He scrubbed a hand to the back of his neck, growled and sighed, then decided, yes. If he needed to beg, he’d beg, because letting Livvie go a second time would make him the stupidest guy in Big Sky country and he’d already done that once.
He really didn’t want to do it again.
Chapter Fourteen
“You’re bound to see him today.” Jane Franklin noted Saturday morning as she double-checked for sunscreen and Grandpa’s hat. Halfway through the big game he might decide one or the other wasn’t working. Getting his scalp sunburned wouldn’t be in anyone’s best interests.
“Then I’ll see him from a distance,” Liv declared. She thumped around the kitchen, agitated at the thought of being elbow-to-elbow with Jack throughout this day. She gathered supplies into her bag to help ensure a great time would be had by all, when she was about to have the worst day of her life.
She and Jack, working together, pretending things were all right in front of a thousand or so onlookers, half of whom would talk up the events of the day nonstop for the coming week.
She didn’t want or need to be a spectacle. Not now. Not ever.
“Liv?”
The sound of Jack’s voice at the kitchen door hard-stopped her heart.
“May I come in?”
“Sure.” Jane sent Liv a scolding frown Jack couldn’t see, leaned over and pushed the wooden screen door his way. “I’m going to go check on Grandma and Grandpa. They’re very excited about the game today, Jack.”
“Good. I’m glad.” His words sounded perfunctory, and that was probably because the look he settled on Liv was steadfast and unhappy, a tough mix. “I came to apologize.” He’d taken off his baseball cap and fiddled with the brim while he spoke. “I made a fool of myself and I’ve got no one but myself to blame for it. I jumped to conclusions—”
“And pouted.”
He sucked in a breath, then agreed, his gaze troubled. “Like a five-year-old. Yes. But it wasn’t about you leaving, at least not just that.” He paused as his phone buzzed, then frowned, clearly unhappy about taking the call, but it was game day, after all, and Jack would be a busy man. “Wilbur. Can I call you back?”
Whatever Wilbur said on the other end lightened Jack’s features considerably. In fact, by the time he ended the call, he wore a broad smile, which meant he might not bow and scrape as much as he should after being a complete dork for days. Liv wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Provoked and incensed seemed just about right.
Jack held the phone up. “That phone call solved the first part of my problem, one that was caused by a banking error someplace in Nebraska, a simple mistake that misplaced a twenty-thousand-dollar deposit last week, but that’s no excuse for me being out-and-out dumb, Liv. And bullheaded.”
She kept her expression flat and motioned with her hand that he should continue the list because dumb and bullheaded were a “barely-scratched-the-surface” beginning.
“Wilbur called me Monday to say a check had bounced. A big one. I’d pushed my father to take the check and when it bounced, I was pretty sure I was the biggest loser in Montana. And then your grandma said you were taking a job in Bozeman and all I could see was the opportunity they were handing you. A chance to be someone special, to use all that education, to climb that ladder of success the way we all knew you should. That sounded so much better than being bound up in Jasper Gulch with a loser like me.”
“So you ignored me and wouldn’t talk to me because you were pouting and being self-sacrificial?” Liv crossed her arms over her chest and made sure Jack read the glare she shot him. “Not to mention boneheaded?”
“All three?” He said the words cautiously, as if unsure of the right answer, and he was wise to do so because there was no right answer.
Liv moved forward. “Your communication skills are appalling, cowboy.”
His face said he knew that.
“And that’s not acceptable in life, in love. In marriage.”
His eyes widened, but there might have been the tiniest ray of hope behind the surprise she saw there.
“But this isn’t the time or the place to talk about any of this.” She picked up a tote and shoved it at him, then gathered the bag she’d packed to keep things straight all day. “We’ve got a game to play.”
“We’ll talk later?”
She studied him, then the bright August day outside, then nodded. “Later.”
“Then let’s play ball, Liv.”
She followed him to his truck, tempted to take a stand and insist on driving herself, but the truth was, she wanted to be with Jack in the big 4X4 pickup. Did that make her pathetic?
It makes you a woman in love. Just make sure you’re on the same page this time, okay?
She mentally agreed with the sage advice, knowing she’d come a long way in eight years and determined that this time, with the grace of God, she’d land on her feet. And that decision felt more than good. It felt great.
* * *
“Jack, we’ve got a problem.” Coach Randolph moved toward them as Jack pulled into a parking spot behind the small grandstand. “Someone got into the storeroom last night. We’ve got equipment missing.”
“How’d they get in?” Jack spotted the cut padlock and whistled tightly between his teeth. “They nipped the padlock?”
“Yes. And we’re missing the catcher’s equipment, the extra bats, the anchored bases and the microphone set-up.”
“Who would do such a thing?” Liv wondered as she approached from the other side of the truck. “And why?”
“That’s the question right there,” Coach agreed. He raised his cell phone, indicating the time. “I can get to my place and grab some backup catcher equipment, but it will take a while.”
“Is there a problem?” Hutch Garrison ambled up to the group, and Jack fully expected to experience the normal crawl of envy up his spine. As a Colorado Rockies center fielder, Hutch was living the dream Jack had worked so hard for back in the day, but as Hutch approached, looking concerned, Jack felt none of the old angst.
Coach started to explain, but Sonny Munoz trotted in and motioned to the family’s patched-up car. “Coach, I’ve got Brad’s catcher equipment in the trunk. He had to go straight to work after the last game and he needed someone to stow it. My trunk was handy. Will that help?”
“It sure would, and it would save me an hour round trip,” the coach declared. “I’ve got the portable bases in my van. They’ll do fine for today.”
“Extra bats won’t be a problem.” Jack pulled a sack of his personal bats out of the back of the truck. “Figured these should finally see the light of day again.” He caught the look of approval on Liv’s face, and the tiny ray of hope from earlier grew into a faint beam. Not that he was taking anything for granted, no sir, not after acting like a first-class jerk for days. “But a microphone. Where can we get a microphone set-up?”
Cord Shaw had come up from the parking lot in time to hear the last sentence. He nodded to Coach and pulled out his cell phone. “We have a set-up we used for the rodeo gig last month. If my brother Austin hasn’t left the house yet, I’ll have him bring it along. Adam’s already on his way with some special order you had him pick up?” He aimed the question at Jack.
“Then we’re okay,” Jack announced. Adam would be here with the game shirts, and Cord would get the sound system up and running. They had bases, bats and enough players to man two teams. There were no replacements, but for a fun, one-time-deal kind of game, they really didn’t need any. He took a breath and offered the group a nod of confidence. “Let’s do this.”
As the players dispersed, Jack stopped Hutch Garrison with a hand to his arm. “Hutch. It’s truly nice to meet you and thanks so much for taking the time to be with us this morning.”
“My pleasure.” Hutch shook Jack’s hand and skimmed the f
ield a glance. “I chased a lot of your records on this field.”
“And caught one.”
“Yeah.” Hutch shrugged that off. “I’m sorry you got hurt, man. You’d have been great.”
His words made Jack pause, the thoughts of what could have been a former constant in his head. Now?
Not so much. “Stuff happens. And I’m here now, with my father. A ranch I love. Riding herd, mending fence. Things worked out.”
Sonny Munoz trotted back from the parking lot with the sack of catcher’s equipment. Jack took the moment to introduce the rising star to Jasper Gulch’s current baseball hero. “Sonny, this is Hutch Garrison.”
The kid gulped, grinned and stuck out his hand. He managed to bump Jack with the awkward bag of equipment, then stopped, embarrassed. “Boss, I—”
“It’s fine, kid. Why don’t you get Hutch set up in his area, make sure he’s got coffee, water, pens and programs to sign. Let’s make some money for the future of Jasper Gulch, okay?”
“Yes, sir. I will.” Sonny led Hutch to the shaded booth on the perimeter of the field, not far from where the Sports Boosters were firing up the grill for hamburgers and hot dogs. To his left, the ladies’ auxiliary baked-food sale was being arranged. Just beyond the rows of spice cakes and peach pies, Jack saw Liv making sure the baseball-memorabilia vendors each had space for their goods. Having them come on board for a nominal “booth fee” had been Liv’s idea, and from the growing enthusiasm around them, folks had come from all over to see some baseball and spend some money. And that meant revenue raised for the bridge and the museum.
“Jack, I just wanna thank you for stepping up to the plate like you did.” Wes Middleton approached him from the near side of the bleachers. “I don’t know what we’d’ve done if you hadn’t taken the reins when I got sick. Rosemary and I are real appreciative.”
“I couldn’t have done it this well without Liv’s help.” Jack made sure she heard his compliment, even though she was a dozen feet away, checking on the Sports Boosters. “She and Rusty kept me on track.”
“Mostly her.” Rusty approached them with a grin, and hooked a thumb in Liv’s direction. “I was pretty sure the whole thing was dead in the water, then she come to town and it’s amazin’ how quick Jack perked up with a purty girl around.”
Liv’s smile said she approved Rusty’s words, but Jack wasn’t taking anything for granted. He’d messed up, and no matter what effort it took on his part, he was going to make things up to Liv. If he got his way, she’d never spend another day wondering about his love and devotion. That’s if he could get her to start talking to him again. Without the narrow-eyed glare and scolding tone she’d used on Thursday, a combination he deserved then.
Now?
He wanted another chance at the gold ring he’d missed the first time around.
* * *
The baked-food sale was open for business with a growing array of cookies, pies, cake slices and every kind of Midwestern “bar” Liv could imagine. A nut-topped peach pie called to Liv, but a plate full of chocolate-chip cookies won out as her first purchase of the day. If Jack didn’t shape up in quick form, then drowning her sorrows in a dozen homemade cookies couldn’t be considered a bad thing.
The hamburger stand was up and running, tempting everyone with the scent of fresh, hot burgers and hot dogs. The smell of shoestring fries mixed with the grilling meat, a total baseball sensation. The Jasper Gulch Hose Company had their chicken-barbecue pit filled with slow-burning wood. Soon the air would be tinged with the scent of barbecuing chicken, a summer smell for sure. And the soda booth was already doing a bang-up business with the morning-coffee crowd. Chauncey Hardman had had the good sense to bring along her coffee system, and from the looks on folks’ faces, she’d made a big hit. Coffee, hot and strong, helped form the backbone of Montana ranchers. Chauncey did well to remember that.
“Liv, we’re here!”
Grandma Mason’s voice hailed her from the far side of the bleachers. She waved and Grandma waved back, but when she tried to point Liv out to Grandpa, confusion clouded her grandfather’s face. At home he was doing okay. Out here, surrounded by people he didn’t know in a place he’d never seen, the old gentleman seemed out of his element. Until he turned and saw Sonny Munoz attaching bases to the field.
Grandpa’s shoulders straightened. His chin came up. A broad smile split his face, and he raised both hands to his mouth and hollered, “Batter up!”
Not one person minded that it wasn’t quite time to start the day’s festivities. Most looked as if they appreciated the old man’s enthusiasm, because in Jasper Gulch, Montana, the heart of football country, everyone loved baseball.
The stands filled over the next twenty minutes. Cars streamed in from the single road leading to the interstate, and locals walked, biked and drove in from the other directions.
The popcorn booth added its come-and-get-me aroma to the game day delights, and as Liv watched the players begin to gather in the dugouts, a sense of awareness swept her. She’d been to many a game on this field, watching Jack play, and she and Mary Beth had gone to games in various towns a dozen years back. Since then? So much had changed, hearts torn and broken. Lives rebuilt.
It seemed like so long ago until they gathered here today, players from multiple generations, looking to have fun and give back to the town they were raised in.
The Middletons grabbed seats on the low side of the bleachers, while the Shaw family filled a quarter-section on the opposite side. The Shoemaker girls stood at the field’s edge, talking deliberately. Sporting notice-me-first fan attire, the girls made it a point to be in full view of any available single male on the premises, and with a baseball game about to get under way, there were plenty.
Robin passed them with a quick smile, drew up to Liv’s side and gave her a quick half hug. “Doing all right?”
“I think we’re going to do well,” Liv admitted, eyeing the growing crowd, “and that’s huge. Seeing the town succeed with these events makes me even more nostalgic about staying here.”
“Have you forgiven him yet?” Robin aimed a glance in Jack’s direction and burst out laughing at the telltale expression on Liv’s face. “You have it bad, Livvie Franklin. I think the only good part of that is that he’s as besotted as you are, and while that’s cute as can be, us single girls might get a little green-eyed. Although after hearing about all that ranching stuff in detail...?” Robin made a face that said a life filled with birthing cattle didn’t make her shortlist. “I’m okay being a townie.”
Jack stepped up to the middle of the field, keyed the mike and drew the crowd’s attention with a quick “Good morning.”
“Mornin’, Jack!” The Shoemaker girls waved as a unit, openly flirting with Liv’s Jack. Except he wasn’t hers, so she couldn’t exactly march onto that field and stake a claim even the Shoemaker girls couldn’t miss. Instead, she folded her arms, refused to glare in their direction and listened as Jack addressed the crowd.
He introduced the players from both teams. Some of the guys took a ribbing for being stouter than they used to be, but it was all in fun until Jack had Sonny haul out two boxes of uniform shirts. As the players lined up along the first-base and third-base sides, Sonny and Coach Randolph handed out the just-arrived Old-timers’ “Player” shirts.
And when they had the shirts in hand on both sides of home plate, Jack held one aloft. “Today we want to join Major League Baseball in raising awareness of a rough disease, a disease that’s affected several families in our town.” He pointed out the deep purple ribbon on the left sleeve, then the Raising Alzheimer’s Awareness logo on the right-hand sleeve. “As our population ages, it’s good for us to become more aware of the signs and treatments available for folks struggling with Alzheimer’s disease.” He made eye contact with Liv but didn’t lift his gaze to her grandfather or Lulu Jensen, show
ing the sensitivity she loved about him. He smiled at her and then the crowd in general. “The proceeds from these shirts will go to help research a cure for Alzheimer’s. And the proceeds from your ticket sales and purchases today will help fund our new Jasper Gulch Historical Museum. Rusty?” He called the ninety-six-year-old off the bench, and handed him the ball. “Rusty Zidek, will you do us the honor of throwing the first pitch?”
Rusty’s hand shook as he accepted the ball.
The crowd went still, all eyes on the aged man they knew so well. A man who exemplified the West, a cowboy, a wrangler, a sage and baseball player. It didn’t get more all-American than Rusty Zidek, and the people of Jasper Gulch knew it. They stayed hushed and expectant, waiting while Rusty took a spot just in front of the pitcher’s mound, wound up and threw.
A strike, dead-on.
The catcher caught the ball, sprang up and strode to the mound to congratulate Rusty. The old man’s smile cragged a wealth of wrinkles beneath two shaggy brows and an overgrown handlebar mustache. “I say we get this game goin’!”
The crowd surged to its feet as the high school band marched forward to play an emotion-charged rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” In true baseball form, the fans anticipated the final notes and cheered the players, the day and the town in a show of hometown spirit that made Liv smile.
Robin was right. Jasper Gulch was special; she hadn’t valued that the way she should have. God and good strong parents had given her room to spread her wings while staying quietly rooted to her hometown.
She might not have treasured that as a younger woman. Now? She understood more, much more.
The game began, a heated battle of strong pitching and well-placed batting. She watched the game but kept her eye on Jack. Would he be all right? Could he handle being back on the field, in front of the crowds, knowing his dream was gone forever? She’d learned the hard way that even old dreams packed a punch, a two-edged sword of reality.
His Montana Sweetheart (Big Sky Centennial Book 2) Page 19
