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“Pretty g
ood,” I replied
casually
.

“Is that where you’ll be working the rest of your life?”

With a smile I shook my head. “No, I have other plans.”

“Like what?”

I really didn’t care to discuss my future with him so I only
replied, “That’s for me to know, I guess.
Thanks for the concern, though.”

He scoffed at my sarcasm. “I don’t care about you at all, but if you—”

“That’s enough,” Jayden tol
d him
. “He doesn’t have to report to you. Our future is our business, not yours.”

He looked between the two of us,
seeming a little surprised. We hadn’t told anyone about our plans to get
married
. We had only known each
other
for
two-and-a-half months,
and we both agreed we’d rather keep it to ourselves for now. Jayden didn’t exac
tly reveal anything specific
, but all eyes were watching us carefully.

“Y
ou don’t need to know Ty’s
life plan,” she added.

“I do if it means dragging you down with him,”
Chris
answered.

“
Christopher,” his father warned from across the patio. He was sitting with Joe and neither one of them looked very happy.

I could tell
Jayden
was
frustrated. She released a very heavy sigh
as
she began cleaning up the table
. Everyone just watched her for a few seconds until she
gathered
an armful
and disappeared
into the house.

Finally Joe said, “Ty,” and nodded for me to
go
follow. I gladly left the group to find her.

She was in the kitchen rinsing off the p
lates, and w
hen she saw me she frowned.

“I’m
so
sorry.
He flusters me and I just…
I just left you out th
ere to be ravaged by the wolves, didn’t I?
”

I
smiled
and shook my head. “Your dad sent me away. I’m not sure if he wanted to get me out of his sight, or
if
Chris was going to hear some words.”

She dried her hands on a towel and wrapped her arms around me. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I really thought…”

“No worries,” I told her. “What he says doesn’t matter. I just wish you wouldn’t get upset about it. It doesn’t bother me
, Jay
. You
don’t need to fret
,
I promise.”

“Okay
,” she sighed. “He just…
said
he would be nice.”
             
“He didn’t say anything bad. I’m sure he’s said worse b
ehind my back.” I raised my eyebrows
at her knowingly and she
looked guilty
, letting me know I was right.
“A
nd a
s long as
you
don’t think I’m dragging you down—”

“No! Of course not—”

“Then there’s nothing to worry about. What we have is…ours. We don’t have to consult the world on it, okay? I mean…I think it’s important to be considerate when the time comes. When you want to talk to your dad about us getting married I’ll—”

“I already did,” she replied.

I looked at her with surprise.
“Oh.”

“It came up this morning. I’m sorry, I—”

“No, it’s fine. I just thought…I thought you wanted to wait until we had something definite.”

“I only mentioned that I wanted to marry you,” she said. “I told him we had talked about it a
nd decided to take some time with it
.”

I paused before asking, “And how did that go?”

With a smile she answered, “He said, ‘Well,
waiting is
at least wise.
’
”

I nodded my head with
my own
smile.

“Sorry I to
ok away
the
whole ‘ask-the-dad’ thing.
That was pretty rotten of me.”

“Nah.
When we decide to make it official I can still do that. But by then he’ll have had lots of time to come up with a really good rejection to the whole idea.”

She laughed and laid her head against me. “I love you, Ty.”

I kissed her head and replied, “I love you, too.
And I always will, no matter what.
”

We returned to the patio a few minutes later. It wasn’t
a surprise that Chris was gone
and his parents and sister were getting rea
dy to leave
,
as well. Not a word was mentioned about what had happened
;
I guessed it was going to be one of those things that didn’t get brought up again.

We talked to Cali for a fe
w minutes before she left. She had already planned what she wanted to do with Jayden’s hair
. Jayden still looked a little apprehensive and I was worried
for
her; I loved her hair the way it was. I had no idea what Cali was so excited about.

When everyone had left, Joe returned to his seat on the patio and told us to join him. I wondered if it was
my
turn to be lectured.

“I’m kind of impressed with your patience, Ty.” He looked at me with an expressionless face. “If I had to deal with Chris I think I’d either refuse to be around him, or knock his lights out.”

I was completely
surprised
.

“But you choose to keep the peace, time and again, and I appreciate that. I’ve heard a lot of what he’s said or done, and, even though I can see where he’s coming from, he tends to get a bit controlling of my daughter’s life. He’s just a younger version of me.” He actually smiled.

“Dad, what happened? You didn’t chew him out, did you?”

             
With a small chuckle he said, “No. Not when his own father did. But I did explain what this was doing to you. I think he
wanted
to understand, but he’s a little too
frustrated
to see clearly right now. Just give him some time.” He stood up and sighed. “Thank yo
u for all the incredible food, h
oney. It was great. I had a lot of fun today. I’m going to go inside and watch some TV for a bit.”

             
Jayden stood up and gave
her dad a hug. “I love you,
Dad
.”

             
“I love you too
,
s
weetie.”

He gave me a nod before entering the house.

Jayden released a br
eath of air and sat on my lap. She laid her head against mine and asked, “What do you feel like doing?”

“Well, I’m thinking about going inside to hang out with your dad. I think we’re pretty tight, now.”

She laughed and said,
“It’s a tiny little milestone,
dear
. You still have your work cut out for you.”

“I know, but you’re worth it.”

Chapter Eighteen

A week
later I received a wedding invitation for Jack and Megan. When I showed it to Jayden she was really happy for them, but I could tell she might have been a bit envious. I wished I could give her what she wanted, but I still felt I needed more time. If I couldn’t give her the best, I wasn’t ready to subject her to an entire life with me.

When I told her that she said, “I don’t need
the
best, I only need
your
best. I don’t care where we live or work, only th
at you love me unconditionally.
”
Loving her wasn’t a problem. But I
did
care where we lived and worked because I couldn’t bear to take her away from her dad and all her friends. She had some serious roots
in
her hometown
, and although I knew she was a strong, independent girl and could probably adapt to almost anywhere, I was so afraid of making her unhappy. I saw how close she was to her
father
. They were the only family each
other
had. How could I separate them? And Cali was her very best friend. I was positive Jayden w
ould have a hard time with that
as well.

I was
convinced
that staying in town was the right thing to do.

“What do you mean?” Jayden asked when I told her I
turned down
the job in Olympia.

“
It’s
not for me,” I replied honestly. “It’s good pay, but I can make a decent amount of money staying here
with
Lou and the other companies I’ve worked for. I like the variety and it’s more flexible. It just…works better for me.”

“Okay,” she said. “I want whatever you want. What did you decide about baseball?
You chose not to do tryouts,” she reminded me.

I really didn’t want to get into a discussion about baseball. It had only been a
month
since my college career ended, and I was already having a hard time with it. But all I said was, “Let’s focus on us for now, and maybe I’ll think about it for next year.”

She was happ
y to hear about trying out for
a team
, even though I knew my window of opportunity had most likely closed. Turning down meetings
with major league teams had probably taken my name off the list for good.
I truly wanted my relationship with Jayden to come first, and I was so afraid throwing baseball
in the mix
was going to ruin that somehow. I wasn’t
sure if my fears had any merit
, but
I was still worried
about playing
ball and having a family.
My father barely came to anything of mine, but for entirely different reasons.
But Jayden (as smart and comprehensive as she is) researched dozens of ball players, proving that so many of them had wives and families.

“So?” I challenged. “Does it say how often the women get tired of t
heir
husbands being gone so much
? Or how badly the kids wished their fathers were around more often to see
some of
their own games and school activities?”

“It just comes with the territory,” she replied. “There are probably dozens of careers that take a person away from their family. I barely saw my dad sometimes
when he worked certain
cases as
district attorney
. But when he
was
around, we did all kinds of things together. He made the time with me count. It’s
quality
, Ty, not quantity.”

Well, I ended up losing that argument. She had me so convinced that we could make it work. My only problem (if I
were
to make a team) was wh
ere I might end up
, and how often I could be bounced around to different teams
. And the other issue—the important one that I was trying desperately to
avoid
—was the people I c
ould forever be associated with.

But Jayden had me really excited again for the possibility of playing professional baseball. I’d have to climb my way up from a lower
rung on the
ladder now, but I was willing
to try. She was inspiring, and she not only made me feel the eager energy to play again, but her positive encouragements made me feel it even more.

Two days later my life took a turn for the worst. I was lock
ing up the garage for the night
and he was there, waiting for me when I arrived at my truck.

“Tyler,” his soft,
accented voice greeted me. “It i
s nice to see you again.” He motioned for me to get in the car with him.

I clenched my jaw and reluctantly did as he
instructed
.

“You don’t seem very happy to see me,” he smiled. When I didn’t respond he said, “Anyhow, I like w
hat you did for your father. He i
s a worthless piece of
refuse, but I do like to see he i
s cleaning up his act.”

I had no idea what he was talking about. I hadn’t talked to my father since the last time I saw him.