by Mertz, L.
Kelsey
Why did I just lock the door? I know Johnathan won’t hurt me, but in a small way it makes me feel a little safer. Turning to look in the mirror I’m shocked at what I find. I look like crap! Oh my God. Yesterday was… well a day I’d like to forget immediately but probably won’t for a long time. To say I was a little disoriented to wake up on the floor wrapped up against a man I had warned myself away from but who became my savior is an understatement. I thought I was going to die last night. But Johnathan came in and rescued me. I don’t know how I’m going to be able to thank him. I look away from the mirror and start the water for the shower. Taking off the clothes I had worn to bed; the only clothes I currently own. I step into the shower. Just standing there and letting the warm water beat down my head, neck, and back I start to relax slightly. So much happened yesterday, all the meetings and phone calls not to mention the impromptu meeting in the clubhouse with the team.
My head hurts just thinking about yesterday. I locate the soap and shampoo and wash my body and hair. Once I do my final rinse I sit on the floor of the shower and cry. I need to get this all out of my system so I can be strong for everyone. I know what happened last night was bad, but I need to get back to work and not let one thing change my whole outlook on life. I need to see if my grandfather is up for talking today. I can’t be in the spotlight and run the ball club. I just can’t do it. The water starts to run cold and I turn it off. I find a towel hanging on a hook on the wall and grab it instantly smelling the soap mixed with the smell of Johnathan. Inhaling the scent I wrap the towel around myself and walk out into the bedroom I find a pair of sweats, boxer briefs and a t-shirt to wear. I dry off fully and then throw the clothes on. I find a brush and try to brush out my unruly hair and admit defeat when the brush keeps getting stuck.
I find Johnathan in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee. “Don’t you have to be at the park soon?”
“I called out,” he answers, handing me a mug.
“You can’t keep doing this.”
He sets down his cup of coffee and walks closer to me backing me up against the opposite counter. “I can and will do whatever I want when it comes to you. You’re mine no matter what you tell yourself. I will always put you before my career.”
“But what about your life and your little girl.”
“Kelsey, I could give this all up—” he lifts his hands gesturing to the condo “—And move back home to Texas and I would knowing that you are safe and knowing that my daughter is safe too. This isn’t just about you. It’s about us. All of us. You’re family and mine. We have to figure something out. You need to be protected and I can’t always be there for you.” He stops and brushes his hand through his hair catching his breath. “Where was your bodyguard anyway? Why didn’t he bring you home?”
“I told him to stay and that I didn’t need him.” Defeated I set my cup down and start to walk toward the couch in the living room. I need space and time and air. I can’t breathe with him hovering over me.
“Kelsey.” He’s right behind me. I shiver as he runs his hands down my arms trying to comfort me, but I can’t have him do that. Not right now. Possibly not ever again.
“Stop. Please. Just take me to my grandparent’s house.” He does as I ask and moves back toward his bedroom and I stand there looking out over the city.
“Let’s go,” he says, walking toward the door. He’s put on a backwards baseball cap and a pair of aviator sunglasses trying to hide his face. I wish I still had my sunglasses but they were destroyed yesterday too. I follow him to the elevator and then to his truck. We don’t talk and there’s this uncomfortable tension between us. I don’t like it but I don’t know how to change it either. I have a lot of decisions to make and not a lot of time to do it in.
Before I realize we are at my grandparents’ home. It’s really more of an estate when it comes to the size of the house. It may be big but it’s very comforting inside and homey. My grandmother is at the door, waiting. I practically run to her and hug her tightly to me and me to her. I feel myself start to cry at all the emotions that are coming through my body. She squeezes me one final time and turns with her arm still around my waist walking me into the house. I feel Johnathan come in behind us.
“Butch is with his physical therapist if you’d like to go down and see him.” My grandmother tells him. He nods and heads down the hall in search of my grandfather. We walk upstairs to my room and she pulls out some clothes that I’ve left here overtime and hands them to me telling me to go change and to meet her in the kitchen when I’m done. I change into a pair of jean shorts and a fitted t-shirt and I find a brush that finally tames my hair. Putting it up in a loose braid, I find myself thinking about everything again. I know that I can’t go back to my condo, but I wonder if I can stay here for a little while. There’s more than enough room and I’m sure that my grandparents won’t mind.
I head to the kitchen and find my grandmother pouring us both a cup of tea and then adding a shot of honey whiskey. I smile at her as she hands me the warm mug. It’s hot outside but this is just the thing I need right now. I blow on the liquid to cool it off some then take a sip letting the warmth wrap me up like a nice thick wool sweater.
“I want you to stay with us, Kelsey. The city isn’t safe for you anymore.”
I start to tear up loving how much my grandmother loves me and wants to protect me, unlike my own mother. “Thanks, Grandmother. I appreciate that.” We sit and talk about yesterday. I’m so tired of talking about it that I want to scream, but I know she wants to know how I’m doing. I hear someone walking down the hall after we’ve decided that we should go shopping tomorrow and get me some new clothes and other necessities. I turn and look seeing my grandfather standing with a cane and Johnathan right behind him. I haven’t seen him since his stroke but he looks good. I go over and hug him tightly to me.
“You’re looking good,” I say as I step back.
“And you look just as beautiful as always. Doesn’t she, Myers?”
“Yes, sir, she does,” Johnathan says not taking his eyes off me.
“So what do I owe the pleasure of having you two here today?”
“Well…” Johnathan and I say at the same time.
“The condo above Kelsey’s had a leak and well… you know construction and all that. So she’ll be staying with us for a while, isn’t that right?” My grandmother swoops in and saves us. Johnathan and I let out collective sighs. “Come on, Butch, let’s turn the game on and watch with the kids. I can order a pizza.” Evelyn ushers my grandfather away and towards the living room.
“I’ll order the pizza, Grandmother!” I yell down the hall.
“Okay, dear.”
I walk back into the kitchen and find the local pizza menu and call in the order. They tell me it will be delivered in about an hour. I turn and find Johnathan leaning up against the counter with his arms crossed.
“I don’t like lying to Butch.”
“Me either, but it’s probably for the best while he’s still rehabbing.”
“Yeah I guess so.” I start chewing on my lip feeling nervous suddenly. “You don’t have to stay you know.”
“Yeah I know but I want too.” He walks over to me almost like he did this morning but the energy bouncing off of him is more intense. I’m breathing harder than I should but I can’t seem to relax. He takes his hand wrapping it around my braid. “This is cute.” He’s eyes flash something but before I can react his mouth is on mine.
Johnathan
I don’t know what I’m thinking but when she starting biting her lip I just had to have her. Kissing her is like hitting a home run in the final inning with two on at a full count. Amazing is the only real word I can use to describe it. And after not kissing her for weeks it’s even better than that. She freezes as soon as our lips touch but then she softens herself and wraps her arms around my neck. Opening her mouth to me, I slip my tongue in kissing her for all that it’s worth. I tug the elastic from her hai
r loosening the braid and run my fingers through the back of her head, pulling her closer to me. I want to feel her under me with nothing on like we used to do before life got complicated.
I pull back from her lips and make my way down her neck. I kiss her pulse point on her neck and she moans slightly. I make my way down the column of her throat but stop when I hear footsteps coming from the hallway. I jump back from Kelsey like she’s shocked me missing the warmth of her body immediately. I stare down at the floor as her grandmother walks in and heads straight for the cabinet to grab a glass filling it with ice and then taking it back out. But before she leaves she asks, “Was the pizza ordered?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Kelsey replies.
“Okay then.” With a wave of her hand she leaves but not before saying, “Carry on, you two. I might be old but I’m not deaf or dead yet.” Then she walks out. I start smiling at what Evelyn said looking back at Kelsey. Her skin is flush and her hair is in disarray from my hands running through it. She clearly knows what we were doing.
“Kelsey,” I start to say but she puts her hand up stopping any further words to come from my mouth.
“It’s okay, Johnathan. I’m just confused right now so we can’t do that again.” I understand what she’s trying to tell me but I can’t let her keep pushing me away.
“Kelsey, I told you that I’d wait for you. And last night was a wakeup call for me. I could’ve lost you. We all could’ve lost you. I won’t let you push me away anymore. I love you and I haven’t stopped loving you.”
I can see tears pooling in her eyes, but the doorbell rings. So much for taking an hour. I open the door for the pizza delivery guy and thank God he doesn’t recognize me. I pay him and he leaves. When I return to the kitchen I find Kelsey gathering plates and napkins. We both walk to the living room and find her grandparents sitting on the couch together watching the pregame show.
“Centerfielder Johnathan Myers is not on the roster again today. This seems to be a trend with him. Is he hurt or too tied up in acting owner Kelsey Smyth’s bed?” The announcer laughs after that cheap shot. I put the pizza on the huge coffee table that could really be a dining room table in my condo and take the plates from Kelsey as she goes to sit in the reclining chair. We all eat pizza and watch the game together. One of our bench players takes my spot on the roster today and plays really well. I hope we can keep him for next season.
Neither Butch nor Evelyn makes a comment about me not playing today, Evelyn knows why I’m not but Butch has no idea. I hate keeping a secret from him. He’s like a surrogate father to me since I’ve been with the team. He told me while he was doing this therapy that he’s happy that I’m seeing Kelsey and that we have his blessing no matter what other people say or think. This made me smile and gave me the courage to keep pressing on with my relationship with his granddaughter. At the end of the game the news comes on, reaching out I grab the empty pizza boxes and the dirty plates carrying everything back into the kitchen. I’m throwing the box away when I feel a pair of small arms wrap around my waist. I know it’s her.
“Hey, I’m going to stay here tonight and tomorrow Grandmother and I are going shopping so I won’t be at the park and I’m probably going to take the rest of the week off anyway. I want to talk to my grandfather about my position in the club while I’m here also.” She says to my back. I stand and listen to her talk thinking that I want to help her heal and be there for her when she talks to Butch.
“Kelsey. I’m going to head home then.” I turn in her arms and hug her tightly to my chest. I don’t want to let her go but I know I have to, for her I have to. I leave the Smyth house and head back into the city to my home. While there I call my mother and tell her what has been going on. She is scared for me and for Kelsey but she knows that I have to stay here. Annabelle is safe with my mother far away in Texas. I promise to call her the next day before my game so I can talk to Annabelle. After I hang up I try to make myself focus on my ball game and put that in front of everyone and everything else. But my mind and heart constantly goes back to Kelsey.
Game 135
Johnathan
It’s the first game of the last month of the season for most of the teams. This game is just grueling; Warriors are trailing nine to three. In the top of the seventh we were leading three to nothing, but that all changed when the Pirates loaded up the bases and scored four runs. I don’t know what our team was doing or thinking, but it wasn’t about winning a baseball game. I know that I’m to blame for some of the reason we lost but I can’t take all the blame. Our hearts weren’t in this game and I don’t know why. Maybe they miss Butch or something, but we can’t keep playing like this and still make it to October.
When the game is finally over, we’ve been defeated by one of the worst ball clubs in the league. Making my way down the tunnel to the clubhouse I see a few reporters standing around wanting to ask questions. Everyone heads for their locker to start changing so we can leave for the night.
“Keep your pants on,” the skipper yells. “We have a special guest.” I can only think that it’s Kelsey or some other female. I don’t know who else would come down here that we’d have to stay dressed for. The doors open and it is Kelsey and on her arm is Butch.
“Oh shit,” I hear one of the guys say. I don’t know if it’s in reference to what Kelsey is wearing; which is a pair of skinny jeans and a sweatshirt that is hanging off her one creamy shoulder or Butch being in the locker room. Her hair is pulled up in a loose braid hanging to one side and she looks beautiful. Butch is looking good too. That physical therapy is helping him a lot. He is carrying his cane but it doesn’t look like he’s actually using it. They walk into the center of the clubhouse with the whole team surrounding them.
Butch
Since Kelsey has been staying at my house for the past few days we’ve been talking about everything. Her relationship with her mother, and with Johnathan, and even the relationship with the boys. Brent has been doing everything he can to keep them in line but they still aren’t listening to Kelsey. I knew throwing her to the wolves so to speak was wrong, but I’m not getting any younger and I just knew that my tough little girl could handle it. She’s lived and breathed baseball. It’s in her blood. But there’s the problem. I’ve treated her as a little girl, my little girl, all her life and that’s how the big boys in the other ball clubs see her too. They don’t see her as the strong young woman she has grown up to be and I have to change that. First with my own team and then I can talk to all the other owners and general managers.
That’s why I’m here, right now, standing tall against these young guys with Kelsey on my arm. “Gentlemen, when I turned over the reins to Kelsey earlier this year each and every one of you promised that you would hold her with the same respect and honor that you do me. From what I understand that has not been happening. Every one of you has let me down. I get it. I really do. I come from a time when women were not given the same jobs as men because they were the ‘weaker sex’, but let me tell you. This girl—” I point at my granddaughter “—this girl right here has more passion and heart for the game than everyone that fills our stadium seats. Her best interests for you don’t only benefit her but they benefit the sport and the team as a whole.”
I have to stop and get my bearings. My body isn’t what it used to be. That’s why I had to make what some have called rash decision to make Kelsey a co-owner of the Washington Warriors. “Sometimes you have to inject some young blood into an organization. It could happen when older player retire and younger ones come in. The same thing goes with coaches, and managers, but sometimes it’s the owners that need to be replaced with young blood. I’ve been the owner of the Warriors for fifteen years now. My family and I have been running this ball club and if Kelsey is to tell me ‘No’ right now, I will sell it to another party and they can see fit to do with this team as they want. So now I will ask her in front of all of you.” I turn to Kelsey.
“Do you want to be the owner of this ball club and ru
n it with the passion and heart of a Smyth or do you want me to sell it at the end of the season?” I ask, looking her in the eyes. I see a thousand different emotions pass through them, but I know in my heart she will make the decision that is best for her not what’s best for anyone else.
Kelsey
“Oh shit,” I say to myself. I didn’t think he was going to do this to me again. We’ve talked all week. I even told him about the stalker and the break-in. The police actually came to the house a few days ago and told me that the guy didn’t make it through surgery and died while he was being operated on. They showed me a picture of him and instantly I recognized him as the guy Lauren brought home that I had to kick out. He must have taken her key because she lost it and I had to get a replacement one for her. I didn’t know how we could be so stupid, and not just change the locks then. It does explain how he got into the building now to hand deliver the packages.
Mom actually came through for me and was able to keep Johnathan’s name out of the press especially since he had to use a gun to protect me. We’re still working on the, actually-liking-Johnathan-for-himself-and-not-hold-the-fact-that-he’s-a-baseball-player-against-him thing. I hear a cough pull me from my thoughts. I blink a few times and remember that I’m standing in the locker room surrounded by big, strong, baseball players. And my grandfather asked me a question.
“Kelsey, dear. Are you going to give the guys an answer?” my grandfather prods me.
“Oh right, sorry,” I give him a weak smile. “Well like he said this sport is in my blood and this team is like a family. It’s really an extension of my own personal family. You all are the cousins I’ve never had. So when this opportunity was first brought to me was I shocked, yes, but I knew that my family would support me. I was wrong, so very wrong. Not all of you put not only your best interest first but you also didn’t put mine first. That being said,” I pause suddenly looking for the dramatic flair to take over. “I do want to be the owner of the Washington Warriors. It would be my honor and pleasure to own this team and take them to the World Series in October.”
