“My apologies for yelling. You’re right—you never raised your voice. But obviously something has you upset with me, and I think I know what it is. I just want to get along until I go tomorrow, so I’ll watch what I say. Okay?”
Aaron couldn’t believe how sideways the conversation had gone, but he’d be damned if he’d sit there and watch Teri go all soft in the eyes about another man—someone who was there in her real life, someone she’d be returning to tomorrow.
It made him a bit queasy to consider how quickly he’d grown attached to Teri.
Stupid
.
Stupid to feel jealous after such a short time and no words about the future, and stupid to still be standing there, sweaty and dirty from practice while he made things worse with his stupid mouth.
He’d never been very good at arguing. To say that his parents’ relationship was dysfunctional was an understatement. His father dictated, and his mother kowtowed. No deviation was permitted.
Aaron swallowed as he considered that perhaps he was trying to fit himself and Teri into that box. He wouldn’t do that, would he? Not knowingly, but who knew? It wasn’t like he knew what a real relationship was like.
Speaking of relationships, he had no right to know anything about what hers was with Alex. But having seen her face when he came up and overhearing her conversation with him earlier, it was obvious that she at least cared strongly for him. Maybe they weren’t committed enough to keep her from feeling free to mess around with Aaron…or maybe he just had her pegged wrong.
His silence must have stretched on too long because she was staring at him with an expectant frown. He might as well get out of their hair and go for a walk. He took a step back toward the door, but she quickly came forward and caught his arm. “I need to head home tomorrow.” She looked up at him solemnly, regretfully. “I’m not sure if I’ll be back before you go back to your team.”
“I figured.” Aaron didn’t know what to say. She had her own life, and he was only here temporarily anyway. Pretty soon, after spring training wound down and the teams were set, Aaron would go home, rejoin his own team and fight to get back into playing condition.
He watched as she obviously struggled to put something into words, and he had a feeling what it was. He tried to help her out. “What we said this morning about getting together tonight? It’s… Well, maybe it’s better if—”
“Yeah,” she cut him off abruptly, pinkening and looking away. “Thanks for making this easier. After all, it was just a…fling.”
A shaft of hurt speared through him, to have their time together reduced to a fling. How ironic to be on the receiving end of the ‘we were just having a good time’ line now that he really felt a connection. She was already looking for the easy way out, to leave with a clear conscience? Fine with him.
“I really just want to take a walk.” He glanced down at where she still had hold of his forearm and she removed her grip quickly.
He headed toward the door again, and this time, she let him go.
Chapter Twelve
“Okay, son, tell Papa Deke what ails ya.”
Aaron smiled half-heartedly. “It’s all good. What’s up with you? How’s Julia and the baby?”
“Quit tryin’ to distract me. You’ve been way too quiet. You need to fuckin’ tell me if you’ve got bad news about your arm.”
Aaron’s eyebrows went up at the very serious tone to Deke’s voice. “No, nothing like that. It’s actually improving, and they’re happy with my progress.”
“Well, shit, then it must be girl trouble. And ain’t no cure for a broken heart.”
“My heart’s not broken.”
Just a little bruised.
“Where did you get that idea? There’s no one down here I’m interested in.” Which was the truth. Hadn’t been for two weeks.
“Uh-huh.”
“Seriously.”
“You only ever try to convince me of how serious it is when you’re protesting overmuch, as Will Shakespeare would say. Now come clean before I have to come down there and clean your clock,” he threatened with a growl.
Deke would no more lay a hand on him than on Julia. Fuck, what would it hurt to tell him? “Fine. Just to keep you from having to make a trip—and by the way, I’d be more worried about Julia’s reaction than you.” He paused. “You remember I mentioned Sandusky’s mom?”
“Teri, right?”
“Yeah. She…well…” Shit it was hard talking about stuff like this.
“Spit it the fuck out, man. What? You guys hooked up?”
“Sort of.” Though he didn’t think of it that way. “Not like a hook up, one-nighter or anything. She’s not that kind of woman.” At least, he didn’t think she was, though the whole situation made him question his judgment.
All he knew was that he missed her and wished he’d done so many things differently. Like maybe actually asking her about her relationship status.
“So what kind of woman is she then?”
Aaron found himself spilling almost everything to his friend, who listened silently as he described their connection, the fun they’d had and his worries about the involvement of Alex in her life.
“I don’t know if the guy is Emery’s dad or a friend or what, but she obviously cares about him and is right there in her life. I don’t know.” He was pacing back and forth. “I just don’t know what to do. I miss her.”
He realized he’d been monopolizing the conversation for an age. “Deke?”
“Still here, man, not that it woulda mattered to you. Ya ever thought about just askin’ her about the guy? Or, if not her, then askin’ the kid?”
Aaron sighed, frustrated. “What, I should just ask him who his mom’s involved with?”
“Why not? And you can be less obvious about it than that. C’mon. Man the fuck up and figure this shit out. I’m tired of listenin’ to your mopey ass.”
That got a laugh out of Aaron, who found he felt better after having spilled his secret to his friend. “Okay. I’ll try to do that. Eventually she’ll come back to see Emery play. I’m pretty sure he’s going to earn a spot on the AAA team, so he’ll stay here.”
“Well, good for the kid. Glad he got his shit together. Now it’s time for you to do the same. Am I right?”
“Amen.”
Emery walked into the room, texting or playing a game on his phone.
“Gotta go, man. Thanks for the talk. Kiss Julia for me.”
“Kiss her your own damn self, I keep tellin’ ya.”
Aaron grinned as he said goodbye and hung up. “Hey, Emery, you got a sec?”
Emery jerked his head up, looking surprised, as well he should be. Even though they lived together, it wasn’t like they had heart-to-hearts all that often. Or ever.
“Sure,” he said warily, but he gamely crossed the room and sat down on the couch. “What’s up?”
Aaron felt stupid.
Damn Deke for getting me into this
. Might as well get it over then. “Oh, it just occurred to me that you never mention your dad.” There—that was subtle.
Emery’s lip curled. “Dave? Why would I? He never wanted anything to do with us in the first place.” He shrugged, looking more annoyed than upset. “He lives in Texas now, I think. We don’t really talk to him, and I personally don’t have a problem with that. Why?”
Well, obviously Dave wasn’t the mysterious Alex. Which was…good? He thought.
“Just wondering. I’m not close to my dad either.”
That caught Emery’s interest a bit. “How about your mom?”
Aaron shook his head.
Emery frowned, seeming perplexed. “Wow. I can’t imagine that. Ma’s, like, the biggest influence in my life.” He studied Aaron for a few moments. “So if you’re not close to either of them, who’s your family?”
He shrugged. “Don’t really consider myself to have an official one, but my best friend Deke and his wife are like family. That was just him on the phone,” he added. Before he could chicken out he made himself ask, “So your mom—Teri—she’s been single a long time. Does she date?”
His charge’s mouth dropped open. “Ma? Date? No, never, at least not that I know of.” He sat up straight, a sudden realization clearly hitting him. “Which…is odd, for someone her age and personality. Right? I mean, she should have dated
someone
by now, especially now that… Crap.” Emery stood and took a few steps then spun around. “Sorry, is our talk over? I’ve gotta…” He made a vague gesture with his phone toward his room.
“No problem,” Aaron reassured him and Emery took off like a shot, already dialing someone.
Well that had been somewhat informative. Teri obviously wasn’t seeing Alex, at least not openly enough to where her son was aware of it. So maybe there was a chance for him…
Yeah, not to rain on your parade, but there’s still the living-in-different-cities thing…
Shut up.
* * * *
Teri had no choice but to throw herself into work once she got home. The long days spent on the new client facility, helping them address the issues found during their survey, as well as doing other scheduled visits, kept her mind occupied during waking hours.
But the nights…
Oh, how she regretted things with Aaron, though she fluctuated on the reason. Some nights she wished she’d never started anything with him so her body wouldn’t know what it was missing. Other nights she wished she’d stopped that last weird fight and spent that night with Aaron, to hell with her pride. Or spent the prior night with him and woken up beside him in the morning.
Alex wasn’t around much because of how busy he was with school and work, and Emery was doing well and staying busy, so she quickly got sick of being alone, longing for someone to talk to. She lost track of how many times she almost dialed the condo’s phone number, then changed her mind at the last moment.
Two weeks after she’d gotten home, she got a phone call from Emery.
“Okay, Ma, what’s up with you?”
“Hi, honey. What do you mean?” She sat back in her chair after closing down her laptop to focus all of her attention on her son.
“I mean, why the hell haven’t you come back here? You’re not that busy with work anymore. Did you and Aaron have a fight or something?”
“What?” Her voice went a bit higher than normal with her shock at the perceptive question. She cleared her throat. “Why would you think something like that?”
“Because Alex thought we’d been in a fight ‘cause you’ve been acting weird and down since you got back. And I know that we were fine when you left, so I thought maybe it was Aaron, ‘specially since he’s been weird and down too.”
“And you didn’t answer the question, I noticed,” Alex unexpectedly chimed in. “Way to throw me under the bus, by the way, Em.”
“Hey, I’m just reporting the news. You’re the guy who made it.”
Teri sighed in exasperation. “I wish you guys would quit three-way calling me without telling me you’re both on the line.”
“So?” Alex prodded.
“First of all, it’s none of your business either way. Second of all, how on earth would you guys even have time to notice if anything was wrong with me? It’s not like I’ve talked to either of you…”
“That’s precisely my point,” Alex agreed. “You’ve been very hands-off for the past two weeks—which is exactly how long you’ve been back from there. So if Emery wasn’t the problem…for a change…”
“Hey!”
“…then something else had to have happened. And Aaron was the only other person there.”
Teri realized her boys were worried about her, and while that was incredibly sweet, there was no way she was sharing any of the details with her sons. “I’m fine with Emery, and I’m fine with Aaron too. And Alex for that matter. I’m just”—she paused, wanting to be truthful without giving too much away—“working some things out for myself. Mid-life crisis stuff, you know,” she joked.
“If you buy a sports car, I get to drive it first,” Emery voted.
“Whatever. You already have your over-compensating mega-truck,” Alex shot back.
“Says the man with the Volvo. Seriously—who the fuck drives a Volvo besides boring old people?”
“Boys,” Teri interjected before the sibling teasing got out of hand. “I’m really flattered that you were worried enough about me to do a conference call, but I’m fine. I just think that both of you—yes,
both
, Alex, and that includes your brother—are old enough to be responsible for yourselves, without your mom hovering over you. That’s part of it anyway,” she owned up. “And the rest is my business. Okay?”
Silence as the two did whatever mental telepathy twins seemed to be born with.
“Okay, Ma. As long as you’re okay, and you don’t hate being around us or anything.”
That was her pouter, Emery, who was used to being the focus of her attention. He would feel more at loose ends than his brother. She promised herself she’d make time for a private phone call with him soon to reassure him.
“Hardly,” she answered. “Love you both to death and you know it.”
“Love you too,” Emery answered right away. “You’re going to come down when I start my first game, right?”
“Of course, hon,” she replied. Meanwhile, Alex, her thinker, was being overly quiet. “Alex?” she prodded.
“Yeah, Ma. Love you too.”
She made a kissing noise. “All right. You guys go back to whatever it is you do, and I’ll talk to each of you soon.”
They said a round of goodbyes, and she finally got them both off the phone, then sat back, considering. What she had said was true. It was time to cut the apron strings. And if that meant staying away from Aaron too, maybe a bit of time and perspective would lend clarity to that situation.
By the time she went back to see Emery play, she’d know what to do.
Chapter Thirteen
“Hey, Ma! Are you here? Where are you sitting?”
Aaron had known Teri was coming to this game and couldn’t help but listen as Emery walked out of the dugout with his phone, looking up into the stands. He found himself surreptitiously scanning the third-base side of the grandstand along with Emery, using where Em was looking as a guide.
Spotting her even before Emery—how he couldn’t see her yet was beyond him—he had to smile at the picture Teri made in her oversized team uniform top. She looked like a kid all dressed up in her big brother’s clothing, especially wildly waving her arm over her head like that. God, he’d missed her this past month. He couldn’t wait to talk to her again, try to get back to their previous comfort with one another.