it. Fourth up was him, Rico. The reason she stayed to watch all of this.

"See, he's up next. Watch he hits it out of here," her father said.

Then they started to play one of her songs and she was shocked as all hell. "Bring The Pain" was a song from her last album, a hot dance tune she co-wrote and she never imagined it would be at a baseball game.

"Daddy, they are playing my song!"

"Oh yeah, that's his walk-out song," her father said, digging into his bag of popcorn. "Every player has one, something they vibe to before they get ready to hit.

"Don't worry, it's cleared," Telly shouted out while a few in the suite danced and sang along.

It was nice to hear Rico enjoyed her music then. Something about that made her more intrigued by him. Sure, she had met plenty of men who liked her music, but this hit differently.

She watched with bated breath as he stood to pitch. Even though she could not see his face, she was mesmerized watching him. Watching him from where she sat, he looked so small, not the tall frame that hovered over her. How tall was he? A nice height. The perfect height.

He swung at the first ball and missed. That was okay, right? It wasn't like he was just going to hit the first ball out of there.

"Come on Fireball, you got this!" her father yelled out.

"Fireball?"

"That's what they call him. He throws the heat and hits the fire."

"Ummm...okay."

She watched him ready for the next pitch, which he did not swing at and it was called a ball. Maybe he was thinking of her. No way, he was not thinking about her, he was at work, so he was focused on the game.

The next one again, was a ball.

"You think they are trying to walk him?" she asked her father.

"Oh, so you do know a bit about the game," her father said.

"Yes Daddy, it's kind of...interesting."

"Too early to walk him, I think."

The next pitch came in good, Rico swung and connected the bat with the ball and it went out there, but not enough. Right into one of the outfielder's glove. He was out.

"Well, that was exciting," Orlando stood near her with a huff. "Girl! Why are we even here? Let's go somewhere in the cool air."

"It's not even that hot in here," she said to him, back to focusing on the game. It was a shame that the inning was over so quickly, but at least she could stare at Rico on the mound again.

How yummy was he? Those long legs when he would lift one up as he pitched. The arch of his back, just the power of his throw. She was mesmerized watching, not even caring what happened, just watching. She could not deny the electric charge she felt when the man touched her. The way her body felt comfortable up against his. Somehow she felt connected to him.

"Tika! Tika!" Someone was calling her but she was out of it. She snapped herself back to her surroundings and turned to see one of her old friends, Jolanda Dash. "Girl, the hell?"

"What?" She invited her friend because, besides Orlando, she had known her forever. They did not get to hang out much but whenever she was in town, she tried to. She was married with a son a year younger than Autumn, living her happy life.

"Girl, why are you into that game as if you know what's going on?"

She gave her the finger and went back to watching Rico.

"No, for real. Hey Mr. Foster!" Jolanda came to sit in the empty spot next to her. "I never get to see you, you invited me here but now you're ignoring me?"

"Girl, hey." She leaned over to hug her friend. Back when she was singing anything and anywhere, Jolanda was in a group with her. That fizzled out fast and Jalonda was the only one she was still friends with from the group. The rest were real live haters, to this day.

"You look stunning in this all-white. Sexy, but sporty."

"Girl, I'm trying to catch a husband like you!"

"Girl, and I did my big one with Marco. Sexy and fine and can fuck."

"Girl! My daddy right here," she said, pushing her shoulder.

"My bad."

"I ain't hear a thing," her father stated, which meant he heard everything.

Turning her attention back to the game, she saw that Rico pitched another strikeout. He really was on fire.

"So listen Tika, I was thinking..." Jolanda went on, but she was not paying her any attention. "I think I should go on tour with you."

"Uh-huh," she mumbled, watching as Rico threw the ball and the hitter connected with it. From the roar from the stands, it did not look good. The ball flew so far out the field, it was a home run for sure. "Oh no! Dad, what does that mean, we lose?"

"No, it's just one point, they didn't have any other men on base, so it's okay baby girl, it's still okay. We just need Fireball to bring some more heat."

"This is so boring," Jolanda said then stood up from her spot. "But nice chatting with you and I can't wait to come sing with you on stage."

"Huh, what? Wait!" 

Jolanda was off back into the suite. And now she'd missed Rico striking out the last hitter. It was now the bottom of the second inning and because Rico already had his turn at bat, she knew she would not be interested in the others playing. She stood and walked inside the suite to talk to her people.

Autumn was sitting with Sheila eating her cotton candy. Her two guards Alvin and Vincent stood by the door. Telly was on the phone, leaned against the wall. Possibly signing her up for the next big thing. Her social media manager was on her laptop, not watching the game. Jalonda was with her husband and son David sitting in the back row watching the game.

Malaika and Orlando were sitting at a table sharing a dish of nachos.

"How much longer do we have to be here?" Malaika asked, munching on a chip. "You've done the first pitch, we watched a few...hits...now we need to do something fun. Let's hit a club before we have to fly out."

"I can go for that," Orlando stated.

Was she ready to leave the game and never see or hear from Rico again?