The Changeup (Men of the Show)

by Shaw, Rhonda

  “I believe it because it’s true. You couldn’t live with the fact that Chase chose me over Sandy.”

  Lenore tsked but didn’t look at Maddie as she reached into the cupboard for a glass. “Really, Maddie...”

  “You couldn’t face it,” she pressed on, “since you had it all planned out how your little princess would marry a professional ballplayer who had lots of money and could take care of everything. You especially couldn’t face it when he chose your used-up, divorced sister over your young, beautiful daughter.”

  Lenore put her glass under the water dispenser on the front of her fridge, but she didn’t say anything.

  “I took away your dreams, didn’t I, Lenore?” Maddie taunted as she moved closer and closer, crowding Lenore until they were practically nose-to-nose. “You had it all planned and I threw a wrench in it. You couldn’t stand to see me happy when you and Sandy had lost everything you’d dreamed of.”

  Lenore slammed her glass on the counter causing the water to slosh over the sides. “Okay, fine! I did it! All right, I did it! You ruined it for Sandy.”

  “I didn’t ruin anything because there was never anything. Chase was never interested in Sandy,” she yelled. “That was just a tale she spun to you.”

  “No, no. Sandy would never lie to me,” Lenore insisted as she shook her head.

  “You’re right. She wouldn’t lie, but she lives in the same fanciful world that you do, Lenore. You both think everything exists for you only.”

  “At least Sandy and I would never take something that belonged to someone else,” she spit back.

  “Chase didn’t belong to Sandy, Lenore. He’s a person, free to make his own decisions and choices and he chose me. You just can’t stand that, can you?”

  “What does he see in you?” she hissed at her, hate and spite shining in her eyes. “What do you have that Sandy doesn’t?”

  Maddie could think of a million things she had that her niece didn’t, but she didn’t go into that. “It doesn’t matter. Just know this, Lenore. Stay out of my life,” she said as she pounded the sink with her finger in punctuation. “Stay away from my family and me and that includes Chase. You’ve lost that right. I don’t know if I can ever forgive you for this.”

  “But...” she started.

  Maddie held up her hand. “At this point, all I can hope is that Chase will forgive me and if he does, if you do or say anything else about us, so help me, I will permanently forget that you are my sister.”

  Lenore opened her mouth, but nothing came out.

  Maddie gave her one last look of pity before shaking her head and walking out. She took pleasure in slamming the door behind her.

  She had to do it and she had to do it now. Maddie could only hope she wasn’t too late. She couldn’t believe she had been so stupid to push Chase away like she had. She hadn’t trusted him when he was the only one she could trust and had worried that she would only be confirming ridiculous assumptions by asking for his help. Looking back on everything, she could shoot herself for not pushing back at Mark and Kyle, or even questioning their motivation, which had come out of nowhere. She hoped Chase could forgive her stupidity so they could move forward.

  Pulling into the spot in front of her place rather than the carport behind the building, Maddie rushed down the sidewalk toward Chase’s. His truck was parked out front so she knew he was around. Standing outside his door, she wrung her hands, nervous about what his reaction was going to be, but she had to get it over with. If she ever wanted to feel whole again, she had to have him back in her life—there was no other option and she was the only one who could fix things. Straightening her shoulders and taking a deep breath, she reached out and knocked.

  She waited a few beats before knocking again, but she could hear no movement coming from inside. She walked around the side of the building to peek at the carports and her heart dropped when she saw that Jerry’s car was gone. They must have taken his car, which is why Chase’s was out in front.

  Disappointment and frustration coursed through her as she turned and walked back to her apartment. She really didn’t want to wait to talk to Chase, but perhaps the time to figure out exactly what she was going to say would do her good. She could plan it out so she could be sure that she said the right thing when she was in front of him and that her nerves didn’t force her to be a tongue-tied mess. It wouldn’t help if he couldn’t follow what she was trying to say to him because she was a blubbering fool.

  She also had to figure how to present it in a way that he couldn’t say no. Even though she had royally screwed everything up and she didn’t blame him for resenting her, she also couldn’t consider the possibility that he didn’t still love her or want to be with her. She refused to accept anything other than consent, if he would only talk to her.

  She closed the door behind her and leaned against it, fighting the urge to admit defeat. She had to believe she would get another opportunity to talk to Chase at some point and that this wasn’t the end. She’d put herself in this position and she couldn’t expect him to be available just because she was suddenly ready to talk to him. She had to be patient. He had a lot of important games ahead of him and she couldn’t expect him to drop everything just because she wanted him to. After what she’d put him through, it was the least she could do.

  Having heard the front door, Karen walked out of the kitchen. “How’d it go?”

  Maddie looked up and shrugged. “Nobody home.”

  “You’re not giving up, are you?”

  “Oh no.” She shoved off the door and walked to the kitchen. “I’m determined, but I’m going to have to wait.”

  “Wait?” Karen followed her and stood next to the fridge as Maddie opened it and reached in for a bottle of water. “You’re not going to wait.”

  She opened the bottle and took a sip before closing the refrigerator door and sitting at the table. “Of course I have to wait, Karen. I can’t force him to listen to me and he doesn’t have the time right now.”

  Karen shook her head. “Nuh-uh, screw that. You’re going to settle this right now.”

  “Really, Karen, it’s all right. I’ll wait and be patient. He needs his space with everything that’s going on and this is the least I can do. I don’t want him to mess up his game any more than he already did by getting suspended and stuff.”

  “Listen to me. The more you wait the harder it’s going to get. You need to show him you’re there for him and you’re not going anywhere.”

  “I know, and I’ll tell him all that when we talk.”

  Karen shook her head as a scheming smile lit up her face. “No, you’re not going to tell him. You’re going to show him.”

  “What? What are you talking about?”

  She picked up the phone and handed it to Maddie. “Here’s what you’re going to do.”

  * * *

  On the ride down to the park, Chase’s head was reeling. He’d just started to pull his game back together and he didn’t want anything to put a brake on the strides he’d made. Things were improving and he was starting to feel better. His plan with Karen had been put in motion, and he felt good about it...until he’d seen Maddie standing at his front door as he and Jerry had pulled out.

  He hadn’t said anything to Jerry, didn’t tell him to stop or turn around because he’d panicked—plain and simple. He’d thought he knew exactly what he wanted, that was why he’d agreed to the plan with Karen, but then he’d actually seen Maddie and freaked. Was he ready to get married and have a family? Was this what he really wanted? Did he even know what the hell he was doing? He couldn’t stop himself from suddenly second-guessing everything, worried that he would only succeed in putting his game right back in the toilet. The sudden uncertainty had him seriously considering telling Karen to put things on hold before it was too late to back out.

  “You
want to talk about it?” Jerry finally asked, breaking the heavy silence.

  “There’s nothing to talk about,” he said simply, but he could hear the frustration in his own voice.

  “You sure? You have a big game coming up Friday and you don’t want anything to mess with that. You might feel better if you get it off your chest.”

  Chase eyed Jerry out of the corner of his eye. “What? Are you a fucking shrink now?”

  “Sure, if it makes you feel better about talking about things with me,” Jerry said simply.

  “You’re a piece of work, Smutty, you know that?”

  “And don’t you forget it,” he said smirk.

  Chase chuckled, but then quickly fell quiet as he shook his head. “I get so frustrated and angry with her, but I can never get it out completely. After talking to my dad and hearing what he had to say, I keep going back and forth about being mad at her at the same time as being mad for her. I get that others put her in a bad place, but fuck, I just don’t know that I can move past how quickly she shoved me away, even as much as I want to.” He paused as he took a deep breath. “I love her and I want to be with her...but man, all this shit happened and my game immediately fell apart because she didn’t trust me and I don’t know if can get past that. As much as I wanted to believe I could, I obviously can’t keep it off the field.”

  “You could have talked to her about it now. You know we’re going to be down there early.”

  Chase glanced over. “You saw her, huh?”

  “Yep, but when you didn’t say anything, I didn’t want to push it.”

  “I figured it was for the best if I didn’t. Like you said, I need my head in the game for Friday. I don’t need to be dealing with that right now.”

  Jerry sat quietly looking out the front window as the Detroit skyline started to come into view. He cleared his throat. “You’ll never hear me say this again and if you tell anyone that I said this, I’ll deny it.”

  His serious tone caught Chase’s attention, something you rarely heard out of him with his good-humored, goofy nature. Chase looked at him with interest. “Okay.”

  “You’ve got to think about yourself, Chase. Yeah, there’ll be big games that we need to be up for, but that’s all they are, man, games. They come and go, but those we love and our families, they’ll always be there. If you want that with Maddie, then you need to make it right before you lose the chance to have it.”

  “I hear you, but you saw what it did to me last time. I couldn’t even find the friggin’ plate half the time.”

  “I know, but you need to figure out how to shut that off for the games. You can’t let it influence your game like that. You need to learn how to feed on it and use it to your advantage. You know this already, I don’t need to tell you this. You need to trust yourself and find it again.”

  Chase nodded as he looked out the front windshield. Jerry was right. He couldn’t fall apart like he had at the first sign of conflict or problems. If he could keep things in check, then he could use it to his advantage. He could pull on his emotions to add more fire behind his pitches and he could use it to his benefit rather than giving it to the hitter. He did know this, but he’d simply allowed himself to become overwhelmed.

  He could do this. He knew he wanted Maddie and Bree in his life—he knew that without a doubt. It was a big, life-altering decision, but it was the right one—Maddie was the right one. He couldn’t let it scare him. He could forgive her and he wanted to.

  He smiled as he looked at Jerry. “For being such an ugly son of a bitch, you’re pretty smart at times.”

  Jerry let out a hoot. “And don’t you forget that, my man. Don’t you forget it.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Friday night, standing outside the side gates at the ballpark with Bree, watching the mass of Rockets fans stream by, Maddie couldn’t believe she was about to do what she was going to do. She wasn’t sure if this was even going to work, but if it did work even a little, she hoped Chase would understand that she wanted him to be a part of her life, if he still wanted her. Of course, she was taking that risk. There was always the possibility that he would turn her down, but she was just going to have to take that chance. If she was going to try to fight for what she wanted, she was going to have to put her whole self on the line and pray for the best. If things worked out in the end, then it was more than worth a little discomfort or embarrassment.

  As the crowds began to thicken, she grabbed Bree’s hand and held tight. She hoped she hadn’t gotten the time or the gate wrong since so far she hadn’t seen any signs of their other party.

  “Mom, I want to go in and see Chase!” she cried, as she grew tired of waiting.

  “I know. We will, but we have to wait for the Pattons. They have our tickets, remember?”

  Bree sighed and slouched down, kicking at some rocks by her feet. She had her pink Patton jersey on and she wanted to show him that she was wearing it. Maddie didn’t blame her for her impatience. She was feeling anxious herself and wanted to get things over with. She was about to walk in the direction of the main gate thinking she must have gotten the meeting place incorrect, when Bree lit up and pointed at a spot in the sea of fans. “There they are! Look, right there, Mommy!”

  Maddie craned her neck to try to see through the swarm of people when she finally spotted Rick’s smiling face just over most of the other heads. She raised her hand in a half wave. He waved back, pulling Anne toward them through the masses. When they finally emerged, he let out a deep breath. “Sorry, we’re late. We got caught in the traffic jam and the crowds.”

  Maddie smiled as Anne engulfed Bree in a hug. “That’s okay. I thought perhaps I had the wrong gate or something.”

  Anne looked up at her. “You ready?”

  She let out a nervous breath. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

  “Well, give it to her Rick,” Anne said to her husband.

  He pulled out a jersey from a bag he was carrying. “We thought it might help things along if you were wearing this.”

  She took the white jersey with red trim he was holding out to her and turned it over. On the back across the shoulders, red lettering spelled out Patton along with his number in the middle.

  “Put it on, Mommy!”

  Maddie grinned at Anne and Rick. “Thank you. I can’t tell you how much it means to me to have your support in this.”

  “Oh, you’re welcome, dear,” Anne said as she gave her a quick hug. “We want to help you as much as we can, so we tried to think of everything that might smooth things over.”

  She pulled the jersey over her head. It was long and it hung to just above her knees completely covering her navy shorts, but she didn’t care. She would do anything to help her cause.

  Following Chase’s parents, she and Bree fought their way through the crowds and into their seats. Just as Rick had promised, he’d somehow managed to secure seats on the field near the Rockets’s dugout so they could see Chase every time he came and went. If he noticed the Patton jersey she wore, all the better. She knew he couldn’t talk to her, but she hoped that her mere presence would be enough to let him know that she wasn’t going to give up.

  Looking around, she could feel the tension in the air. Everyone knew this was a big game. If Chase could pull out a win, it would guarantee the Rockets a spot in the postseason. If not, then they had to wait until the season ended to see how the standings fell out. It would then become a game of numbers to determine who would take the final play-off spot.

  She thought that was a lot to be putting on the shoulders of a rookie and she said as much to Rick. He explained that the Rockets didn’t want to leave anything to chance, so they were showing their confidence in one of their strongest pitchers, even if he was only a rookie. They could have gone with the Ace, Jerry, but that would have only provided a couple of days rest between
games for him, and while they could have chanced it, they wanted Jerry strong and rested for the first game of the play-offs, assuming they made it. If Chase could do what he did for most of the season, then there was no doubt he could win this game for them. Maddie could only imagine what kind of stress was on him and she hoped that she didn’t add to it. She prayed that when he saw her, if he saw her, it would only help matters, not make them worse.

  Maddie watched as the groundskeeping crew raked the infield dirt and pitcher’s mound before taking a hose and lightly wetting everything down, readying the field for the game. They added the white baselines and the batter’s box around home plate with puffs of white chalk powder following in their wake. The usual scents of a baseball game filled the air. Happy chatter from the fans swirled around and became a constant hum in the background. The sky was clear and starting to darken as night slowly descended on them. The stadium lights were blazing down onto the field ready to light the way for the players. She closed her eyes and took it all in as she willed her pounding heart to calm down.

  She turned when she felt Bree poke her. “Mommy, he’s coming. Look!”

  Her gaze followed Bree’s finger and she saw him slowly walking from the bull pen to the dugout. Her heart started to thump heavily in her chest while at the same time it was clogging her throat. Her nerves twitched and she swallowed deeply as she watched him. He focused on the ground in front of him with a look of concentration on his face.

  As he neared their seats, she had to fight the urge to duck under the railing and hide from him. Doubt suddenly filled her as her mind reeled. If he didn’t want her there, seeing her before the start of the game would only make things worse. What if he looked at her and all she saw was anger? She would feel horrible. Everyone would blame her. Not that she personally had any control or impact over the results of the game, but in her freaked-out state, she certainly could convince herself that she did.

  As if sensing her discomfort and sudden distress, Rick placed his hand on her arm. He said the same thing he always said to Chase before a game as his son passed by.