A Complete Game (Washington DC Soaring Eagles #3) - Aven Ellis Page 0,2
but we didn’t talk much other than to exchange introduction pleasantries. He was there with his girlfriend at the time—they broke up afterward—and I was busy receiving texts from Ryan saying he couldn’t wait to see me when the wedding weekend was over.
I roll my eyes. Apparently, he couldn’t wait for me to have an open night so he could ghost me and then tell me he couldn’t see me anymore, ha-ha.
I would never have guessed at the time that I would ever see Brady again, let alone work with him. But he was traded to Washington in a surprise move during spring training. I know the backstory from Hayley. Brady was furious he was sent to the same team as his twin. Not because the brothers don’t get along—they are incredibly close—but because he wanted to pursue his baseball dreams outside of the shadow of his enormously successful brother.
I can relate to that, I think.
My younger sister, Ari, is a musical prodigy. She’s an incredible pianist, studying music at Princeton, and has a slew of accomplishments and achievements to her name. If I had stayed home in Philadelphia, I’d be known as the sister of Ari Blakely instead of Addison Blakely.
Hayley said it had hurt Brody, who wants nothing more than success for his twin. Brady even refused a party Brody wanted to throw to meet his friends in DC. Brady is hell-bent on making his own way, Hayley explained, down to the people he meets. For Brady’s first game, Brody caught him, but the outing was so bad for Brady, the manager reassigned another catcher to him.
“Addison? Did you hear what I said?”
I blink. “Yes, sorry. I’ll make sure Brady gets a great animal to pose with. Speaking of which, I’m at my car, so I’ll text you some pics once we get started.”
“Oh, that would be great, thank you.”
I say goodbye and hit the unlock button on my fob. I place my work tote in the passenger seat, put my tea in the cupholder, and slide behind the wheel of my Audi. Normally, my commute to work is very short—Feathers to Paws is located in Alexandria, after all—but now I have a twenty-minute drive to the ballpark and a jaunt across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, which spans the Potomac River.
As soon as I start the engine, I turn on my station with the older pop tunes—a guilty pleasure of mine that I’ve somehow become addicted to. As the song “All 4 Love” by Color Me Badd fills my car, I sing along, my mood turning joyful as I begin this workday.
Many sing-alongs later—including a rather rousing rendition of J. Lo’s “Jenny from the Block,” if I do say so myself—I drive up to Soaring Eagles Park. It’s nearly empty, as today is an off day for the team. I’m excited to see how we can use the players and this gorgeous setting to create not only a fantastic fundraising calendar but also to bring awareness to our goal of getting animals adopted.
I pause at the guard shack, showing the credential I have for the day. I’m directed to the parking lot used for TV crews. We have Total Access Total Sports coming out to cover the shoot, along with their Soaring Eagles show correspondent, which is more publicity—and publicity that will live on not only their website but social media channels and the Soaring Eagles website as well.
My job today is to write a “making of” article about the calendar and write all social media pieces about today’s event. I’ll post some teaser pics during the shoot, and then have an article for our newsletter about the calendar along with a preorder link for it.
I park my car and reach for my tea. Then I grab my tote and sling it over my shoulder. I was given a map of the stadium by my boss, Elisa, of where to enter and where we will meet, which seems to be in the corridor outside the clubhouse. While I have gone to baseball games with Hayley before, I always left with Barbara and Dominik, her neighbors and some of my favorite people ever, immediately after the game. I didn’t want to be the “tag-along single friend” to her and Katie. They protested I wasn’t, of course, but I anticipated there would be some “Oh, hi, here is our single friend, is there some cute baseball player friend you might want to have come with us?” vibe to the evenings.