The Changeup (Men of the Show) (14 page)

“Yeah, well, that’s not how it works in my family, unfortunately. Everything is always for or against them. Either way, it’s always about them, always has been and always will be.” When he frowned, she pressed her lips to his. “You get used to it. We’ll be okay. We’ll get through this.”

Chapter Fourteen

Sitting in his hotel room in Kansas City, Chase picked up his cell phone to call Maddie. He was still concerned about the way they’d left things after the confrontation with Sandy. She’d refused to talk about it anymore, brushing it off as having happened and over with while he struggled to understand her state of mind.

She’d looked defeated and close to tears, nothing in her stance telling him she was going to stand up for herself. She’d started to placate Sandy, nearly telling her she understood her anger and hurt and that it was okay. It wasn’t okay that Maddie would let someone degrade her, call her names and not say anything about it. He was sure that if he hadn’t interrupted them, he would have found her consoling Sandy, but he couldn’t do anything further from the road. He had to put his faith in Maddie, believe that she was strong enough to fight for them.

He sighed as he rubbed his hand over his hair in resignation. He had a bad feeling he was going to go back to a huge mess. He needed to hear her voice.

But before he could dial, his cell phone vibrated and he read the display. It was his parents and he groaned. He’d put off calling them back but he wasn’t sure why—he’d always been open with them, even with difficult things. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, he was worried they weren’t going to be as accepting as he kept telling Maddie they would be and he wasn’t ready for the battle. With everything else going on, thinking about going through the motions with them just wore him out, but he couldn’t ignore them, so he answered it.

“Hey, Dad. What’s up?”

“Why don’t you come down and see for yourself? We’re downstairs in the lobby.”

“What? What are you doing here?” Chase said as he sat up, puzzled.

“We decided to take a road trip and follow you a bit. Come on, your mom’s dying to see you.”

“Okay, I’ll be down in a second.”

Stuffing his cell phone in his pocket, Chased headed out of his room and into the elevators. He tried to figure out why his parents had shown up without any prior mention, something definitely out of character for them. It wasn’t unusual for his parents to follow him on the road every once in a while, but usually it was done with some forethought and planning so he could secure tickets for them. He was excited to see them, but he couldn’t help feel there was some hidden agenda.

Stepping into the lobby, he looked around until he spotted his mom and dad in the back corner waiting for him. “I can’t believe you’re here!”

Rick patted him on the back as Anne pulled him in for a hug. “We missed you and wanted to see you.” Pulling back, his mother looked up at him. “Look at you. You look good.”

“Thanks. It’s good to see you guys.” Chase spotted the bar off the lobby near the front entrance. “Why don’t we get some drinks or something?”

They followed the hostess through the darkened bar to a booth in the back corner. “You know I don’t pitch until we’re in Chicago, right?” he asked as they settled in.

“Yeah, we’re going to go there too.” Rick said easily.

Chase paused for a moment. “Okay, what’s going on?”

“What do you mean?” his mother asked with wide-eyed innocence.

“What I mean is that as far as I knew, you had no plans to come out on this road trip, so what’s brought this on now?” He slouched against the back of the cherrywood booth as the answer came to him. “I know what this is about. I get it now.”

His parents remained silent and he took a deep breath. “Okay, I guess it’s better I can talk to you in person about her.”

“Chase, honey, it just isn’t like you to not tell us about something like this,” his mom said as she patted his hand across the table.

“No, I know. It’s just...I honestly didn’t know what to say. I wanted to figure things out for myself before I started spreading the word, I guess.”

He paused as the waiter came over and took their drink orders. When he left, Chase took another deep breath and glanced at the multiple baseball games playing on the TVs hanging over the bar. “Like I told you the other day, her name is Maddie. She has a daughter, her name is Bree and she’s nine years old. They live in the same condo complex as me.”

He would let them believe that was how they’d met. He didn’t want to muddle the situation any more by telling them the complete story.

“I know you guys want to know how old Maddie is, especially since I just told you she has a nine-year-old daughter, but before I do that, I want to say something else. I really like her. I mean,
really
, really like her. This isn’t a situation where someone’s taking advantage of me or something,” he added with a pointed glance at his father, knowing that’s where his mind was going. “As a matter of fact, it’s the other way around. I practically forced her to go out with me. She didn’t want to because I was younger, but I wouldn’t back down.

“She was really concerned about the age difference between us and I was finally able to get her past that and so I’m asking that it not be a hang-up for you guys. We really care about each other and I’m crazy about her daughter.” Chase paused, feeling some slight stirrings of panic rising at their continued silence, but quickly pushed on, desperate to convince them. “Besides what is age anyway, but a stupid life stat? It’s just a number we wear on our backs. It doesn’t do anything. It doesn’t tell our story. It doesn’t explain who we are or how we got where we are. It’s just a stat and used by itself is nothing but a number—”

“How old is she, Chase?” his dad interrupted.

He eyed him for a second before blurting it out. “She’s thirty-four.”

A heavy silence fell over the table. Disbelief, shock and alarm passed over both of his parents’ faces and he could feel astonishment pulse from their side of the booth. His mother finally broke the silence. “Thirty-four?” she whispered.

“Chase...” his dad started, but Chase held up his hands, cutting him off since he knew exactly where his dad was going to go.

Never in a million years would Chase have guessed he would be in a relationship with an amazing woman who had an unbelievable daughter he was crazy about. If someone had told him that this would happen during his rookie year in the pros, he would have laughed at them and told them they were definitely insane. He would have said, heatedly, that his main concern was his career and that was it. Everything else could and would come later. After meeting Maddie and Bree, however, he didn’t want any of it to come later no matter what anybody else said...including his parents.

“Look, before you start lecturing me, hear me out. I want this. I want her and I want her daughter. They help me feel grounded and...I don’t know...complete. I don’t feel like everything is such a whirlwind like it was in the beginning of the season. Bree is so awesome. She’s so happy and precocious. I’m teaching her how to throw and catch, and we have a blast together. I want to be there for her, give what her idiot father won’t. And Maddie...she’s just amazing. She’s so warm and real. There are no games with her and she only wants what’s best for Bree.”

“Son, that’s a huge age difference. Twelve years? I know you’re mature for your age—hell, we say that all the time—but that seems like a big gap. You two want different things in life at this point.”

“How do you know what I want? How do you know this isn’t what I want?” Chase countered, tired of everyone telling him what he wanted.

“Chase, you’re twenty-two. You’re too young to know exactly what you want.”

“Really, Dad? How old were you and mom when you got engaged?”

His parents glanced at each other, knowing he had a point since they’d both been twenty-one, before his father turned back to him. “That doesn’t matter, Chase, it’s...”

“I know, I know. It’s different. How exactly is it different, Dad?” His tone said he was quickly losing patience.

“Honey, what I think your dad is trying to say is that, before now, all your focus has been on baseball. This is a quick change in focus, from everything baseball to trying to incorporate a family on top of that, especially now that you’ve finally made it this far. This has been your dream for such a long time.”

“Baseball is still my focus, Mom. It’s just now Maddie and Bree are too. Look, I’m not going to claim I was looking for this and that I wanted this to happen like this or right now, but it has and I’m not going to question it and I’m definitely not going to turn my back on it.”

“Chase, the timing on this is horrible.” Rick leaned forward on his elbows and poked the table with his finger for emphasis. “This is your first year. Many opinions are still forming about you. Throw in your age, everyone’s looking for you to fall flat on your face and say the money spent on your contract wasn’t worth it.”

“Dad, I know. Believe me, I’m working hard.”

“I have no doubt about that, but you don’t want to add any fire to the mix. You know that they’re already trying to find out all they can about her especially since you gave them an eyeful after your no-hitter.”

Chase sunk down a bit lower in the booth. “I know. I’ve had people asking about her in interviews. Maddie freaked out pretty bad when our picture was in the paper, and so I wouldn’t say anything to anyone. I’m trying to keep them away from her as much as possible until she gets used to it.”

“Even then, I can’t imagine very nice things are going to be said about her.”

He felt his temper flare at that thought. “It isn’t their business. They should only be concerned about my game, not my love life.”

“Son, I know that and you know that, but do you think they care?” his father asked. “It isn’t fair, but that’s the way it is. You know this. We talked about this before you decided to go pro.”

“Dad, I understand what you’re saying and I hear you, but I’m not going to give her up. I want her too much to give up. I’ll deal with whatever consequences come out of this. She’s too important to me. Besides, the media coverage will die out as soon as the next big story hits.”

“Chase, please, think of yourself for once,” his mother begged. “I respect how much you care about her and her daughter. I could see the happiness on your face through the television and listening to you now, I can tell your feelings are very real, but the timing just isn’t right. You can see that, can’t you? You’ve worked too hard to get to where you are to take any risks.”

He shook his head. “You guys are just going to have to trust me on this one.”

“Chase...” his father started.

Chase sat up straight and continued shaking his head, adamant about his decision. He was an adult and it was about time they started treating him like one. “No, I’m serious, guys. This is my decision to make and I’m doing this. I appreciate your opinions and all, but I’m not ending things with her. If it blows up in my face, then you have my permission to say I told you so.”

“We wouldn’t do that, honey,” his mother insisted.

“Please stay open-minded about this,” he pleaded. “Once you meet her, you’ll see what I’m saying. I know you’ll love her like I do.”

His parents looked at each other, a silent agreement passing between them. It seemed there was nothing more to say. His dad nodded as he took a sip of his beer. “Okay. Let’s do that, let’s meet her.”

“What do you mean? Are you going to come to Detroit?”

“Why don’t you have her meet us in Chicago? She can come to your game with us,” Rick said.

“I guess I could.” He thought it over and weighed the possibilities of convincing Maddie to drive out to Chicago to meet his parents. It seemed like a long shot, but he could try. “I didn’t think of that. I’m not sure how receptive she’ll be to it, though being such short notice and all, but who knows. Maybe she’ll surprise me. I’ll be right back.”

Pulling out his cell phone, he dialed her number as he walked out of the restaurant. She answered on the second ring

“I was hoping it would be you, how did I get so lucky?”

“Because you’ve hit the jackpot with me.”

She laughed. “It would seem. How are you?”

“You’ll never guess who surprised me here.”

Maddie paused as she thought it over. “You’re right, I’ll never guess. Who?”

“My parents.”

“Oh, what a nice surprise!”

“Yeah, no, it’s great. I haven’t seen them in a while.” He glanced around the lobby unsure how to broach the subject. “So here’s the thing. They want to meet you and Bree.”

Dead silence hung over the phone and Chase sighed. He could imagine her look of paralysis. “You talked about me?” she asked in a small voice.

“Of course we did. Why wouldn’t we? We knew this would happen after they saw us on TV.” He left out that it was the main reason behind his parents’ surprise appearance.

“What did they say?”

“They want to meet you and Bree.”

“What did they say, Chase?” Maddie pressed.

His shoulders sagged as he took another deep breath. “They voiced the concerns that we knew they were going to. Nothing was a surprise, Maddie. But,” he added, cutting her off, “they want to meet you and that’s a good thing. They’re being open-minded about this, like I asked them to be.”

“Chase...”

The fear and uncertainty was clear in her voice and it tore at him. “Come on, Mad. It will be fine.” His voice was tender as he tried to support her and acknowledge her fears. “I’ll be with you as much as I can and it will all work out fine. Trust me, they’re going to love you and they’re going to be over the moon with Bree—especially my mom. She always wanted a daughter and instead was cursed with two boys,” he said trying to lighten the mood.

“I don’t understand. How would they meet us? Are they coming to Detroit when you come back?”

“Uh, no. That’s the other part. They want you to meet us in Chicago and go to the game with them.”

“Chicago? Drive to Chicago? Chase, I wouldn’t know where to go, where to stay...”

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve got that. I’ll get you a room at our hotel. You’ll be with them during the day and they’ll take care of everything. You just need to get you and Bree there.” Since he could sense the change in her, tell she was seriously considering it, Chase walked back into the restaurant and sat back down at the table. “I think if you get there by Tuesday around noon that will be fine. It will give you some time before the game to check in and relax.”