Chapter 46

After a relaxing – and stimulating – time in the hot tub (and after enjoying where it led in the bedroom), the lovers relaxed on the cool cotton sheets to catch their breath.

As the sweat dried on her naked skin, Meredith rolled over to cuddle with Brock. He wrapped his arm around her and drew her close to him.

"I've been thinking of the future," he said softly.

"What about it?" she asked.

"Have you thought about a few years down the road?" he wondered.

"A few times," she admitted. "Well, more than a few times, I guess."

"And?" Brock pushed.

He felt Meredith shrug.

"It's not a decision one person can make alone," she told him.

"I know that," Brock said. "I just wondered where your thoughts lead you."

"It might scare you," Meredith said.

"Maybe," Brock agreed. "But then again, it might not."

"Tell me what you've been thinking about," Meredith pressed.

It was Brock's turn to shrug.

"There are a lot of things we've never talked about," he said.

"Like what?" she asked.

"Like the future," Brock answered. It earned him a poke in the ribs.

"I was thinking along the lines of specifics," Meredith said. "What specifically would you like to talk about that we haven't yet?"

"Well, I guess I wonder if you see us together in a few years or if this is just a pit stop on the road for you," Brock confessed. It caused Meredith to sit up in bed and look down on him.

"Pit stop?" she asked, clearly irritated. "What does that mean?"

"I don't want you to be angry," Brock began.

"Well you're doing a shitty job of keeping that from happening," Meredith interrupted.

"Yeah, I got that," Brock said. "I guess I was wondering if you had given any thought to making our arrangement permanent."

"Only about every second of every minute of every hour of every day," Meredith said. "So you could say it's crossed my mind."

"And?" Brock asked.

"And what?" Meredith shot back. Her anger didn't abate when Brock chuckled.

"Er ya fer it or agin it?" he asked in a Southern twang that sounded so ridiculous that Meredith had to laugh too.

"Fer it," she said. "Definitely fer it."

"Me, too," Brock said. "But I think you should have said 'I garen-damn-tee that I'm fer it. Or at least mixed a dad gum it in there or something."

"You goof," Meredith said. She didn't resist when Brock pulled her back close to him.

"You still didn't answer my question," he noted.

"Which one did I miss?" Meredith wondered.

"Where do you want to be in a few years?" Brock tried.

"Define a few," Meredith said.

"Let's say, five years," Brock offered.

"Ideal world or realistic world?" Meredith posed.

"Is there a difference?" Brock wondered.

"Maybe," Meredith said. "Like I said, the future can't be decided by one person."

"OK, ideal world," Brock replied.

"Five years from today," Meredith said. She shifted to a sitting position and looked down at him. "Well, we'd be at our house in Los Angeles. You would be well established and wouldn't be reporting to Spring Training early. In fact, right about now you'd be getting your daughter ready for bed, tucking her in and reading her a bedtime story. Then you'd come to do the same for me. I'd probably be about seven months along with your son, having conceived him during the celebration after you won the All-Star Game MVP. You gave me the sweet little sports car you won and I treated you to a night of carnal bliss that resulted in our second child. Too much detail?"

Brock was staring at Meredith wide eyed.

"I told you that I've thought about this," Meredith replied smugly. "You said 'ideal world' and that is what I think of five years from now. Ten years from now is pretty similar. We still live in L.A. Our oldest daughter is in school and our son is getting ready to start kindergarten. The third child – I want a boy and a girl but the third one can be either – is still toddling around and keeping me young.

"If we talk 15 years, I guess you're about ready to close the books on your career. You probably have two or three good years left in you but you want to go out on top. You announce that this is your last year. Our little girl has reached the age when she's starting to date and you worry about her hanging out with boys. Our son wants you at home to watch his Little League games or his Youth Soccer games or to go to his Science Fair exhibition. Our youngest misses her Daddy something terrible when he is on the road. She spends her evenings listening to his games on the internet and cuddles in with her Mommy when it's bed time."

"What about your career?" Brock asked. "I mean, you worked so hard to get your degree. Don't you want to use it?"

"I'll use it on my husband and children," Meredith said with a laugh. "No, my career will be as a mommy and as a wife, I think. I'll do your publicity work, of course, and maybe help out with Randi's and Tara's if they want. We have more money than we can spend right now and it's only going to grow. I mean, geez, the Dodgers practically came out and said they want to sign you long-term as soon as they can."

"I'm not arbitration eligible until after next season," Brock said.

"You're going to be a Super Two," Meredith countered. "You'll get four years of arbitration instead of three. You had two Septembers and two Augusts in Cleveland and that counts toward service time. That means they're going to come to you this year with a huge deal. I'm betting it is in the next couple of weeks. I'm betting something like four years, $30 million. Maybe a little higher. They'll probably want to reward you for moving to second base so they might outdo what the Rockies gave their guy a few years ago. He got six years, $48 million."

"You think?" Brock asked.

"I'll bet on it," Meredith said, nodding against his chest. "You'll see where you stand when they renew your contract. I've heard from a reliable source that the team plans to give you the largest increase in baseball history in a week or two. I've been told you might make twice the league minimum. That's a big jump for a second-year player. As soon as they do that, I think they'll follow with a nice long-term deal to keep you in L.A. as long as they can. I think they envision doing with you what the Orioles did with Ripken. They want you to be the face of the franchise. I don't think they ever want to see you wearing anyone else's uniform."

"I think I'd like that," Brock admitted. "I should probably call Stan in a day or two and let him know."

"He knows," Meredith said firmly. "If they offer you a long-term deal, will you sign it?"

"I'm sure I will," Brock said. "You know, it's not about money. Like you said, we have more than we'll ever need."

"Can I make a suggestion?" Meredith asked. She didn't like to butt into Brock's professional matters but she had been doing a lot of research since Tara had let it slip that the team planned to give Brock a hefty raise since he didn't have a Rookie of the Year bonus in his contract.

"Always," Brock assured her.

"You might think about offering less money for more security," she said, reclining on the bed again and snuggling up to him.

"Like a longer deal?" Brock wondered.