Chapter Eight

Nathan was asleep in his bed, dreaming about his son, Milo. It was eight in the morning when Nathan was awakened by the sound of footsteps approaching his bedroom. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Milo standing in the doorway, wearing his Winnie-the-Pooh pajamas and holding his baseball glove.

"Daddy?" Milo said.

"Hey, buddy," Nathan said with a sigh. He slowly rolled onto his back, closed his eyes, and grunted as he tried to make himself comfortable.

Milo walked over to his dad's bed and sat down on the edge. "Daddy? Can you please tell me the truth?"

Nathan slowly opened his eyes and looked at his son. "What do you mean, Milo?" he asked.

Milo took a deep breath and exhaled. "Is it true that baseball is hard?" he asked.

Nathan chuckled softly and sighed in relief, afraid that Milo knew about his cancer. "Yeah, it can be hard to learn. But ever since I started coaching you, you've been a natural at pitching a fastball."

Nathan rubbed his eyes with his hand. He cleared his throat, let out another sigh, and looked down at Milo once again. He smiled.

"Daddy? If you can't teach me, you can always have Victor teach me. Remember, he knows how to play baseball too."

Nathan chuckled. "But your daddy has been playing baseball his whole life. Trust me, I know baseball better than Victor."

Nathan felt a bit jealous as Milo continued talking about Victor.

"Victor has six dogs and two cats. He even has a pet snake in his apartment," Milo said.

"Ugh, I hate snakes, especially when they shed their skin," Nathan said.

"Ew, I know. It makes me feel icky sometimes when I think about snakes, Daddy."

Nathan chuckled. "Me too, buddy. Me too," he said with a sigh.

"Well, since another baseball game is coming up, didn't Coach Brown say you needed a new glove? The one you're holding now looks pretty rough," Nathan said.

"Yeah. Mine is falling apart, and it has lots of stains on it too," Milo answered.

"Hey, um, how about I show you something? It's something Daddy has been wanting to give you since I found out your mom told me you were playing baseball."

Milo nodded excitedly. "What is it, Daddy?" he asked.

"Go to my closet. It's lying on the floor where my shoes are."

Milo immediately hopped off the bed and walked to the closet. After opening the door, he looked around the closet floor and noticed Nathan's old wooden box with his baseball glove inside. He picked it up and looked at it. Once he examined the glove, he noticed a yearbook in the box too. He also saw a giant poster of his dad throwing a 100-mph fastball as a pitcher in high school. Nathan's uniform was black and blue, and he was wearing a baseball cap.

Milo returned to Nathan's bed and sat down. He showed the glove to his dad.

"I love it. Thank you, Daddy."

Nathan smiled and said, "You're welcome, buddy."

Nathan took a deep breath and looked at his old high school glove.

"You know, your daddy once thought about pursuing a career in Major League Baseball. I'm a huge fan of the Dodgers, so I tried to talk your mom into it, but she said it was too risky."

"Yeah? You wanted to be like Adrian Houser or Ty France? They're two of my favorite athletes," Milo explained.

"Yeah, but I didn't want it to be my whole life, you know? Making big money, meeting fans, signing contracts, and traveling the country—it's just that professional athletes can get involved with drugs and other trouble. They could even lose their jobs. I can see why your mother didn't want me to join the MLB."

Milo took a deep breath. "So, are you still going to play baseball and teach me?"

"Yeah, kiddo. I'll keep coaching you. And if you want Victor to teach you as well, then that's fine with me," Nathan said.

Milo's eyes widened. "Really?"

Nathan nodded. "Yeah. I mean, if you want to," he said.

"Yeah."

Nathan smiled at Milo, and Milo smiled at Nathan.

"Okay!"

Milo looked around the walls of Nathan's bedroom and noticed giant posters of his dad's old JV baseball days as a high school and college pitcher throwing fastballs.

"Is that you on the walls?" Milo asked.

Nathan looked around the room and at each poster hanging on the walls. "Yeah. Those were the good old days," he said.

Milo looked at the poster hanging on the wall next to Nathan's bed.

"I love that one. It's my favorite," Milo said, pointing.

"Yeah? I think it's my favorite too," Nathan said, looking at the poster and then back at his son.

Milo looked at his dad. "Daddy? I love you."

"I love you too, buddy."

Nathan and Milo hugged. Nathan swallowed hard and felt guilty for not telling Milo the truth. He just wanted his son to be happy. But Nathan knew that if he told Milo the truth, it would crush him.

At ten in the morning, breakfast was served, and Milo was sitting alone at the table, eating a plate of scrambled eggs and crispy bacon. He had finally decided to try breakfast, since he wasn't much of a breakfast eater. His dad had convinced him because he was a child, and children needed breakfast every day to get the nutrients their bodies needed.

Nathan had always been a breakfast person. He loved eating in the mornings.

"So, you finally decided to eat breakfast, huh?" Nathan asked as he walked into the dining room.

"Yeah," Milo answered. "I mean, it's not bad. And nutrition is super important for kids like me."

"Yeah? Well, it's true. Having proper nutrition in our systems is good for our health. It keeps us healthy," Nathan said.

"Yeah. My teacher at school says breakfast is good for all of us."

Nathan smiled. "True. And she's right."

Milo took a bite of his bacon.

"Do you want some fruit? I have strawberries and bananas," Nathan said.

"A banana. I love bananas."

Nathan laughed, turned around, walked over to the kitchen counter, and grabbed a banana. As he walked away from the kitchen, he handed it to Milo, who took it.

"Thank you, Daddy."

Milo placed the banana on the table next to his plate.

Nathan heard the doorbell ring. He left the dining room and walked through the connected kitchen. After Nathan opened the door, Victor was standing in front of him on the back porch.

"Nate, hey! Ella wanted me to pick Milo up. I hope you don't mind me taking him back to our place," Victor said.

Nathan frowned, confused. Why would Victor call the old house Nathan used to live in before he divorced Ella their home? Nathan felt left out.

"It's not your house," Nathan said. He folded his arms.

"What?" Victor said.

"It's not your house," Nathan repeated.

"Well, unfortunately, it will be because I'm moving in with her. I proposed to her about a week ago. I didn't tell you because I know how much you wanted to spend more time with Ella and Milo. And, well, I love Ella. She's the best thing that has happened to me, and I can't imagine what my life would look like without her."

Nathan swallowed hard. He felt a lump in his throat and almost choked on it.

"So? I mean, are you happy for me?" Victor asked.

"Yeah, yeah," Nathan said quietly, nodding his head. He tilted his head down toward the floor, then lifted it again and looked at Victor.

"Daddy? Is that Victor?" Milo asked as he rushed over to his dad's side.

He noticed Victor standing on the back porch.

"Victor!" Milo shouted excitedly.

"Hey, sport," Victor said, opening his arms and squatting down to give little Milo a hug.

Milo hugged Victor.

"Oh, buddy. I've missed you. Do you want to play ball when we get back home?" Victor asked.

Milo nodded and said, "Yeah! My daddy said you could."

Victor looked up at Nathan and could tell that Nathan was upset. He looked down at Milo and smiled.

"Hey, buddy, why don't you go get your stuff, and we'll head over to your mom's house?" Victor said.

"Okay."

Milo turned around and rushed into the living room, up the stairs, and then to his bedroom to grab his things.

Victor grunted as he stood up. He didn't know what to tell Nathan.

"Nate?" Victor said.

"I hope you and Milo have fun," Nathan replied before walking away.

"Nate—"

Victor knew that Nathan was bothered by the fact that he was engaged to Nathan's ex-wife, Ella.

Milo eventually rushed down the stairs and walked over to Victor.

"I'm ready!"

Milo took his little backpack and hung it over his shoulder.

"Come on, buddy."

Victor and Milo walked toward the car together after Victor shut the door.

Nathan sighed. He was alone in the kitchen, standing at the sink. He couldn't get Victor's words out of his head after Victor told him that he had asked Ella to marry him. Nathan stared at the sink, feeling pain in his chest. There was no doubt that he knew Victor was taking over his job as a father.

Nathan felt left out, depressed, and alone. Of course, he only wanted to spend more time with his son, and now he had just found out that Victor was engaged to his ex-wife, Ella Luke—the woman he had fallen in love with in high school. They had met at a baseball game. She was the woman who used to cheer for Nathan when he played baseball as a pitcher and an outfielder, and later in college.

As Nathan continued standing at the sink, his nose began to bleed. He saw blood dripping into the sink, so he grabbed a paper towel and placed it over his nose. He waited for the bleeding to stop. Eventually, he threw the bloody paper towel into the trash can underneath the sink and closed the kitchen cabinet.

Nathan closed his eyes for a moment before slowly opening them.

His cancer was slowly progressing. The chemotherapy had never worked against it. After about a year of treatment, Nathan knew it was time to rebuild his relationship with Milo because he was going to die soon. He took a deep breath and exhaled. Then he turned away from the kitchen sink and left the kitchen.