Stealing Home

by Sherryl Woods

  “Losing him like that must have been hard.”

  “Worst time of my life. Maybe that’s why I see what’s happening with Ty. Divorce isn’t the same as death, of course, but when you’ve shared a dream with someone and they aren’t around to see you’ve fulfilled it, it’s tough. At least Ty and his dad have a chance to change that.”

  “If only my soon-to-be ex wouldn’t ruin the fragile peace by bringing his new girlfriend around,” Maddie lamented.

  “I think maybe he got the message tonight,” Cal said. “If not, I’ll explain it to him next time I see him.” He studied her. “It can’t be easy for you, either, him showing up with her on his arm, especially with the divorce not even final and her being, well, so obviously pregnant.”

  Maddie started to shrug it off, but then changed her mind and opted for honesty. “It sucks, but I’m an adult. I can learn to deal with it for the sake of the kids. And I have my pride, too. Having me pitch a fit or look wounded only makes things hard on the kids, especially Ty. He’s old enough to get that his dad didn’t just fall for someone else, he cheated on me. The whole baby thing really upsets him.”

  “I gathered that,” Cal said. “What about you?”

  “It’s a slap in the face, no question about it,” she admitted. “Every time I see Noreen, there’s no way to pretend that she and my husband weren’t sleeping together long before he got around to telling me that our marriage was over.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s hardly your fault.” She met his sympathetic gaze. “Want to know the real kick in the pants? I’m the one who hired her for his office. Not only was she an experienced nurse, I thought her perky personality meant she’d get along great with his patients. I just never envisioned how well she would get along with my husband.”

  “Do you blame him or her for what’s happened?”

  Maddie considered the question. “As much as I’d like to lay it all squarely on her, there’s no doubt Bill was equally to blame. And maybe if I’d done more, been a better wife somehow, it would never have happened.”

  Cal regarded her with dismay. “Wait a second! Surely you’re not blaming yourself.”

  “If my marriage had been a good one, Bill wouldn’t have strayed,” she insisted. “I bear at least some of the responsibility.”

  “I don’t get that. Did you have any idea your marriage was in trouble?”

  “None,” she conceded. “And by the way, you sound exactly like Ty. He says the same thing to me.”

  “Because he’s a smart kid. How were you supposed to fix your marriage if you didn’t even know it was broken? Don’t lay the blame at your feet,” he said. “I’ve been around a lot of guys who don’t think twice about having a little fling when their team is on the road. Men can always come up with some excuse to get themselves off the hook—the women are too available, too eager, it’s lonely on the road, whatever. The bottom line is it’s their choice. It’s their decision to ignore the vows they took on their wedding day, nobody else’s.”

  Maddie studied him curiously, wondering about the vehemence in his voice. “This sounds like something that really resonates with you. Were you married? Did you ever cheat on your wife?”

  “I was married, but I never cheated on her.”

  Then she got it. “But she cheated on you, didn’t she? While you were on the road?”

  He shook his head, looking distinctly uncomfortable. “Actually, it was after my injury, when she realized I wasn’t going to play ball professionally again. It gave her the perfect excuse to move on to one of my teammates—his face was still going to be showing up in the sports pages. It broke up my marriage and his. Worse, it was a guy who’d stuck by me while I was doing rehab, a man I considered a good friend. I had no idea just how accommodating he was also being with my distraught wife.”

  “Oh, Cal, I’m so sorry. That must have hurt.”

  “Let’s just say it gave me some real strong feelings about personal accountability between a man and a woman who’ve vowed to love each other through thick and thin.”

  He picked up his soda and took a long swallow. When he met her gaze again, his expression was perfectly bland. If she hadn’t seen the turmoil in his eyes just a few seconds earlier, she would never have known how deeply the conversation—and the memories—had upset him.

  Fortunately, the pizza arrived just then. As if her radar had sensed its arrival, Katie returned and there was no chance for Maddie to ask any of the questions that came to mind. One of these days, though, she thought she might ask Cal Maddox how a person ever got over a betrayal like that. Maybe it would help her figure out how to move on with her life.

  Maddie was pacing the floor, her heart in her throat. Ty had asked if he could stay a little longer at Rosalina’s and catch a ride home with Luke Dillon and his dad. With Luke by his side assuring her it was no problem, she’d given him permission, but reminded him of his 11:00 p.m. curfew.

  Now it was midnight and he still wasn’t home. She’d been about to try his cell phone, then saw it lying on the kitchen table. A call to the Dillons only added to her fears. Jane Dillon said Luke had come in with his dad a half hour earlier. After checking, she said Tyler hadn’t left Rosalina’s with them. Luke had no idea where he might have gone.

  “Believe me, I intend to speak with Luke about his role in all this,” Jane assured Maddie. “Let me know if there’s anything we can do to help you track him down, okay?”

  After speaking to Jane, Maddie debated calling Bill, but instead it was Cal Maddox’s number that she sought out and dialed. She told herself it was because he’d still been at Rosalina’s when she left and might know something. She doubted he would have allowed Ty to leave alone if he’d seen it happening.

  “Maddie?” Cal asked groggily. “What’s wrong?”

  “Ty hasn’t come home. I just spoke to Jane Dillon. She says Ty didn’t leave with Luke the way he said he was going to. Luke has no idea where he’s gone. Did you see him leave? Were they together then?”

  “They walked outside together, so I assumed Luke’s dad was waiting for them in the parking lot,” Cal said. “Don’t worry, Maddie, we’ll find him. I’ll be right there. I’ll call some of the other boys on my way.”

  “You don’t need to come over,” she said, embarrassed. She’d awakened him out of a sound sleep to deal with her problem.

  “I’m on my way,” he repeated firmly. “This is my fault. I should have been paying closer attention.”

  By the time Cal swung his car into the driveway, Maddie was frantic.

  “Have you found out anything?” she called before he’d even set foot on the front porch.

  “I talked to half a dozen of the guys on the team and they all said Ty left Rosalina’s when they did, but none of them was sure how he was getting home or if he planned to go someplace else.”

  “Dammit. I never should have agreed to let him stay,” Maddie whispered. “I should have known—”

  “Come on now,” Cal soothed, draping an arm around her shoulders and giving her a reassuring squeeze. “He told you he was getting a ride with Luke. Luke even confirmed it. Why would you doubt that?”

  “I should have checked with Luke’s dad. That’s what I usually do, but I was distracted.”

  Cal gave her an odd look. “By me?”

  Now Maddie felt like even more of an idiot. “That’s not the point,” she said hurriedly. “I have to find him. If Bill finds out Tyler has taken off to who knows where, he’ll accuse me of being neglectful. He’ll probably be thrilled to have something he can throw in my face.”

  “I think you should call him, anyway,” Cal said.

  “If I thought he’d know where Ty is, trust me, I’d call, but he won’t. Bill is the last person Ty would turn to.”

  “Let’s go inside and talk about this.”

  “I won’t change my mind,” she said stubbornly. Inside, she headed for the kitchen and her third cup of chamomile tea. “Would you like some?” sh
e asked Cal. “Or I could make a pot of coffee.”

  “How about some bottled water instead?” he asked.

  “Sure.” She grabbed a bottle out of the fridge. Then she sat down wearily and sipped her already cool tea. When she finally met Cal’s gaze, she felt completely at sea. “What do I do now? Tyler’s never done anything like this before. He’s never blown his curfew, not without calling, anyway. And he’s been even more careful lately because he doesn’t want to upset me.”

  “With teenage boys, there’s a first time for everything. He probably just had some thinking to do.”

  Maddie regarded him skeptically. “My son is not known for sitting around pondering life. He’s more likely to be somewhere getting into mischief.”

  Cal nodded slowly. “Okay, then, I have a couple of ideas. How about I go look for him? I’ll keep in touch or you can call me on my cell phone if he turns up here.”

  “I want to go with you,” Maddie said at once.

  “What about Kyle and Katie? Is there someone who can come and stay with them?”

  Maddie hesitated. She could call Helen or Dana Sue. In fact, Dana Sue was probably just closing up the restaurant, so she wouldn’t even have to wake her. But she didn’t want to involve anyone else in this, at least not until she knew it was a real crisis.

  “You go,” she said at last. “I’ll stay here by the phone in case he calls.”

  “Maddie, he’s going to be fine. You’ll see,” Cal reassured her. “I’ll find him and have him back here before you can heat up another cup of tea.”

  “Thanks,” she said, grateful for the reassurance, even though she wouldn’t be entirely happy until her son walked through the front door.

  And then she was going to strangle him.

  8

  Cal had a pretty good idea where he’d find Tyler. Despite the fact that he’d regained his concentration during the game and the team had won, Ty was a kid who held on to his failures longer than he savored his triumphs. Cal had a hunch he’d find him back at the ball field reliving every minute of that one nearly disastrous inning.

  Sure enough, when he drove up, in the faint illumination from the streetlights, he was able to spot a figure hunched over in the bleachers. The boy didn’t even move when Cal cut his headlights and engine. Before exiting the car, he made a quick call to reassure Maddie.

  “Thank God,” she said.

  “Give me a few minutes to see if I can find out what’s going on with him, then I’ll bring him home, okay?”

  “Thank you, Cal.”

  “See you soon.” He turned off his cell phone, quietly closed the car door, then walked slowly over to the bleachers. The grass was damp with dew and the air thick with humidity, though the temperature had dropped considerably since game time. There was something oddly unsettling about a ball field draped in shadows and filled with silence. Yet it had been Cal’s retreat, as well, whenever he’d had things he wanted to think through.

  “Hey, Ty,” Cal said.

  When the boy looked up, the despair and misery in his eyes was enough to make Cal’s heart ache.

  “I thought it was my mom who’d found me,” he said. “How come you’re here?”

  “Because your mother’s at home worried sick about you. It’s past your curfew, Luke Dillon and the other kids had no idea where you’d gone, so your mom called me.”

  Tyler looked even more surprised. “How come she didn’t call my dad?”

  “Is that what you were hoping she’d do?”

  Ty reacted with defiance. “No, but it’s what she usually does.”

  “I guess she thought tonight I might be more help.”

  Tyler gave him a knowing look. “Probably because she knew he wouldn’t want to crawl out of Noreen’s bed at midnight.”

  Cal bit back a chuckle. He didn’t want to encourage the boy’s disrespectful attitude toward his dad. “I don’t think that entered into it.” He sat down beside him. “You want to talk about what’s going on with you, or are you ready for me to take you home?”

  Ty shrugged. “What’s there to talk about? What kind of ball player am I going to be if I freak out every time my dad brings his girlfriend around?” Color flooded his cheeks. “I guess you saw she’s gonna have a baby. I mean, how disgusting is that?”

  “That innocent baby will be your little brother or sister,” Cal reminded him. “How do you feel about that?”

  “It sucks,” Ty said bitterly. “My mom tries to act like it doesn’t matter to her, but I know better. Why can’t my dad see that bringing Noreen around is really mean?”

  “You could tell him how much what he’s doing bothers you,” Cal suggested. “You could tell him how you felt about his girlfriend showing up at the game. It might clear the air between you if you were honest with him.”

  “Like he’d care about my feelings,” Ty said.

  “He left tonight, didn’t he?”

  “Yeah, but probably because Noreen was bored.”

  “I don’t think that was it. I think he saw how upset you were. Talk to him, Tyler. He’s your dad, no matter what. He wants the best for you, especially when it comes to baseball. He’ll understand.”

  “But none of that’s the point, not really.”

  “Then what is?”

  “I should be able to handle it,” Ty said, being way too hard on himself. “What he does shouldn’t matter to me, not when I’m on the field.” He gave Cal a plaintive look. “You said it yourself. Baseball’s all about concentration.”

  “Sometimes that’s easier said than done,” Cal observed. “You’ll learn how to forget about everything else, Ty. That comes with experience. Or you’ll learn how to make it work for you, just like you did tonight and the other day at practice. You applied your feelings to your pitching and threw some of your best pitches ever.”

  Ty’s expression brightened at last. “I did, didn’t I? How come I keep forgetting that?”

  “Because you’re too caught up in what went wrong. Try to remember what went right out there.”

  “Like the fact that nobody got a bat on any of my pitches in the last innings of the game,” Ty said, suddenly gloating. “I guess that was pretty awesome.”

  Cal grinned. “I wouldn’t get too cocky if I were you. You might be the night’s superstar, but you still have to go home and apologize to your mom. Something tells me she’s not going to let you off the hook as easily as those batters did tonight.”

  Ty sighed heavily. “Yeah. She’s gonna ground me for life.”

  “Could be,” Cal agreed. “Come on, kid. Time to go face the music.”

  “Will you come in with me?” Ty asked hopefully.

  Cal shook his head. “I think you and your mom need to settle some things. I’ll just make sure you get safely inside.”

  Tyler met his gaze. “Thanks for coming to get me. How’d you know where I’d be?”

  “I was a kid once, too,” Cal told him. “And the ball field was where I felt most at home. It still is.”

  Ty nodded. “Yeah, for me, too.”

  Maddie was waiting on the porch when Cal pulled up at the house. She stayed right where she was, giving Ty room to come home like the man he would soon be, rather than the confused kid who’d taken off and worried her. Cal gave her a lot of credit for the wisdom and restraint it must have taken her to do that and not run to her son and drag him into her arms.

  Ty turned to Cal. “I’ll see you Monday—if I’m allowed out of the house,” he said, only partially in jest.

  “I’ll see you then,” Cal told him, responding with more confidence. He trusted Maddie to balance punishment with wisdom. She wouldn’t take away baseball, not when it was Ty’s only lifeline lately.

  He watched as Ty walked slowly toward his mom, then ran the last few steps when she opened her arms. As she held him tight, she gave Cal a wave and mouthed, “Thank you.”

  He reversed his car to back onto the road, then drove away, but not before taking one more glance back to see
Maddie still clinging to her son. Somewhere deep inside, he wished he was a real part of that scene, wished he’d be going inside with the two of them, meting out punishment to Ty, trying to coax a smile out of Maddie, then spending the night with her wrapped in his arms.

  It was the kind of dream he hadn’t allowed himself since his marriage crumbled. The kind of dream he shouldn’t be having about Maddie Townsend. But something about the woman pulled at him and he had a hunch that sooner or later he was going to do something about it, no matter how much havoc it might cause.

  Maddie was still in her bathrobe and the much-needed coffee was still brewing when Helen knocked on the kitchen door Saturday morning. There was only one reason Helen would show up at the crack of dawn. Somehow she’d already heard about Maddie’s evening with Cal and she’d come for a firsthand report. Maddie opened the door reluctantly.

  “You’re certainly out early,” she said.

  “I came by for coffee and information.” Helen regarded the still-brewing coffee with dismay. Then she perked up. “I guess we’ll have to start with the information.”

  “I’ve got all the figures on the spa in the other room,” Maddie said. “I’ll go get them.”

  “Not that kind of information,” Helen said.

  “Oh?”

  “I want to know if the rumors are true.”

  “That depends on what you heard, now, doesn’t it?”

  “Don’t play coy with me,” Helen said. “Did you or did you not have a date with the high-school baseball coach last night?”

  “I did not,” Maddie said. Under Helen’s relentless gaze, she finally sighed. “Okay, I had pizza with him after the game, but it wasn’t a date.”

  How many times was she going to have to have this conversation? Given Serenity’s fascination with gossip, most likely quite a few. So she’d better get the story down pat.

  “Not even close to a date,” she said emphatically. “My kids were there. The entire team was there. I know I’m hopelessly out of practice, but I don’t remember dates being like that.”