Wildflower (Kris Bryant)

2 The Path Less Taken

"So what am I supposed to do" she wonders.

"What would you suggest a man who is 23 years old and moved to the city for the first time by himself do to prepare throwing away another 20 good years of his life to a sport" I question.

"You should get a dog" she answers immediately and I laugh.

"Well that was fast. Why should I get a dog" I wonder.

"I don't know" she shrugs. "That's what I do when I don't know what to do with myself" she claims.

"And how many dogs do you have now" I ask.

"Six" she smirks making me chuckle. "But one is my older brothers and one is my younger brothers" she assures me.

"I don't want six dogs. But I do think one would be good for me to get started here in Chicago with. I'm just worried about not being around to take care of it" I admit.

"I'll be around. I am your assistant after all. I can help you with your schedule for my OCD gives me super powers in that department. I can handle your messaging so you can get the information you need when you need it, and I can handle your dog while you can focus on playing.

I've never played baseball before and I've barley seen a game but I know it's not going to be easy, trying to make it in this city. I think it will be really fun to hang out with you and be a part of your journey into becoming something great. It'll keep my mind off things" she says softly. I wonder what she means by that?

"Okay, then I guess we're doing this huh" I ask.

"I guess so" she smiles.

"I feel like I should know more about you and you should know more about me if we're gonna make this work" I admit.

"Okay! I'll go first" she starts. "My full name is Serenity Sophia Simmons and I'm 21 years old. I don't do a lot of stuff on my free time but my favorite thing in the world to do is learn. I'm not all that interesting, I tend to be shy and I don't put myself out there a lot. I spend most of my time reading somewhere but I prefer to be outside, especially in this city. I graduated from college with a bachelors in journalism and I love writing and reading. I don't do anything fun like sports or traveling. I find joy in simple things that I can find almost anywhere. I like to dress like a hippie and listen to music from the 50's all the way up to today. I don't know how that happened but now I have a song for any situation.

My older brother is the complete opposite of me but he loves me anyway. He's a little too over protective but I love him nonetheless. And my younger brother wants to be a musician and I really think he can be successful. My family is a bit crazy but we're tight and I'm kinda happy I ended up back here" she explains.

"Why are you back here" I wonder.

She freezes on me just like she did when I asked what bills she had to pay that day in the park. I didn't want to make her uncomfortable but if she's here for a reason that's important enough for her not to want to talk about it I should probably know what it is. But I can't force it out of her either. "For reasons that are extremely hard for me to talk about. Let's just say that everyone's paths from where they are and where they want to be twist and turn. And there's some dead ends that make you back track and you end up in a place you've already been before. And you have to go through it again in order to get where you want to go.

And that's okay because I still have a path to walk on. I still know where I want to go so it's okay to hit the bumps in the road, just as long as we keep it moving there isn't a problem" she explains.

"That was beautifully said. I hope everything works out for you" I admit.

"Well this job is a good place to start" she admits. "And what about you? Who is Kris Bryant" she wonders.

"We're not too different, you and me. I liked school a lot and I always loved to read. I never knew what to read so I didn't get to do it as often as I wanted to but at my house back home I have a whole library that I got to choose from. Hopefully one day I can take you there.

I turned 23 earlier this year and my whole life I've loved baseball. My dad quit his job and devoted his time to training me so I don't want to let him down. Plus being the number two overall pick carries a lot of weight with it too. There's a lot of people counting on me to do something big with this baseball thing, I'm just hoping to have fun and the success will come with.

I'm really nervous about this whole Major League Baseball thing but now that I have you I'm not so scared. We can both figure this out along the way and hope for the best" I admit.

"I like that plan" she smiles as she looks up at me. And for a second I thought maybe, just maybe she likes me too.