Chapter Nine
CHAPTER NINE
MADISON
Six months later
It’s amazing how fast time flies when you’re having fun. How so many monumental things can happen in the span of a year. From our first date at a pizza parlor in Rockton to now, it seems like we’ve always been in each other’s lives, but not.
It was fall when we moved into the new house Carter bought, and I feel like I’ve been walking on air since. The way he loves me and Ava—fierce and without fear—makes me smile every day. I’ve never had to wonder when the nice guy would turn into the asshole. Have we disagreed? Of course. Have we gone to bed angry? Yes. But have I ever felt fear around him? Never. And in the morning, he’s the first to try to talk it through, to work it all out.
“Madi! Madi!” Ava yells as she gets off the school bus outside of Miss Melly’s. “Tonight is Daddy’s big game!”
I laugh, nodding my head. Tonight is a big night for Carter. The high school’s opener with him as head coach is happening in just a couple of hours. Ava thinks this is huge, but this weekend is going to be bigger for her dad. Right after we moved into the house, Carter got a call from the new principal of the high school. Turns out the man has his MBA and the high school not only needed a new baseball coach, but had a full-time teaching position for him. They are trying to talk him into going back to school for his MFT, but he keeps telling them studying and taking the Praxis was enough for him. Trish and Davis had a baby girl and Ranger and Elle had a boy. Ava is over the moon that there are babies for her to help take care of. For someone who had a horrible example of a mother for the first few years of her life, she’s going to make one hell of a mommy when she grows up.
“Why don’t you go play until it’s time to go?” I ask her, walking her into the backyard where the other kids are running off some energy. I watch her run into the middle of the mayhem, pulling my phone out when it dings.
Amberly:
You’ll be here next week, right? With Carter and Ava?
Madison:
That’s the plan. Going to be a big group, everyone is coming.
Amberly:
Even the new babies? Think I could get some of the baby snuggles? I am your favorite sister.
Madison:
You’re my only sister, and as long as you promise not to leave the room, I’m sure snuggles could be arranged.
The best part about the last year? Re-connecting with my sister. There’s been no news from—or about—the ex and I missed her. She was so pissed at me, and I don’t blame her, but she’s back in my life, and has met everyone I’ve surrounded myself with. I think she squealed the loudest when I told her about Carter and me. We’ve snuck up for a few games since the team moved back here after spring training. Carter insisted we sit and stay in the suites, which I don’t find as fun, but it made him happy and Ava could see all of her uncles. I’ve missed my team almost as much as my sister. And next week, all of us will make the trek to Diamond Cove to see Carter’s number being retired.
I’ve got one eye on the kids and one on my phone, waiting for my sister to text me back, when it rings in my hand. Carter.
“Well, if this isn’t a surprise,” I answer.
“What time will you all be here?” he asks, his tone serious.
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“There’re cameras here. A lot of them. ESPN is here, Mads.”
“Carter, calm down. It’s not like this is the first time you’ve ever been on ESPN.”
“I’m not worried about me, Madison. I’m worried about you. What if they get you?”
The worry in his voice makes sense now, but I refuse to live my life in fear. “Carter, it’s been a year, and no one has heard from him. I’ll stay in the back of the crowd. Who gives a hoot about some stranger at a high school ball game? Baby, they are there for you and the team, not the crowd.”
“I don’t like it,” he stubbornly replies.
“Will it make you feel better if I stay with the girls?”
“Maybe. Or you could just go home with Ava and I’ll meet you there after the game?”
“It’s cute you think your daughter would miss your big night.” I laugh. “Carter, nothing’s going to happen. It’s Boulder Canyon. What could go wrong?”
“Are you really asking that, knowing what our friends have been through? My sister?”
I cringe, even if he can’t see it. “Might have been the wrong choice of words, but I’ll have four big, burly, alpha males around to protect me, right?” I pause, but he doesn’t reply. “Carter, I have to go. I think Aaron is trying to shove something up his nose. Love you, and see you tonight.”
“Love you.”
We hang up and I get the pebble in Aaron’s hands out of his nostril’s way, but I can’t get the worry in Carter’s voice out of my head. What if he’s right? What if the cameras get me and the ex sees it somehow and comes after me here? What if he hurts Ava?
The kids squeal in the backyard, distracting my thoughts, and I put my phone away, joining in the chaos.
“After twelve seasons with the Diamond Cove Sails, Boulder Canyon’s own Carter Bailey has returned home and taken the head coach position for our very own Cougars! He has appointed former high school teammate and head coach, Davis Mills, as pitching coach. Let’s all give Coach Bailey a hometown welcome!”
The announcer finishes his statement to thunderous applause, Ava doing her best to be the loudest. I’m sitting in the middle of the stands surrounded by Mr. Mills, Ranger, Tiny, Joker, Elle, Trish, Lottie, and Ginny. There are a couple of guys who work with Joker sitting close by who I remember from my own rescue. I have on an oversized hoodie and a baseball cap that Carter put on me, pulled low to hide my face. They ushered me to the stands after the media hour, keeping me in the back of the crowd until it died down. We watched most of them leave, the few photographers and reporters who stayed weren’t paying attention to the crowd. Over-reaction? Maybe. But you try telling all these men to not be overprotective. Seriously, try it.
We’ve all settled in to watch the game when Joker turns to me, a grin on his face that’s almost scary.
“So, I hear your boy is making moves to get his foundation off the ground.”
“He is.” I grin back at him.
“Will you let him know that we’re on board? Anything we can do to help, we will.”
“Thanks, Joker. I’m sure that will mean a lot to Carter.”
Carter’s been calling around to all the professional baseball teams, signing up other players to help him get his program off the ground. He wants to make sure that all kids have the opportunity to play ball regardless of their financial or family background. He’s been in touch with a social worker that Joker put him in contact with to match athletes with kids, kind of like the Big Brother program. The interest he’s building is even jumping sports. There have been football programs, basketball programs, soccer teams, and more reaching out to him to find out if they can work with him. His old team is going to retire his jersey and announce his official launch in two weeks, and all of us are going. It’s going to be crazy.
“That’s not how you hit a ball, Lucas! Plant your feet and check your swing!” Ava yells from beside me, making all of us laugh.
“She’s just going to jump from player to coach, huh?” Trish leans closer to ask, trying to hold in her giggles.
“I asked if she wanted to play t-ball. She told me she ‘already knew the game better than any of them wanna-be daddy-ball coaches’ and her face scrunched up like she ate something rotten.”
“Oh, I bet Carter got a kick out of that.”
“He did. She’s pretty much an assistant coach now. She loves this stuff. She misses the big stadium and all her uncle-boyfriends. Carter didn’t like that as much.”
“I bet. Has she told you what she wants to do?”
“She wants to take dance. She saw a picture of me when I was young in my tutu and wants to do that.”
“I can’t picture Carter as a dance dad,” Lottie replies, leaning in closer to be part of the conversation.
“I can’t either,” I agree. “But he’s going to have to get used to it. Her first class is in a month.”
“You’re really good with her, you know.” Lottie smiles at me.
“She’s easy to be good with.” I bite my lip and decide to say something that’s been bothering me. “She keeps asking if she can call me mom.”
“Oh, that’s big. What are your thoughts about that?”
“I feel like it’s too soon. I’ve been trying to think of something special she could call me instead, but I haven’t come up with anything.”
“Do you want to be her mom?”
I smile, my eyes tearing up, and I nod. “I really do. But what if her real mom comes back?”
“Fuck that bitch,” Lottie spits. “She left, she gave up any right she had to that little girl, and you have stepped in and taken on that responsibility. As far as I’m concerned, you are her mom. You’ve earned that title.”
Trish, Elle, and Ginny all vocalize their agreements, and I lose the battle to not cry, but I also laugh, feeling better because I have the approval of his family and friends. We turn to watch the game and eventually Ginny comes to sit next to me.
“How have you been? I know I don’t get up here very much, but I wanted to check on you.”
“I really have been good. Haven’t heard anything from the ex, and I love my life here. It’s a great place to live.”
“It really is,” she agrees. “I miss it, but Briar Mountain is home now. Joker wanted me to make sure you still have what you need for protection?”
I raise my wrist, showing her that I’m still wearing the watch they gave me.
“I hate those,” Ginny laughs, tilting her head toward the watch. “Harrison makes me wear it when I’m traveling. And bitches at me when I take it off for the performance.”
“It helps keep you safe,” the man himself growls beside her.
She grins at him and pats his cheek. “I know, babe. Doesn’t change how much I hate it.”
“Deal with it.”
I laugh as they kiss. All of these men are so protective of their women—and their friends. And I’m lucky enough to be a part of this amazing little group.