Diva In The Dugout (All Is Fair In Love And Baseball)

by Hittle, Arlene

  Hurt momentarily shadowed her green eyes. Then she nodded, opened the door and led the way to her car.

  Hell. He wanted to reassure her—but the minute he touched her, he’d be right back in the space he’d just vacated. It wasn’t somewhere he planned to return until she was ready to join him.

  As Lin drove him to his hotel, Dave studied her profile. Her teeth clenched and her forehead wrinkled as if she were lost in thought. He sighed. “Relax, will you? I’m not going to force you into anything.”

  She was silent for a minute. “You already have.”

  “I have not.” Dave stopped. He had. He’d all but forced her to introduce him to Tara. But that was different. “You know damn well I had every right to meet my daughter.”

  Lin gripped the steering wheel so hard her knuckles turned white. “Don’t remind me.”

  Dave’s patience snapped. “What did I do to make you hate me so much?”

  “I don’t hate you.” Her knuckles got even whiter.

  “Could have fooled me.” He kicked the floorboard. “Why else would you have my child with no intention of ever telling me?”

  She eased the car to the shoulder and put it in “park” before turning to face him. There were lines around her mouth that hadn’t been there moments before and her eyes were dull. Suddenly she looked all of her—

  Disgusted, Dave realized he couldn’t finish the thought because he had no idea how old Lin was. Well, she looked old. Too old. He preferred the barely-legal look he was used to, for sure.

  Her voice cut into his thoughts. “What happened to that fresh start we agreed on?”

  “I have a right to know.”

  Lin sighed. “Maybe you do. But I can’t tell you.”

  “Why the hell not?”

  ****

  Mel stared at the demanding, commanding man who took up too much space in her Civic’s passenger seat. He probably did deserve an explanation, but what was she going to say? “Because I don’t know?”

  That was the God’s honest truth. She’d made the only decision she could with the information she had at the time. Muscles was a partier. Not exactly great father material.

  Now, she wasn’t so sure. Judging by what she’d seen today, she might have been wrong five years ago. One of the dangers of making decisions based on a few hours’ acquaintance, she supposed.

  Time to change the subject, to get Dave’s mind on something else. She wouldn’t have to answer if he forgot the question, right?

  She started to trace his pecs, but he trapped her fingers against his chest. “Lin, don’t.”

  “Don’t? I thought you wanted to—”

  “Not like this.”

  Well, hell. Where was party animal Dave when she needed him? Mel lunged for the button on his jeans. “What’s wrong with this?”

  “Stop.” Dave grabbed her by the upper arms and none-too-gently guided her back to her seat.

  Curse the man for not being easily distracted. She flung herself against the seat. “What do you want from me?”

  His eyebrow shot up. “Let’s start with a straight answer.”

  “You want the truth?” When he nodded, she did the same. “Just remember, you asked for it.”

  “Okay.”

  She took a deep breath. Time wouldn’t make her opinion go down any easier. “You weren’t really father material.”

  He reeled as though she’d physically punched him.

  What the hell? Between the drugs, booze and indiscriminate sex, he shouldn’t be surprised. She was about to remind him of the facts as she knew them when he yanked open the door and jumped out of the car. He stalked down the highway.

  Stunned, Mel waited a few beats before driving after him. When she caught up to him, she rolled down the passenger window. “What are you doing?”

  “I needed some air.” He didn’t look at her, just kept on walking.

  Ridiculous man. She couldn’t let him walk the remaining ten miles to the Holiday Inn. She stomped on the brake and the Civic thudded to a stop. “Get back in the car.”

  “Why? So you can assassinate my character some more?”

  Mel wrinkled her nose. “Am I wrong?”

  He clenched and unclenched his fists, then sighed. “I guess not.” With that, he folded himself back into the car and fixed her with intense hazel eyes. “But I’m not that guy anymore. Give me a chance to prove you wrong.”

  She closed her eyes. Did she dare? Letting Muscles into Tara’s life opened her—both of them—up for disappointment.

  But not giving him the chance wasn’t an option. The grown-up she’d met this weekend deserved that much.

  Mel reopened her eyes and focused on Dave. “Okay. Just mind you don’t hurt my daughter.”

  “Don’t you mean our daughter?”

  She inclined her head. “Our daughter. So help me, if you hurt her—”

  “Don’t worry. I won’t.”

  “If you do, I’ll never forgive you.”

  Dave chuckled softly. “Forever’s a mighty long time.”

  “Not long enough if you do anything to hurt Tara.”

  He covered her knee with his hand and gave it a squeeze. “That’s the last thing I’d do.”

  Chapter Six

  Dave hustled up the steps of the team bus after a quick stop at the newspaper rack for the issue carrying his former teammate’s column. If he didn’t have a distraction to kill time on the way to Albuquerque, he’d spend hours thinking about Lin and Tara. With the Condors’ schedule, he wouldn’t be able to get back to Texas for nearly two weeks. What if Tara forgot him by then?

  He shook his head and slid into the seat next to Matt.

  “’Morning,” Matt mumbled, holding out a cup of coffee. “I got us Starbucks.”

  Dave accepted the familiar green-and-white cup. “Thanks. Something has to make this morning look up.”

  “I heard you come in after one. Did you get any sleep at all?”

  “A little,” he lied. Between trying to forgive Lin for her damning comments and trying to forgive himself for leaving Tara so soon after finding her, he hadn’t slept a lick.

  And still he couldn’t shut down his brain. Sleep wasn’t an option, so he pulled out the sports section and turned to page two, where Ted’s “Baseball Beat” column always ran at the top of the page. Except this morning, it wasn’t there.

  He barely had time to wonder what had happened to “Baseball Beat” before Matt groaned. He turned and jumped out of his seat so his green-faced buddy had a clear path to the bathroom.

  “I’m fine.” Matt’s sickly smile proved he was anything but, “your day, however, is about to go from bad to worse.”

  “Can’t get much worse than leaving my little girl to wonder if I’m ever coming back,” he grumbled, still thinking of how her face scrunched up while she tried to “rememberize” him.

  When Matt pulled the newspaper from his hand and flipped it over to the back page, he saw his buddy’s point. A picture of himself slinking out of the women’s bathroom at Pizza Palace with Tara a few steps ahead, took up most of the page. Above it, a boldfaced headline screamed “BAD DAD.”

  His stomach heaved. “Shit.”

  “That about covers it.” Matt stared at his hands. “Sorry, man. If I’d thought Ted would do a hatchet job, I wouldn’t have suggested calling him.”

  Dave devoured the story accompanying that damning photo and barely heard Matt’s apology.

  “Baseball Beat has it on very good authority that Condors shortstop Dave Reynolds has been a bad, bad boy. His penchant for sleeping around has finally caught up with him. He was at a Texas pizza establishment last weekend with a young girl he thinks is his daughter and her busty blond mamma, a gal who this columnist remembers quite well couldn’t keep her hands off…ahem…Little Dave.

  “No word yet on the identity of the little cutie or her mother, but rest assured Baseball Beat will get to the bottom of that mystery. Until then, here’s a parenting tip to keep Reynolds
out of the bad dad Hall of Shame: one should not follow one’s daughter into the ladies’ room.”

  His stomach heaved again. “Why didn’t I listen to my gut about leaking the story?”

  “You couldn’t have anticipated he’d twist it like this.” Matt grimaced and clapped his shoulder.

  “Should’ve.” Dave crumpled the paper in his fist. “Ted always saw me as the reason he couldn’t get enough tail.”

  Matt snorted. “And all these years I thought his shitty personality kept him from picking up baseball bunnies.”

  In no mood to laugh, Dave glowered at the gray-upholstered headrest in front of him. “Now my rep is worse than ever.”

  ****

  Without even opening her eyes, Mel groped on the nightstand to answer her ringing cell phone. “’Lo?”

  “Mel, what the hell have you gotten yourself into this time?”

  The harsh question from her older brother, Peter, made her bolt upright. She tightened her grip on the phone. Why was Peter calling her at—she squinted at the digital clock across the room—six-thirty in the morning? “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”

  “‘I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.’” His voice jumped two octaves as he mimicked her. “Does that mean you haven’t seen today’s Dallas Morning News?”

  “’Course not. I don’t read in my sleep.” She swiped a hand over her eyes, hoping Peter’s early-morning call was nothing but a bad dream. Her brother, who was also Daddy’s campaign manager, only spoke to her to castigate her for something he thought she’d done to tarnish their father’s image.

  “Shall I send you a copy?”

  “Whatever.” She had no doubt his finger already hovered over the “send” button. She pushed herself out of bed and paced the floor as she waited for the chime that’d tell her she had new mail. When it came, she opened the message to see what her brother was hot and bothered about now.

  A photo blinked into focus—Dave, dazed and confused as he trailed Tara through Pizza Palace.

  “No-o-o-o.” Bile rose in her throat. She swallowed it back and squeezed her eyes shut. Maybe the awful picture would be gone when she opened them.

  She cracked one eye open, then the other. No such luck. Dave was still on the phone’s small screen, taunting her with their shared past.

  “Oh, yes.”

  Peter’s harsh tone rasped against her last nerve, so she resorted to cracking a joke, her coping mechanism of choice. She used her best breezy voice. “Cheer up, Pete. It could be worse.”

  “I fail to see how.”

  “This time he has his clothes on.”

  Her brother let loose a string of curses. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Mel took a deep breath. He’d find out eventually. Might as well get it over with. “Go ahead and Google Dave Reynolds.”

  She heard him tapping a series of keys. Then he roared, “Christ almighty, Mel! This dumbass is Tara’s father?”

  “He’s not so bad once you get to know him.” She might be livid with Dave for letting someone snap a picture of him with Tara, but she still felt compelled to defend him, mainly so Peter didn’t have another chance tell her what a screw-up she was.

  Her brother either disagreed or didn’t hear her over another litany of curses. “The election is less than four months away. Why’d you have to stir up this hornet’s nest now, of all times?”

  “You think I did this on purpose?” Of course Peter thought she wanted to sabotage their father’s campaign…again. He always thought the worst of her. She suspected it was jealousy. Twelve years older, he never forgave her for coming along and stealing part of their parents’ affection.

  “I think you have an uncanny ability to screw things up when Father’s on the campaign trail.”

  Hot tears spilled down her cheeks as shame and regret bubbled back to the surface. No way would she give her smug, self-righteous brother the satisfaction of letting him think he was right. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

  “Then why now?”

  She pulled herself together. “He saw Tara at Friday night’s game in Amarillo and put two and two together.”

  “Doesn’t look like he has enough brains to come up with four.”

  Hadn’t she thought the same thing? A smile teased at the corners of her mouth, chasing away the rest of the tears. “Well, he did. And once I knew who he was, I couldn’t rightly deny his request to meet Tara.”

  “Yeah, you could.”

  “I couldn’t.” She had to remain firm on that point. If Peter thought she’d been coerced into doing something against her will, Dave would have hell to pay. And no matter how angry she was with him at the moment, she wouldn’t sic her asshole brother on him.

  “Your lack of judgment never fails to astound me, Mel,” Peter snapped. “You’d have been perfectly justified in getting a restraining order to keep a guy with that kind of reputation away from your daughter.”

  “She’s his daughter, too!” The half-hearted protest developed a strong heartbeat as she remembered how sweet and loving Dave had been with Tara, the exact opposite of his party animal rep. Anger, guilt and sadness churned together in her stomach, creating a solid mass of confusion. Who was Dave Reynolds anyway? “What do you suggest we do?”

  Her brother’s voice was low, menacing. “You created this mess. Make it go away…or I will.”

  As usual, Peter was a prick. Before she had time to come up with an appropriate response, he added a parting shot. “And this time, keep your panties on.”

  She disconnected the call. “Asshole.”

  She sank back onto the mattress and buried her face in her hands. Now that she knew how much Tara needed her father, she couldn’t—wouldn’t—shut Dave out of her life anymore.

  The question now became how could she make the scandal go away? How could she keep the entire town of Brannen from finding out Tara’s father was one of baseball’s biggest bad boys?

  Maybe Dave would have some ideas. She tiptoed past Tara’s room to the kitchen to warm last night’s coffee. Then she slipped onto the back porch to call him. “He has to be used to handling the press.”

  ****

  The buzz of Dave’s cell phone jolted him from a state of half-sleep. He jerked upright in the bus seat and checked the caller ID. Yep, it was Lin. He’d been expecting her to call just as soon as she got wind of Ted’s column.

  “Good morning, babe.”

  “I’m not your babe,” she shot back.

  Oh joy. Her mood rivaled his. “Sorry, Lin.”

  “My name’s not Lin, either,” she informed him coolly. “It’s Melinda. Mel for short. M-e-l. If you think you’ve earned the right to be so familiar.”

  He tightened his grip on the phone until he worried it might snap in two. Hard to believe, but her mood might actually be worse. “Okay, but it’ll take me some time to get used to that. I’ve been thinking of you as Lin all these years.”

  This time, she sniffed. The haughty sound was out of place coming from someone as down-to-earth as Lin…Mel. It was the sniff of a bored rich bitch with more money than sense. “I doubt you’ve been thinking of me at all.”

  He remained silent, unwilling to disabuse her of that notion. She could think whatever she wanted. She would anyway. He settled instead for an observation. “You’re in fine form.”

  “What mood did you expect me to be in once I saw my little girl’s picture plastered all over kingdom come with her ‘Bad Dad’?”

  “One just about like this,” he muttered under his breath. Another sniff told him she’d heard every word. “Look, I didn’t ask for that kind of publicity. I’m more pissed about it than you are.”

  “Oh, I doubt that.”

  Was that a smile he heard in her voice? He sure hoped so. He’d much rather laugh and joke with her than argue. “I am. I’m trying to rehabilitate my reputation, not trash it further.”

  The chill was back, stronger than before. “If you think you
can use Tara to make yourself look better, think again.”

  Dave groaned, rose to his feet and started pacing the aisle. “That’s not what I meant, Li—Mel.”

  “Good, because it’ll be a cold day in hell before I let you use my daughter.”

  “Our daughter,” he corrected absently as he hopped over a teammate’s gear encroaching on the aisle.

  Her pent-up breath whooshed into his ear. “I can’t figure you out, Dave.”

  “What’s there to figure? I’m Tara’s dad, and now that I’ve found her, I’m not going anywhere.”

  “That’s what I can’t figure. By all accounts, you’re terrible father material.” She made a strangled sound that was half sigh, half giggle. “But I’ve seen you with Tara, and you’re just about the best daddy she could hope for.”

  “I’m going to learn, Mel. It might take some time, but I promise you I’ll be the best father I can be.”

  She blew out another breath. “Okay. Just don’t get yourself mentioned in any more ‘Baseball Beat’ columns.”

  He tensed. “That’s easier said than done. You saw the story. Ted won’t stop until he identifies you and Tara.”

  Frosty returned. “Then maybe you should man up and figure out how to stop him.”

  “Fine.” There was only one surefire way to shut down the rumors. “I’ll set up an interview with Ted for the two of us.”

  “No way!”

  “Why not? If we go to him, we control the flow of information.” He lowered his voice in case his teammates were eavesdropping. A safe bet. “Hard telling what Ted’ll dig up…on both of us.”

  For the longest time, she didn’t say anything. “There are more skeletons in your closet than mine.”

  He cringed. “I’ve done plenty I’m not proud of. But that’s the past. The future is what matters now. Our future.”

  “Just as long as our future doesn’t include you displaying Tara as a testament to the new leaf you’ve turned over.”

  “Okay, I’ll try to stonewall Ted.” Guiltily, he wondered if exploiting his little girl had been his intent when he suggested the interview.

  Nah. Today’s column had cured him of thinking his newfound family would polish his rep. He’d learned that lesson, like most in his life, the hard way.