Chapter 23
Schmidt
As soon as the game is over, I race to the locker room to get showered and changed. I’ve never been this excited to see someone after a game.
“Whoa, what’s the rush, Schmidt?” Covey chuckles as I race past him to the showers.
“My little girl came to the game.” I grin as I move past him and set my things down in the stall.
“Dang, I'm not sure I’ve ever seen you this happy.” Cord pats me on the back as he follows me into the shower area. Each stall has its own shower with a shower curtain, but we tend to still talk to each other.
“I’ve always wanted to bring her, but Martha never wanted to come and I didn’t want anyone to know about Tali.”
“Aren't you glad you have Winnie?” Smithy joins us and quickly washes the sweat out of his hair. He doesn’t even bother shutting his curtain, he doesn’t care about privacy.
“I'm more than thankful for Winnie. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”
“Someone sounds like he’s in love,” Covey singsongs.
“No one’s in love, Covey. You need to get your head out of your butt. People don’t fall in love that quickly.” Wheeler rolls his eyes as he turns on his shower and steps under the spray, not bothering to close his curtain either.
My jaw clenches as I tug the curtain shut and turn on the water. I hate how Wheeler always acts like he’s the love guru and he knows everything. The man is single as can be. What can he possibly know about love?
“That’s crap! I fell in love with Lils almost instantly. You don’t need to spend years with someone to know you’re meant to be with them,” Smithy practically growls.
“Yeah, even as a kid, I knew I wanted to spend my life with Charlie,” Wyatt adds. I'm not sure when he came in here, but I'm glad he jumped in on the conversation.
“I fell in love with Macy the first time I met her and we were freshman in high school,” Cord calls, more than happy to put Wheeler in his place. “Not everyone needs years to figure it out, Wheeler.”
“Oh! Burn!” A collective yell echoes off the walls, making me chuckle.
“Are you saying Schmidt’s in love with Winnie already?” Wheeler’s voice is tight with anger, but he’s trying his hardest to remain calm.
“I'm saying it’s none of your business and if he is, you can't blame him. You fell in love with her too, it wouldn’t be his fault he fell faster.”
A hush falls over the room. I quickly finish washing the soap out of my hair and wrap my towel around my waist. I don’t want to get in the middle of this. It’s no one’s business how I feel. Winnie’s the only person who needs to know.
As soon as I'm in my suit, I sling my bag over my shoulder and head towards the door to the locker room. I can't wait to see my little girl.
I push out into the hallway and a smile instantly spreads across my face as I spot my girls leaning against the wall talking to Liliana, Macy, and Charlie.
“There’s my little girl.”
The second Tali hears my voice, she’s pushing away from Winnie and trying to get down. Winnie chuckles as she sets Tali on the ground and my daughter takes off at a run towards me. I bend down and scoop her into my arms.
“I missed you, Tali Girl.”
“I miss you, Daddy,” she whispers, burying her face in my neck. She doesn’t care that my damp hair is getting her face wet, she just wants to be close to me.
“Daddy? When did you learn to say daddy?” I peer down at her.
“We’ve been working on it.” Winnie grins as she moves my way. “I thought you might like it. Plus, I got tired of calling you Da-Da.”
“I love it. Thank you, Winnie.”
Dropping my duffle bag to the ground, I snake my free arm around her waist and tug her into my side. I press a gentle kiss to the top of her head and let out a soft sigh. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier than I am right now.
“Oh my gosh! We need a picture,” Charlie squeals as she takes out her phone and snaps a few photos. “You three are adorable together.”
“Can you send that to me? I’d love to have a picture from Tali’s first game.”
“Of course!”
My phone dings inside my bag, but I don’t bother looking at it. I can see the pictures later. I want to hear all about Tali’s first game.
“How was she?” I ask softly.
“She yelled ‘Daddy’ every time they showed your picture on the big screen. She loved it.”
“Thank you for bringing her. It really means a lot to me.”
“I was happy to! I love coming to games, so I don’t mind at all. I definitely like the box better than the stands too.” She grins up at me.
“Did you get her a jersey?” I peek down at my daughter and notice the jersey she’s wearing.
“Yes! She needed a Schmidt one, obviously. I got Liliana to get me one from Owen. I didn’t want to take her shopping.”
“She looks so cute in it.”
“I know! I think I snapped at least fifty photos of her during the game. At one point, she had her hands on the glass and she was staring down at the game. I got some amazing shots of her.”
Tali lets out a yawn and snuggles a little closer to my chest. It’s pretty late for her to still be awake and she’ll probably end up crashing on the way home.
“I think it’s time we go home, someone’s tired,” Winnie singsongs as she rubs a hand up and down Tali’s back.
“Hey, Winnie,” Wheeler approaches us with caution.
“Hey!” She wraps him in a big hug and he squeezes his eyes shut as he hugs her back.
A pang of jealousy hits me square in the chest, but I remind myself they’re just friends. Winnie doesn’t want anything more with him. She’s made that clear.
“You were great tonight! I still can't believe you were able to catch that one ball. I thought it was going to be a homerun.”
“Thanks.” Wheeler runs his hand through his damp hair, looking more than uncomfortable. “What are you doing? A bunch of us were headed to Kennedy’s, do you want to come with us?”
Winnie glances over her shoulder at us and a soft smile spreads across her face.
“Nah, I think I'm going to head home with this sleepy head.” She motions to Tali and me. I'm not quite sure which one of us she’s talking about.
I feel bad she’s not going out with her friends. She doesn’t need to toss aside her social life just because she’s my nanny or my girlfriend… Is she my girlfriend? I don’t think we’ve really labeled what’s going on between us yet.
“You can go out. I'm positive Tali will fall asleep on the way home. I’d just need you to drop us off before you go since I don’t have a car here.”
Smithy picked me up on his way to the stadium tonight.
I figured it was better to only have one car here so I could go home with my girls.
I was able to give Winnie my parking pass so she could park in the players’ lot and then come in through the players’ entrance.
Anything to keep her and Tali away from the rest of the fans.
I know how rough things can get in the stadium.
There are thousands of fans and it just takes one incident for everyone to explode.
Winnie stares up at me with some emotion I can't name in her blue eyes. She watches me for a few seconds before she takes a step closer to me and places her hand on my chest.
“I want to go home with you, Jamie. Unless you don’t want me there, then I can go out.”
“Nah, baby, I definitely want you home with me,” I murmur as I place my free hand on her hip and tug her closer. “I’m just saying you can go out if you want to.”
“Sorry, Wheeler, I'm going home with my boyfriend.” She smirks up at me, making sure Wheeler knows where he stands in all of this.
“Ok, I guess I’ll see you around,” he mutters under his breath before he heads towards the exit.
“Winnie?” Liliana calls her and waves her over.
“I’ll be right back,” Winnie whispers as she stands on her tippy toes and presses a soft kiss to my lips.
I spin to watch her, knowing Tali’s sound asleep on my chest. Her soft snores help ease the tension in my muscles from the game. She’s always been this grounding source for me and it’s nice to have her in my arms immediately after the game.
Winnie gathers her long black hair into a high pony tail. I can't take my eyes off of her. The black leggings that hug her body like a second skin. Her white sneakers that look more than adorable on her. The black and orange jersey with… my name printed across her back.
I blink at Schmidt written in bold letters. I can't believe she’s wearing my jersey. I guarantee she didn’t own my jersey before she became my nanny. That means she chose to buy one and chose to wear it over Wheeler’s jersey tonight.
She chats with Liliana for another minute or so, then she’s turning back my way with a big smile.
“Are you ready to go home?” She blinks up at me and in that second, I know I'm a goner.
I'm in love with Winnie.
The thought washes over me and though it should scare me, a calm peacefulness settles inside of me instead.
She’s the woman I’ve been dreaming of. The one I never thought I’d be able to find. The perfect mother for Tali.
“Definitely.”
I start to bend down to grab my bag, but Winnie gets it and tosses it over her shoulder like it’s nothing. She threads the fingers of her free hand with mine and squeezes.
“You were incredible tonight. I’ve never seen someone catch so many balls that should’ve been home runs.”
I chuckle as I unlock my car and carefully place Tali in her seat. Winnie goes on and on about the game while I buckle Tali’s snaps on her car seat.
“Hey, Win?” I shut the door and pin her against the side of the car, she lets out a small gasp and stares up at me with desire flooding her gaze.
“Yeah?” She whispers breathlessly.
“I love seeing my name on your back. I love knowing you’re mine. And I absolutely love when you call me your boyfriend.”
I crash my lips into hers and take my time exploring her mouth. Her hands move inside my suit jacket and desperately tug at the fabric until my shirt is untucked and she can slip her hands under it. She loves having her hands on my bare skin.
I swear I’ve never wanted anyone more… Not even Ellie.
Though I’ll never stop loving Ellie, I love her in a different way than I love Winnie. Ellie was a young love. We were untouched by the bad things in life. We were innocent and thought everything would be perfect. We thought we’d be able to overcome whatever was thrown in our direction.
Winnie’s so different. I’ve seen her struggle with things and yet she’s still fighting.
I’ve seen how strongly she desires a family, but she won't allow herself to have one because she wants so badly to make sure she has someone who will stand by her side. I know her parents’ split really wrecked her view on love, but I'm going to show her how amazing love can be.
“I love you, Winnie,” I whisper as I pepper kisses up and down her neck.
“What?” She pulls back, putting her hands on my chest she pushes me a step back and stares up at me with a furrowed brow.
Crap. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. Maybe she isn't ready. What was I thinking?
“Never mind. We should probably get home.” I run a hand through my hair, wishing I had never opened my mouth. The pain radiating from my chest is overwhelming and not something I want to deal with in the middle of the players’ parking lot at the stadium.
“No! What did you say? I want to make sure I heard you right.” Winnie grabs onto my shirt and stops me from going to the other side of the car and getting in. “Please, Jamie. Say it again,” she pleads with me.
“I love you, Winnie,” I whisper, feeling like I'm presenting my heart on a silver platter and waiting for her to toss it on the ground and stomp on it.
“I love you too, Jamie!” She jumps into my arms and wraps herself around me. I hug her back just as hard and squeeze my eyes shut.
“You scared the crap out of me. I thought you were upset.” I chuckle.
“I… I didn’t think I heard you right. I didn’t think we were on the same page.”
“Definitely on the same page.” I kiss her again before opening her door and placing her on the passenger’s seat.
“When we get home, can we have some nanny-daddy time?” She wiggles her eyebrows as a slow smirk spreads across her face.
“Can we stop referring to you as the nanny? It sounds weird. Like this is a forbidden romance.”
“Oh, but forbidden romances are so much fun!” She sticks her bottom lip out in a pout.
“I thought you liked baseball romances,” I murmur.
“I think I like any romance as long as you’re the main character.”