The Changeup (Men of the Show)

by Shaw, Rhonda

  Bree looked up bashfully at Chase, seeing she had his attention. “Um, what do you mean by afternoon game?”

  He gave her an encouraging smile. “We had a game during the day today. Most of the time we play at night.”

  “Play? What do you play?” He had her full attention now.

  “I play baseball. For the Rockets.”

  Bree’s eyes lit up with recognition. “The Detroit Rockets?” she asked excitedly, her play at shyness now completely forgotten.

  “Yeah, the Detroit Rockets,” he said with a chuckle.

  “What do you do?”

  “I pitch.”

  “Oh,” she breathed, deeply impressed.

  “Do you like baseball?” he asked her.

  “Yeah,” she answered casually.

  “Bree, you’ve never watched a game in your life,” Maddie playfully chided.

  “That’s only because you’ve never taken me, Mommy.”

  She laughed at her daughter’s scolding look. “I guess I’ve been told! I’m sorry. I never knew you wanted to go.”

  Bree gave her a look that said “Duh!” before turning back to Chase. “I’m sure I would love baseball. It sounds like fun.”

  “It is fun. I’ll get you guys some tickets and you can check it out for yourself.”

  “Oh! Can I?” Thrilled, she turned to her mother. “Mommy, can I?”

  “I don’t see why not,” she answered her, before looking back at Chase. “You don’t have to do that. I didn’t realize she even wanted to go to a game.”

  “That was before Chase, right, Bree?” Lenore said from the end of the table with a conspiratorial wink.

  He shrugged. “It’s no big deal. I can get you tickets.”

  “What’s your best pitch?” Scooter asked.

  “Uh, probably my changeup. Although, I’ve been working a lot lately on my sinker,” he answered. “Do you play?”

  Sandy snorted, causing her brother’s face to flame in embarrassment. “Scooter? Play sports? Right! Unless it’s on some video game, he doesn’t play it.” She and Lenore snickered loudly, causing Tom to scowl at them before answering his cell phone and leaving the room.

  “What gaming systems do you have?” Chase asked Scooter, ignoring Sandy.

  “Just an Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. I want to get a Wii, but I haven’t convinced my mom to buy it for me yet,” he said, throwing a pleading look in Lenore’s direction.

  “When you make the money Chase does, then you can buy your own Wii,” she said matter-of-factly.

  Maddie noticed Chase turn his attention to his plate as his mouth tightened into a straight line at the mention of money. His discomfort was clear as day to her, but invisible to everyone else. Her sister didn’t understand that others were not always open to discussing their finances. Maddie knew exactly how he felt, having had to remind Lenore more than once that the topic was off-limits.

  “So how did you two meet?” she asked, trying to steer the conversation back to safe territory even though she already knew the answer.

  “At one of the bars in Royal Oak—Shooters,” Sandy answered with a loving gaze at Chase, who, at that moment, was more interested in his hamburger. “He lives in Royal Oak.”

  “Oh, we live in Royal Oak. Where about?”

  Chase cleared his throat, throwing an uneasy glance in Sandy’s direction before cutting his attention back to Maddie. “On Thistle.”

  “We live on Thistle, don’t we, Mommy?”

  “Yep, we sure do.”

  Sandy’s mouth dropped open in disbelief before she plastered on a bright smile. “Chase, you live on Thistle? I didn’t know that and I’ve been asking you! Isn’t that so funny that someone Maddie’s age would live in Royal Oak? I mean, it’s totally like a bar scene.” She and Lenore shared another snigger.

  He grinned, but not one that said he found it funny. His deep brown eyes had visibly brightened at hearing this information.

  “Which unit are you in?” Maddie asked him, her turn to ignore her rude sister and niece.

  “The last one on the end—458. I share it with my one of my teammates.”

  “Oh man!” Bree complained. “That’s Sarah’s house. I wanted some kids to move in there.”

  “Bree!” Maddie scolded. “That’s not very nice to say.”

  “It’s okay,” he said with a chuckle. “If I played with you, would that make it better?”

  She shrugged in feigned disinterest. “What would we play?”

  “Now she plays hard to get,” Maddie muttered.

  Chase’s eyes twinkled, lingering on Maddie before he turned his attention back to Bree. He was clearly enjoying himself with her daughter. “Well, we could play catch.”

  “Catch? How would we play catch? What would we catch?” Bree inquired.

  “What do you mean how?” he asked, clearly confused. “With a ball and glove.”

  Maddie laughed. “You’ll have to forgive Bree. The male influence in her life has been a bit lacking.”

  A contemplative look crossed his face. He looked like he wanted to ask more about that but then decided against it. “I could teach you,” he told Bree.

  “Okay.” She shrugged, clearly uncertain if this was something she even wanted to learn, but apparently willing to give it a shot if it meant spending time with Chase.

  “Then it’s a date.”

  “Mommy said I can’t date until I’m eighteen,” she replied in all seriousness.

  “Ah, well, then, it’s a playdate. Can you have a playdate before you’re eighteen?”

  Bree looked at her mother with eyebrows raised.

  “Oh, I think that’s okay. Just not dinner and a movie for a while,” Maddie answered, fighting a smile.

  “It’s okay then,” Bree told him with assurance.

  “Awesome. I can’t wait,” he said, talking to Bree but looking at Maddie.

  To her out-of-practice eye, she thought he might possibly be flirting with her, but of course, that wasn’t possible. He was dating her niece and she was obviously too old for him. She shook her head and looked away certain she was confusing a friendly gesture with something else.

  After everyone had finished their dinner, Maddie helped to clear the dishes and carried them to the kitchen behind Lenore.

  “What do you think?” Lenore asked as soon as they were out of earshot.

  “He seems very nice.”

  “And very cute too,” Lenore added in a low voice.

  She made a noncommittal noise, reluctant to agree. Maddie found Chase to be very attractive but felt odd vocalizing it since he was so young. Thankfully, her sister wasn’t really waiting for her agreement.

  “Bree seems to adore him, don’t you think?”

  Maddie gave a shrug. “I don’t want her getting her hopes up on something that probably won’t pan out.”

  “What do you mean?” Lenore asked.

  Maddie looked up from loading the dishes into the dishwasher. “You really think he’s going to get her tickets to a game or that he’s going to have a playdate with her? Come on! He’s a twentysomething-year-old professional ballplayer. He isn’t going to want to hang around a little girl.”

  “What? He could be different. He really seemed to enjoy her.”

  “Right. I’ll believe it when I see it.”

  Lenore pursed her lips, obviously wanting to say more, but remained quiet for once. Maddie was thankful. She knew that conversation line would go straight back to her issues with men. She didn’t want to get into that again. It was tiring and they never understood her side of things anyway.

  * * *

  On the drive home, Bree was unusually quiet. Maddie glanced in the rearview mirror and saw the contemplation on her daughter’s fac
e. “What are you thinking about, sweetheart?”

  “I was just thinking about Chase.”

  “What about him?”

  “How nice he was. Did you think he was nice, Mommy?”

  “Yes, I thought he was a nice young man,” Maddie answered wondering where her daughter was going with this.

  “Do you think he’ll come over to see me?”

  Maddie took a deep breath. “I don’t know, sweetie. He’s probably going to be really busy with baseball, so don’t be upset if he doesn’t come by anytime soon.”

  She was quiet for a moment before shaking her head. “No, Mommy. He’s going to come over soon. I just know it.”

  Maddie sighed, unsure how to prevent Bree from getting her hopes up. Her daughter had already faced so many disappointments from her disinterested father that she didn’t want yet another man to crush her little heart. She would do whatever it took to protect her, even if it meant beaning Chase in the head with one of his baseballs.

  After seeing Bree to bed, she settled down on the couch to call Karen.

  “Hey, what’s up?” Karen said answering on the second ring.

  “I just got back from Lenore’s.”

  “Oh, that’s right. How did that go?” Karen asked.

  “Nothing out of the ordinary, but I did meet my niece’s new boyfriend.”

  “He’s probably annoying, just like Sandy.” Karen never bothered to hide her dislike of Lenore and her family.

  “He’s a pitcher for the Detroit Rockets.”

  That brought Karen back to full attention. “Get out of here! Who?”

  “Uh, his name is Chase. Now that I think about it, I’m not sure if I got his last name.”

  “Patton? Chase Patton?” Karen exclaimed, her voice rising with excitement.

  “Yeah, that must be him. How many Chases can there be?”

  “Ohmigod! How the hell did she land him? He’s a cutie and he’s really good. Not as good as Smutty, but still good.”

  “Smutty?” Maddie asked. “Who or what the hell is a Smutty?”

  Karen sighed impatiently. “Jerry Smutton. He’s the ace pitcher for the Rockets and my absolute favorite. But forget about that and tell me about Chase and Sandy.”

  “Apparently, she met him at Shooters. He lives in the same complex as me, I guess.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Karen cried. “How did you not notice a hottie like that lived in same complex as you? No, wait, how did I not notice?”

  Maddie rolled her eyes. “Like I would have even known who he was. But anyway, none of that matters. What matters is that he promised Bree he would play catch with her.”

  “Okay. What’s wrong with that?”

  “What’s wrong with that?” Maddie repeated in disbelief. “Like some hotshot, young pitcher is going to want to spend time with Bree. He’s going to end up breaking her heart. She’s already looking forward to when he’s supposedly going to come over and get her.” She stopped and let out heavy sigh. “I don’t know what to do.”

  “How do you know he won’t follow through on it?” Karen asked, clearly not following.

  “Oh please! He’s young, good-looking, an athlete, newly famous, and probably making a boatload of money. That doesn’t exactly spell upstanding citizen who rescues cats from trees, helps grandmas across the street and plays with kids he doesn’t know.”

  “You have no idea what kind of person he is. Maybe he is Superman, as you’ve described.”

  Maddie took a tight breath through her nose. Why was she the only one who could see reality for what it was? “Now you sound like Lenore. Apparently I’m the only one who knows how young boys really are.”

  “First of all, take that back,” she said hotly. “I’m nothing like bitchy Lenore. Secondly, you talk like he’s a teenager. He isn’t that young. Thirdly, what would he gain by making promises to Bree? It isn’t like he is trying to impress you or anything.” All of a sudden, there was a lot of shuffling noises coming through the phone. Maddie imagined Karen quickly sitting up as her voice took a very deliberate tone. “Unless that was exactly it.”

  “What are you talking about?” Maddie asked with a frown.

  “Maybe he was trying to impress you.”

  “Why would he be trying to impress me?”

  “Why not?”

  “Karen, you’re not making any sense.” She thought her friend was off the deep end now, but she couldn’t deny her heart skipping a beat at the thought as she recalled the tingles that had shot throughout her when she’d misread the look on his face or when his gaze had lingered longer than necessary. “I’m like old enough to be his mo...older sister.”

  “I know, I know,” Karen murmured, mostly to herself. “We’ll have to see what happens. So, tell me everything. You said he was good-looking. How good-looking is good-looking? He looks completely yummy in his uniform.”

  Maddie thought back on the night and Chase. He was handsome, she could admit that, but he was still so young, and therefore, irresponsible. It was too bad because Bree had certainly taken an immediate liking to him and, on the surface, he appeared to get along well with her. But, it only proved her point. You can’t have it all in one package when it came to men. You could have one thing or another, but not everything and she refused to settle.

  Chapter Three

  “Come on, Bree! Let’s go.”

  Maddie stood at the front door waiting. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining brightly and not a single wisp of a cloud showed against the bright blue sky. The temperature had finally dropped back down to the tolerable range, just as she’d gotten the air conditioning fixed in her car. She was convinced that if she hadn’t broken down and scrounged from her savings, her hair would still be a frizzy mess and sweat would be a constant on her skin.

  Whatever the reasons, with the humidity gone and the temperatures at a delightful eighty degrees, they made plans to head down to the community park that was behind their condominium. It was a good place for Bree to run around and expend some of her energy.

  They strolled down the sidewalk that lined the street in front of their red brick complex, a single-story building with two-story units capping each end. A line of white front doors faced the street, each with a small dirt plot to the right. Some owners did nothing with theirs while others, like her, planted bright flowers in order to add color and life. Some hung planters spilling over with rainbows of flowers under their front picture windows, doing what they could to make their unit unique and homey.

  Outside the end unit, the one where Chase had said he lived, she noticed a big white SUV parked in the spot on the street and wondered if it was his. They hadn’t seen him or heard from him in the two weeks since they’d met at Lenore’s house. It really didn’t surprise her. She’d known he wasn’t ever going to teach Bree how to play catch, nor had she expected him to show up with tickets. He was only being polite in front of his girlfriend’s family. Her heart was heavy for Bree, though—even though she hadn’t said anything, Maddie knew it was on the forefront of her daughter’s mind. She was sure he was busy with his schedule, that he hadn’t intentionally meant to hurt her, but she hoped that he learned he couldn’t make promises he didn’t intend to keep. Especially to his young fans.

  Turning the corner, Bree picked up her step as the park came into view. A giant cedar structure sat in the middle, a dark green enclosed spiral slide at one end and monkey bars at the other. Maddie was more than happy to sit on one of the surrounding wood benches and take in the fresh air as she watched her daughter run around climbing over and on everything. There were a bunch of kids playing on the set already and she was sure in no time Bree would be making new friends.

  She settled on one of the empty benches nearby, smiling politely at some of the other moms but keeping her distance, not wanting to engage in mi
ndless small talk. When Bree started to swing on the tire, Maddie tilted her head back and closed her eyes, basking in the feel of the warm sun while thankful she’d taken the time to lather both herself and Bree in sunscreen. It felt wonderful and she was tempted to sprawl out when a shadow fell over her. She frowned in frustration and waited a few seconds, assuming it was a cloud or plane passing. When it didn’t disappear, she squinted and found herself staring right up at Chase.

  “Hey,” he said with a big smile.

  She scooted up and shaded her eyes. “Hi, yourself. You’re blocking my sun.”

  “Oh, sorry, wouldn’t want to do that.” He smirked as he walked around the bench and sat down next to her, looking very cute in a dark green polo shirt and khaki cargo shorts. His skin was a nice golden brown and it didn’t escape her attention that his arms and calves were both very muscular. A worn tan cap sat low on his head, shading his angular face and Maddie noticed the slight scruff of a beard that he had yet to shave. He looked around and spotted Bree swinging on the tire. “How are you guys?”

  “We’re good. We haven’t been down here as much as she would have liked this summer, since it’s been so hot.”

  “It was brutal.” He sat back and turned to face her. “I just got back from a road trip. I saw you guys walking down here so I thought I’d come over and say hi.”

  “Bree will like that,” she said and tried not to notice how he glanced down, taking in her yellow V-neck T-shirt, which was suddenly feeling very snug across her breasts. She hadn’t thought twice about putting it on, along with her short jean shorts, but now she felt overexposed. She could feel the heat from his gaze on her skin, causing butterflies to take flight in her stomach.

  Maddie knew she was being ridiculous and reading it all wrong. He was probably thinking someone her age shouldn’t be wearing something so tight. Well, he was just going to have live with the embarrassment of being seen with her. She hadn’t asked him to sit next to her. Granted, she didn’t have the body of a twenty-year-old, but she was still slim and fit enough to be able to pull off wearing an outfit like this if she wanted to.