The Changeup (Men of the Show)

by Shaw, Rhonda

  “I had a great time tonight, Maddie. And not just because of what happened after dinner,” he added with his crooked smile. “That was a bonus.”

  She gave him a teasing punch in the arm. “Bonus, my ass. It was epic.”

  Chase gave a muffled chuckle, trying to be quiet before he pulled her into his arms. “Damn right, it was epic.” His lips brushed hers lightly before he stepped away and gave her hand a squeeze. “I’ll see you later.”

  “Bye.” She could feel his eyes on her as she opened her door and stepped inside. Before closing it behind her, she lifted her hand and watched as he did the same.

  Shutting the door quietly, Maddie leaned against it and gave a very satisfied sigh. She turned when the door to her room cracked open and a sleepy Karen stood in the doorway squinting at her. She looked Maddie up and down and a slow smile crept across her face.

  “Well, my friend. You look very thoroughly and utterly sexed up.” She caught the sparkle in Maddie’s eye. “And very happy, I might add.”

  “You would be correct, my friend.”

  Karen grabbed her arm and tugged her toward the kitchen. “I’ll start the coffee. You start spilling and I want every detail. Do not leave anything out!”

  Chapter Ten

  Tuesday afternoon, before leaving for his game, Chase grabbed an envelope off the coffee table and shoved it into his back pocket as he headed toward the door.

  “I’ll be right back,” he called over his shoulder.

  “Where you going?” Jerry looked up at Chase’s back as the door shut behind him. “I’m not waiting for your ass,” he muttered.

  Chase sprinted up the walkway to Maddie’s house and knocked.

  “Hi, Chase!” Bree cried as she opened the door to him.

  “How are you?” he asked, stepping into the house and catching her as she leaped into his arms.

  “Fine. I went to a sleepover the other night.”

  “A sleepover? With a bunch of girls? That’s sounds scary,” he teased.

  Maddie stepped out of the kitchen drying her hands on a dishtowel and felt her heart jump into her throat at the sight of Bree in Chase’s arms. Her daughter’s carefree, pure laughter was like music to her ears. She didn’t want to interrupt the moment, but Chase spotted her, a big smile breaking out on his face, before she could back into the kitchen unnoticed.

  “Hey,” he said.

  They hadn’t seen each other since she’d left his bed early the other morning and she was expecting things to be uncomfortable between them but she was wrong. Rather than feeling awkward and self-conscious, her insides tingled and a flush of warmth flowed through her at the sight of him.

  He reached into his back pocket and handed her the envelope. “I thought I’d drop these by.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I’m so excited to go your game,” Bree told him as she bounced in his arms.

  “I’m excited to have you guys there. I hope I can deliver a good game for you.” He quickly glanced at Maddie before clearing his throat. “I, uh, I wanted to talk to you about something, Bree.”

  “What about?” she asked, as she hooked her arms around his neck.

  “Well, it’s pretty important.” He shifted her into his other arm and sat down on the couch with her on his lap. He looked at her, making sure he had her attention. “It’s about your mom.”

  Bree looked around him at her mom with a puzzled look.

  “Chase?” Maddie asked cautiously.

  “What about Mommy?” Bree said at the same time.

  He ignored Maddie and kept his attention on Bree. “Bree, you understand that when two adults like each other they like to see each other and hang out and stuff, right? You know, date.”

  “Oh, God,” Maddie moaned as she started pacing.

  Bree nodded. “Lisa’s mom is always going out on dates.”

  “Right,” he said, pretending he knew who Lisa was. “Well, there’s something I want to ask you.”

  His words caught Maddie’s attention. He was going to ask for Bree’s approval? If she hadn’t already been crazy about him, that would have pushed her over. She stopped pacing and stood still, watching the exchange.

  Bree was looking at him expectantly. Chase cleared his throat and gave a little chuckle. “I wasn’t expecting to be nervous about this,” he said as he glanced at Maddie. She gave a small nod in encouragement.

  He looked back at Bree. “You know your mom and I went on a date the other night, right?”

  Bree nodded.

  “Well, I wanted to make sure it was okay with you if we continued to go out...on dates.”

  She looked at Maddie questioningly. Maddie knew her daughter inside and out, but she couldn’t have deciphered her thoughts at that moment. Many things flashed across her face—fear, happiness, hope, anxiousness and sadness. She couldn’t be sure which one Bree settled on.

  She looked back at Chase with interest. “You like my mommy?”

  His gaze held Maddie’s before he looked back at Bree. He nodded solemnly. “I do.”

  Bree thought about it for a moment. “Can we still play catch?” she finally asked.

  He grinned. “Of course. Nothing changes between you and me, kid. We’ll still hang when we can.”

  “Okay.” She climbed down from his lap. “I’m going to get ready for the game.”

  Maddie watched in amazement as her daughter went into her room and shut the door. She’d expected a much tougher fight from Bree, hearing she would have to share her new friend with her mom. There hadn’t even been a little one. She looked back at him in disbelief. “Well, I’m shocked.”

  Chase grabbed her hand and pulled her down into his lap. “I’m not. The kid’s smart. She knows a good thing when she sees it.”

  “But...” she started to say, his eager lips cutting her off. She quickly gave in and wrapped her arms around his neck.

  “I’ve missed you,” he said when they finally separated.

  “Me too. It seems like it’s been forever since I’ve seen you.”

  “I need to go, but I’m pretty comfortable right now,” he said as he leaned in for another kiss. The honk of a horn made him groan. “Shit, that’s Jerry.”

  Chase stood up and set her on her feet before giving her one last toe-curling kiss. He squeezed her hand and walked to the door. “I’ll see you later,” he said before closing the door behind him.

  Maddie felt her face break out into a wide, ridiculously happy smile, but she couldn’t contain it. She was happier than she could ever remember being and she didn’t want it to end.

  * * *

  Standing on the small mound in the bull pen going through his pregame warm-ups, Chase looked down the brim of his red Rockets cap at Matt Buck, the team’s all-star catcher, who was waiting to catch the next ball thrown down to him. Taking a deep breath, he focused on the game plan he’d gone over repeatedly with Coach Smith and Matt. He’d stick with trying to get hitters to chase balls away from the plate and once they were in the hole, he would follow up with a four-seam fastball and try to blow it by them or use his sinker to complete the strikeout. If he could mix that in with some groundouts and fly outs, he would be good. All he had to do was keep his head, try not to rush things and stick to the plan. He’d studied the strength and weaknesses of the lineup he would be facing and he knew it all, now all he had to do was execute—and ignore the fact that Maddie would be watching him pitch for the first time.

  Chase heaved the ball and signaled to Matt that he wanted a few minutes. Stepping off the mound, he walked around and idly toyed with the rosin bag. As one of the youngest pitchers in Major League Baseball, he’d faced tremendous pressure to make the starting pitching rotation. Once he did, he still had to prove to everyone that he deserved that spot and could keep up with the big
leaguers. Everyone was constantly waiting for him to fail or for his lack of experience to catch up with him, but he’d been able to prove them wrong so far. He couldn’t even remember the last time he felt anxious for a game. Nervous wasn’t in his vocabulary when it came to baseball and he was little out of practice with how to handle it.

  He’d always had friends and family attend games, and he’d always been able to put it out of his mind and just go out there and do his job. Even when some of his past girlfriends had attended games regularly, he’d never felt nervous about them coming or even really thought twice about it, sometimes forgetting they were even there. Why tonight was different with Maddie, he couldn’t figure out.

  He wanted her to see him in his element, so it wasn’t that he wished he hadn’t invited her. He wanted her to be involved in every aspect of his life—the good and the bad. He wanted her to see him as a professional, and he wanted her to watch a man confident in his game and who showed command on the mound. He wanted her to see someone who was self-assured and respected by the baseball community, and not the “Rook,” as his older teammates loved to call him. He could only hope that if he did make a mistake, he would quickly recover and not fall flat on his face.

  Maddie would never judge him and Chase knew that, felt confident in that. He knew no matter what happened—win or lose—she would be supportive of everything he did. Maddie didn’t care if he was the best at what he did and won every single game he pitched, she just wanted him to be successful and happy on his own terms. All she cared about was that he was there for her and Bree, and that he didn’t drag them through the dirt.

  He knew all of that, but he still wanted to shine for her. He wanted her to hear others marvel at his ability and brag that he was part of their team, doing all he could to get them into the playoffs and eventually to a World Series celebration. He wanted people to say, “Chase Patton is one hell of a pitcher,” so she could hold her head up high, proud to be with him.

  “Let’s go, Patty,” Matt called out.

  Chase took a deep breath and stood back on the mound, tossing down another pitch. It was nearly time to put on his game face. He would walk out onto the field and no one would know, not even Maddie, how his stomach tightened and quivered. All they would see was what he allowed them to, and that was someone calm, cool, collected and ready to kick some ass.

  * * *

  Maddie and Bree walked into the stadium early, as Bree wouldn’t have it any other way, and the electricity in the air hit them immediately. There’d been excitement and anticipation surrounding the first game they’d attended since it was the first they’d ever been to, but it felt different tonight. They were going to see Chase in his element and that amplified everything.

  Maddie was looking forward to seeing Chase do his thing. Since her talk with Jerry, she’d started to keep an eye out for any mention of Chase in the paper. Everything she’d come across so far had suggested that he was the next best thing in pitching, and everyone was impressed by his demeanor and stamina. They kept waiting for him to hit the “rookie wall,” but so far, he had yet to so much as stagger. If anything, he seemed primed and ready to take the team into the postseason. They were calling him a possible Rookie of the Year contender and they were expecting wonderful things from him throughout his career. She thought it must make him feel good to hear people say such positive things about him. It felt good knowing she could be part of his supporting team.

  With Bree’s hand in hers, she led them down to their seats. Close to the Rockets’s dugout and close to the field, they would be on top of the action.

  As they settled in their seats, Maddie leaned close to her daughter. “Chase isn’t going to be able to talk to you before the game, so no getting upset or anything, Bree. He has a job to do and he needs to concentrate.”

  Bree’s eyes were flitting around the field, into the dugout and out into the bull pen searching for Chase. “I know, Mom,” she said, mortified her mother had even uttered the words. “I think I know that.”

  Maddie smiled and rubbed Bree’s head. “I know you do and I also know how excited you are for him and want to tell him as much.”

  Sensing she was going to get no more conversation out of her daughter since she was impatiently looking around for her first glimpse of Chase, Maddie turned away, gazing out across the field, and was immediately drawn to the pitcher’s mound. It was a small, seemingly insignificant dirt bump in the middle of a sea of green, but it was the command center of the game, demanding all of the attention from every fan and TV camera in the stadium. She could envision Chase standing atop the mound—a tall, powerful force, staring down the batter, daring them to hit what he threw at them. It was going to be fascinating watching him, a fluid machine who, after years of fine-tuning, was able to hurl a ball faster than a car on a highway. Combine that with movement on the pitches in order to confuse and perplex the hitters, making them swing at nothing but air, she knew it was going to be a beautiful sight and couldn’t wait.

  A quiet gasp alerted her that Bree had spotted him somewhere.

  “There’s Chase. He’s walking out from that place he called the bull pen,” Bree said, pointing.

  Maddie followed Bree’s finger and, even from the opposite side of the field, she knew the tall figure walking slowly toward them in a crisp white uniform was Chase. He walked with the catcher, keeping his head down and his movements loose. She could tell he was deep in thought, even though fans yelled as he walked by.

  An older man who had taken the seats behind them had heard their exchange and looked down to where Bree pointed. “She’s a Patton fan, huh?” he asked Maddie.

  She gave him a quick smile over her shoulder. “Yes. We both are.”

  The older man nodded. “He’s quite a thing to watch. Amazing what he’s been able to do at such a young age.”

  “That’s what I hear.”

  “Tonight’s a big night for him.”

  Maddie turned in her seat. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but I did see some mention in the paper about tonight being a big game for him. I didn’t quite catch why.”

  “If he gets a win tonight, he’ll have the most wins for a rookie pitcher since 1937,” he explained.

  “Wow! I didn’t realize that,” she said in awe.

  The conversation had caught Bree’s attention and she strained her head around her mother. “Does he win anything for that?” Bree asked.

  The older man shook his head. “Nope, just the game and his name in the history books.”

  Maddie and Bree looked at each other in amazement. Maddie wondered why he hadn’t mentioned it, but knowing what she did of him, he probably wasn’t even aware of it since he didn’t seem to pay much attention to that stuff.

  As the crowd slowly filled the stadium to take their seats, eagerly awaiting the first pitch from Chase, Maddie looked up at the sky. There wasn’t a cloud in sight. The temperature was comfortably cool as the sun started its slow descent from its high perch. It shone over the top of the stadium, peeking over the stands lining the first baseline, casting long shadows across the field. The stadium lights blazed, bright and intense, ready to take over when the natural lighting dissipated. It promised to be a perfect night for baseball.

  * * *

  The crowd rose to its feet and the teams emptied out of the dugout onto the field as the players lowered their hats and faced the flag for the singing of the national anthem. Chase stood at the end of the dugout and tilted his body in just a way so that he still faced the flag but could also see Bree and Maddie out of the corner of his eye. Seeing Maddie never failed to take his breath away. She stood next to Bree, one hand on a small shoulder, as they looked out across the field at the giant flag billowing in the breeze. She wore her dark hair loose, and it flowed around her face and spilled across her shoulders. Every now and then, the light wind would pick it up and blow
it carelessly about. He knew that the green of her shirt would have deepened and darkened the green of her eyes. He knew they would look like a stormy sea in the middle of the night—dark, seductive and dangerous. Those eyes called to him and spoke to him, and he knew he would never tire of staring into them or answering their call.

  As he reached up to tug on his hat at the end of the anthem, he watched her lean down and say something to Bree. She looked up at her mom and they both smiled. It was then he felt a click and it was as if his world had shifted. He couldn’t explain what it was or where it came from, but he felt nothing but calm, his previous nervousness a distant memory. He suddenly knew everything he’d ever wanted was right where it was supposed to be, solidifying and grounding him, and giving him the strength and the courage to face anything—on or off the field. He definitely hadn’t set out to find a family, but he’d stumbled upon one and it felt nothing but right. It was what he wanted, more than anything he could remember, and he couldn’t imagine his life without Maddie and Bree in it. It made him happy, but at the same time terrified him. He vowed at that point he would do whatever it took to make them his, but first he had a game to win.

  * * *

  Maddie and Bree cheered with the rest of the crowd as Chase trotted onto the field with his teammates and stepped onto the mound. He kicked the dirt around at his feet and dug some out on the side of the rubber pitcher’s plate before standing tall and facing his catcher. As he warmed up, throwing a few pitches before facing the first batter, Maddie looked on in admiration. It was like watching a dance, she thought. His motions were so fluid, one seamlessly flowing into the next, it was hard to tell where one started and one finished. All you knew was that the ball started quietly seated in Chase’s glove before quickly landing with a soft thud in the catcher’s large mitt. Again and again, she marveled at how the ball left his hand and was caught behind the plate before she could even catch sight of it. It was truly breathtaking.

  “Wow! He can sure throw fast,” Bree said in awe.

  “You’re telling me,” she agreed.