Blake (Season One: The Ninth Inning #2) (15 page)

I don’t correct her in the title, but only squeeze her hand. “I’m your friend. You can trust me. I can help you. Blake wants to help you. I know he’s been trying.”

“Blake doesn’t need to be burdened with my life or my issues. He’s young and in love, and he needs to focus on that.”

I gasp when she says
love
, but swiftly push it away from my mind. “Blake doesn’t think you’re a burden. You’re his mother and he loves you so much, Caroline. Let him help you. Let us help you. I swear we can make sure you’re safe.”

Caroline removes her hand from mine and leans carefully in her seat. I’m sure her back is a mess of bruises. “I need to talk to Blake.” She looks out the window, and she seems lost in her own thoughts.

“Of course. It was lovely seeing you again, Mrs. Foster.” I stand and head back to the stadium, not even wanting my lunch anymore.

“YOU’RE VERY QUIET, baby girl.” Dad leans over to me. “You didn’t even cheer at that home run.” He points out to the field where the Angels are in the seventh inning. The last time I looked at the scoreboard, it was the third inning.

“I’m thinking.” I stare ahead.

“Blake?”

I shake my head. “Mrs. Foster.”

“I told her we could help her,” Mom jumps in.

Everyone has come to the game; the Angels can move up a little bit in the standings.

“She told me. I wish I could go in and grab her.” I rest my head back on the leather chair, thankful I’m not in the stands with the high heat index today. Dad’s company has a box, which he mainly uses to impress clients with.

“You can’t,” Dad tells me. “She has to want to leave. You can’t force anyone to do something they don’t want to do.”

I take a deep breath as Blake goes to bat. I watch his stance and his large arms grip the bat tightly. He swings and misses the first two pitches, but connects with the third and it bounces around in centerfield, making him safe at first base.

“You should invite Blake over for Sunday dinner,” Dad suggests.

“We’re not here this Sunday, remember?” I inform him.

“I didn’t say
this
Sunday, baby girl,” Dad jokes back.

“He’s not my boyfriend, and I don’t want to subject him to that type of torture.” I try to hide my smile.

“He might as well be. Aren’t you still talking?” Mom asks with her hopeful gaze.

“We still talk.” Although we haven’t today since I left his mom at the deli. I haven’t seen him since we left Doc’s office. I’m guessing he still needs to cool off. I haven’t even told Dad or Mom about what happened.

“Then invite him.” Mom’s voice is full of glee.

“Please stop making wedding plans in your head,” I softly order her.

“I am not doing anything of the kind,” Mom gasps.

Dad looks at me and rolls his eyes because I’m sure he’s already heard all about it. I laugh and turn back to the game. Maybe I will invite him to a dinner and let him see how a real family is.

“WHAT THE HELL is your problem?” I storm into Jack’s home office, slamming the door behind me. He’s kicked back with his feet propped on his desk, a beer in his hand, and the TV on. I’m just as mad as I was yesterday. “You can’t call and try to get Sofia fired. You aren’t with the organization! They have no grounds to fire her to start with, and they’d be stupid to do such a thing in the first place. Stay the fuck out of my career, Jack.”

His composure is eerily calm and collected. “What career? You’re a catcher for God’s sake! That little bitch deserves to lose her job after her daddy surely bailed her out at the banquet.”

“He bailed her out, you know why? Because I told him to! If you want someone to lose their job, then go after mine and leave her out of it. You hate me so damn much and hate the position I play, just get me fired! I don’t fucking care anymore. What is it going to take for you to leave us alone?”

Jack laughs as if I just told the funniest joke of the century. “I’m not a problem you can get rid of, Blake. I like messing with your life. Consider it payback.”

“Blake?” I turn at the sound of my mother’s voice. I didn’t even notice her enter.

“Stay away from Sofia, Jack. You’ll have a bigger problem on your hands than me if you mess with her. You don’t cross Art Gardner.”

He may be a great man, but I’m sure there’s some truth to the rumors about how he can be a ruthless businessman. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll have a trick up his sleeve if Jack takes this too far. I can see the wheels turning in Jack’s mind as he considers my words.

“I’ll think about it,” he finally says.

Thank God. The mention of Art threw some common sense into him. I walk out and Mom follows me. We step outside before I face her. Just like I thought, she was in bad shape when I met with her yesterday. I’d spent my time convincing, pleading, and pouring my heart into why she needs to think about leaving. I thought maybe if I told her to think about it instead of telling her why she needs to, she’d be more likely to decide to leave. She needs to feel like it’s her decision and not mine.

“Have you thought more about what we talked about?” I ask, wondering where her head is.

Her brows pinch together. “Yes, but I don’t know yet.” She glances at the house. “Maybe.” My heart soars. That’s the first inkling toward a yes I’ve gotten in years. “But I don’t know.” Mom quickly shakes her head.

“Okay. Keep thinking about it.” I kiss her cheek. “I’ll talk to you soon. Love you, Mom.”

“Love you too, Blake.” She smiles.

Today is the start of a much needed three-day weekend off. The boiling rage turns into a simmer after talking with Mom before diminishing completely. I haven’t spoken to Sofia since yesterday, so I call her.

“What’s up, Blakey?” she answers.

“Just getting home from seeing Jack. Things should be fine now. What are you doing today?”

“Packing. With the time off, we’re leaving early in the morning for a mini-trip for my mom’s birthday.”

“Oh, really?” The moment the words leave my mouth, I realize how disappointed I sound. I was hoping to spend time with her this weekend.

“Yeah, I’m excited about it.” She appears oblivious, which is good.

“Are you almost done packing?”

I hear something in the background, but can’t make out what it is. “Just finished,” she answers proudly.

“Do you have anything else to do today?”

“You’re asking a lot of questions, Blakey. Why don’t you get to the point?”

“I was going to ask about a date this weekend, but you’ll be gone. So, I was going to see if you wanted to go today?”

“On a date?”

“On a date,” I confirm.

“Yes!” a voice shouts from near Sofia.

“Is that Harmony?” I ask with a smile.

“Yes, and Sofia says yes, too.” This time her voice is closer and I realize I must be on speaker phone.

“Do you say yes, Sofia?”

There’s a three second pause before I hear her answer. “Yes.”

“If you give me your address, I can pick you up in an hour and a half unless you need more time.”

“She won’t!” Harmony says, sounding pretty excited.

“I’ll meet you at your house, Blake. Only one of us should suffer from Harmony.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“I’ll see you soon, then.” With a smile, I hang up and mull over where I’m going to take her before I start getting ready.

I’ve just slipped on my shorts when I hear the doorbell. Damn, she’s early. Suddenly, I’m the chick in movies who isn’t ready when her date arrives. I hurry to the door and swing it open with a smile. Her lips part, her eyes immediately soaking up the fact that I’m shirtless. My chuckle brings her gaze to my eyes.

“Hope you’re not disappointed that the shirtless fun won’t come until later.”

“Is that a promise, Blakey?” she asks as I step aside.

“Yep. You’re early.”

“Harmony was driving me crazy. Am I dressed okay? You didn’t say where we were going.” She glances down at herself. She’s wearing white shorts that make her legs look even more tanned and a blue airy-type of shirt.

“You look beautiful. Give me a second to grab a shirt and we can leave.” I find a shirt, put on my shoes, and grab my keys and wallet before going back to her. With a smile, I take her hand and lead her out to the truck.

“You’re smiling a lot today.”

“You said I was cute when I smiled, so I’m trying to stock up on cuteness.”

She laughs. “Good idea because you obviously need it. Where are we going?”

“On a dessert hop. There’s a bunch of places downtown that sell desserts and since it’s a beautiful evening, I thought we could walk around and try a little bit of something at each one.”

“You’re a genius, Blakey.”

I park and once we make it to the sidewalk, I take her hand. The first place along the way is strictly cupcakes. The frosting stacked on top is nearly as tall as the cupcake itself. After gazing at the menu hanging on the wall, I ask Sofia, “Which do you want us to try? I’ll pick the next one.”

“Hmm,” she hums. “Let’s try the carrot cake one. The frosting looks really good.”

Carrot cake cupcake it is. We order, take two forks, and find a seat at a small table. Sofia pulls the wrapper away before we both take a bite.

“Mmm. This is good.” I nod in agreement. “How did you come up with a dessert hop?”

“You and sweets? I can’t go wrong.”

Sofia laughs and I smile. “You know, I’m kind of surprised you’re in such a good mood since you saw Jack today.”

My gaze falls to the cupcake as I take another piece. “I probably shouldn’t get my hopes up, but I told Mom to think about wanting to leave. For the first time, she didn’t shut me down completely. She said maybe. So, I guess that’s why seeing him isn’t bothering me so much.”

“That’s great, Blakey.” I lift my eyes to see her smiling and see the same hope reflected in hers.

“Yeah, so where are y’all going this weekend?”

“Key West. We’re getting new family photos done for Mom. She’s redecorating her office again with a beach theme, so these will be perfect for her. Have you ever been there?”

I shake my head. “No. The only traveling I’ve ever done is for baseball.”

Sofia’s fork stops as she’s about to lift a bite to her mouth. “You’ve never been on vacation?”

“I’ve never had time.” When I was growing up, there was no way Jack wanted us to go with him when he took a vacation, usually with a mistress. Between baseball and checking on Mom, I didn’t take time away for a vacation. I haven’t been in a serious relationship for six years. Why would I go on a vacation by myself?

She’s tempted to say something, but instead she finishes the last bite of the cupcake. “Where to next?”

After throwing away our trash, we start walking down the street again, holding hands. “If there’s any other place you want to stop in between desserts, just say the word.”

“Okay. Have you thought about what you’ll do once you retire?”

I shake my head. “No, baseball is all I’ve ever done. It’s hard to think of what I’ll do once it’s over. Maybe I’ll finally take a vacation.”

“Where would you go?”

When the world is yours for the picking, how do you choose one place to visit first? “I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it before. Where would you suggest?”

Sofia glances at me as if she’s trying to see where I’d go. “The Caribbean.”

“Sounds good to me.” I open the door to the next place, which sells cupcakes, slices of cake, and cookies. “What’s one place you haven’t been to that you’d like to visit?”

“Iceland. I’ve heard it’s beautiful.”

We continue to learn more about one another, walking around, sometimes going into stores to check out something that catches Sofia’s eyes, and tasting our shared desserts. We finish it off with ice cream.

“You might have to carry me back to the truck, Blakey. I’m stuffed.” She pats her stomach.

“You should have said it sooner. The truck’s right there.” It’s only a few parking spaces down from where we’re standing. I open the door for her and then walk around and get in. We’re relatively quiet as I drive back to my house.

“Do you want to come in for a while?” I ask once we arrive.

Sofia hesitates for only a second before she nods. “I’ve had fun,” she tells me as we step inside.