by Shaw, Rhonda
Jerry watched her look anxiously at the couch, where a bunch of magazines, clothes and video games were haphazardly scattered, before he stepped forward and pushed the load to the floor. “Sorry about that,” he said as he stepped back and shoved his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. “We haven’t been home for a while.”
“Oh, that’s okay. I was just making sure there was nothing alive underneath all of that,” she said as she sat down gingerly.
He stayed where he was, standing awkwardly watching her, with a goofy grin on his face. She wasn’t quite sure what to do about it and for once, she was speechless. She’d always dreamed about what she would say to Jerry if she was ever in the same room with him and unfortunately, all of her sexy, witty comments had flown out of her head with one look into his big brown eyes. Chase returned holding two glasses of water, saving them both the discomfort.
Jerry cleared his throat. “I’ll just be...uh, getting out of the way. It was nice to meet you, Karen. Maybe I’ll see you around.”
They watched as he rushed up the stairs, shutting his bedroom door behind him.
Chase chuckled as he plopped down into the beanbag with his long legs stretched out in front him. “It seems you’ve rattled him a bit. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him that quiet.” He took a drink from his glass. “So this is interesting, to have you in my living room.”
“Don’t worry, I may be her friend, but I call her bluff just like anyone else.”
“I would have expected you’d be on her side with this.”
“Her side? Are you kidding me? I’ve been telling her from day one that she’s being stupid and has made the biggest mistake of her life.”
He was stunned. “Thank you.”
“Well, don’t thank me yet,” she said as she pointed at him. “I still need your help with this.”
“And what do you think I can do about it? I don’t even know why she ended things.”
“I know,” Karen said with a sigh. She turned to face him. “I need to know something first before we figure out what we’re going to do. Were you serious about her? I mean, I can make all sorts of assumptions based on what I overheard while I was standing outside, but I’d rather hear it from the horse’s mouth.”
“Yes. I was very serious about her,” he answered without hesitation.
“And did you think she was serious about you?”
“Yes.”
She nodded as she took a sip of water. “Were you going ask her to marry you?”
His eyes widened for a second before he narrowed them. “I’m not sure I understand the point of this conversation.”
“I’m just trying to get a gauge on what is serious with you.”
Chase sighed. “The same thing it means to you. Jesus, what is it with you women who think my idea of serious is going steady or holding hands? If you must know, yes, I was heading in that direction. I wanted to get through the season first and then figure everything out after that.”
“Okay, okay,” she said and held up her hand as her lips curved slightly. “Sorry. I wanted to make sure we were talking about the same thing.”
“Why are you here, Karen? No offense, but I’ve already had a crappy day and I really don’t want to feel any worse than I do by rehashing the Maddie dumping Chase show. I’m tired and I have to pack since we head back out tomorrow night.”
Karen turned to him, her decision made. “I am not going to tell you what happened, but you were right to ask if something happened. Some things happened, plural, but it is her responsibility to tell you because only she can explain why she reacted the way she did.”
“Okay, so we’ve made no progress here. I’ve gotten nowhere.”
“I’m not done,” she said. “You need to proceed as you were, asking her to marry you and all that. Well, maybe sooner rather than later.”
He quickly frowned. “What? Why the hell would I do that? She broke up with me, remember?”
“Look, you’re miserable, right? You want to be with her, right?” she asked as she stood up and pointed at him. At his hesitant nod, she continued. “She’s beyond miserable. She’s like a freaking zombie or something. It’s ridiculous. She knows she’s done the wrong thing, but she doesn’t know how to correct it and she doesn’t think she can. She thinks that even if she talks to you, she’ll still be in the same bind.”
Chase felt a new anger wash through him at the thought that someone had put her in a position where she felt trapped. For a change, he was angry for Maddie and not at her. “Is that what happened? Did someone put her into a tight situation because of me?”
“Not just someone, a few people.”
“Who?” he demanded as he jumped to his feet.
“It’s not my place to tell you, Chase, as much as I want to. But if you think about it, think about what’s most important to her—”
“Bree,” he interrupted. “They threatened something with Bree.” Then he shook his head. “But what does that have to do with me? I don’t get it.”
Karen turned around and sat back on the couch. “I think you’re simply a convenient excuse, but who knows? That’s what’s so fucked up about it.” She sighed as she ran her fingers through her hair trying to figure out the next step of her plan. They had to execute it perfectly or else it would end disastrously for everyone. “We need someone neutral. Someone that isn’t personally involved in this to talk to her, to get her to open up. I obviously can’t do it because I haven’t been able to get through to her so far, and then I get frustrated and call her stupid. You can’t do it.” She glanced up at the ceiling. “I don’t think she’d open up to Jerry. Any thoughts? Who can make her talk?’
He thought about it for a few minutes as he walked around the room. Who did he know that could make anyone talk? Who could make someone open up to them and not feel threatened? Who would Maddie feel like she owed some explanation to? It hit him and he turned with a smile. “My father.”
* * *
Maddie got past her breakdown with Karen and actually came out the other end feeling somewhat better. She knew she had to face Chase and give him the answers he deserved, and she was ready to do it. Unfortunately, when she’d finally developed the courage to do so, she saw one of their games on TV being broadcast from Toronto. She would, it seemed, have to wait a bit longer before she could talk to him, but that was okay.
She was going to take the time to clean herself up, do whatever she could to make herself feel better, so when she finally sat down with him, she didn’t worry that the sight of her disgusted him. She’d let herself go downhill and that didn’t help her feel ready to face him. She made a concerted effort each day to get out of bed and head straight to the shower. She made herself put on some makeup, do her hair and no longer allowed herself to put on sloppy, baggy clothes. She at least looked presentable. It didn’t fix everything, but it did help to lift her spirits a little.
The day she knew the team would be returning home, she set to cleaning the house from top to bottom trying to find anything that would help to settle her nerves from the thought of facing Chase. She ripped apart the family room while Bree played in the backyard and it was when she was fighting with edging the entertainment center out of the corner so she could dust behind it that the doorbell rang. Cursing, she brushed her clothes off as she went to answer the door. Cold dread coursed through her when she saw who was standing on the other side. This was the last person she was expecting to find on her doorstep.
Rick stood looking down at her, a tentative expression on his face, so like his son, unsure of her reaction. “I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time. We’re in town for Chase’s game this Friday and I wanted to stop by.”
Maddie looked at the mess behind her. The room looked like a tornado had ripped through it. “Well, I’m in the middle of cleaning, so you’ll have to excuse the mes
s.” She held the door open so he could step through.
He stopped just inside the door and gaped. “Cleaning, huh? It looks like you had an earthquake here.”
“Yeah, well, I really wanted to get every last speck of dust.” She walked past him and into the kitchen. “We can sit down in here. Can I get you something to drink?”
Rick shook his head as he sat down at the table. “No, thanks. I really don’t want to take up too much of your time.”
Without any task to focus on, she sat at the table across from him clasping her hands in her lap to keep them from shaking, and waited for him to tell her how much she’d messed up his son. He was going to tell her how he knew she’d always been wrong for Chase and how she’d proven him right. She couldn’t blame him it and she just wanted it to be over. “Okay, let’s get this over with.”
“Over with? What do you think I’m here to say?”
“Oh, I’m sure a number of things. Starting with how you knew all along how wrong I was for Chase.”
He nodded in muted agreement. “Well, I can’t deny that I had doubts in the beginning, but no, that’s not what I’m here to say.”
That had her raising her brows in question. “No? Then to what do I owe this surprise visit? Does Chase know you’re here?”
Rick studied the fingers that he’d splayed on the table in front of him, long and strong, just like Chase, as he tried to figure out where to start. Based on what Chase had asked him to do, he knew he only had once chance and didn’t want to mess it up. “I’m here because I wanted to tell you I was wrong,” he said, ignoring her question.
“Wrong? Wrong about what?”
“You and Chase.”
“I don’t understand...”
He held up his hand asking for her patience so he could explain. “You were right. In the beginning, I thought the very idea of Chase being with an older woman, and one with a child, was all wrong. He was doing it for all the wrong reasons and I was certain you were using him for something. I wasn’t sure what it was—money, fame, who knows—but I was certain you weren’t with him for the right reasons. Even as my wife tried to convince me otherwise, I still wasn’t open to any other explanation.”
“But—”
“Let me finish, please,” he interrupted. “But then I met you and Bree. I saw how you and Chase were and, while I wasn’t ready to admit at that point I was wrong, I was open to the possibilities of other reasons you two were together. Put simply, I was open to the idea that you and Chase were together because you loved each other and were there for each other.”
He looked up and the pain in his eyes was clear. The pain a parent feels when their child is hurting, along with the gut-wrenching helplessness of knowing there is nothing you can do to take the pain away. “Maddie, I’ve never seen my son in the shape he’s in now. Sure, he’s had girlfriends in the past, some that he might have even loved, but he’s never been like this. Chase usually can see both sides of the coin, even if he doesn’t necessarily agree with it, and move on. He can’t move on. He’s stuck and it’s killing him.”
Maddie took a deep breath. She would not fall apart in front of him. She had to hold herself together and be strong, no matter how heavy the guilt was. “It isn’t easy on either of us.”
“Chase tells me that this came about because you felt some pressure from some people. Some threats against Bree because of him.”
She jerked upright in surprise. She hadn’t told him, but how could he have known? Even though it didn’t sound like he had the whole story, it sounded like he had a good idea of it. Karen, she thought. Karen had to have told him. “Something like that,” she conceded.
Rick placed his hand over hers and squeezed gently. “Maddie, you can’t let others dictate your decisions or your life. This is something that I’ve had to learn and I learned it from Chase. Never once has he ever let anyone else dictate his decisions. As much as I longed for the day when I could see my son in the pros, I was convinced he needed to go to college first, that he needed more time to mature, learn and grow as a pitcher, but he was determined and he didn’t let me sway him. And look where he is now! He’s achieving far more than I could have ever dreamed for him. Thank God he didn’t listen to me and he went with what he knew was right for him.”
Her eyes watered up against her will. “It’s not that easy.”
Seeing he was reaching her, Rick pressed on, his voice soft. “I know! I know it isn’t easy, but you have to be strong in your convictions. If you know that Chase is the right man for you, then you have to stand strong with that, no matter what else anyone says or thinks, or tells anyone else to think. If you know it’s right, then that’s all that matters.”
Maddie gave him a weak smile. “I hear you, Rick. I really do, but when someone threatens to take my child away from me, then I have to put my foot down and do what’s right for me and Bree.”
He sat back in his chair and eyed her steadily. “Do you really think Chase would have let that happen?”
“It has nothing to do with him,” she answered matter-of-factly.
“Like hell it doesn’t!” Rick exclaimed with fire as he shot back up in his seat. “You and Bree were family to Chase. He wanted to provide and care for both of you and you took that away from him without any explanation or anything. From what I’ve heard, Chase was more of a father to Bree than her actual dad.”
She stared down at her hands, her tears starting to overflow. “He was,” she said quietly.
“Then let him be one, Maddie. Let him be the man that he wants to be with you. If this isn’t what you really want, then talk to him. I promise you, he won’t disappoint you. I know he looks young, but he has a good heart and great head on his shoulders. I’m in awe of him every day.” He smiled gently when she looked up at him. “I promise. He won’t pull anything over your head. He won’t feed you lines and try to convince you of things that are not true.”
A huge click resounded in her head. Her eyes widened and she shook her head as if to clear out the dust. “Oh my god...” she said as she sat back heavily in her chair and stared at him in disbelief.
“What?”
Maddie stared off over his shoulder at the empty space behind him as the scene in her living room with Lenore replayed in her head again. “She said that they’d all done me a favor, but how did she even know about that? I didn’t tell her anything. She said she did it all for Bree...”
“Uh, you lost me here, Maddie.”
She looked back at him. “I’m sorry. I know I’m not making sense.” She stood up and held out her hand to him. He eyed her warily and shook it, unsure if he had made any progress. “Thank you. You’ve opened my eyes in a way no one else has been able to. I know what I need to do now, and right now, I have to pay a visit to my sister.”
Chapter Twenty-One
As Maddie drove to her sister’s house, she tried to wrap her head around her revelation. In the beginning, when the different ultimatums were coming at her all because she was dating Chase, she’d thought it seemed odd and unusual, a strange coincidence and not quite the opposition she’d been expecting. There was nothing to tell her it was all part of a bigger plan. A sick plan motivated by pure jealousy and the need for retaliation...that her sister had formulated it all made it even worse. She couldn’t believe Lenore had actually gone through the efforts of getting her job threatened and convincing Kyle to challenge her custody of Bree just to get back at her, but now that she’d put the pieces together, it all made sense. She was going to fix everything, had to fix everything. She could only pray Chase would give her a chance to explain.
Her mind finally felt free from all the doom and gloom. She could finally think clearly and she knew what she had to do. She felt energized and she was ready to confront Lenore. Pulling into the driveway, she shut off the engine and climbed out. Before knocking, she set her sho
ulders and took a deep breath. She pounded on the door with her fist and waited. When it opened, her sister looked surprised to see her.
“Maddie! What a surprise! Come in,” she said as she stood out of the way.
Maddie stepped in and looked Lenore square in the eye. “I know what you did.”
“And what was that, honey?”
“I know that you got Mark and Kyle to go along with your little scheme.”
Something flickered in her sister’s eyes, but she smiled coolly and shook her head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Maddie. Come on. Come in here with me and tell me what you’re going on about.”
She followed Lenore into the kitchen and was glad to see it was empty. When Lenore moved toward the fridge, Maddie put a hand on her arm to stop her. “Stop it, Lenore. Stop acting as if you don’t know what I’m talking about. Stop acting like everything’s perfectly normal.”
Her face hardened, but her voice remained sweet. “I swear, Maddie. I have no idea what you’re going on about.”
“Then let me spell it out for you. You were so upset that I was dating Chase that you told Mark to hold my job over my head if I wouldn’t dump him. And then, just in case that wasn’t enough, just in case I tried to get another job, you told Kyle to threaten to take me to court over custody of Bree unless I promised to break up with Chase. Very well-thought-out, I must give that to you, but sick—very sick. What did you hold over them exactly, I wonder? A threat to Mark that you’d go to the school board about all the times I’ve told you I found him sleeping on the job? Or that he spends most of his days surfing the web in his office? Did you promise Kyle that you’d get Tom to finally throw him some business? Huh? Was that it? He must have been salivating at that offer.”
Lenore turned and propped her hands on her hips. “You really believe that, don’t you? You really believe that I would waste an ounce of my time to go to all that trouble.” She laughed as she turned back to the fridge. “Really, Maddie, you do have a vivid imagination.”
