The Changeup (Men of the Show) (21 page)

“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 shoulders 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.”

“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.