Jayda smiled at her daughter’s innocence as she brushed the curls away from Cadence’s face. “That’s true, we do know each other. But we haven’t lived together in a really long time. People change, baby. Your daddy and I have both changed a lot since we lived together.”
“How come Daddy stayed in your room at the hotel?”
Jayda knew she’d have to answer that question. They just hadn’t been able to tear themselves apart so she could sneak into Cadence’s room. When she’d invited Chase to stay at their house during the off-season, she’d believed he would be staying in their spare bedroom, so as not to confuse Cadence. But it seemed the damage was done.
“Well…” She took her daughter’s hand as she prepared to level with her. “The truth is, I still love your daddy a lot, and he feels the same way about me.”
“He does?” Cadence asked, wide-eyed. “So you guys are getting back together?”
It broke her heart to see the hope in her baby’s eyes and know that she couldn’t give her a definitive answer yet. “We can’t make any promises yet. Just know that we’re trying hard to make it work.”
“Does that mean we’ll have to leave Aurora and go live with Daddy?”
“I suppose it does,” Jayda said, squeezing her hand. “At least for part of the year. We could come back in the off-season to visit your grandad and friends. We could probably keep the house, so we had a place to stay when we were in town. How would you feel about moving?”
She bit her lip, looking pensive. “I guess that would be okay. I’d miss Grandad and Uncle Dillon and my friends, but I’d get to be with you and Daddy all the time. That’d make up for it.”
Jayda smiled, thinking how wonderful it would be to be able to make life-altering decisions in a split second, without analyzing the ramifications to death. “Well, you wouldn’t get to be with Daddy all the time. He’d still be on the road a lot.” At least half the season, depending on the team’s schedule.
“Yeah, but he’d be coming home to us. Not like now. He has to go home to an empty house.” She wrinkled her nose. “He hates that.”
“He told you that?” Jayda asked, surprised Chase would admit to their daughter that he was lonely.
“He tells me all the time how much he misses me and wishes we could be together all the time.”
Jayda had never questioned whether Chase was a committed father, but she’d never been surer of that than she was now. “He does, huh?”
“He said he missed you too.”
“Really?” Jayda couldn’t believe he would confide in Cadence about his feelings for her.
“Yeah.” Cadence shrugged. “I asked him why you guys can’t be together anymore, and he said that he’ll always love you and he misses you.”
Jayda’s heart ached when she heard Cadence echo her father’s words. They’d lost so much precious time together. Why? Why had they both allowed their pride to be more important than their commitment to each other? “I’m surprised you didn’t tell me that before.”
“I didn’t wanna make you sad.”
“What do you mean?” Jayda studied her carefully, waiting for her to continue.
“Whenever I talk about Daddy you get this sad look on your face.”
“I do?” She’d thought that she was putting up a brave front for their daughter. Apparently Cadence was already smart enough to see right through her.
“Yeah. He gets the same look when I talk about you.”
Jayda couldn’t believe they’d both been so blind. While she’d never condone what her brother had done, if it hadn’t been for Dillon’s heinous act, they never would have found their way back to each other. They may have spent the rest of their lives being miserable apart. “Wow, I had no idea.”
“That’s why I kept bugging you about a baby brother or sister. I thought if you asked him about it, maybe you two could get back together.”
“Oh, honey.” Jayda reached across the armrest to draw Cadence into a hug. “It’s not up to you to figure things out for us. You’re just a kid. We’re the adults. We’ll figure it out, I promise. Just know that whatever happens, we both love you more than anything.”
“I know, but I still want you guys to get back together and give me a baby sister.”
Jayda laughed as she kissed her daughter’s forehead. “Your request is duly noted.”
“But I’d settle for a little brother,” she said, looking thoughtful. “Or maybe a puppy.”
If Jayda had her way, their daughter would be getting all three: a brother, a sister, and a puppy.
***
Chase was nervous as he walked into his house early that afternoon. He only had a couple of hours before he had to head to the ballpark, but he wanted to see his girls first. And find out what Jayda thought of his digs.
His house wasn’t huge, but it was nice. It was in a good neighborhood, with a great private school just up the street. There was a pool and a big backyard. Four bedrooms—plenty of space for a growing family, the real estate agent had told him. He and Jayda had always talked about having three kids, and he supposed he’d been subconsciously trying to keep that dream alive when he bought his place. He didn’t mind selling the house so Jayda could find a home of their own, but that would take time. He wanted her to feel comfortable here for the time being.
“Hey, I thought I heard the door,” Jayda said, rounding the door from the kitchen.
“Where’s Cadence?”
“She’s outside playing in that monstrosity of a playhouse you had built for her.” She laughed. “Overkill, don’t you think? She only spends a couple of weeks a year here with you.”
“I just wanted her to have fun while she was here.” He pulled Jayda into his arms and kissed her before glancing through the large windows in the family room that opened to the foyer. “You think she’s having fun?”
“Definitely.” She framed his face with her hands, pulling him back down for another kiss. “She clearly feels at home here.”
“How about you?” he asked, wrapping his arms around her waist and wishing he never had to let her go. “Do you feel at home here too?”
She stepped back, holding his hands. “I love your house, Chase.”
“Really?” He felt like a teenager trying to impress his girlfriend with the first jalopy he’d bought with his own money. “Is it what you expected?”
“It’s you,” she said, grinning as she rolled forward on her toes to steal another kiss. “So it’s perfect.”
“What do you mean it’s me?” He’d gladly make any changes he had to to make it more feminine. Not that Jayda was a high-maintenance girly-girl.
“I just mean that it’s nice, but not over the top.”
“You thought it would be over the top?” He threaded his hand through hers as they walked through the kitchen. He opened a French door that led to the backyard.
“I hoped it wouldn’t be.” She released his hand and put her arm around his waist before waving to their daughter, who poked her head out of the windows of her cedar playhouse. “I didn’t want to believe you’d changed that much.”
His parents had had next to nothing when he was growing up, and because of that, he’d always had a healthy respect for money. He didn’t believe in being wasteful and living a meaningless life of excess. As long as he had the things that made him happy and could take care of the people he loved, he was good.
“I’m not going to be playing baseball forever,” he reminded her. “I thought it would be smart to invest most of the money I make, so I don’t have to worry about making a living once I retire.”
She laughed as she patted his flat stomach. “Babe, I’m pretty sure you’ve already earned more money than Cadence’s kids will spend in their lifetime, but I love that you’ve stayed humble. Your lifestyle reflects that.”
“So you wouldn’t want a bigger house?”
She looked around the private backyard surrounded by mature trees. The house sat on just under an acre and was flanked by si
milar homes. “Why would I want a bigger house? This has plenty of room for us.”
“Did you take a tour?” he asked, winking at her. “There are four bedrooms.”
“Our daughter showed me around when we got here. She’s quite the little tour guide. Maybe she’s got a future in real estate.”
He didn’t want to think about the day when Cadence wouldn’t be his little girl anymore. “She can do whatever makes her happy as far as I’m concerned.”
Jayda released his hand, looking thoughtful. “You really mean that, don’t you?”
“Of course I do.” He gave her a lopsided grin, hoping to pull her out of the retrospective mood she seemed to have lapsed into. “Why? You think I’m the kind of dad who wants to keep his daughter under lock and key until she’s thirty?”
She laughed. “Um… yeah.”
“You might be right about that. But I trust I’ll have you to rein me in?”
Instead of responding, she circled his waist with her arms, tipping her head back to look at him. “That’s all I want for her, you know. Options. The kind of options I never had.”
“You mean because you felt obligated to take care of your family?” From the time he’d started dating Jayda, he’d imagined the day when he would be able to give her the kind of life she’d always deserved. But she’d divorced him before he had the chance.
“That, and you know money was always an issue for us. Just like it was for your family. College didn’t seem like an option, and really, what kind of job could I get in Aurora without a degree? Hell, what kind of job could I get anywhere without a degree? It’s not like there are many options.”
It was the first time Chase had ever really heard Jayda complain about their hometown. “Well, you know you could—”
“Daddy!” Cadence popped her head out of the window of her playhouse and held up a small plastic cup and saucer. “I’m having a tea party for my dolls. Want some?”
“Maybe later, sweetheart,” he said before sending her air kiss. “I want to talk to your mom first.”
Looking amused as he led her toward one of the loungers facing the pool, Jayda asked, “You come to her tea parties?”
“Sure. What kind of father would I be if I turned down my little girl’s invitations?” When Jayda was settled on the lounger, he grabbed a throw from the bottom of another lounger and pulled it over her denim-clad legs. It was October, and while the sun was out, there was a still a nip in the air.
“I’d forgotten how much you like to do that,” she said, watching him claim the lounger beside her.
“Do what?”
“Take care of me.”
It sounded like a compliment, but knowing Jayda’s independent streak was still a mile wide, her comment made him wary. “Is that a good thing?”
“It is.” She linked her hand through his. “I’ve missed having you take care of me.”
“You have?” He was stunned. “Funny, I always thought you hated it when I tried to take care of you.”
“It was the little things that meant the most to me.” She turned on her side to face him. “Like when you’d run a bubble bath for me or bring me a glass of wine after a long day. Or all those times you had dinner waiting for me when I was dead on my feet.”
He loved spoiling her, but those things had never felt like pampering. They just felt like the kind of things any good husband would do for his hard-working wife. “It must be hard doing it all on your own… with Cadence.” He’d offered to pay for a caregiver for their daughter after the divorce, but she’d been dead-set against it, claiming she wouldn’t have another woman raising her child.
“Some times are harder than others, but I don’t have to tell you she’s a great kid. She makes it easier.” She hesitated before looking him in the eye. “Um, I should probably tell you…”
“What is it?” he asked, suddenly uneasy. He couldn’t handle it if she told him she was having second thoughts about them.
“I told Cadence you and I are trying to work things out.” She traced circles on the back of his hand with her thumb. “I hope you’re not mad about that? She started asking a bunch of questions on the plane, and I didn’t want to lie to her.”
“Of course I don’t mind.” He glanced at the playhouse, but Cadence was still inside, no doubt playing hostess to her dolls. “How did she take it?”
“She was excited, naturally. We even talked a little bit about what it might be like for us to move here to be with you.”
“You did?” His heart was pounding at the mere thought of sharing his home with them. “And did she seem to like the idea, or was she worried about leaving her school and her friends?”
“I think more than anything, she just wants her parents back together. What kid doesn’t, right?”
“After seeing how I live, could you imagine yourself living here?” He looked around the big backyard. The pool had been closed for the season and the flowers were no longer in bloom, but he could imagine Jayda and Cadence splashing and playing on a warm summer day.
She laughed. “This is way more than I ever imagined having.”
It still surprised him that the simple life appealed to her. She could have taken him for a small fortune when they divorced. They hadn’t signed a prenup, nor had he even considered asking for one. But she hadn’t wanted anything from him. He’d practically threatened his lawyer with bodily harm when the man tried to suggest Chase was being too generous with child support payments.
“Does that mean you like it?”
“I love it.” She smiled, her green eyes soft and dreamy. “But more importantly, I love you. The house is just a house. What matters is what goes on inside it, don’t you think?”
He looked back at the dark brick structure, thinking he hadn’t lived a lot of life in that house. Without his girls, it had been a place to lay his head, collect his mail, work out, and watch TV. “I miss the sound of voices and laughter. The pitter-patter of little feet. I even miss cold toes pressing against my legs at night.”
She giggled. “I laughed my ass off that day you came home with a pair of sleep socks for me. You said you were tired of having my icicles—”
“I was an idiot for saying that. I was an idiot for a lot of things. Like complaining about all of the little things that didn’t matter. What we had was special, and I just… took it for granted. I thought love like ours happened all the time. It doesn’t.”
“No, it doesn’t.” She bit her lip, meeting his gaze. “But you’re not the only one who took us for granted. I did too.”
“I guess we won’t make that mistake again, huh?”
“I don’t think so.” She smiled. “We’re older and wiser now, right?”
“I’d like to think we are.” He knew he would never make the same mistakes with her. He’d learned his lessons the hard way.
When Cadence popped her head out of the playhouse window to make sure they were still there, Jayda waved with her free hand. “I’m glad I told Cadence about us. It feels right to try to work this out as a family, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, it absolutely feels right.” He took a deep breath, feeling more content than he had in years.
“Shouldn’t you start to get ready for your big game tonight?”
He sat up, resting his legs over the edge of the lounger as he faced her. “That’s all it is to me now, you know. A game. This”—he gestured between them—“this is real life. This is what matters.”
“I’m glad you feel that way. But do me a favor?”
“Anything.”
“Go out there tonight and give it everything you’ve got. I don’t want you to have any more regrets. I love you too much for that. That’s why I want you to win that World Series. Because you want it and you deserve it.”
“Maybe,” he said, tilting his head. “But I’m still not sure what I did to deserve you and Cadence.”
“You’re just you, Chase.”
Chapter Fifteen
The energy in the ballpar
k was electric. Jayda had never experienced anything like it. It was the bottom of the eighth, and the home team was up by a run. It had been a tight game, with both pitchers holding their own while every batter seemed determined to do battle by drawing out the pitch count so they could get to the weaker bullpen as soon as possible.
“God, I can’t take it,” Tenley said, tucking her hands under her legs.
Cadence and Jayda were seated with the other players’ wives and kids. Since she and Chase were back on solid ground, Jayda felt as though she belonged with them, cheering on the men they loved. Cadence was sitting next to one of the outfielder’s daughters, who they’d learned was just a month younger than Cadence. They’d become fast friends, bonding over their favorite TV programs, toys, and famous fathers.
“I know what you mean,” Jayda said, fighting the urge to bite her nails when Chase stepped into the batter’s box. “I’m probably more nervous than he is right now.”
“Chase isn’t nervous,” Tenley said confidently. “This is what he was born to do. They all were. They thrive in these high-pressure situations.”
Tenley was right. Chase had always been more nervous anticipating the game than he’d ever been in the thick of things. No matter how much was at stake, he always kept a clear head, focusing on making the next play or the next at bat.
Jayda held her breath as Chase took the first pitch low and inside. He swung right through the second one, evening things up. The next pitch was also inside, almost grazing his hand. The pitcher was clearly trying to intimidate him, but judging by Chase’s stance, it wasn’t working.
Jayda cursed under her breath when the next pitch hit him in the elbow. “Ouch.”
Chase threw his bat down, obviously in pain as he glared at the pitcher, before jogging to first and handing his gear to the first base coach.
“I’ll never get used to that,” Jayda muttered. “Watching them sacrifice their bodies for the sake of getting on base or saving a run. It looked almost like he was leaning into that one just to get on base.”
Make Up Call (Summer Rush #3) Page 15
