“I- I did something I shouldn’t have, son. I- I’m sorry. They just want their money. That’s all. Can’t you help me? Please?” By then he was crying.
Why is this happening? I growled to myself. I didn’t know what to do except what I always do: bail him out of the hole he’d dug himself into.
“Fine,” I replied. “Where are you?
Of course Jayden was understanding. She always understands. But I was so sick and tired of my father’s selfish life interfering with the innocent people in mine. I convinced her to have her dad go with her to look at cars. For one, it would give them some time together, and another, I couldn’t be blamed for any wrong choices.
“But you know cars,” she said. “I want your advice. I can just wait, it’s no big deal.”
“I already suggested what to look for, and your dad knows what he’s talking about as well. You don’t have to buy anything today. Just look around and see what you find. And Jayden Joelle, if you buy a foreign car, we’re through.”
She laughed. “Don’t test me, Tyler Matthew.”
“Anyway,” I smiled. “You can call me if you have any questions. Maybe I’ll be back in time to check it out if you find something.”
She agreed, wished me luck with my father (I never filled her in on any details), and the most important part, reminded me how much she loved me. I kept that in mind so I wouldn’t be tempted to kill my own dad and be sent to prison.
When I arrived at my dad’s garbage dump there was a car sitting out front with two men inside. The driver smiled smugly as I entered the house. My dad was sprawled out on the couch, bottles and empty packs of cigarettes everywhere around him.
And drugs.
I patted his face rather roughly and told him to get up.
“Wh- what?” he mumbled, slowly sitting up in a daze. He looked up at me and squinted. “Ty?”
I was almost too pissed to even talk to him. All I wanted to do was haul him to jail and slam the cage door nice and hard. This was too much for me; this was the final straw. I didn’t know if he owed them for drugs or gambling, but I just couldn’t do this again.
I took a deep breath to keep myself from yelling at him. I told him I wasn’t going to help him again, that this was the last time and I wasn’t coming back. He got mad and told me not to threaten him anymore.
“Threaten you? Dad, it’s not a threat; it’s a promise. I can’t do this anymore. You do nothing to help yourself. Nothing. Take responsibility for your own life. You gotta stop gambling. Stop throwing your money away on drugs and alcohol, stop spending all your time in the bars—”
“Don’t you talk to me like that!” he yelled, coming at me.
“Sit down!” I shoved him back onto the couch. “You can’t push me around anymore! If you haven’t noticed, I’ve grown up. You lay a hand on me again and I’ll knock you on your ass. I’ve had enough of this. I have a girl that I love more than anything in this world. If I can ever get away from my past, I want to marry her. We want to have kids, a family. There is no way in hell that you’ll ever enter my life again unless you’re clean and sober. That’s the bottom line. I’m done with you unless you get your act together.”
He’d sat there with an ugly scowl on his face, but at the mention of a family, his appearance had softened. He stared at me for a long time, and finally he asked, “Jayden still your girl?”
After a pause I answered, “Yes.”
He nodded slowly and rubbed his face. “How is she?”
I scoffed. “Well I’m glad you asked, Dad. A week ago she could have been dead. You know why? Because a piece of garbage like you ran her off the road; a drunken bum that has no regard for the lives of other people. So yeah, she’s doing great. And she understands I have to deal with my deadbeat dad, but I don’t even tell her half of what I’ve been through because of you. If she knew, she would be so heartbroken, and she would feel sorry for me. I don’t want to put that on her. I don’t want anybody feeling sorry for me.”
I was done. I didn’t have anything else to say, so I made sure I was clear with what the guys in the car wanted, and slammed the door behind me. The driver rolled down his window, still holding the same smug look on his face. I tossed the money in his lap and walked away.
“Nice doing business with you,” I heard him say, and they drove away.
I went to get in my truck but my father’s voice stopped me.
“Tyler, I’m sorry.”
I froze with my hand on the door and took a deep breath to keep myself calm. I turned around and said, “Then prove it. Clean your life up, or you’ll never see me again.”
I climbed in and drove away.
Chapter Sixteen
I caught the team bus early Friday morning to head north. We would be staying two nights, hopefully to play in the final game on Sunday night. Jayden easily convinced Cali to come up with her for the weekend. I was glad that she could stick with Cali and Megan because I was really uneasy that Garrett Freeman would be prowling about. Jayden promised me she would stay with the girls and some of our other fans as much as she could.
I loved playing baseball, whether it was a regular game during the season, or just a fun practice game with friends. But I’ll admit that playing in a big stadium with so many people watching was an absolute rush. I loved the energy of it. I was dreading the fact that baseball was really going to be over after this. The idea of working my way into a professional team had been occupying my mind more often, but the sad truth was that it just wasn’t meant to be. My father’s world of crime would always be at my doorstep.
Coach Tucker had offered me the opportunity to play with a summer league team in Portland for eight weeks, and I was seriously considering it. I hadn’t talked to Jayden about it yet, but I knew she would support me one hundred percent. I guess I kind of felt like she was constantly supporting me in everything that I did, but I hardly did anything to show her how much I loved her. I knew she didn’t see it that way, but for a guy that had never had such devotion from anyone, I really felt that she spent way too much time on me.
Our first game in the tournament was a team we could easily beat, but we played our best like always. We ended up beating them 5-1, and after hitting a nearby sub shop, we returned to the stadium to watch two other teams play each other. After winning our seven o’clock game 4-2, we were sent to our rooms for the night. We won both Saturday games, but the second one was pretty close. The game carried for eleven innings until Jack’s walk off hit won the game, 6-5.
Sunday consisted of the championship game that could advance us to the next level, and we were all pretty anxious. The ballpark was packed that night. Coach Tucker knew how excited we all were and he allowed us to hang out with parents and friends (girlfriends) for the day to keep our nerves occupied. But the only stipulation was that we had to stay in the stadium—and keep away from Garrett’s team. I knew that Tucker had had a couple of conversations with the other team’s coaches about what had been going on lately, but he didn’t want to take any chances with anything happening between now and the game.
Jayden was with me at all times and we divided our time among different people throughout the day. At one point we were alone near the top of the stadium, just talking about the different teams that were there.
“So what do you think of all this?” she asked. “The big stadium and all the people. Can you see yourself doing this for good?”
I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. It’s pretty exciting.”
“Have you been considering it, then? Tucker said he’s got some plans lined up for you if agree to it. He knows you’ll be pretty successful.”
I smiled. Tucker was now trying to convince my girlfriend? I wondered if that meant he’d mentioned the summer league.
“I wouldn’t be able to see you everyday. I don’t think I could handle it.”
“Sure you could. And don’t use me as an excuse, Ty. If you want it, go for it. We’ll make it work, I promise.”
She lifted
her head off of my shoulder to face me better, her eyes studying me intently. I was at that point again where I didn’t know what to choose because I was unsure of how it would affect the rest of our lives. All I wanted was her, and for now that’s all I really cared about. I almost wished that she would tell me what she wanted me to do and I would do it. It would be so much easier that way.
I told her all of that and she smiled.
“Easier for you. I’m in the same boat you are. I just want to make you happy. I want to be with you as much as I can. I want to marry you someday if you’ll let me.”
“Let you? Are you kidding me? I’ll marry you right now. Let’s go.” I grabbed her arm like we were going to make a break for it and she laughed.
“Let’s get you through your game first. Then…” she smiled and kissed me, “…we can talk about the details later.”
I returned the kiss until a thought occurred to me. “Wait a minute. Did you just propose to me?”
She laughed and said, “No. You did the night you told me you ‘wanted it all’ with me. Wasn’t that what you meant? Don’t break my heart, Ty. I was pretty sure you were asking me to marry you and have all your babies.”
I laughed, but I did agree with her.
We lost that night, 3-2, and didn’t advance to the next round. My college baseball career was officially over. Our school had been ranked pretty low in the previous years until Tucker took over three seasons ago. I was sad it was my last year playing for him, but I had confidence that he would continue putting together winning teams.
Despite our loss, Howard threw a big party for us at Time Out on Tuesday night. The entire place was filled with our team and our friends and families. Even Jayden’s father came, but he left around nine.
The party was still raging at eleven when I left with Jayden. We spent some time down at the river before I took her home. With baseball over, I now knew I had only one thing to focus on, and my relationship with my girlfriend was getting to be more serious than I ever thought possible.
I was in the shop on Friday when Lou yelled, “Ty, telephone!”
“Just a minute!” I hollered back. I slid out from under the ’69 Mustang GT and wiped my hands off.
Grabbing the phone from Lou I said, “Yeah, this is Ty.”
“Tyler… It’s been a while. How have you been?”
A sick feeling washed through my body. Lou left the office and was talking to Marcus out in the garage, so I sat down on a stool.
“I’ve been busy,” I replied.
“Yeah, I heard about your team and all. Congrats. Or not? Yeah, whatever… I’m just passing the information along that the boss is back in town. Business is at its finest.”
“It doesn’t concern me. I’m gonna be out of here in a couple of weeks. I won’t be living here any longer, and I won’t be around to clean up anyone’s messes, either.”
There was silence on the other end. In a contemptuous voice he finally said, “That’s disappointing, Ty. Does Olevsky know? You’ve got some balls if you think you’re gonna blow him off. And where’d your daddy disappear to? I have a favor to ask him.”
“My father is on his own from now on. I don’t want to hear about his dealings with you anymore. If there’s a problem, he’s going to have to take care of it himself.”
Lou came into the office just as I hung up.
Remember when I said great things can happen, but they’re always balanced out with something bad? This was the other end of it. Jayden and I were planning to get married. Neither of us knew when, but we decided to take time sorting our options. I was naïve to think my time away from Olevsky’s organization could be permanent, and now Dean was calling me again. My worst fears were going to come true. I just knew it. Something really bad was going to happen, or Jayden was going to find out who I was associated with…
My blood turned cold. Be honest with each other… Trust each other… Jayden’s words were echoing in my head. But this was something I couldn’t talk to her about. This all happened before Jayden. Did that count? Couldn’t I keep this one thing from her?
It wasn’t even a matter of her knowing what I’d been involved with; it was a matter of her not being allowed to know anything period. It was a matter of life and death, even. These people remained unknown for a reason. Those that tried to fight back or made an accidental “slip” were no longer around. I was dragged into it because of my father. He got mixed up with the wrong people years ago and, some ten years later, I was still paying for his mistakes. I was stupid to think it was just one small favor to keep my dad from getting his hands busted up. He couldn’t work if he couldn’t use his hands, and working on cars was the only thing that kept my dad afloat. He hadn’t done anything for me in my life, but I didn’t have that “eye for an eye” mentality. I guess I felt like I would be punished somehow if I didn’t at least try to help him out.
Now, after the past four years of him not doing a single thing to change his life, I was almost sorry that I’d even tried. All I had done was prolonged his downfall and tempted my own fate instead. I didn’t know what I could do to even change things anymore. All I knew was that this world I had dipped my toe in was about to completely immerse me if I didn’t get out. My father didn’t deserve anything more from me. Did he?
Maybe it really was time to let him deal with things on his own. I had a girl I wanted to marry and I didn’t want anything to interfere with that.
I finished up my work by five-thirty and headed for home. I didn’t plan on working any more late nights.
“It smells really good in here,” I said when I stepped through the door.
Jayden was in my kitchen cooking, but just the sight of her took my breath away. It was one of those odd moments, where you’re doing something and you’re there, but it doesn’t seem real. You don’t feel like you’re in your own body, only watching from the outside.
I entered my house—a place that was no longer shared with two other guys—to find Jayden making dinner. It wasn’t the most phenomenal concept, but after just finishing work for the day, I felt like I had returned home to my wife. I almost pictured a couple of kids running out yelling, “Daddy! Daddy!”
Was all of that actually possible someday? Was I ever going to shake my past and begin the rest of my life with her?
“What are you doing?” Jayden asked, watching me curiously.
I realized I was just standing by the front door in a stupor. I met her halfway and she kissed me. I tried to keep my distance since I probably didn’t smell so hot.
She even wrinkled her nose with a smile.
“I know, it lingers, even when I change. Let me go shower quick.”
“Okay. I’ll just finish this and it should be done the same time you are.”
I could definitely get used to this. I had a girl that constantly cooked for me? I wondered what she would think if she knew the kind of food I grew up with. When I lived with my Aunt Sue I think I ate okay, but when I moved back with my dad full time at the age of fourteen, all my meals came from a box or a can. It’s amazing that I ended up being pretty healthy. But I did try to take care of myself physically when it came to sports. I always worked out and kept myself in good shape. I suppose it’s the nature of an athlete, but I had also been blessed with a decent physique. I didn’t exactly have to do much to maintain it.
When I was showered and dressed I found my way to the kitchen. I was hungry for dinner, but I was more interested in the girl that made it. Dinner was sort of…delayed.
Chapter Seventeen
I don’t celebrate Mother’s Day because I don’t have one, and I don’t celebrate Father’s Day either, because of the same reason. Birthday parties were also a foreign concept to me.
Jayden was hosting a barbecue at her house for both Father’s Day and her dad’s birthday. As much as I wanted to be with her, I really didn’t want to go. I knew a few other guys that her dad worked with would be there, but the entire Davis family would be there as well.
I was not looking forward to that. I loved Jayden, and she was simply the most considerate person I knew, but this time I met her optimism with a lot of doubt. She assured me that everything would be fine, but I was not convinced.
However, she wanted me there and I would do anything for her. So, with much trepidation, I showed up at the Adams’ house around noon, hopefully prepared enough to endure whatever I had to.
“Hey!” she smiled when I came around to the backyard.
She was sitting in a chair on the back patio, but she got up to greet me. There were already other people there, but it only took a second to notice the Davis’s were among them. Chris had been sitting next to her, but I could tell he knew his time alone with her was now over. I also wondered if they were on better speaking terms.
“I’ve been waiting all morning to see you,” she moaned as she gave me a hug. “I told you to come any time.” She kissed me and said, “Come sit down. The meat will be done in a few minutes.”
I looked around at the array of food on the table, but in an attempt to avoid Chris’s hateful stare I asked, “What’s on the grill?”
“Steak,” she replied. “And chicken, for some of the ladies,” she smiled, referring to Cali and another woman.
Her father glanced my way and told me hello. I wished him happy birthday to be polite, but I wasn’t sure it mattered to him. I was probably ruining his day by being there.
“Doesn’t your family ever do anything together?” Chris asked me.
Jayden bristled and was about to say something, but I casually answered, “No, not really.”
“Let me introduce you to a few people,” Jayden said, glaring at Chris as she led me away. We arrived in front of a man and woman and she introduced us. “Mark, this is my boyfriend, Ty. Ty this Mark Johnson and his wife Sheila.” We shook hands and greeted each other. “Those are their kids in the yard; the two girls right there, Savannah and Liz, and Levi, the little boy over there.”
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