The Heart Of The Game (44 page)

Nothing about her return to California went as Zoe had planned. Her plane from Rome to San Francisco was six hours late. She missed meeting her cousins at the ballpark for the final game of the Giants’ first home series of the season. She’d thought that maybe by seeing Cody play, by seeing him from a distance, that she might have some clear feeling about the plans she’d put into motion.

The team would leave the next morning for a three-day road trip. She’d just have to live with not seeing him until they returned.

She’d made her family swear not to leak one word about her return since she’d had plenty of tasks to take care of before she was ready to face Cody. She’d spent six jam-packed weeks getting clear about what she wanted to do and where. And with whom. She’d investigated what it would take to set up a refuge for abused and neglected horses.
If
she could even acquire the land. Sonoma had multiple possibilities, but she knew what her first choice was.

Every day as she’d worked on the details, Cody was foremost in her heart. And though she’d spoken with Alex several times, she hadn’t had the nerve to ask him outright if Cody was dating anyone. He’d told her Cody made the team, and joy had spread in her at the good news. And when Alex had listened to her plans for returning to California, he hadn’t tried to talk her out of them. That was something, at least.

She stared out the window as the jet hit the runway in San Francisco. And could only hope that her epiphany hadn’t come too late.

The warm April sun warmed Zoe’s back as she lifted her hand and knocked on Alastair’s door for the third time. Alastair held one key to her future, not all of them, but an important one.

“I’m coming!” she heard him call out. “For God’s sake, don’t wear a hole in my door. I’m too old to be fixing things that don’t need to be fixed.”

She smiled. At least Alastair hadn’t changed while she’d been away.

“Heard you were coming back,” he said as he let her into the house. He invited her into the kitchen and they chatted as she helped make a pot of fresh coffee.

“You didn’t come here for coffee and small talk, I imagine,” Alastair said as he sipped from his mug.

“I came to make a proposition.”

“I’m too old to be propositioned by a young girl like you,” he said with a humorous twinkle in his eyes.

She tapped her fingers along his weathered hand. “You’re not too old for what I’m proposing.”

She’d rehearsed her speech on the long flight the day before. They’d sat on the runway in New York long enough that she had nearly all the details memorized. Rafe had helped her work out the legal and technical information. She now laid out the index cards capturing the highlights of those details on Alastair’s kitchen table. She only hoped her instincts had guided her well.

“I’d like to partner with you, Alastair. I’d like to turn this place into a refuge for abandoned and abused horses. Put the land in a trust and use the funds I have to keep the refuge going. Keep it dedicated to the mission beyond your lifetime and mine. Forever, in fact.”

“Forever’s a long time, Zoe.” His eyes had misted over, and she heard the catch in his voice.

“God, I’m muddling this. These cards have the basic information, but your—”

“I’m game.”

“Pardon me?”

“I said I’m game.”

She was lost.

“It means yes, let’s do it.” He poked a finger at the index cards. “All that. We can work all that out.”

“But there’s one aspect of this I must explain, something you might not like.” She’d dreaded this part, but there’d been no way around the snag.

“Shoot.”

“Shoot?”

“For goodness’ sake, Zoe, we’re going to have to teach you to speak English. Just tell me straight up.”

“We’d have to develop the back acres for a vineyard. My funds won’t provide enough to keep it all going, not with inflation. And the land trust requires that you have agriculture activities onsite.”

“I take it your dad had a hand in this?”

Her cheeks reddened. “He most certainly did not.”

“Hey, not so testy. I’m entitled to ask questions here.”

“The vineyard was the only way to know that the future of the income would remain in our hands. I worked it out with my brother Rafe. He’s a financial genius.” She pulled a piece of paper from her bag and handed it to Alastair. “Here. This lays out my financial commitment and the rough outlines of a business plan. I didn’t want to rely on donors, philanthropy and all that. Donations could dry up and the animals would still need care, food and—”

His eyes flicked down the paragraphs and rows of numbers. “I like your plan.” He pocketed the sheet of paper. “But there’s one catch.”

She’d prepared for all counteroffers and conditions, had rehearsed her arguments with Rafe. But now, faced with Alastair, the old man she’d grown to love, she knew that deals written out on paper, no matter how much sense they’d made when she worked them out in a villa in Rome, might hold no sway with him.

“I want you to have the house up the hill, the house I built for Daniel. Live in it, Zoe. Bring life back to this place.”

Her heart raced as tears pooled. It wasn’t a counterproposal she’d prepared for. She threw her arms around him and hugged hard.

He set her away from him, and she studied his face, his wrinkled, lived-in, kind, kind face.

“Life goes by in the blink of an eye, young lady—I figure it’s best to accept the invitations to joy where I can.”

She wanted to dance, to shout. Instead she hugged him again.

“Thank you, Alastair. Thank you. Thank you for—”

“Stop. Stop thanking me.” He pushed away again and then stood, walked to the stove and poured more coffee into his mug. “Life isn’t a plan or a game, life is a living being. And living beings have wills of their own. So don’t thank me, life did this—brought us together. Your dream did this. Stick to your dream—it’ll help you find your way when lost and your courage when frightened and will call up all the infinite powers at your disposal when challenged.” He raised his coffee mug in a salute. “I like your dream, Zoe Tavonesi. I like it a lot.”

But then his face clouded and his smile faded.

“What about that ballplayer?”

She told Alastair of her plan. He grinned from ear to ear.

“I like that plan too.” He swung the battered coffee pot toward her mug. “More cowboy coffee? If your plan has a happy ending, you might be learning to make this for that young man.” He chuckled. “Or better yet, let him make it for you. Beats the heck out of that mud you Italians drink.”

She laughed at the image of her trying to learn how to make cowboy
anything
. “No, grazie. I’m jittery enough already.” She scanned Alastair’s weathered face. “I only hope I haven’t made too many mistakes already.”

“We all make mistakes,” he said as he lowered himself into his chair. “You’ll make some that will astound you. But it’s what you choose to do in the face of your mistakes that colors who you are and who you can become.”

He gathered up the index cards and tucked them into his pocket. “I’ll take care of these details.” He nailed her with a stern look. “You just take care of this.” He poked a hand to his heart. “Yours, I mean. I’d be dead without the love of my Sally. Love draws us forward to be who we can be.” He patted the pocket with her index cards. “The rest of this? It’s just details, marks on the map as we make our way through life.”

Details
. She’d learned that lesson. She only hoped it wasn’t learned too late.

Cody turned up the drive toward Trovare. Before leaving for spring training, he’d ridden with Jake along the trails in the national seashore, but he hadn’t been back to Sonoma. Spring training had marched straight into the exhibition games and right into the season.

Since the season opened, the Giants had won every game, both at home and on the road. Sweeping the A’s felt great. Beating the Dodgers, even better. Walsh had kept him in the lineup, and his bat was hot. His agent had negotiated a sweet deal that would pay off his condo, keep Kat in research money and help fund Dylan’s riding program for the kids.

This was their first day off since the season opener.

Normally a day off would be a time to rest up and take care of the junk that piled up when he was on the road, but Alex knew how to push all of Cody’s buttons. Hell, Alex probably knew how to push everybody’s buttons. It wasn’t a talent that came naturally to Cody. He had given in to Alex’s plea that he catch a pick-up game for the boys he and Scotty mentored. It was spring break for the local schools. These boys couldn’t go on the fancy vacations that some of their classmates’ parents could afford, Alex had pointed out. But they could play baseball.

Cody had brought a couple of baseball cards for the boys. After years of collecting cards, to now have one of his own felt surreal.

But nothing, not game wins, not personalized baseball paraphernalia—not even three homers in two games—had eased the sadness gnawing at him. Jake had tried to drag him out to clubs and he’d gone a couple of times, but his heart hadn’t been in it.

Cody reminded himself that men throughout history had gotten over losing love, and so he’d survive. But then again, those men weren’t trying to forget about loving Zoe Tavonesi. Just about the time he’d managed to put her out of his every thought, she’d sneak into his dreams and torture the hell out of him.

Thank God for baseball. Or he’d probably be down at the bar with other men whose dreams had run from them.

A white van pulled up behind him as he parked his truck near the drawbridge. Seven boys piled out. Alphonso raced over to Cody.

“You were rad,” Alphonso exclaimed. “The double play in the second game against the Dodgers—I never saw a catcher throw like that.”

Harry ran over, suited up to the gills. He wore a jersey with Cody’s name on it.

“Where’d you get that?” Cody asked.

“Scotty bought it for me,” Harry said proudly. “He bought us all one. See, Alphonso’s says Tavonesi.”

Alphonso turned and displayed his jersey to Cody. “I wanted one with your name, but Harry got it first.”

The boys Cody didn’t know were gathered at the base of the drawbridge, doing the gawking thing. Scotty came around the side of the van and herded them to the back doors.

“Tours later. Gear up!” he said.

When they reached the field, Cody saw that Alex had the lines chalked and new bases installed.

Cody squatted and took a couple warm-up pitches from Scotty while the boys sorted through the equipment piled on a bench.

“Pretty soon he’ll have to put in a batting cage,” Scotty remarked.

“You’ve got me for that,” Ryan said as he walked up. “Hey, Cody,” he called out.

Cody stood. Something was off; he could feel it. The guys were acting oddly.

He walked out to the mound. “What’s up?”

Scotty returned a blank look before saying, “Up?” He glanced over Cody’s shoulder and smiled. Cody turned.

Alex walked up the path toward the field.

With
Zoe
. With Zoe wearing a baseball glove.