by Hope Ford
She shakes her head and is walking backwards away from me. “I thought I knew you. How could you do this to me? To us?”
“Jackie, wait, you have to let me explain,” I beg, following her.
Her sobs get bigger and I can barely understand her. “Please, just leave me alone. I don’t want to see you ever again.”
“Jackie, fine, but listen to me, you can’t drive like this. Please, just let me take you home.”
I follow behind her and we’re out in the public now. People have their phones out taping us but I keep following her, begging her to stop, but she doesn’t. When she gets in her car, I can see her devastated face in the windshield and I about double over in pain from seeing her like that and knowing I did it to her.
I watch her drive away before I go back to grab my keys and bag I left behind. Carter comes up to me smirking, but I don’t even respond to him. When he’s within reaching distance, I shut his mouth for him. I rear back and punch him as hard as I can before he falls backward to the ground. Coach and a few of the other guys are there. I know I’ll probably get in trouble, but I don’t care. I keep walking, grab my bag and start to head out the door before I hear Coach mumble, “It’s about time.” When the door shuts behind me, the guys’ laughter and cheers resonate into the hallway. Normally, I’d laugh or at least smile, but not now. My smile is gone. She took it with her.
Jackie
Barely able to see, I drive straight to Naomi’s. She welcomes me with open arms and holds me until I calm down. When I can finally talk, she asks me what happened.
Taking a deep breath, I tell her everything. I’m crying again when I tell her about the woman on Reagan’s lap, but I finally get the whole story out.
She’s quiet and looking at me with a weird look on her face.
“What? Say something,” I tell her.
She shakes her head. “It doesn’t add up.”
I jerk my eyes up to hers. “What do you mean it doesn’t add up? I know what I saw.”
She shrugs her shoulders. “I’m not saying you didn’t. But I mean, c’mon Jackie. He was a virgin. He’s been so good to you. This just doesn’t seem like something he would do.”
I’m quiet thinking about what she’s saying. She’s right. This isn’t like him, but I know what I saw.
“Did you let him explain?” she asks me quietly.
Shaking my head, I mumble, “No.”
She nudges my arm gently. “Well, maybe you should at least let him tell you his side of the story.”
I nod and look down at my phone, which I put on silent. I have ten missed calls from Reagan and the text messages keep coming in. I want to believe that it wasn’t what I saw, but I know I’m too upset right now to make any type of decisions. Tomorrow. I’ll call him tomorrow.
11
Reagan
I spend the whole night sitting outside her house, but she never comes home. I’m sick with worry and when it’s the next day, I finally drive over to her work. When I see her VW bug sitting in the parking lot, I breathe a sigh of relief. She’s here.
I try her phone for the umpteenth time but it goes straight to voicemail. Determined to see her and make this right, I send her a text and hope she reads it. I’m outside your office. You have two minutes to come out before I’m coming in.
When two minutes passes, I use the elevator to the third floor and the receptionist stands to her feet, batting her eyes at me. “Miss Herald is expecting you. She’s in the conference room down the hall. The last door on the right.”
I barely mutter thinks before I walk past her and I stop outside the door and take a deep breath before walking in and locking it behind me.
I take her in from head to toe and I can tell she’s barely holding it together. The sadness on her face guts me and I want nothing more than to hold her right now. I walk toward her with my hand out, wanting to touch her, but she stops me. “No. That’s far enough.”
Frustrated, I tell her with a clenched jaw, “I’m not going to let you destroy what we have.”
With shock, she throws her hands up at me. “Me? Me? You’re the one getting lap dances from some skinny, skanky blonde. I’d say you’re the one that ruined us.”
I cross my arms over my chest to stop from reaching for her. “Think about it, Jackie. I’m not that guy – “
She cuts me off. “I didn’t THINK you were. But I know what I saw.”
“I’m not. Just hear me out. Everyone is talking about us being baseball’s cutest couple. Carter’s mad. He’s the one that pushed that woman into me. I fell backwards, but I was pushing her off of me when you walked in. I would never do that to you. Why would I when all I want is you?” The longer I talk, the more I can see her face softening. I take little steps and each one brings me closer to her. “Look, I know we haven’t talked about it, and I didn’t want to push you too fast, but I love you, honey. There’s not anything I would do to jeopardize what we have.”
She sniffles and I stare at her without blinking. I want her to know how sincere I am. She wipes the tears from her cheeks. “Is that why you punched Carter?”
I nod my head. “How’d you know about that?”
She snorts. “It’s all over the news.”
I just shrug my shoulders. Coach may have made a joke about it last night, but I’ll probably have to sit out a game in punishment. I don’t care. Carter had it coming and that’s what I tell her.
She reaches for me, grabbing my hand. “Carter’s an ass.”
I nod my head and pull her into me. I cup her face in my hands and look into her eyes. “I would never hurt you, Jackie. You have to trust me on that.”
Her face scrunches and I know she’s remembering that woman on my lap. “Seeing you… like that, God it was probably the worst feeling I’ve ever felt. I couldn’t handle it if you cheat on me. I want you to tell me if you don’t want me anymore.”
I brush the hair from her face. “I know. If the roles were reversed and I saw you like that with some man, I would kill him. I wouldn’t be able to take it. I’m asking a lot because I know how it looked, but I will spend the rest of our lives doing right by you.”
She sniffs again but nods her head.
“Can I kiss you now?”
She nods her head, and I latch on to her lips. I devour her completely with that one kiss, wanting her to know exactly how much she means to me. When we finally pull apart, I’m hard and lusting. “I can’t wait until tonight.”
She tilts her head to the side questioningly. “What’s tonight?”
I smile real big at her. “Make-up sex.”
We both laugh, but it’s a long while before I can finally let her out of my arms.
Epilogue
Jackie
One Month Later
I try to peek over Reagan’s shoulder. There’s something on his phone that has his interest piqued. “What are you looking at?”
He brings the phone down and holds it in my face. “This. Baseball’s cutest couple got married last night in a private ceremony.”
“Aww,” I cry as I jerk the phone from his hand. “It’s my first wedding pictures and it’s on some tabloid site.”
He circles his arms around me. “Yeah, but look how beautiful you are. I can’t blame whoever for taking those photos.”
I lean up on my tiptoes and pull him down to meet me. “Oh, you’re smooth,” I tell him before I kiss him.
After the last month, Reagan and I have gotten closer and closer. I travel to the games I can, but if I can’t, he’s always calling me and talking to me every day and night. He asked me to marry him exactly one week after the whole Carter fiasco and I could have held off for a long engagement, but I knew then just like I know now, I love Reagan and want to be his wife.
We planned everything and then decided on a private wedding where it was only Reagan and me with our parents in attendance. I didn’t want a big to-do. I was ready to get on with the next chapter of our lives… being Reagan Kline’s wife.
“So are you happy, wife?”
I look out at the private beach in front of us. He reserved this bungalow so we could have privacy, telling me he wanted me all to himself. I slide my hands up his chest. “I don’t think I could be any happier, husband.”
Epilogue 2
Reagan
Ten Years Later
“That’s it, RJ. You got this!” I yell from the sidelines.
Our nine-year-old son nods his head at me and puts the bat up on his shoulder. The bases are loaded and I can see the look in my son’s eyes. It’s the same look I get when the pressure is on. I hold my breath when the pitcher releases the ball and RJ loads his stance. At the exact right time, he hits the ball with the sweet spot of the bat. He doesn’t wait. He takes off running, just like I taught him. It’s not until he gets almost to second before he slows down, wondering what all the commotion is.
His mom is going crazy in the stands, jumping around and screaming. RJ just hit a grand slam. When he finally understands it, he slows his pace and starts jogging. He doesn’t gloat, he doesn’t act arrogant, but the look of pure excitement on his face is something else. Not only is it his first home run, but it was a walk-off grand slam. The other boys and I run out to home plate to congratulate him. As soon as his foot touches the plate, the rest of the team are lifting him up and cheering him on.
I give him a high-five and then walk over to my wife who’s now standing against the fence. “Did you see my boy?” I ask her.
“Your boy, huh?” She smirks at me.
I hold my hands up. “Fine. Fine. Our boy.”
“Daddy, Daddy, Bub did good.” Our little girl bangs her hands against the fence wanting to make sure she has my attention too.
I poke my fingers through the fence and her little chubby hand grabs on to me. “He sure did, baby girl.”
I smile at the two women in my life and tell them, “I’ll get the all star and meet you by the car.”
Jackie nods and I watch her walk away before heading back to the dugout. I have the boys clean up and then go down the line telling each player how they contributed to the game. I hate to keep the boys so long, but I always think it’s important to let each one know how important they are to the team. When we’re done, my son puts his bag on his back and I follow him to the car. “We better hurry. Mommy and Janie are probably tired of waiting on us.”
With my hand on his shoulder, I tell him how proud I am of him. I’m still the left fielder for the Mavericks. But when I’m in town, I’m helping to coach RJ’s baseball team. I know my time on the field is limited, but I already know when the time comes for me to put my cleats up, I’m going to be okay with it. I never dreamed I would say it, but I have just as much fun watching my son play as I do playing myself.
“Thanks, Dad,” he yells as he takes off running to his mom.
She catches him in a big hug and I stand back watching my little family. With smiles on their faces, Jackie and Janie listen to RJ tell them all about his grand slam. Even though the girls just sat through the whole game and saw it for themselves, they still listen to him tell the story in complete detail. I can’t stop the feeling of pride that rises in my chest. Not just for RJ, but all three of them.
My wife catches my eye over RJ’s head and she looks at me curiously before her smile gets even bigger. I always love to see her face light up and it always happens when she spots me.
I walk over to them and start putting everything into the back before we load up in the car. The kids are talking in the back, RJ going a mile a minute. Jackie squeezes my hand. “What are you thinking about, Reagan?”
I bring her hand up to my lips. “Thanks for waiting on me, honey.”
She looks at me with a smirk on her lips. “Don’t you know by now? I’ll always wait on you.”
The End
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About the Author
Bestselling short romance author Hope Ford writes short, steamy, sweet romances. She loves tattooed, alpha men, instant love stories, and ALWAYS happily ever afters. She has over 70 books and they are all available on Amazon.
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