Play Along

Isaiah arrives at Kai and Miller’s house, where the team has gathered. Miller is a pastry chef who regularly hosts the team and asks them to taste new recipes. Isaiah is surprised and happy to see Kennedy there, and he watches from afar as she plays with Max. She doesn’t flinch when Max touches her face and hugs her, which Isaiah finds endearingly sweet. Monty arrives and helps Kai and Miller put Max to bed. He asks Kennedy why she is applying for a lateral move to San Francisco. She and Isaiah divert the question, avoiding the necessity of revealing that the opportunity is a promotion because she is really a doctor, not a trainer. Connor has been sending Kennedy harassing texts since their dinner. He scolds her for getting engaged to Isaiah and says that she is tarnishing her family’s good name. Isaiah is enraged, but Kennedy begs him to let the issue go. Kai recently earned his 3,000th strikeout, and Isaiah invites Kennedy to be his date for the awards ceremony.

On the night of Kai’s ceremony, Isaiah is helping Kennedy get dressed hastily in the women’s restroom because Dr. Frederick made her work late. Isaiah helps Kennedy to zip up her slinky white dress and is overcome by her beauty. However, he also can’t stop thinking about her interview for the San Francisco job on Monday. Arthur Remington and Reese greet Isaiah and Kennedy, and Reese comments to her grandfather that Dr. Frederick is overworking Kennedy—something that she intends to speak with him about later. Kennedy thinks that Reese will make a great owner for the team and wishes that she could be there to see a woman at the organization’s helm.

Kennedy and Isaiah take their seats with Miller, Max, Monty, and the rest of the team. Kai takes the stage to make his speech and announces that this will be his final season on the team, as he is retiring to help Miller build her patisserie business and expand their family. He thanks his teammates, Monty and Miller, for their support during his career, and then he tearfully thanks Isaiah for being his biggest supporter and best friend. Isaiah can no longer hold back his tears and weeps over his brother’s words. Kennedy grabs his hand and cries, too. Isaiah can’t bear the thought that both Kennedy and Kai are leaving the team.

Kennedy dances with Kai at the after-party while watching Isaiah dance with Miller. Kennedy says that Kai is lucky to have a good reason to retire, and Miller has every woman’s dream: a man who worships her. Kai says that Kennedy has that, too. Even before Kai met Miller, Isaiah always wanted to be a family man. It is only recently that he stopped having long-term relationships. Kai explains that when they were in high school, Dean went to a rival school and went after every girl that Isaiah dated. After Isaiah was cheated on one too many times, he adopted a playboy persona, projecting the idea that he didn’t want to settle down. That dynamic lasted until he met Kennedy: his first real relationship in 10 years. Kennedy reflects that she is just now seeing Isaiah for the first time. She realizes that what they have together might be what she’s looking for, too.

Now confused, Kennedy goes to the bar alone. A man named Vincent approaches and offers to buy her a drink. He gets too close and touches her leg without asking, and Kennedy is viscerally disturbed and asks him to remove his hand. He complies but continues to talk to her, then touches her again. Isaiah approaches and gruffly asks him to stop touching his wife. He asks security to escort Vincent from the premises. Isaiah is angry, and Kennedy insists that she wasn’t flirting with the man. Isaiah has had a hard night, and seeing another man with her only worsens it. He doesn’t understand why Kennedy can’t see how much he cares for her. Kennedy realizes that her “eyes may have been closed for a long time, but they’re not anymore” (228). Isaiah walks away and asks her not to follow him.

Kennedy knows to look for Isaiah in the women’s restroom. She locks the door and kneels before him, desiring to show him that she only wants him. She performs oral sex on him, after which he carries her to the couch and returns the favor. Kennedy asks to go home with Isaiah and says that she feels safer with him that she has ever felt with anyone. However, he knows that she is only using him for practice. Kennedy doesn’t contradict Isaiah, but privately, she wonders if that is still true.

At Isaiah’s apartment, Kennedy undresses in front of him even though she knows that he won’t have sex with her. (He has already told her that physical intimacy is too much for him to handle when he knows that she is leaving.) Yet, he still marvels that the woman of his dreams is now naked in his house. Isaiah is emotionally spent from the evening, and Kennedy wants to care for him. He takes a shower, and they brush their teeth together. Isaiah bought Kennedy a toothbrush when they went to the drugstore that first time together, and he has kept it at his house ever since in the hope that she would spend the night. Even though Kennedy leaves the following day for her interview, they fall asleep wrapped up together, and Isaiah feels comforted that she is with him for now.

As Isaiah drives Kennedy to the airport, the silence is deafening, and neither is sure what their future holds. Isaiah says that no matter what happens, he is proud of her; this is something that no one has ever told her. At the airport, they awkwardly say goodbye, and Isaiah slips and says, “I llllive, laugh, love you” (252). Kennedy walks away, then runs back to him, claiming that she has never had a romantic airport kiss. Isaiah embraces her, and they kiss passionately. Kennedy realizes that she is going to miss him.

Josh, Dean’s friend, picks up Kennedy from the airport in San Francisco and gives her a tour of the stadium and state-of-the-art facility. It is Kennedy’s dream job in every way, with modern amenities and unlimited resources. Josh says that the job is already hers and adds that many women are on staff. However, despite the city’s impressive façade, Kennedy notes that San Francisco lacks Chicago’s old-school charm and the people that she has come to love. Chicago’s only downside is Dr. Frederick and the lack of opportunities for upward mobility. Josh asks Kennedy to dinner, but she says that she is married and that it would be unprofessional to date someone who might become a coworker. Josh wonders about her moving across the country despite being married, and Kennedy says that the situation is “complicated.”

It’s game night, and Isaiah hasn’t yet heard how Kennedy’s interview went. All their friends are there to see Kai since this will be one of his last games, and they encourage Isaiah to bring Kennedy to the next “family dinner.” Isaiah is so distracted that he plays poorly. Later, a thunderstorm hits, and he calls everyone and paces the room. Kennedy’s plane landed during the game, but she is not answering the phone. Kai calls, but because Isaiah is paralyzed by traumatic memories of the night his mom died, he cannot answer the phone. When Kai calls again, Isaiah answers. He wonders if he will ever get over his anxiety, and Kai tells him, “Give your mind a bit of grace” (264). Isaiah calls Kennedy’s phone again, but she doesn’t answer, so he grabs his keys to look for her. When he gets to the elevator, he finds Kennedy there; she is soaking wet because she ran from the airport. She didn’t want him to be alone during the storm.

Kennedy jumps into Isaiah’s arms, and he takes her into the apartment, strips off her wet clothes, and runs hot water for a shower. Kennedy has missed Isaiah and begs him to have sex with her. They are intimate in the shower and then move to the bed, still soaking wet. After they have sex, Isaiah feels that he has been changed forever, and Kennedy says she never knew it could feel that good. Isaiah asks about the interview, and to Isaiah’s dismay, Kennedy says that it exceeded her expectations.