Summer Swing (63 page)

I was shaking my head before he
even finished
, and I couldn’t even stop the tears from escaping. Because of how I felt at that very moment, I
knew I
was never going to let him go
. “No. Never. I won’t
regret this, Tyse. And if you could just go with your heart on this, you’ll see that
I’m
right.
”

“I’ll finish this baseball commitment and then we can do whatever it is you wan
t to do, Ellie. I’ll live wher
ever you want and I’ll—”

“What do you mean finish your commitment?”

“It’s just for the rest of this se
ason, to see if they want to
sign me somewhere for next season. But I don’t care about baseball if I can have you, Ellie. It’s an easy decision.”

“Who says you have to choose? I’m up for baseball.”

“I don’t need baseball. It’s just…something to pass the time.”

“What? I thought it was in your plans. Isn’t that what you’ve been working so hard for?”

“No, not really,” he chuckled. I studied him curiously and he added, “I just wan
ted you in my life, Ellie. That’s
where my goals changed. I’ve always wanted to coach baseball someday, and that hasn’t changed, but I just wanted you.
I couldn’t tell you that at the time; that’s why I didn’t give you an answer.
”

I stared at him with disbelief. “You want to
coach
baseball?”

He gave me a funny look. “Uh yeah, but did you hear what I said first? I want
you
.”

“Yeah I heard that, and now you have me. But you
really
want to coach baseball
someday
?”

He shrugged.
“It’s not an option though. I can’t hold a job like that with a criminal background.”

I didn’t say anything in reply. He was probably
right, a
t least not in a school.

“See, now you’re remembering why it’s a bad idea to be with me, Ellie.”

“What?”

“My background. I can’t forget it never happened, so that means it will always be attached to you as well.”

“
That’s not what I was thinking at all. I
was only thinking about the options that you seem to be forgetting. What about, like, one of these minor teams, or maybe in the majors someday?”

He shrugged again. “That was kind of the idea. It’s nice to have a few years of professional ball under your belt, though.”

“Then do that.
Keep
play
ing
. When you decide that it’s been enough for you, make the switch.”

He smiled at me and softly touched my cheek. “Do we really have to talk about career choices right here in the airport, Ellie? I mean I’ll stand here all day and publicly map out all of my hopes and dreams for you if that’s what you want but…”

“Really?”

He eyed me carefully, seeming to wonder if I was really going to make him do that. “Yes, I really would if that’s what you want.”

“It is what I want, but not here. Let’s leave, okay?”

With a smile he took my hand and pulled me with him. He also kissed me, a few times, as we made our way out of the airport to where he was parked. Once we were in his
truck
we pretty much made out for ten minutes straight, and then
we got lunch and found a park where we could just sit and talk.

 
Tyse was staying with a
host
family while he was playing with the Qua
kes,
so he took me to the hotel that I’d booked for my two nights in Rancho Cucamonga. He walked me to my room
but
wouldn’t even come inside when he dropped me off. To him it was something he wanted to avoid, especially since our relationship was now on a different level. He was very proper that way. Even if he hadn’t been living with a host family he would have made me stay somewhere else. That very respectful, very protective
nature
was one of the
many
things I loved about him.

I spent as many minutes of my visit that I could with Tyse. The second night, my last night there, I was able to watch his game before I needed to catch my flight home. We sat in his
truck
at the airport, both feeling pretty
disheartened about my departure but at the same time
looking forward to our future together.

But
Tyse
still had some doubt about how he was going to negatively affect my life, and I had a hard time with that. He also realized that I hadn’t talked to my sister for months, because if I had, I would have known that Gage had
made a team with the Royals—i
n Arkansas.
I didn’t really care where Gage was pitching, so I played it off that way, but Tyse was really bothered that I hadn’t talked to Dawn for so long.

“Is it honestly because of me, Ellie? You seriously haven’t forgiven her for calling me up? I thought I told you that it wasn’t even an issue anymore. It’s water under the bridge.”

I sighed. I didn’t really want to waste my last few minutes with Tyse talking about my sister, but I did promise that I would go see her when I got home. He didn’t believe me at first, so I had to do some convincing. I really had helped my mom plan a baby shower for Dawn, so after Tyse made me pinky swear that I would actually
attend
the party, he left it alone.

“But this is just the beginning,” he added.

“The beginning…?”

“Your family is probably going to need a lot of time to get used to this, Ellie.
If they ever do.
I don’t know, I just…”

“Tyse, it’ll be okay.”

“Come on, Ells. You traded a successful British doctor for a life with a struggling ex-con. Surely that’s gonna sting ‘em just a bit.”

I rolled my eyes with frustration because I hated to hear him talk about himself like that. “I’m happy with my choice because I know it was the right one. They’ll see that with time. When you spend your off-season in Portland with me they’ll have a chance to get to know you better. And when we get married and have kids, there won’t be any hard feelings anymore because they’ll see what a happy family we are.”

“Married with kids, huh? You got this all planned out?” His smile was pretty cute.

“Only if that doesn’t interfere with
your
big plans or anything.”

“
You
are my big plans.”

“Okay then, it’s all settled.
So now that you know how badly I want to marry you, I’ll just wait it out until you’re ready to ask me.”

“Jeez, Ellie.
How’d you get to be so forward?”

I smiled. “Well, I guess you have Harlan to thank for that.”

“I do, huh?”

“Yep. He always made me be o
pen and honest about everything—usually about you.
It was hard sometimes, especially when I didn’t want to hurt his feelings—or hurt my own feelings too, I guess
.
And it allowed me to really learn more about myself, and what I
truly
wanted.”

He studied me for a few seconds before he said, “Hmm. If he helped you realize how bad you wanted me, then I guess I do need to thank him.”

“Yeah, you should,” I nodded. “He’s a really good guy.”

“Well I’m glad you had someone to look after you while I spent six months being an ass.”

“Just six months? I was available before I started dating Harlan, you know.”

“Okay, so I was pretty much
an ass from the start.”

With a laugh I said, “Nah, I’m guessing we probably needed a year of emotional turmoil to appreciate what we finally have with each other.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “How much of this philosophical Brit am I gonna have to listen to?”

I chuckled but asked,
“You don’t agree with that?”

He nodded his head. “Yeah, actually I do. It was one thing just being buddies with you while I was in Portland, and yeah I was really attracted to you. I mean
really
,” he emphasized with a smile. “But I talked myself out of it pretty easily—because of my past and because I was going back to California, and especially because of what a sweet girl you were—but once I was back in La Mesa… Wow, I didn’t know what the heck I’d done to myself.”

“I hear you drove Nate crazy,” I smiled.

With a laugh he said, “Yeah, I did. Pissed him off more than anything. He thought I was an idiot.
I heard
you
drove him crazy too,
”
he countered with a smirk.

“
He frustrated me!
He’d barely give me information, and I was usually more confused than before I called.”

“He was just following orders. I never wanted you to know how I felt because I thought I should get over it. I wanted you to have a
good life, and I knew I wasn’t— U
h, I just thought I wasn’t it.”

I cuddled against him as I looked at the clock. I barely had ten minutes before I needed to get inside to
check into
my flight, and it made me feel a little bit of panic in my chest.

“You will call me, right?” I asked in a slightly threatening tone.

“Yes, I will. Every day. And if our phone paths don’t cross, then I’ll leave a voicemail telling you how much I love you.”

“That will be nice,” I said with a sigh. “I’ll need it because
I don’t know how I’m going to get through this summer without you.”

“I told you I don’t have to do this
,
Ellie—”

“Yes, you do,” I argued. “I want you to.
I mean if
you
want to,” I added quickly. “
Give it a shot, Tyse. See where it takes you. I’
m up for whatever li
fe brings us. And I believe if we weren’t challenged
in one
way, we’d have another challenge instead. Life is balanced that way.
So just do this for now—
we’ll adjust as we go along.”

He kissed the top of my head. “I think for you I could go all the way to the top, Ellie.
And I have a lot to prove, not just for myself, but to everyone else that has doubt. But your opinion is the only one that matters to me.”

“You don’t have anything to prove to
me
,” I clarified. “I
already know your worth, Tyse.
And I know you can make
it to the top if you wanted to.
”

He smiled and shook his head. “I know I shouldn’t care, but I think it’s the only way I can get out of this cycle of
uncertain
ty about myself. I don’t know…I guess I don’t really understand why I need to do this.”

“I do, and I support you one hundred percent. Just do your best and we’ll face things as they come.
”

“I have a feeling that it’s going to be a rough ride, Ellie. I don’t know why, but maybe I’m just insecure.”

“Okay, so we’ll take the rough ride together,” I shrugged.
I looked into his eyes and placed my hand against hi
s face.
“Can you just do me one favor, Tyse?”

“Yeah, o
f course. Anything.”

“Just
always
remember how much I love you.”

He slowly smiled and leaned forward, giving me a v
ery long and loving kiss. “
Your love is all I wi
ll ever need
, Ellie.
”

The End of the Beginning…