Double Play

by Nikki Duvall

“He needs that money to buy the ranch! That’s his dream.”

  “That’s another thing. Mrs. Pryor’s trying to buy the ranch out from under him. I overheard her on the phone with a realtor in Oklahoma- Dan or Dean or something like that.”

  “What in the world would she do with a dried up place in the middle of nowhere?”

  “I don’t know, buy some horses?”

  “I’ve been to the Double HL, Carla. It isn’t Victoria Pryor’s style.”

  Carla perched on the edge of Halee’s desk. “J.D. had the nerve to defy her. Now she wants to break him. She knows just how to make him pay, too.”

  “My God, that woman will stop at nothing!”

  Carla flipped through the contract. “All the conditions are spelled out right here, in black and white, Halee, and he signed it.”

  “Who said he couldn’t play today?”

  Carla shrugged. “Beats me. I can’t imagine Mrs. Pryor would make that decision. The only thing she wants to do more than break J.D. is win the Series.”

  “What about his trainer? Could he bench him?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Can you get me his phone number?”

  Carla smiled. “Sure.” In another minute, she handed Halee a piece of paper. “Clint Smothers.”

  Carla plopped into the chair across from Halee’s desk. Halee dialed and waited.

  “Smothers.” She could hear the stadium announcers in the background.

  “Mr. Smothers, this is Halee McCarthy. We met a while back in Chicago when J.D. played for the Titans.” Halee met Carla’s eyes and nodded.

  “Yes, I remember. How are you, Halee?”

  “Fine, thank you. I need to speak with you about J.D.’s contract.”

  The crowd cheered. Smothers’ voice grew hard to hear. “Now’s not a good time,” he said into the phone.

  “It’s critical we talk right away,” said Halee. “Did you make the decision to bench J.D. today?”

  “I advised Mrs. Pryor to do that, yes.”

  “She wasn’t hard to convince, was she?”

  “Surprisingly not.”

  “Mr. Smothers, J.D.’s contract says he needs to play in every post season game or he loses his sign on bonus.”

  “That can’t be…”

  “It’s in black and white, Sir. J.D. signed it. Victoria plans on playing J.D. in the last three games of the Series, but he’ll still lose his sign on bonus if he doesn’t play today.”

  “He needs the rest, Halee.”

  “Buying the ranch he grew up on is all he wants, Mr. Smothers,” said Halee. “If he loses the bonus, he loses the ranch. You need to give him the choice.”

  Halee heard the crack of a bat and the roar of the crowd. “If I put him in, it won’t be easy,” said Smothers. “His arm doesn’t have much left to give. It might never recover.”

  “How about pinch running? Can he do that?”

  “Maybe. It’s still risky. Full contact could be just as bad as straining the joint. No matter what, J.D.’s in for a difficult Series, Halee. He’s going to need you beside him.”

  “Thank you, Doc,” said Halee with a grin. “I’m on my way.”

  “Carla,” said Halee, disconnecting, “I’m going to need two tickets to Chicago, first class. And when you’re done with that, you and I are going to go through every player’s file with a lawyer and make sure they’re getting a fair deal. Victoria Pryor, be damned.”

  ~TWENTY-SIX~

  Faye paused in the hall and glanced nervously at the television on the way to Hank’s kitchen. It was Tuesday, wash day at the Double HL ranch. It was also game four of the World Series, starring her son, Jonathan Dillon Shaw, and unlike Faye, Hank was enjoying every minute of the battle between the tied Federals and Hawks. The game had begun an hour before, early afternoon in St. Louis, and even though the sun was shining and the sky was clear, from an Oklahoma viewpoint, it still looked darn cold. Faye shivered on behalf of J.D. who looked quite comfortable in coal black long sleeves under his Federals jersey.

  Hank leaned back in his Lazy Boy and cracked a cold one. “Would you land already?”

  “I can’t look. Besides, I got wash to fold.”

  “Your boy is the star of the Series and you can’t look? Every mama in America wants to be you.”

  “It’s bad luck.”

  Hank shook his head and sent her an affectionate smile. “You’re a strange woman, Faye Shaw.”

  “I reckon that’s true.”

  “Looky there,” said Hank. “J.D. just got a base hit. You ain’t bad luck at all. Come sit with me a spell.”

  Faye dropped into a seat across from Hank. “You want some lunch?”

  “I was fixin’on takin’ you down to Fat Jimmy’s after the game.”

  “Were you now?”

  “Yup. Took a hot bath, shaved and everything. Almost washed the car, too.”

  “You courtin’ me, Hank Long?”

  “Have been for forty years.”

  Faye chuckled. “I’ve only known ya for thirty.”

  “See there, your precious boy is too good to run bases now. They put in a pinch runner for him.”

  Faye sighed with relief. “Good.”

  “Seems like he was just visitin’, now he’s on the television. What happened to that pretty little redhead come lookin’ for J.D., anyhow?”

  “You need a whole afternoon to hear that story,” said Faye. “They was back together, last I heard.”

  “J.D. settlin’ down.” Hank clucked his tongue. “That girl must be a real game changer. What about that little baby she had with her? She take up with a colored boy?”

  “Nope. Found him in her office. Mother just dropped him off like he was nothin’.”

  “I ain’t surprised.”

  “There’s trash in every race, Hank. I’ve met plenty of the white kind in my day.”

  “That’s why we got so many of the in-betweens like J.D.”

  “Don’t start, Hank…”

  “Half breed taking on a colored baby. Ain’t that somethin’.”

  “Ain’t none of us pure, Hank, and even if we was, it wouldn’t make us special.”

  “You becomin’ a Democrat?”

  Faye leaned in. “How come you won’t sell Johnny this ranch?”

  “I didn’t say I wouldn’t. He’s low balling me, is all.”

  “I’da thought you’d be offering him a special deal, seeing as he’s been like a son to you for so long.”

  “He’s your son, not mine.”

  “He’s the closest thing you had to a son in this lifetime, Hank Long, and the best ranch hand ever set foot on this spread. This is his home, same as you. He’d love this place, take care of it the way you have.”

  “I know it.”

  “This is about them damn horses, isn’t it? That’s why you’re still fighting with Johnny.”

  “Let me tell ya a little something about men, Faye. A man only appreciates what comes hard to him.”

  “Or winds up bitter. I got my heart set on this, Hank. I worked here most of my life. I deserve to die here. Johnny buys this place, I got somewhere to be when I’m old.”

  “You ain’t old.”

  “I’m fast becomin’ old, just like you.”

  “J.D. pays me what it’s worth, it’s his.”

  “What are you gonna do with all that money? You got no one to leave it to.”

  “There’s my daughter Lucy.”

  “When’s the last time you saw Lucy?”

  “What’s that got to do with anything?”

  Faye shook her head and rose to leave. She hesitated, stretching her back. Every time she sat for too long, her back began to ache.

  “I’d give J.D. the place if it set things right between us.”

  Faye turned back toward Hank with a puzzled expression.

  “I’ve always loved ya, Faye. You ought to know it.”

  “I…I appreciate you saying so.”

  “It kills me, a woman like you l
iving in that old ratty trailer and me living in this big fancy house. It ought to be the other way around.”

  Faye waved him away. “I like my trailer just fine.”

  “I meant what I said, Faye. I’d give J.D. the land if it meant I could have you for my wife. You’re all I’ve wanted for a long, long time. The land don’t matter anymore.”

  Faye’s eyes welled with tears. “Old man, you’re talking nonsense.”

  “I ain’t never been so serious.”

  Faye took one step forward. “He’d never take your charity.”

  Hank nodded. His face washed over with deep disappointment and humiliation.

  Faye took another step and stretched out her hand. “But I’d be honored to be Mrs. Long.”

  Hank dropped his jaw. He started to laugh and his tired eyes turned watery. “Well, hell, let’s do it tomorrow, then!”

  “Slow down now. It’s all new to me.”

  He took her hand. “I can’t wait to be with you, is all.”

  “I got a couple conditions, old man,” said Faye with a tender smile. “First, no more talk of half breeds and colored folk, just family. That’s what we’ll be now.”

  Hank nodded.

  “And you take that bath and shave every day for the rest of your life.”

  Hank grimaced.

  “It ain’t so hard.” She studied him a moment. “You and Johnny gotta come to an understanding. He’s my whole world, Hank, you know it. Johnny don’t bless our union, we ain’t got a deal, plain and simple.”

  Hank set his jaw. She nestled in beside him and kissed him. Hank came in for more. “I’ll talk to him,” he grumbled. “Then I’m calling the preacher.”

  The sound of a ball meeting a bat snapped them out of their stupor.

  “Looky there,” said Hank, breaking the kiss. “J.D. just hit a home run.”

  Faye grinned. “Guess that seals the deal.”

  ***

  “You’re driving to St. Louis?” Rita balanced a chubby Ty on one hip and watched her friend pack an overnight bag. Halee had arrived the night before with Ty in tow and had spent the night in her old bedroom. A light Indian summer breeze wafted through an open window along with classic rock from the apartment next door.

  “I’ll leave right after work,” said Halee. “First I have to wade through a couple stacks of bills and make peace at the literacy office.”

  “You should take Gus along. It’s a long drive to St. Louis and he’s never been to a World Series game before.”

  “There will be plenty of chances for baseball in this family,” said Halee. “I still don’t trust Chantrell. I’m not leaving Ty here alone with you.”

  Rita adjusted Ty’s bib. “Bobby could move in for a week or two.”

  Halee straightened and stared at her friend. “Look at you, grinning at the prospect. You need me to get Uncle Gus out of the house for a while?”

  Rita blushed uncharacteristically.

  “What’s going on between the two of you anyway?”

  “Who?”

  “You know who. You and Bobby.”

  Rita shrugged. “He helps me with the kids sometimes, picks up Vince from practice, helps Teresa with her homework. He’s a real math whiz, you know?”

  “You two sleeping together?”

  “Shhhh!” Rita glanced nervously behind her.

  Halee giggled. “You need to marry him, Rita. That man will do anything for you.”

  “It’s not like that.”

  “I’ve seen the way he looks at you, Rita. It can be like that.”

  “One wedding at a time.”

  Halee sighed. “You go first.”

  “I’m hearing something in your voice I don’t like,” said Rita. “Are you and J.D. fighting again?”

  Halee plopped down on the bed and rubbed her eyes. “He’s a wild one, Rita. He drinks, he fights, God knows what else he does.”

  “Did you catch him with another woman?”

  “No, but he came home drunk and there was this picture in the paper…”

  “Of course there was. As long as he’s a celebrity, that’s the stuff they’ll print.”

  “They didn’t make it up.”

  “You’ve got some trust issues, Honey. I know you don’t want to hear it, but it’s true. No one can blame you. A lot of people have walked out on you over the years. But this jealousy of yours is gonna ruin what you’ve got with J.D.”

  “I know.”

  “As long as he’s in the limelight there will be a dozen women trying to snatch him away. They’ll harass you, lie to the media, they’ll even make up love children to get a piece of his salary. Are you ready for that?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Well, that’s the package he comes with.” Rita tickled Ty’s belly. “You come with this little fella, and he’s been a lot more trouble so far than Catrina Hiett or a couple of show girls, if you ask me.”

  “Does Bobby think we’re still in danger?”

  Rita shrugged. “All the gangbangers are after whoever capped Demarcus. The cops are steering clear of the neighborhood till the bloodshed subsides. It’s a damn good thing this little guy got out of there when he did or he’d probably just be a memory.”

  “What about Chantrell?”

  “Bobby says she’s pregnant again. If she makes it through the war, she’ll have a new baby before long.”

  Halee sighed. “I don’t know how to think about that.”

  “Nothing to think about,” said Rita. “What’s done is done. You’ve got your own future to think about. How’s J.D.’s shoulder?”

  “All but shot.”

  Rita grimaced. “What are you going to do?”

  “Buy a ranch and move to Oklahoma, that’s what we’re going to do. But first J.D. has to play every remaining game with an injury and win it all for the team or he loses everything.”

  “What do you mean everything?”

  “Victoria Pryor blackmailed him into signing an agreement that he plays in every post season game and they win the title or he forfeits all bonuses and salaries coming to him.”

  Rita gasped. “Can she do that?”

  “Baseball is a dirty business. If the fans knew half of what went down behind closed doors they’d think twice before they bought a ticket.”

  “So you’re going off to St. Louis.”

  “He’s not going to get through this one alone. Maybe I can’t be on the field with him, but I can be there when he gets off.”

  Rita grinned. “That’s the spirit!” She grabbed a duffle bag and pulled a couple of pairs of jeans and flannel shirts from her dresser drawer, humming along with the radio.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m going with you, and so are Bobby and Gus and this little punk here. Family sticks together.”

  “What about the kids?”

  “Frank’s mother can’t wait to spoil them. She’ll be ecstatic that I’m going away.”

  Halee’s eyes welled with tears. “Come here,” she said, drawing Rita into an embrace. “God knew what he was doing when he kicked me out on the streets,” she whispered. “There’s no better surrogate sister on the planet.”

  ~TWENTY-SEVEN~

  Halee waved the key fob over the lock on room 419 at the St. Louis Chase Park Plaza and slipped inside. Despite the early evening hour, the halls of the hotel had been deserted, the Federal players all tucked in for the night, no doubt dreaming of victory. Someone had pulled the heavy curtains in this room, blocking every bit of light from the city and rendering Halee virtually blind as she let the door shut behind her. The chill in the room matched the outside October air, causing her to shiver. She slipped into the bathroom, closed the door behind her, and flipped on the light. All J.D.’s favorite toiletries were lined up on the right side of the marble countertop in typical J.D. order, face out and parallel to the gilded mirror. On the left side lay a pile of assorted travel size bottles of this and that and a used razor left behind by Dirk Franklin. It was g
ood of him to trade rooms for the night. She’d have to buy a very nice gift for his new twins.

  Halee leaned over and breathed in the musky scent of her favorite after shave, the one J.D. left traces of along her skin whenever they were together. He’d left a tee shirt hanging on the hook next to the shower. She buried her face in his scent and felt her pounding heart skip a beat. Tonight was the culmination of everything they had built together. Tonight began their shared future.

  Quickly she washed her face and brushed her teeth, then slipped into the pink satin slip she’d purchased on Cam and Stephen’s advice. Every step of their little plan to win J.D. over had worked so far. Why tempt fate? Even if they were in complete darkness tonight, J.D. would see the pretty little number in the morning, which, if she was lucky, would prompt another round of hot, passionate sex. It had been too long since she’d felt J.D.’s rough hands on her naked skin. Tonight she was making up for lost time.

  She inched open the bathroom door and listened. J.D. didn’t stir. Racing across the ice cold floor with her bare toes, she pulled back the covers on the queen size bed and slipped in alongside J.D., nestling up against his warm body. He was naked, just as she expected.

  “Hmmmm.” J.D. groaned. He turned toward the window without waking.

  Halee curled one long leg over J.D.’s hip and sidled up along the length of him, skin to skin. She rested her nose in the curve of his neck, wallowing in the warm smell of the man she loved. He sighed in his sleep, that same little sigh of satisfaction that escaped him whenever she teased him. Her fingers were ice cold. It would be cruel to place them where she wanted to place them. She just couldn’t wait to touch him.

  One kiss, then two along his neck and J.D. began to stir. She stroked his chest with her still cool fingers, circling lower with each pass. He chuckled, stretching to expose his flesh to her hungry hands.

  “If you say another woman’s name right now,” she warned, “I’ll murder you in your sleep.”

  “Before or after the hottest sex of your life?”

  “After.” Halee spread her body over him, working her lips across his shoulders and mimicking the rhythm of the lovemaking to come. The moist flesh between her legs ached with need. He was already hard against her.

  “Oh, Justine!” he moaned. “You know just how I like it!”