The Seventh Inning Stretch

The baseball game had entered the seventh inning when I noticed it—spinach, wedged stubbornly between Elena's front teeth. She was laughing at something Greg said, her head tilted back, throat exposed, completely unaware of the green debris that had been there since we'd left the restaurant three hours ago.

Greg. Her "friend" from college. The one who'd been messaging her at midnight for months. The one I'd invited today because I was tired of pretending I didn't notice.

"You okay?" Elena asked, turning back to me. Her eyes were soft, concerned, completely genuine. That was the problem—if she was going to have an affair, couldn't she at least have the decency to be guilty about it?

"Fine," I said, gesturing vaguely at the field. "Just thinking about my dad." He'd taken me to baseball games every Sunday until the cancer won. Some Sundays I'd begged to stay home, but he'd just say, 'It's just something we do, Mark.' We bear the things we love.

The mascot—a man in a sweaty bear costume—danced near our section. I watched him trip over his own giant feet and recover with an enthusiastic wave. The crowd cheered. I wanted to stand up and scream: THIS. This is what you've settled for. Someone in a bear costume stumbling through life while your wife's "friend" explains the infield fly rule with unnecessary hand gestures on her shoulder.

"Your husband's quiet," Greg said to Elena, as if I weren't sitting right there.

"He's just thoughtful," she said, squeezing my hand. Her palm was damp. She was nervous. Why? About me, or about what Greg might say?

"I should go," I said suddenly, standing up.

"What?" Elena's face fell. "Mark—"

"There's spinach in your teeth," I told her. "Since dinner."

Greg laughed. I could tell he thought I was being petty. He didn't understand. Some things you see and can't unsee.

I walked toward the exit, past vendors selling overpriced beer and memories shaped like foam fingers. Behind me, I could hear Elena calling my name. I kept walking. Some things you bear. Some things you don't.