All Your Loving (Bachelors & Bridesmaids) (7 page)

"You know," he said carefully. "There are usually two sides to every divorce."

Her lips tightened. "And you're trying to suggest I don't know my father's side?"

"You just said you haven't seen him since you were a teenager. I'm guessing you haven't talked to him much, either."

"I didn't need to hear his side, Matt. I had a front row seat to his life. And even before the divorce, he wasn't around that much. My parents fought for a long time, and every fight ended with him leaving, because he had a game to go to. He always said, 'I can't do this right now'. But a better time never seemed to materialize. So yes, I took my mom's side in the divorce. How could I not? He didn't just leave my mom; he cheated on her. And it wasn't just once."

"It sounds like they were unhappy for a while."

"Because he put baseball before everything else."

"Can you really blame it all on baseball?"

"It was my father's whole life, Matt. Just as I'm sure it's your whole life."

"I have time for family," he protested.

"Then you're a better man than my dad."

"How long were your parents together?"

"A long time. They met when they were eighteen. My mom supported my father through years in the minors. And when it came to the family, the house, she did everything. He wasn't there in the middle of the night when I got sick, but she was. And when he needed her, she was there for him, too. What did she get for her loyalty? Nothing." She let out a breath. "I can still here the dismissive tone in his voice when he said there was nothing to do but get a divorce, as if it wasn't his fault that he didn't love her anymore. You know Jack Michaels the hero; you don't know the man."

She had a point. "I don't know what Jack was like as a husband or a father, but I do know what he was like as a teammate, as a mentor."

"You should stop there, Matt. You're not going to change my mind about him. I don't care that he was nice to you or the other ballplayers. That's great for all of you, but my experience was different." She set her wine glass down. "I should go."

"We can change the subject."

"Can we?" she asked with a sigh. "With you, it's always going to come back to baseball. You live a life that I have no interest in knowing about. I don't really know why I'm even here. Do you?"

Chapter Five

"That's harsh," he said, her words cutting to the bone.

"I'm being honest, Matt."

"Then let me be honest, too. There's a spark between us. I felt it when we kissed yesterday; I think you did, too."

Her eyes brightened at his words. "Even if that were true, and I'm not saying it is, it doesn't matter. I could never date a baseball player."

"You do know that bad husband/father behavior isn't just for ballplayers, right? If your father was an accountant, would you paint all accountants as losers?"

"I doubt my father would have had as many opportunities to cheat if he were an accountant, and don't pretend you haven't seen your fellow ballplayers cheat on their girlfriends or wives."

"I've seen guys cheat, but they weren't all ballplayers. That's my point."

"So your point is that all guys cheat," she countered.

"You're twisting my words."

"Am I?"

He let out a sigh. "So what would it take for a man to convince you he's trustworthy?"

"I honestly don't know. Maybe I'll just end up alone with a couple of cats. Actually, I don't really like cats, so let's make that a dog." She blew out a sigh. "
I know you think I'm a head case, and maybe I am. I actually haven't talked this much about my father or my past in years. It's just you and your profession that brought it all up."

"So the guys you've been going out with have no clue just how high a bar they have to reach?"

"I wouldn't say there have been a lot of guys."

"But some…"

"I did go out with an interesting man last week, and we have a second date set up. He runs a non-profit in Marin County."

"A do-gooder like yourself. Sounds like just the right guy."

"I do good, but I am not a do-gooder," she protested. "Or if I am, so what? Why is that a bad thing?"

"It's not bad. It's just frustrating to be judged by your career, isn't it? You don't like being called a do-gooder, just like I don't appreciate being painted as a cheater who doesn't know how to treat a woman or how to be faithful."

"Have you ever cheated, Matt?"

"No," he said flatly.

She stared back at him. "You've never been tempted?"

"If I were dating a woman and I was tempted by someone else, I'd break things off."

"You didn't answer my question though. I asked if you'd ever been tempted."

He thought for a moment. "That would be a no."

"Have you been in a serious relationship recently?"

"That would also be a no."

"Well, maybe that's why you haven't been tempted. You haven't committed to anyone, so it doesn't matter what you do."

"I take commitment seriously. I don't make one unless I can back it up. What about you, Julie?"

"I feel the same way," she returned. "And I'm very committed to my work. I need to make things happen in my career as much as you need to have another great season. I don't have a family to support, but I do have to take care of myself. I don't ever want to end up like my mother. She didn't work the whole time my parents were together and then she ended up not knowing how to do anything, needing him to give her support just so she could survive. That's never going to be me."

"Where does your mom live now?" he asked curiously.

"Sunnyvale."

"How is she doing?"

"She's fine. She actually remarried three months ago. He's a psychologist, which is probably good, because she has even more baggage than I do."

He smiled, appreciating the fact that Julie could acknowledge that her feelings were a little off base. "Do you like him?"

"I do. I don't know him that well. He's kind of quiet, and he often seems to be watching me, analyzing me, but I give him credit for never offering his opinion. He seems to treat my mother well, and that's what really matters. She's happy, and to be honest, I wasn't sure she ever would be."

"Interesting," he said. "So your mom got over her anger and bitterness against men to marry again."

"Or she's just making another mistake, and it's too soon to know. They haven't been together very long."

"You're really a glass-half-empty kind of woman, aren't you?"

She made a face at him. "Only when it comes to love and professional athletes. I'm pretty optimistic in other parts of my life."

"That remains to be seen."

"You don't have to see anything. We're just ships passing in the night."

"We're going to be in the same hemisphere for at least the next ten days," he countered.

"I do appreciate your supporting the cook-off, Matt. I'm sure you'd rather have your focus completely on baseball, but your efforts will help a lot of people, I can promise you that. The Foundation does really excellent work. It takes very little money for overhead. The majority of funds go to the actual programs that we support."

"Sounds like you don't have a big salary."

"No, I definitely do not have that, but I do get a lot of satisfaction from my work."

He liked that she was passionate about her job. He'd always found women who had something else going on in their lives to be the most interesting. "Did you always want to work for a non-profit?"

"No. Like most people, I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. I was an English major in college. I liked to read and write, but I didn't think I could make a living with that. When I got out of college, I saw an ad for a promo assistant at a non-profit, and I was lucky enough to get it. The pay was terrible. The hours were long, but the people were great. I learned a lot, and I started to realize how rewarding it was to actually work towards something that would make someone else's life easier. So I guess you could say I kind of fell into it. Now I love the job, but it's not easy. There are a lot of nonprofits competing for the same dollars, and I've never been great at wrangling money."

"Just reluctant ballplayers," he teased.

She smiled. "I have been somewhat successful at getting celebrities, but that’s because I shamelessly use my connections. I've also gotten really lucky in the last year because two of my friends have fallen in love with some very well connected men. Michael Stafford, who I mentioned earlier, has helped me get some football players for our upcoming telethon. And my friend Andrea just married Alex Donovan. I don't know if you've heard of him—"

"I know Alex. He's a huge baseball fan. He's been my guest at the park a few times. Why isn't he cooking at your event?"

"He's already participated in a couple of other fundraisers and he has his own foundation to run, so I try not to overstep with too many requests. Alex and Michael have both bought tickets for the event, so you'll see them there."

"And hopefully I won't poison anyone."

"I feel pretty good, so I'm confident your entry will be well received by the judges."

"You helped me a lot," he reminded her. "Am I going to get the same help at the event?"

"No. I will have a ton of things to do that night, so you might want to make the dish again before then." She paused, glancing down at her watch. "I should go. I have a walkathon meeting early tomorrow."

"When is the walkathon?"

"In two weeks. We have a lot of events and not enough staff to run them all."

"I'm beginning to see that."

She got to her feet. "This was more fun than I expected."

He laughed. "I guess I'll take that as a compliment." He walked her to the door. "Thanks again, Julie. I do appreciate the time you gave me tonight. In fact, I'd like to take you out to dinner to repay you."

She hesitated. "I'm sorry but I can't."

"You're really turning me down?" Despite her honest admission that she didn't care for baseball players, he was still shocked that she'd said no.

"First time?" she teased.

"In a while," he admitted.

"I already have a date for tomorrow."

"With environmental guy?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"What about Sunday?"

"Sunday night I'm taking a hip-hop dancing class at my friend Isabella's studio. If you want to join me for the class, we could get some food afterwards."

He stared at her in disbelief. "You want me to do hip-hop dancing with you? Seriously?"

She laughed. "It's a great workout, good for coordination, balance, sweating out the toxins, and it's fun. You wouldn't be the only guy there, in case you're worried."

"I'm never worried about being the only guy anywhere," he retorted.

"Then what do you say?"

"What time should I pick you up?"

"I could meet you there."

"Let's go together. Text me your address."

"All right."

He followed her to the front door. She opened it, then paused. "What you said before about me was true—I am a lot of work, Matt. I'm sure you could find plenty of women who are a lot easier to be around."

He knew he could. But he'd done easy. And difficult was far more interesting. "I'll see you Sunday."

* * *

After suffering through a rather boring Saturday evening date, Julie had woken up Sunday morning with Matt on her mind. Actually, he'd been on her mind since the first moment they'd met, since he'd impulsively kissed her in the parking lot and then charmed her the next evening with stories about his family.

There was certainly more to him than she'd first thought, and she was excited and a little nervous to see him again, even though she was absolutely certain that going out with him was a bad idea. She pulled a lightweight jacket over her tank top and leggings and checked her front window for his car. There was no sign of the bright red Ferrari. She let the curtain fall and paced around her living room, trying to burn off some restless energy.

She needed to figure out how to handle Matt—or more importantly how to handle herself.

She'd wanted to feel sparks for Eric, the very nice guy she'd gone out with the night before. But their second date hadn't gone as well as their first, and that was Matt's fault. Matt, with his bigger-than-life personality, his wicked green eyes and sexy smile had made Eric pale in comparison. Eric was attractive, but he wasn't in Matt's league. And why would he be? He sat behind a desk most days and his pale skin probably burned if he got into the sun. But Eric was responsible, committed to his cause of protecting the environment. He cared about making the world a better place, and he was exactly the kind of man she should like.

She obviously had too much of her mother in her. Instead of making the sensible choice, she was being tempted by a man who could easily break her heart.

Her phone rang, interrupting her worrisome thoughts. Was it Matt calling to bail out of class? She grabbed the phone out of her bag and saw her mother's name.