Finding Us (True Love) (Volume 2)

by Harper Bentley

  And then the shit hit the fan.

  Two weeks later, on a Sunday evening after our mid-April game, Ross called to warn me that I’d probably be getting a couple phone calls—one from Rebecca and probably one from El.

  Since I never had time to watch TV, nor really had one fuck to give it, I guessed the last mermaid commercial had aired. Ross confirmed my suspicions. Just fucking great.

  After Ross and I hung up, I girded myself for the incoming calls from the girls. An hour later, Rebecca called.

  “I really hate you right now,” she said when I answered.

  “Okay,” I replied. I mean, what do you say to that?

  “I can’t believe you let shit get that far, Jag. El’s crying her eyes out this very moment.”

  “Is El with you?” I asked.

  “Yes, but she doesn’t want to talk to you right now.”

  “Where are you?”

  “At her apartment. She called and I came right over. She was right in the middle of watching your game, they ran the first two commercials on back to back breaks, which was bad enough, and then lo and behold, here came the last one with you proposing to that bitch then marrying her. Did you not even think to explain to her what was in this last one?”

  Well, fuck. I’d screwed up again. I’d told her about the “kinda kiss” with Alessandra but hadn’t even thought of the other part.

  “Let me talk to El,” I said.

  “You know, for some dumbass reason, I like the two of you together, and I know if I let you talk to her right now, she’ll break up with you, so it’s probably best if you let her calm down some. God, you piss me off!”

  “I know. It’s a strong suit of mine.”

  “I’ll say. Well, I’ve got to go deal with, once again, no thanks to you, a brokenhearted El. I’ll do what I can to talk her out of kicking you to the curb, but I can’t control what happens after that. You’re lucky I’m here.”

  She hung up and I huffed out a chuckle as I sat there feeling hopeless. God, I hated being so far away, not able to see El to explain. But then again I guessed I could. We had the next day off then played in Milwaukee Tuesday through Thursday, so I’d just call Coach and let him know I’d meet them there. I called and got a flight that night to Chicago, planning on trying to make things right… once again.

  Will all fuck-ups please raise their hand? I raised both for good measure.

  I landed at 3:33 a.m. Chicago time, picked up the SUV I’d booked and headed to El’s. I’d called Ross to make sure she’d stayed at her apartment since I didn’t really want to discuss this in front of her parents if she’d felt the need to go home.

  I used my key to go inside, and found her curled up in a ball on the couch asleep.

  “Baby,” I said, sitting down next to her, rubbing her back. She turned and looked sleepily at me, her eyes swollen from crying.

  “Jag…” She closed her eyes, a hurt look on her face, then she sat up, rubbing her hands over her face.

  I wrapped my arm around her, pulling her into me, kissing the side of her head.

  “I’m sorry, El.” It was all I could say.

  I was getting really good at this apologizing thing. Maybe one day I’d figure out how to stop messing shit up.

  “You didn’t tell me,” she whispered looking at me.

  I blew out a breath. “Tell you what, baby?”

  The hurt that was so plain on her face gutted me.

  “You didn’t tell me there was a proposal… and a wedding…” Her breath hitched as she looked down to where she tangled her fingers in her lap.

  “I know. I’m so sorry.” I sighed. “To be honest, it didn’t mean anything to me, so I didn’t even think to tell you.” I gently took her chin with my thumb and fingers turning her to face me. “I just didn’t think.”

  Her breath hitched again and she huffed out a laugh. “I know you probably think I’m being ridiculous, and I think a little might be that I’m PMS’ing, but seeing you on one knee before her. God…” She turned her head to look down again, shaking it.

  “El… ” I pulled her closer to me, resting my chin on top of her head, apologizing again. I really had no clue what else to say or do, so I just kept my mouth shut.

  She sat back on the couch against my arm still behind her, staring straight ahead, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. Next, she took a deep breath, and after letting it out she said, “I’ve been planning our wedding since I was twelve. I know I want you to propose to me over the Jumbotron at Wrigley Field, which is stupid and cliché, but that’s what I want.” She looked at me sheepishly then looked down at her lap again. “I want six bridesmaids and groomsmen. Bec will be my maid of honor, of course, and Ross or Tyler will be your best man. We’ll invite two-hundred and fifty people. You’ll tear up when I walk down the aisle to you, so happy that we’re finally getting married.”

  She chuckled as she looked at me out of the corner of her eye.

  “We’ll dance our first dance to ‘When I Fall in Love’ by Nat King Cole and you’ll tear up again because the emotion of it will get to you. God, you’re a bawl baby.” She looked at me and smiled.

  I barked out a laugh then kissed the side of her head again.

  Her smile faded as she looked down at her hands in her lap again. “When we leave the reception, the people won’t throw rice. They’ll all have navy and soft yellow balloons with our wedding announcement inside and release them as we run out to your Camaro. Before going on our honeymoon to Belize, we’ll stay at the Four Seasons in the honeymoon suite, and make love all night long before our flight the next morning. We’ll spend a week in Belize, making love on every surface there is of our villa. Then we’ll go snorkeling together and get massages together and have picnic lunches on the beach and feed each other food. And it’ll be magical, Jag. It’ll be perfect…”

  She started crying then and I pulled her onto my lap, tucking her head under my chin.

  “We can still do all that, El,” I told her.

  She pulled back to look at me, the tears streaming down her face. “But now you’ve already done it. I know it wasn’t real, but it looked real. It felt like a piece of my heart died tonight watching it.”

  “Baby,” I said, stroking her hair down her back. “I’m so, so sorry. It wasn’t real. It meant nothing at all. You’ve got to understand that.” I turned her to me and brushed my lips over hers. “You’ve got to know that.”

  I picked her up, carrying her to the bedroom. We made love, me reassuring her that she was it for me, that the commercial was nothing.

  We stayed in bed late the next morning, but when we got up, she made me watch the commercial that she’d so graciously DVR’d so she could share it with me. She left the room, leaving me to watch it alone. And I was pissed.

  They’d somehow used a body double for me who was completely naked, briefly showing the back of him standing at the side of the bed where Alessandra lay looking up at him invitingly. El had said she wasn’t mad about that because she knew it wasn’t me because my butt was much nicer, which made me laugh but also grateful that she caught that. But they had put in the part where Alessandra had basically attacked me when we kissed, which disgusted me. Stupid bitch. The rest of it was as I’d expected, so no more surprises.

  After watching it, I went to find El in her bedroom where she sat on her bed studying. Her eyebrows went up in question when I walked in.

  “Sorry,” I said as I walked to her bed and sat down.

  “You’ve apologized enough, Jag. I get it. It was just a shock, is all.” She leaned toward me and touched her lips to mine. “I love you.”

  “Forever and a day, babe,” I said, taking the book off her lap, then showed her I truly meant it.

  I left that evening, driving the hour and a half up to Milwaukee to get ready for our three-game stretch. I told El I wished I could come back afterward, but we played in Houston the next three days then were back in LA for three more straight games. My schedule was definitely no
t conducive to making a relationship work that was for damned sure.

  But we talked every night, and she was soon back to her usual self, even able to laugh at her reaction to the commercial.

  We’d made it through our latest mess and things finally seemed to be looking up. But I’d thought that before, so I wasn’t going to hold my breath since I knew I’d probably screw shit up again at some point.

  Chapter 16

  Funny how you think things are going well, but actually shit’s brewing just under the surface. I got a call from Alessandra the night I arrived in Milwaukee.

  “Hey, handsome,” she purred when I answered.

  I rolled my eyes. “What do you want?”

  She let out a sound as if she was disappointed that I hadn’t answered her with some term of endearment too, which wasn’t going to happen ever in this lifetime.

  “I was just checking to see if you saw the commercial?”

  “Yeah. I did. Is that all you wanted?” I made to hang up my phone.

  “Wait! I just wanted to know if you’ve reconsidered our relationship? We looked so good together, Jag,” she said, her words breathy as she tried sounding sexy.

  I laughed. “Yeah, I’ve reconsidered it, and come to the conclusion, yet again, that nothing’s gonna change. I’m with El. Matter of fact, I just left her place earlier.”

  “You’re in Chicago?” she asked, and I could hear the surprise in her voice.

  “Milwaukee now. But, yes, I was with El in Chicago the past two days.”

  She was quiet for a few seconds then she cleared her throat. “So you’re still with her?”

  Wow. El had once called me dense, but this chick was the friggin’ epitome of dense. “Yes, Alessandra. El and I are still together.”

  “But she’s… she’s so… not me,” she answered ridiculously.

  “One of her better assets,” I mumbled.

  “You’re unbelievable. How could you want that when you could have me?”

  Fed up with this idiotic conversation, I said, “I need to go.”

  “But what if she decided she didn’t want you anymore?” she asked.

  “Why would she decide that? We’ve known each other for over twenty years. Not gonna happen.”

  “You never know, Jag. Things happen all the time that make people break up.”

  I’d had more than enough. “Bye, Alessandra.” I hung up shaking my head at how absolutely absurd she was. You’d think someone as beautiful as she was would have no problem dating. But maybe that was the problem. She could probably date anyone she wanted, but she couldn’t have me, and that’s what spurred her on. Whatever it was, I wished she’d turn her sights on someone new and leave me the hell alone.

  “We need to get our shit together, men!” our head coach yelled at us. Technically, he was the Manager of the team, but to us, he was just Coach. And now he was screaming at us because we’d lost five out of our last nine games.

  We sat in our clubhouse having just lost to the Braves, and it’d been brutal. We’d lost in their last inning at bat, allowing them three runs and they ended up beating us by two.

  After a lull from the berating, Baxter stood up and yelled, “Goddamn it! I wanna make the Series! We’ve got what it takes! We’re better than this! Come on!” He threw his towel into his locker angrily.

  There were lots of concurring nods and mumbles from around the locker room. We wanted to win. Hell, who wanted to lose? Losing sucked ass.

  Coach wrapped up everything reminding us we’d be off tomorrow then had six games in a row, a day off, another six in a row, and another day off before heading into a thirteen-game stretch. We’d be in Chicago to play the Cubs the weekend after this one, and I hoped El would be able to make it to the game I was pitching.

  “Wanna get a beer?” Baxter asked me after he’d showered and dressed.

  “I do!” Logan butted in.

  “Sure,” I answered, cutting my eyes at Logan with a scowl.

  “What? Hey, you should feel lucky that I’m still talking to you after the shit you pulled with what’s-her-face. She blew up my phone with so many texts, calls and voicemails, I was tempted to throw it away.”

  “You deserved it,” I replied, walking out the door of the clubhouse with Baxter, in front of Logan.

  “Yeah, well, you deserve a throat punch, but you don’t see that happening,” he shot back.

  I laughed, turning to look at him. “For what?”

  “For introducing me to that bitch in the first place.”

  I turned and started walking again. “I’ll remind your sorry ass that I did not introduce you. And I think I even warned you not to get involved with her, did I not?”

  “I don’t know. I was too busy staring at her tits and ass in that tiny little thing she was wearing.” He caught up to me and grinned.

  “That’s what I thought… dumbass,” I murmured.

  “Can you two stop arguing like a couple of pussies? Jesus. I just wanna have a beer and relax. That too much to ask?” Baxter said as we walked toward our cars in the parking lot.

  Logan rode with me and we followed Bax there.

  “Oh, man! This is that place that serves free tacos!” Logan exclaimed as we walked toward the joint.

  “He always act like a five-year-old kid?” Bax asked.

  I nodded. “Pretty much.”

  “Do not!” Logan retorted pretty much solidifying Baxter’s suspicions.

  Bax and I laughed then we all went inside, and I laughed even harder when Baxter told the owner we’d also need a booster seat as he showed us to a special room toward the back. The funniest part about it was Logan didn’t even get it.

  “That’s my boyfriend!” I heard screamed from behind me as I jogged out to the mound. I grinned and turned to see El and Rebecca jumping up and down in the stands behind home plate at Wrigley Field waving at me. El’s and my parents were there as were Ross and Robbie.

  I was shocked that I’d heard her in the crowd, but she had some kind of little plastic cheerleading megaphone in her hand, and I guessed her voice had just carried. That, or I was just so attuned to her, I could pick her voice out of the roar. Damn.

  My team ended up bouncing back from our loss the day before, beating the Cubs pretty soundly, which was awesome, especially since everyone was there to see it. It was Saturday night and Mom had made reservations at our favorite steakhouse that was owned by family friends, and we all met up there after the game.

  “Dude, nice,” Ross said, knocking knuckles with me when I showed up.

  “Yeah, good win, Jag,” Robbie said, doing the knuckle thing too and clapping me on the shoulder.

  Well, I guessed bygones were bygones to him, and I was more than okay with that. I was afraid he might’ve been mad about the latest commercial, but he didn’t say anything about it.

  I kissed El, pulling her chair out for her as we were all seated, and it was a great evening until my phone rang halfway through dinner.

  “Yeah?” I answered, getting up to leave the table.

  “Hey, Jag, Dirk here.”

  I hadn’t been answering his calls lately, so I guessed he’d either gotten a new phone or was borrowing someone’s since I hadn’t recognized the number. Either way, the fucker had pulled one over on me.

  “What’s up?” I asked.

  “Got a party you and Alessandra need to attend,” he informed me.

  Ha. Fat chance of that happening. “Can’t. Way too many games, Dirk. Only have a couple Thursdays off over the next six weeks.”

  “That’s perfect,” he replied. “Next Thursday it is.”

  What the fuck?

  “Just what kind of party are we talking about here?” I inquired.

  “Mine.”

  “Mandatory?”

  “If you want to keep Nike, I’d say yes,” he answered with a chuckle.

  “Great. Text me the details.” What an asshole.

  “Oh, you mean you’ll answer this time?”

&nbs
p; “Not likely,” I said honestly. He knew I’d been pissed at him since the debacle back in September, and I felt he should be a little more gracious, but that was just him. I wished Ross would hurry up and finish his internship. I’d asked him a couple times over the past few months if he was ready to be my agent yet, but he’d told me he needed a little more time, that he wanted to get as much experience as he could before taking over so he could do the best job possible for me. I respected that, but I still wished he’d get his shit together.

  Dirk and I hung up and I went back to the table, now in a shitty mood.

  “Who was that?” El asked after I sat down.

  “Dirk.”

  I saw her stiffen at the mention of his name. She didn’t much care for him either, and was more than excited for Ross to take over as my agent.

  “What’d he want?” she asked.

  I sighed. Here we go again. “He said he’s having a party next Thursday and I’m supposed to attend. I’m letting you know right now that Alessandra will be there.”

  The look on her face told me exactly what she thought of that, but she only nodded then continued eating, joining in on the conversations going on at the table. I reached over and squeezed her hand and she squeezed mine back, smiling up at me.

  I leaned down and kissed the side of her head. “Thanks for understanding.”

  She nodded then laughed at a story Ross was telling about something that’d happened at the modeling agency he was interning at. Something to do with a new model getting locked in a closet. I watched her giggling when Ross said the girl had been in her underwear and they’d had to remove the hinge pins on the door to get her out.

  And it was at that moment that I decided I wanted to marry Ellen Reese Love.