Spring Training

by Stacey Lynn Rhodes

  Stretching, he tried to convince himself to get up, and finally was able to do so when he remembered that he might be able to have some one on one time with Teri if Emery slept as late as he typically seemed to. They had a while before they had to be at the stadium.

  Once he was cleaned up and dressed, Aaron left his room and quietly made his way into the living room. He needn’t have bothered. Teri was awake, dressed and on the phone.

  “…probably tomorrow then, hon. I’d like to stay one more day to make sure that he’s settled in. He’s doing pretty well, though. I’m hopeful this will work out.” She listened for a minute then grinned. “Most likely. I’m just deluding myself that he’ll behave when I’m not here, aren’t I? But we did have a good talk last night. Before that I was trying hard not to feel like the worst parent in the world.” Teri’s expression had sobered and she sighed.

  Aaron took a few steps toward her, wanting to comfort her. That brought her attention to him. She smiled and held up a finger indicating she would be a minute. He nodded and headed toward the kitchen.

  Before he left the room, he heard her say, “Thanks. I can always count on you. And thanks for passing on the message, hon. I know. Love you too. See you tomorrow. Oh, that reminds me…” She trailed off as though the other person had started speaking.

  Aaron stopped short. Who the hell was she talking to that she loved and called ‘hon’? He shook his head and resumed walking. Probably just a close girlfriend. Teri wasn’t the type who would mess around if she was involved with someone. And no way was Aaron going to ask. Though, if she happened to mention who she’d been talking to, he wouldn’t mind that at all.

  He noticed that Teri had made a pot of coffee. He didn’t always drink it but liked the taste with certain breakfasts, so he went ahead and fixed a mug for himself. He was up early enough, and with company here, maybe he’d go ahead and cook something.

  He hadn’t noticed whether Teri had coffee yet or not, so he walked back into the living room to check and to offer her some if she hadn’t got it already.

  Yeah, right. You just want to hear more of her conversation with ‘hon’.

  But she was already off the phone and coming toward him with a distracted expression that changed into a smile for him. “Hey there. I made coffee, but wasn’t sure what you might want to eat.”

  “Good morning,” he finally said and took her into his arms for a hug. When had she starting fitting against him so perfectly? A bit freaked out, Aaron dropped his arms. “You don’t have to cook every meal while you’re here. Believe me, I fed myself long before you came along.” He had meant for that to sound teasing, but it came out a bit more sarcastic than humorous. He tried again, “I just mean that you’re my guest while you’re staying here. It’s my kitchen. I should be the one making you breakfast.” He wasn’t sure that sounded any better. Man, he was making a mess of things this morning. Truth be told, he was a bit off kilter between overhearing the conversation with someone important in her life and the sure knowledge that Teri would be leaving tomorrow, all juxtaposed against his growing comfort and attraction around her.

  Her smile had faded and she looked a bit puzzled. Probably trying to figure out what his problem was.

  “Sorry,” he apologized. “Not sure why everything’s coming out wrong this morning.” He moved closer and touched her forearm. “I had a great night, so it’s not that.”

  She seemed reassured by that if the returning smile was any indication, but before they could say anything further, Emery stumbled down the hall, surprising them both into stepping back from each other.

  “Wow. You’re up early, honey.” Teri reached up and gave his hair a ruffle as he staggered by them into the kitchen. After exchanging an amused glance, Aaron and Teri followed him in.

  “Yeah, well, someone texted me, like, ten times this morning telling me to get my ass out of bed and spend some time with you ‘cause you have to go home tomorrow ‘cause of something for work,” Emery groused as he poured himself some coffee.

  Teri smirked. “Sorry about that.”

  “No you’re not. Just ‘cause you guys are freakish morning people doesn’t mean we all are. Not that I don’t want to spend time with you or anything. He’s just a bossy fucker who needs to get a life. He has no right to—”

  “Watch your language, Emery.”

  “He is bossy.” Emery snickered into his mug.

  Teri sighed. “Not the word I have a problem with. So”—she clapped her hands together and her son winced—“you’re up. What do you want for breakfast? Aaron and I were just talking about that.”

  That got Emery’s attention. “Why don’t we go out? My treat.”

  Teri immediately got a suspicious look on her face.

  “What?”

  “Your treat, huh?” Teri pinned Emery with a look.

  “Jeez, can’t a guy take his mom out to breakfast without her getting all conspiracy theory on his ass?”

  Aaron sipped his coffee, enjoying the twosome’s banter, but unbelievably curious about who Teri had been talking to, who was also a man and knew her son well enough to text him and wake him up. The dad missing from the picture?

  “Hmm, well, there was that one time where you ‘accidently borrowed’ and used someone else’s credit card to take me to dinner.”

  “That was an accident!” Emery protested

  “You accidently had his ID too. Then there was the time you took me out for brunch at that expensive place with the waiting list for reservations but forgot your wallet so I had to buy.”

  He huffed and crossed his arms. “I changed pants at the last minute. Man, you remember everything.”

  “How about the time you picked the perfect place for Mother’s Day…because of the hot waitress you wanted to—?”

  “Ma!” Em interrupted, pointing at Aaron. “Come on! He doesn’t want to hear about all of that. I’m sure he just wants to eat some great pancakes at this place I heard about—The Ginger Cat.”

  Aaron had to nod. “They do have great pancakes. And they’re pretty reasonably priced, from what I remember.”

  “See?” Em pouted slightly. “I just wanted to make it up to you for yesterday. Sheesh. And, well, I heard it’s a good all-you-can-eat special on the pancakes today,” he mumbled against the coffee mug before taking a long drink and polishing it off and grimacing like it was medicine.

  Teri walked up to give Emery a hard hug as soon as he finished. “Thanks, hon. I’d love to have you take me out for pancakes. Why don’t you go get ready?” She patted him on the back, and he headed out of the kitchen and down the hall much more quickly than he’d come.

  Aaron made to follow him so he could get socks and shoes, but Teri surprised him by sliding her arms around his waist as he went to pass her.

  “I never got a proper good morning,” she murmured.

  “I won’t mention that you would have gotten a very proper good morning if you’d stayed with me last night and woken up beside me.”

  “Oh, you’re not going to mention that, are you? Good to know.”

  Aaron smiled and gave her a quick kiss. “Maybe we could try it that way tonight.”

  “Me staying all night? Or something else?”

  “Well, I seem to recall that you might have wanted something last night that I didn’t get a chance to deliver.”

  “Mmm,” Teri agreed. “Tonight might be a good time for that. Especially since…well…” She sighed, dropping the teasing act. “I have to head home. A job I’d planned to start next week just got complicated and they need me there yesterday. Surveyors showed up earlier than they expected. Nothing they can do about it now, but I need to be there to start damage control for the expected survey results so they can get their action plan together. And…this is way more than you needed to know,” she apologized. “Sorry. Slipped right into work mode there for a minute.” She shrugged. “Kind of on my mind now. I’d told them they should have me in there sooner than this. Ah well.”

>   It had been a fascinating glimpse into a part of herself he hadn’t seen before, so he didn’t mind. “You’ll have to tell me more about your job at breakfast.”

  “Em will love that.” She rolled her eyes. “But I can talk fast while he’s cramming pancakes into his mouth.”

  They shared a laugh then one more pecked kiss before they both headed down the hall to get ready. Aaron couldn’t do anything about the fact that practice would take up much of their last day together, but he was planning on making the most of this morning…and tonight.

  * * * *

  Teri rubbed the base of her back and rotated her head. Fairly satisfied that she’d be prepared to go in to the facility being surveyed the day after tomorrow ready to get to work, she closed down her laptop and stowed it in its case, along with the cord. She was done with work until she got home, and besides, the guys would be back from practice soon.

  She’d put together a simple enough meal of a vegetable frittata—already cooked and cooling—and a tossed garden salad, then had gone ahead and baked a peach and blackberry cobbler for dessert. All of the menu filling and satisfying to eat, but simple to make from what they’d had on hand.

  Teri sighed. There really wasn’t much more for her to do here, and no good reason she couldn’t have driven home today. Emery seemed settled and in a positive frame of mind, and Aaron was a great role model for him. She could be at home tonight, preparing for work there.

  But that would mean missing another night in Aaron’s arms, and she wasn’t ready for that to be over. Not yet.

  The front door opened as though her thoughts had conjured him up, and first Aaron then Emery stepped in. Her automatic smile got caught somewhere between a mom greeting for her son and appreciation of the man she’d been fortunate enough to explore—and be explored by—over the past couple of days.

  She coughed and turned away.

  “Hey, Ma. Glad you’re still here.” Emery gave her a brief side hug as he strode past.

  “What do you mean?”

  He paused before going down the hallway, obviously intent on a shower. “Well, I sort of figured with the work thing and all you might have headed home today. Everything’s cool here. No reason to stay…not that I’m rushing you off or anything,” he clarified hurriedly. “I like having you here.”

  “I understand, honey. I had considered it, but”—Teri looked at Aaron who was absorbing the whole conversation with a slight frown—“I…like being here too.”

  “Alex was just surprised you didn’t get on the road today. He blames me, I think. Like you have to babysit me or something.” Emery’s trademark frustration with Alex was evident on his face. Honestly, it would piss her off sometimes if she didn’t know that Emery would be the first to heatedly defend Alex against anyone else.

  “That’s not it at all. I’ll talk to him,” she soothed and flapped her hands at him. “Go—shower. Dinner’s ready anytime.”

  “Awesome!” He disappeared down the hall and less than ten seconds later the shower could be heard.

  Teri turned to face Aaron. “Hey there.”

  “Hi.”

  The flat greeting was a bit out of character, but she didn’t know him well enough to call him on it, so she proceeded as though she hadn’t noticed a difference. “Good to see you. Um, I made dinner.”

  “Thanks, but I told you you didn’t have to do that.”

  Teri began to get irritated by the abrupt change. “I know I didn’t have to, but I wanted to. I thought it would be nice to have dinner in tonight. Plus I enjoy cooking for more than just myself. I sort of miss it now that I’m an empty nester.”

  “So you don’t cook for Alex?”

  She frowned. “Well, sometimes, maybe a couple of times a week usually, but our schedules don’t always coincide, especially this time of year. It’s been a while.”

  “Is Alex another ballplayer then?”

  It might have been her imagination, but that came across with almost a sneer. She had to smile a bit, though, since the thought of Alex playing baseball was beyond humorous. The boys couldn’t be more different in that respect.

  “No, he’s doing tax—”

  Aaron cut her off, “Accountant. Smart guy instead of a dumb jock. I get it. No need to continue.”

  The interruption was the last straw. “What the hell is your problem?” she demanded. “How could you think that I of all people think jocks are dumb? Is your blood sugar low? Or are you always just an asshole after practice?”

  “How am I being an asshole? Because I don’t want to hear you go on about Alex doing taxes?” The very reasonable tone of his voice was negated by the glare he sent her way.

  “I can’t believe this! Now you’re yelling at me for answering a simple question? I can’t believe I stayed here for you!”

  “I never asked you to. And I’m not the one raising my voice.”

  She pressed her lips together. That had come out a bit loudly, and the last thing she wanted was for Emery to hear her screeching at Aaron…even if he deserved it a bit.

  Teri tried to put herself in Aaron’s shoes. Maybe she’d been a mom too long. She didn’t think she was like some parents who went on and on about their kids’ accomplishments, but it might seem that way to a young man who’d never had children. She swallowed her anger and tried to take the high road, even though what he’d said about not asking her to stay stung.

  “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 fl
ing. 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.