Hitting It_Locker Room Diaries

by Kathy Lyons

  I gestured to Joe DeLuce, and he nodded as if he were a proud papa. More camera clicks.

  “But don’t get sad,” I said as I caught a flash of annoyance in Brittany’s eyes. After all, no one wants to be rejected on camera. “There are a few other guys who have been dying to spend some time with you.”

  And right on cue, the door opened and in walked Jake with his square jaw, rugged features, and a Lothario twinkle to round out his megawatt smile. He was carrying a rose which he presented to her with a flourish. And when she reached for it, he grabbed her hand and kissed it like a knight-errant.

  “Of course, you know Jake, our shortstop,” I said. “Did you know he used to be a firefighter? They’ve been bugging him for months to get to meet you.”

  Then in walked every single model from Jake’s firefighter calendar, each carrying a rose to present to Brittany. Jake was a local boy, so all the guys were from the Indianapolis Fire Department and every single one of them made good camera bait.

  “Oh yeah. And let’s not forget the Indigos,” I said, mentioning my old AAA team that fed into the Bobcats. I’d spent half my free time convincing the guys to hotfoot over to Indianapolis for tonight. All the available Indigos strolled into the room and mugged for the camera as each presented his rose to Brittany.

  By the time it was done, she was holding almost three dozen roses and looking like The Bachelorette at the beginning of the season.

  “My goodness,” she breathed over the bouquet, her cheeks blushing prettily. “I don’t know what to say. Except that Indianapolis has the best firefighters in the world. And of course, we couldn’t be prouder of our Indigo players.” Then she looked at me. “But Rob, what about our dinner?”

  Our intimate dinner for two. That was the part she wasn’t saying. “It’s all arranged,” I said, “Ruth’s Chris has a room specially reserved for everyone. Mr. DeLuce, why don’t you join us?” Then I turned to wink at an openmouthed Gia. “You, too, Gia. I’m sure you’d like to get names and stats on all these handsome guys.”

  She’d have to, just to keep up with the press pictures.

  “Um, sure.” She had to pause a moment while the guys lifted Brittany up in their arms. I couldn’t tell if it was the baseball guys or the firefighters, but either way, the cameras were clicking nonstop.

  And while that was going on, Gia came to my side. “You did this all to get out of one date?”

  “You wanted a media event.” I gestured to the guys as they vied for Brittany’s attention. “Let her bring each date to the games. She’ll stop distracting the players, you get all the social media hits you want, and—”

  “Tickets, Rob. The whole idea is to sell Bobcats tickets.”

  “If you spin all this around our games, then we suddenly become—”

  “A trending topic,” she answered for me, and I could tell her mind was working overtime with possibilities. “And trending topics sell tickets.”

  I wondered if that was a tongue twister that she practiced every morning. “Exactly.”

  Her eyes abruptly narrowed. “But you can’t go flaunting another girl now. In fact, you have to be out of the spotlight completely, since Brittany’s too firecracker bright.” The sarcasm in her tone told me she hadn’t been fooled by my bashful smile any more than my mother ever was.

  “That’s exactly what I want.”

  Gia shook her head. “It’ll hurt your star power, Rob. Is that girlfriend of yours worth that?”

  I didn’t even hesitate. “Definitely.” I just had to convince Heidi that I was worthy of her.

  I planned to leave right then and head straight to Heidi’s apartment, but Mr. DeLuce stopped me. He pulled me aside and told me that a media splash was all well and good, especially since it was likely to put Brittany in a good mood, but I’d been hired to hit home runs. So while Gia made sure that all those handsome men were photographed with Bobcats paraphernalia, I received another stern lecture on discipline. About how nothing was more important to me than baseball, and I better not forget it.

  By the time I escaped the ballpark, I was tired and wrung out. Damn it, this was just like in high school when I’d had too many things competing with baseball. It had fried my brain for a time. The only difference now was that baseball wasn’t coming out on top like it had when I was sixteen. Right now, Heidi was all I could think about. But I couldn’t get her on the phone and she wasn’t at her apartment, either. Which left me to grumble my way home while I tried to regroup.

  Except what greeted my eyes as I stepped into the lobby of my apartment was someone I hadn’t expected. Someone who’d been out of my life since high school.

  “Tommy? What are you doing here?”

  My former best friend stood up from a seat in the lobby. He had a brand-new Bobcats cap in his hand and a hangdog expression. “Hey. I, um… Got a minute?”

  I nodded and led the way past security. And as he headed to the elevator, I got a chance to check out the man he’d become, and I wasn’t impressed. His eyes were bloodshot and his skin seemed to hang beneath his eyes and jowls. He’d put on a ton of weight and, where he’d once been all muscle, he was now soft with a definite paunch.

  “I, um, was driving through Indiana and took a chance you’d be home,” he said.

  “Driving?”

  “Yeah. I’m a long-haul trucker. It was shit trying to park in Indianapolis.”

  “I’ll bet.”

  We made it up to my apartment and I watched his eyes take in the space. Growing up he’d had the nicer home, but we’d hung out in my garage as easily as we’d played Nintendo in his living room. But now his gaze roved hungrily over my entertainment center and leather couch, and suddenly I was feeling defensive. I’d worked hard to afford this place. Sure there was a lot of luck involved and it could all disappear in a second, but I wasn’t going to apologize for making something of myself.

  Turns out, I didn’t have to.

  “Look, I can’t stay long,” he said as he shuffled his feet. “I, um, I just came to say Jill called me.”

  I stiffened. Oh hell. I opened my mouth to say something, what I didn’t know. Maybe the same old song about how Jill and I were just friends and I’d never hurt her. But he held up his hand.

  “She told me that you didn’t get her pregnant. She told me it was Bennie. You remember that kid who got trashed at homecoming and broke into a sporting goods store?”

  “I remember.”

  His gaze slid away from mine as he fiddled with this Bobcats cap. “Yeah. Mom and Dad would have gone ballistic. Bad enough she got pregnant, but he ended up in juvie.” He lifted his shoulders almost to his ears. “Dad would have beaten her for sure. For starters.”

  “I know.” That’s one of the reasons I’d poured my savings into helping Jill. I knew her father had a violent temper.

  “Anyway, she told me everything. She said you helped her. And that you promised to let everybody think it was your kid. That you’d been the one who’d…you know. You were going off to college and she didn’t think anybody would care.”

  No one had. No one except him. “I’m sorry, Tommy. If I’d told you the truth, you’d have gone looking for the real father.”

  “And I’d have found Bennie. Then it would have gone from bad to worse.” He grimaced. “Anyway, she’s doing fine now. Real grateful to you.”

  I knew. She and I had talked nearly every Christmas at church. I knew she had a good job and a husband she loved. They were thinking of starting a family.

  Meanwhile, Tommy had started gripping the ballcap so tight his knuckles had turned white. And while he shifted his feet awkwardly, he did eventually look me in the eyes. “Look, it wasn’t just about Jill. I got a shit life and you don’t. That pissed me off.”

  “I worked hard for my life.”

  “Yeah, I know. And I’m sorry.”

  That was it. No more. But maybe between old friends that was all we needed. I wasn’t angry at him. How could I be when I was one torn ligament away
from being flat on my ass with no job and no future?

  Suddenly I was smiling and gesturing him into my living room. “You want to sit down? We could order pizza and beer. There’s got to be some sort of game on cable.”

  “Nah, I gotta go. Can’t leave the truck where it is.”

  Well that hurt a little. But I knew from experience that once Tommy made the effort, the rest would follow. I just had to be patient. Fortunately, I was good at that. “Okay. But did you want some tickets? Pick a date, I’ll get tickets, and we could hang out afterward.”

  He looked up, his hazel eyes bright with tears. “I’d like that. Jill would, too, if that’s okay.”

  “That would be fantastic,” I said with a grin.

  Then he smiled at me, and I knew we were okay. Finally, I had my best friend back.

  “So, um, there’s something else. That girl reporter. The Chinese one. She talked to Jill.”

  I winced. Of course she did. Because Heidi would never let a story go even when I begged her to.

  “What did Jill say?”

  “Everything. The honest truth. And then she called me and chewed my ass out.”

  I made a sympathetic sound. “Jill does know how to make a guy feel like shit.”

  “Ain’t that right?” he groused. “The thing is, that Chinese girl? We all know you were seeing her in Broken Bow. We all know she’s important to you.”

  So much for dating Heidi incognito. I thought we’d been so careful.

  “Anyway, Jill said that while they were talking, she got an email.” He took a deep breath. “Something about her application to UCLA.”

  My heart lurched. UCLA was Heidi’s first choice in law school. The one with a program for journalists. Could she be planning to go there? To Los Angeles which was a hell of a long way from Indianapolis.

  “Oh shit,” I mumbled, my mind already racing. “I have to call her.” I had to find a way to fix things between us before she moved to California.

  Fortunately, Tommy took the cue and held out his hand. “Good luck, Rob. I’m sorry I’ve been a shit.”

  I took his hand, but it wasn’t enough. I pulled him into a hug and it felt damned good. He must have felt it, too, because he was slapping my back just like he had when we were in high school. And when we separated, he got me with an old jab.

  “You still drop your shoulder too much when you throw.”

  He was right. “And you still smell like cheese farts.”

  He snorted. “You try sitting in a company truck for sixteen hours. You won’t smell pretty, either.”

  I laughed. “I’ve sat on a Bobcats bus. That’s disgusting enough.”

  He was still chuckling as he left. I watched him until he got on the elevator, but the moment the doors closed, I was back in my apartment and firing up my computer.

  Three years ago, I hadn’t had Heidi’s phone number and I’d let that stop me from finding her. This time, I was pulling out all the stops. No matter what, she and I were going to talk.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Heidi

  No one could serve up food with as much guilt as my mother. And what was worse? She didn’t even know she was doing it.

  It was nine in the morning and I was sitting in my parents’ kitchen eating my favorite feel-better food: egg drop soup with noodles and corn. It was a carb-and-cholesterol deathtrap, but it always made me feel better. She’d made it from scratch the moment I’d told her I wasn’t going to law school.

  Naturally, my parents had assumed I’d done poorly on the LSATs and I didn’t correct that impression. Hence the guilt as I sat there scarfing down soup for breakfast while she tried to make me feel better by giving “helpful” suggestions.

  “There are classes to help with the LSATs. You should take one of those and ace the test. Your father and I could help pay for that.”

  “It wasn’t my LSAT scores, Mama. They were fine.”

  “But they could be better, yes? Unless it was your essay.”

  I’d written an essay because they’d hounded me to. I’d never actually put it in an application.

  My father looked up from the newspaper, his expression sad. “It wasn’t her essay. I read her essay, and it was excellent.”

  Well that was nice to hear. Until Mama tsked as she added some green onion to the already perfect soup. “What do you know about law school essays? It could be—”

  “The problem is her job,” he interrupted. “She needs to work in a law firm.”

  “No, Baba—” I protested, but Mama cut me off.

  “You have lawyer friends,” she told my father. “You could find her a job.”

  “I don’t need a job!” I argued even though I rarely did. And just to prove that my mother really knew how to twist the knife, she turned and frowned at me.

  “I thought you got fired from your job.”

  “I was laid off.”

  She waved the distinction aside. “See. You need a job!”

  “I’m a stringer.”

  She turned back to the soup. “That is no job at all. A real job has benefits. Do you have benefits?”

  I didn’t answer because she already knew the answer.

  “What will you do if you get sick? How will you live?” She shook her head. “No, you must come back home, and your father will find you a job at a law firm.”

  “No,” I said as firmly as I could. And as usual, it was like I hadn’t said a thing.

  “I will ask,” my father said as he turned a page in the newspaper. “She will probably start low. Minimum wage.”

  “It is a start, and she can live here. Too expensive in Indianapolis.”

  “Chicago has a much higher cost of living—”

  “See? That is why you need to be a lawyer. You like arguing.”

  I sighed. There was just no way to win with her.

  “And since you are home,” she added, “you can help me with my computer. Good deal, no? I will cook for you, and you can get the viruses off my computer.”

  Just what I loved doing…not. Maybe law school was a better option than living at home. But no, I was determined on my path to become an investigative journalist. I just had to figure out the details before I told them.

  “So you are ready to move? What about that Chinese boy you were seeing?”

  Chinese boy? I looked at her with a frown but didn’t answer because the doorbell rang. I got up to answer, purely as a way to escape, but my mother waved me back into the chair.

  “No, no. You are still in your pajamas.”

  My cotton Hello Kitty pajamas covered more of me than I usually wore, but that wasn’t the point. It was all about appearing respectable and that meant real clothes, not sleepwear. I was just slurping some more soup when I heard a familiar voice.

  “Hello, Mrs. Wong. I’m looking for Heidi. Is she here?”

  My heart froze in my chest. Rob? It couldn’t be. He had a game this afternoon in Indianapolis. Nevertheless, I was out of my seat and rushing to the front door as fast as my feet could carry me. And yup, Rob stood right there looking rumpled and unshaven in the morning sunlight, and yet so handsome I almost wept.

  “Rob!” I gasped.

  “Heidi!” The relief in his voice was clear enough, but the joy in his eyes when he saw me slowed my feet to a shocked stop. He was happy to see me? Even after I’d run off in a huff?

  “What are you doing here?” I asked. “Don’t you have a game this afternoon?” Like in an hour.

  “Yeah, I do.” Then he rubbed a hand over his face. “I mean, I did. But I told them I couldn’t make today’s game.”

  I gaped at him. Sure players dropped in and out of the roster all the time, but without an obvious injury, speculation would run rampant. Plus rookies in the majors never took a day off just because. Never.

  “What—” I asked, but my mother cut me off.

  “Heidi Wong, do you know this man?”

  I blinked. “Um, yeah. Mama, this is the boy I told you about. The baseball pl
ayer? Robert Lee, this is my mother.”

  “Ah no!” she cried. “You said the boy was Chinese.”

  “No, I didn’t.” Then I thought about it. Oh hell. “Mom, there are plenty of Lees out there who aren’t Chinese.”

  Her eyes widened. “But you didn’t say! And the Chinese are very good at baseball!”

  Well, yes they are, but…

  “Never mind! Never mind!” She stepped back from the doorway and waved Rob in. “Come in, come in.” Then she glared at me. “Heidi, go get dressed.” Then she turned back to Rob. “Are you hungry? Would you like some tea? I have just made some soup.”

  Meanwhile, I heard my father put away the newspaper and come to the front door, his slippers making little shuffling noises on the wood floor. “Hello. I am Heidi’s father.”

  Oh hell. The suitor grilling was about to begin, but it was pointless to stand around in my pajamas. Mama wouldn’t let me say anything unless I was properly dressed. I rushed to my bedroom and pulled on the first thing I could grab. But when I was about to jerk on my T-shirt, I remembered that my mother was not above sending me back upstairs to put on something more respectable. Arguing with her would be a waste of time, so I tossed aside the tee and pulled out an embroidered blouse from China. It was dowdy and screamed fresh-off-the-boat, but it was clean, and my mother would approve. Five more seconds to brush my hair and throw on some lip gloss, then I was tripping downstairs as fast as I could move.

  I clattered to a stop at the base of the stairs just in time to see my mother taking Rob through our own Wall of Accomplishments. I’m sure she’d begun with my violin trophies and my brothers’ medical careers, but she was well on the way up the ancestral tree. Right then she was pointing to my father’s Community Pharmacy Residency Excellence award which was a big deal in his field. Next would be my uncle’s picture at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a high-rise in Hong Kong. After that would be my grandfather the professor at Hong Kong University and so on back through our roots in China. We didn’t have pictures of anyone before my grandfather, but we had carved ink blocks and jade stones. As for the women of my family, all we had on the wall was a pair of four-inch embroidered shoes my great-grandmother had worn back when women still had their feet bound.