One True Thing

by Lynne Jaymes

  Racing down the rows, I spot my car way in the back by the fence. Thank God. All I can hear is the rush of blood in my ears as I run toward it. I just want to get on the road and find him. And see if I can still fix this.

  I approach a blue truck in my row and see a figure in the front seat, his head leaning against the steering wheel. It’s not until I’m right next to the window that I recognize Mitch’s teeny tiny cowboy boots hanging from the rearview mirror. I stop, but Ty doesn’t notice me. His eyes are closed and I think he must be sleeping as I lift one hand to knock on the window.

  I haven’t even touched the glass when he sits up, his face a mask of confusion and then finally focuses on me, throwing the door open with one hand.

  “Jenna! What happened?” he asks, alarmed. “Is he okay?”

  I have so many things I want to say, but no words come out. I want to tell him that I’ve been an idiot and that none of this matters. That I understand why he did what he did. That I don’t care who our parents are, or our grandparents—all I care about is the two of us and who we are together.

  Instead, I reach up and pull him to me, losing myself in the feeling of his lips on mine, of his arms around my waist. I’ve been wrong for weeks and the only thing that’s right is this, right now, this moment.

  Ty pulls me to him and buries his face in my neck, the relief and desire in his touch almost overwhelming. My knees get weak with the spicy smell of him, of the feeling of his skin touching mine. No matter what happens, I never want this to stop. I should apologize for pushing him away from me, for not giving him a chance, for making things so hard. Instead, I pull back and look into the eyes that I could get lost in forever and say the only thing I know he’s been waiting to hear. The answer I should have given a long time ago.

  “I love you too.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven (Ty)

  I set the bat on my shoulder and focus on the pitcher. I’ve fouled twice so it’s a full count. Out of the corner of my eye I see Coach Castro give me the sign to let it ride and I nod quickly. I’m lucky he let me back on the team after running out on him. The scouts came and went and for a while I kicked myself, but now it doesn’t matter. I’ll play here again next year and then we’ll see what happens, because in the end, I got Jenna back and that’s what really matters.

  The pitcher winds up and I see the ball streaking toward me, a blur of white on a hot, sunny day. I wait for the exact moment and then swing with all of the force I have, meeting the ball with the bat and sending it flying over the infield. I’m halfway to first before I realize it’s gone, past the center fielder and over the fence. My all-out run slows to a comfortable jog as I round the bases with Austin ahead of me for the two-run homer. There aren’t that many games left this season and I want to enjoy every minute of it as I run into a crowd of high-fives and cheers from the rest of the team.

  Danny’s up next and flies out to end the first half of the ninth. I swat Rowan on the shoulder with my mitt as we take the field to almost total silence. Rowan’s in the last inning of a no-hitter and you can almost cut the tension in the air. Nobody wants to talk about it for fear of jinxing his streak. I look over from my position in center field and see Jenna sitting between Nina and Stewart in the first row just above the dugout. They’re all holding hands and crossing their fingers, but I’m not the least bit jealous of Stewart this time. The scouts with the video cameras are back too, this time for Rowan, and he’s seriously putting on a show. I’m happy for him—if he can just make it through these next three batters, he’ll get a call up to the majors for sure.

  Rowan retires the first batter in three pitches sending up a wave of cheers throughout the stadium. The next batter stares him down, but draws the count with four pop-fouls before striking out. Rowan steps off the mound, takes off his hat and wipes his forehead with his sleeve. He’s always so steady under pressure, but you can see the strain is getting to him. He gets back on the mound, shaking his head when Danny gives him the pitch sign, nodding when he gets one he likes. One pitch, one strike and the crowd screams his name. All he needs is two more pitches and it’s all over—the first no-hitter of his college career. The next pitch is a foul tip onto the top of the net for strike two. I start to relax. Rowan’s got this. He shakes his head twice at Danny’s suggestion, finally nodding and setting his hands for the last pitch. I barely see him wind-up before the bat meets the ball and sends it high in the air toward me. I spring into action, but the sun is high overhead and I lose the ball for the barest second, but enough that I’m too far forward on the field as it heads for the wall. I can feel the entire stadium holding their breath. If I miss this ball, Rowan loses the no-hitter. And maybe his career.

  As fast as my legs will go, I sprint toward the big green wall behind me. Without even thinking, I take two big steps and then put my foot as high on the wall I can, stretching my glove over my head until I feel my shoulder crack. I feel the thud as the ball hits the mitt, but don’t believe it until I actually see it in my hand, holding it up for the ump as I run back toward the mound, where Rowan has been buried in our teammates as they pound him with their gloves and then lift him high over their heads. He did it. A fucking no-hitter on the very day he needed it most.

  As soon as they put him down, Rowan makes a beeline for the dugout, but instead of walking down the steps to the locker room, he climbs on top to the roar of the crowd and leans over the railing where Stewart is sitting with Jenna. I can see him say something, but have no idea what, until Stewart leaves his seat and falls into Rowan’s arms right there in front of the entire stadium. Rowan pulls back from the hug, grabs both sides of Stewart’s face and right there in front of Garvin, Texas and the entire world, plants a big juicy kiss right on his lips. After a millisecond of stunned silence, the stadium erupts again into crazy cheering as Stewart lifts Rowan’s arm in a victory salute as the video cameras roll.

  It feels like it takes hours for the buzz that fills the stadium to die down, but eventually we gather our things and head to the locker room.

  “I can’t believe you did that,” I say, grinning at Rowan as he passes by.

  “I had to,” he says, stopping by my locker. “Like you said that day, what’s the point of having a moment if you can’t share it with someone? And for me, that someone is Stewart.”

  “Dude, that was seriously ballsey,” Mitch says, dropping his bag on the bench beside me. “Aren’t you afraid it’ll hurt your chances?”

  Rowan shrugs. “Ty stopped passing as white. I finally decided that it was time for me to stop passing as straight. If they don’t like it, fuck ‘em.”

  I laugh. “With a great season and now a no-hitter under your belt, I somehow think they’ll get over it.”

  Mitch shakes his head. “You’d better get ready for some microphones in your face because that shit’s gonna be on SportsCenter before we even get out of the locker room.”

  Rowan is pulled away by more congratulations from the guys. For a season that started with a pink tutu, things have definitely changed for him.

  Mitch pulls off his jersey and tosses it into the laundry pile. “You want to come out with me and Nina tonight?”

  “McCarthy’s?” I ask with a smile.

  Mitch rolls his eyes. After the fight, I got off with a $200 fine and a restraining order to stay 500 feet away from the bar for the rest of my life. It still sucks, but it was a lot better than it could have been. “No. We were going to try a new place.”

  “Thanks, let me check with Jenna.”

  “Hey Branch,” Coach says, leaning against the wall of lockers. “Phenomenal catch out there. You really saved Rowan’s bacon.”

  “Thanks. I couldn’t let him down in front of the cameras.”

  Coach rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “Yeah. And then look what he did with that.”

  “You think it’s going to wreck his chances?” I glance over at Rowan across the room. He still looks so happy.

  Coach follows my gaze. “No idea. The
phone is already ringing off the hook from networks wanting an interview. He’s either wrecked everything or made one of the most brilliant career moves I’ve ever seen.” He smacks the locker with his hand. “But I didn’t come over to talk about Rowan. I came to talk about you.”

  “Yeah?” I say, getting my shower stuff together.

  “Yeah. One of the scouts today was from the Diamondbacks and they were dead impressed with your effort. They want to take another look at you in the May 18th game in Arizona.”

  “Seriously?” I can’t believe it. I thought that door was shut for sure.

  “Clean yourself up and get some rest. Gonna be an important couple of weeks.”

  “Yes sir,” I say as he walks away.

  Jenna is on her phone when I walk out of the locker room half an hour later.

  “Yes,” she says into it, smiling and giving me a kiss. “Okay. I’ll see what I can do. Yeah. Next weekend.” There’s a pause. “Love you. Bye.” She puts the phone in her pocket and jumps on me. “You smell so good,” she says, wrapping her arms around me and nuzzling my neck.

  “So do you,” I say, holding her up with both hands.

  “Ugh, I don’t. I was at the studio most of the morning and haven’t even showered yet.”

  I give her a wicked grin. “My favorite scent of all.”

  She reaches up and runs one hand through my hair that causes a shiver to take over my whole body. “Your hair’s still wet.”

  I give my head a shake and water drops fly all over us. It hasn’t been cut in weeks and the curls are starting to get a little long. “A good haircut would solve that.”

  “No,” she says with a pout. “I like it this way.” Jenna wraps the end of one curl around her finger. “It’s more you somehow—like in the old photos.”

  “Then I won’t,” I say putting her down. Now that there are no secrets between us, Jenna’s been asking to see old photos of the family and there’s talk of her coming to San Francisco with me after school gets out. I might have been a little freaked out by a giant snake, but that’s nothing to how overwhelmed Jenna’s going to be once she meets all the relatives.

  “Who was on the phone?”

  “Oh. Gramps.”

  “Yeah? How is he?”

  “Better. Slowly. He wants to know if we can come down next weekend.” She shoots a glance at me as we walk toward my bike. “He’s still having trouble with his right arm and needs some work done on the truck. He wanted to know if you could help him.”

  “Really?” I watch her face. Jenna’s been going home pretty regularly since her gramps got out of the hospital, but from what I can tell, they don’t talk about me much. He knows we’re back together, but there’s sort of an agreed silence about the whole thing. Don’t ask, don’t tell taken to a whole new level.

  “Well, he did after I suggested it.” She takes my hand and laces her fingers through mine. “Say you’ll come? He’ll be better, I promise. Gramps has changed since the accident. More mellow—you’ll see.”

  “I’ll check my schedule,” I say, not sure I want to commit yet and ruin our uneasy truce. To Gramps, I’ll always be the black guy who lied to his granddaughter and I doubt he’ll ever be okay with it.

  Jenna runs one finger down my chest and hooks it into the top of my jeans. “I’ll owe you one.”

  I hand Jenna her helmet. “And I’ll make sure to collect just as soon as we get home.”

  She laughs and straps the helmet on while she waits for me to start the bike. It’s just an old BMW that I got last week—big and loud but still not as cool as the Triumph. When Jenna climbs on the back and presses her thighs against my legs, it doesn’t matter anymore. She’s in her right place on the back of my bike as I gun it out of the parking lot and onto the road.

  

  I stretch and pull Jenna closer to me on the bed. I’m sleepy and content as she puts her cheek on my chest and wraps one leg around my thigh. I love feeling her naked body against mine, her damp skin sliding against me as she settles in. I can’t believe I almost lost all of this.

  “That was amazing today,” she says, tracing the tattoo on my arm with her finger.

  “I aim to please,” I say, stroking her lower back.

  “Not that!” she says, smacking my chest and laughing. “Although the sex was great too. I meant the catch today. You climbed halfway up that wall to get that ball—every single person in the place thought it was gone.”

  “Rowan too. He was pretty happy about it.”

  “I can’t believe what he did! Stewart was totally freaking out.”

  I sigh. “I guess it’s all out in the open now. Coach said he’d already gotten a ton of calls for interviews.”

  “Good for Rowan,” she says. “He deserves it and they’re really good together.”

  I run my fingernail over the delicious curve of her ass and watch her twitch. “I think we’re pretty good together.”

  “I think so too,” she says, tilting her head to kiss me. “It’ll be your turn at the majors next year.”

  I shift a little on the tangled sheets. “Coach actually said that the Diamondbacks want to see me play again on our trip to Arizona.”

  Jenna props herself up on her elbows so she can look at me. “Really? That’s awesome! When?”

  “Um…May 18th I think,” I say, trying to remember what Coach said. “We’re playing three games down there.”

  Jenna bites her lip and looks down at the sheets. “That’s the same weekend as the American Dance auditions. You said you were going to try to get out of that trip.”

  “Shit,” I say, feeling instantly guilty. Jenna asked me to go with her to New Orleans—it was going to be our first big weekend away together.

  “It’s okay,” she says, shaking her head and lying back down next to me. “Courtney will come. She wanted to anyway.”

  “I want to come too.” I pick up her hand and kiss her palm. “I wish I could. But after last time…”

  “You may not get another chance. I know. It’s okay. I probably won’t even make it past the first auditions anyway.”

  I put one arm behind my head. “Don’t even say that. You’ve been working crazy hard and nobody is as talented as you are. You’re going all the way for sure. This time next year, you’ll be famous as the winner of this year’s American Dance.”

  She laughs softly. “I wish.” She’s quiet for a minute and I start to let the sleep take over.

  “Hey Ty?” she asks, and I open my eyes again.

  “Mmm hmm?” I ask, pulling her closer to me and burying my face in her hair.

  “What if I do make it on the show? What if I make it on the show and you get drafted by the Diamondbacks this summer? What are we going to do?”

  “What do you mean what are we going to do?” I ask. “It’s what we’ve both been working for our whole lives. We’re going to be pretty damn happy about it.”

  Jenna sits up and leans on one arm. Just the sight of her perfect little breasts is enough to get me started again. “Yeah,” she says. “But I’ll be working in LA and you’ll be in Arizona. We won’t even be in the same state, forget about the same town.”

  I put a hand out and stroke her thigh. I hadn’t really thought past making it to the majors. “We’ll figure it out,” I say. “I’ll come see you, you’ll come see me. It took us a long time to get here, you can bet your ass I’m not willing to let you go now.”

  A troubled look crosses her face, but she settles herself back down beside me. “What about cheerleaders?”

  I laugh. “They don’t have cheerleaders in baseball. What about you with all of the hot dancer guys?”

  Now it’s her turn to laugh. “Gay.”

  I put my arm around her again. “See? We’ve got nothing to worry about.”

  Jenna kisses my neck and puts her head on my chest. “Just us. Together.”

  I ignore the tiny seed of worry that her comments have planted in my mind. We were meant to be together, and we’re goo
d for each other. She pushes me to work harder and be better—I want to make it to the majors not only for myself but for Jenna too. I hear her sigh as she settles in beside me and my chest is filled with a sense of belonging. No matter what happens to us in the next few months or the next few years, this is what’s right.

  I lean over and put my lips right next to her ear.

  “Together,” I whisper.

  The End

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  This is always the hardest part to write because without an army of people, a book would never get done and I’m always terrified I’m going to forget someone.

  First and foremost, a huge thank you goes to Ronnie Douglas. When she first asked if I wanted to look into the world of indie publishing, I thought she was crazy but it has changed my life. Equally as important is Lauren Blakely who encouraged me from the start and shared her wisdom and email addresses to help get this book from vague idea to words on the page and in your ereaders. She never thought any question was stupid, and for that, I can’t thank her enough. Jane Lukas guided me through the nitty gritty of indie publishing and was generous with her wisdom. Jessie Evans celebrated with me and ‘liked’ almost all of my posts. A huge shout-out has to go to the gals of TES— my posse, my support and my cheering section.

  The gorgeousness of the cover of ONE TRUE THING is due to Helen Williams, who with her patience and artistic skill brought this book to life. And a special thanks to the gals from Love Between the Sheets – Natalie, Dina, Jennifer and Meagan who helped get the word out with their passion and commitment.

  One last shout-out to my family, who put up with my outbursts of dialogue, my constant inattention and need for reassurance. I couldn’t do it without my boys.