15. Ryker
RYKER
My phone rings again, but I ignore it.
“Should you get that?” Izzy asks me.
We’re standing in her kitchen on Christmas Eve.
She’s been cooking since early this morning, and I’ve been doing what I can to help.
Tonight, my dad and Caroline are coming to eat dinner with Izzy, Brock, and me, and then Brock is going to his dad’s tomorrow for Christmas.
I know this will be the first Christmas Izzy is going to be away from her son, and she’s struggling with it.
“Nope. It’s Christmas Eve. My agent can wait.”
She looks at the phone curiously and then frowns. Izzy and I have gone back and forth on me retiring from baseball. She worries that I’m making the wrong decision, but I haven’t had one second thought about it.
Brock runs into the kitchen, smiling and holding up his phone. “Oh my God, Ryker, is this for real? Fifty million dollars a year in a new three-year contract? That’s awesome, dude.”
He’s holding his hand up, waiting for a high-five. I can see the shocked look on Izzy’s face, and I realize now that I should have talked to her about this. I slap hands with Brock. “I turned it down.”
Brock is shocked. I swear the boy turns green. “You turned it down? That’s crazy. Do you know how much money that is? How? Why? It says it’s the most that a designated hitter has ever been offered.”
Izzy brushes her hair off her face. She’s in another Christmas sweater, and I have a matching one that I’m going to put on later. She comes around the counter. “What… what is he talking about, Ryker?”
My phone starts ringing again. It’s my agent, and I’m about to reach for it and turn it off when Izzy crosses her arms over her chest. “Answer it.”
I blow out a breath and answer the phone. “Hey, Mack. It’s Christmas Eve. Can we talk about this later?”
“Ryker. This is fifty million dollars for three years to hit a ball. No sane person would turn this down.”
I shake my head. “I’m tired of everyone saying I’m crazy. I know how much money that is, and it’s more than just hitting a ball. It’s traveling and being away from home for long periods of time… I’m not interested. I retired.”
He starts to plead with me. “Think about it. They really want you, Ryker. There has to be something to convince you?—”
Both Brock and Izzy are staring at me. Brock is still excited, thinking I’m going to change my mind, and I can’t make out the expression on Izzy’s face, but it’s obvious she’s not happy with me.
“Mack, it’s Christmas Eve. I’ll talk to you in two days.”
I hang up the phone, turn it off, and then drop it into my pocket. Izzy is quiet and goes back to cooking. Brock senses the shift in the room and holds his hands up. “I’m going back to the living room.”
I walk over to Izzy. “I didn’t tell you about it because I knew I was going to say no.”
She puts one hand on her hip. “Well, maybe you shouldn’t. This is a big deal, Ryker. You love baseball.”
I nod. “I do love baseball… but not as much as I love you.”
Her reaction tells me that I said the wrong thing. I don’t think what I said was bad, but obviously she does.
She shakes her head and looks away from me. “Well, I think you should do it.”
I put a hand to my chest, right over my heart. “What?”
She shrugs as if this isn’t even an important conversation. “I think you should go and do it. As a matter of fact, I want you to.”
I hold my breath. “You want me to go.”
She nods. “Yeah, I do.” She waves her hand around, still avoiding my eyes. “This is happening too fast. I’ve only been divorced a few months, and we should slow things down.”
I walk over to her. “Izzy, you don’t think that. You don’t?—”
She pulls from my hold. “Don’t tell me what I think.” She blows out a breath. “Can we do this later? I need to pick up the wine, and you need to pick up your dad. I need to finish cooking and?—”
I grab my keys off the hook on the wall. “I’ll go get the wine before I get my dad. I’ll be back.”
I walk out the back door and resist punching the wall in the garage. She can’t do this. I won’t let her do this to us. Not again.
I thought everything was perfect. I thought we were happy, but it seems that history is repeating itself.
I drive to the liquor store and am looking for the wine when I see an older woman trying to pick up a crate of bottles. I rush over to her. “Here, let me help you.”
I pick up the crate and put it in the cart for her. As I am about to walk away, she says, “I see you’re back.”
I stop and force a smile I’m not feeling. “Yep, I’m back.”
She holds her hand out to me. “Will you help me get another crate?”
I nod. “Sure.”
She grabs my hand and puts it on her cart. I start pushing, and she holds on to my arm as we go. This has to be the weirdest interaction I’ve had in a while, but my mom would roll over in her grave if she knew I didn’t help someone that needed it. “So are you staying this time?”
I look at her, surprised. “Yeah, I’m staying.”
She slaps me on the arm. “That’s good. That girl was heartbroken when you left last time.”
I peer down at her, trying to recall how I know the woman. “You know Izzy?”
She laughs. “I was their next-door neighbor.”
I search my memory. “Gladys?”
Her whole face lights up. “You remember me?”
I nod. “How could I forget you? You made the best chocolate chess pie I’ve ever eaten.”
She smiles ear to ear. “Well, son, you just made my day. Thank you for that.”
“You’re welcome. It’s true.”
She points at the next crate, and I get it down for her. “You planning a party?”
She harumphs. “Family dinner, and since I can’t cook like I used to, they put me on wine duty.” She huffs her breath. “The ungrateful little turds…”
I laugh.
She keeps walking around the store, and I just walk with her. I don’t know why I say it, maybe because I need someone to talk to. “You know, I left back then because Izzy broke up with me. She wasn’t heartbroken.”
She stops walking and tilts her head to look up at me. “She broke up with you?”
I nod.
She shakes her head. “That doesn’t make sense at all.” She scratches her head. “I thought you broke up with her since she had to stay in Whiskey Run and couldn’t go with you.”
I tighten my hold on the cart. “What do you mean that she had to stay in Whiskey Run?”
She blinks up at me. “You don’t know?”
“Know what?” I ask, half out of patience.
“Rachel was diagnosed with breast cancer.”
“Her mom…” My voice trails off.
Gladys nods her head. “Yeah, she was diagnosed, and it all happened so fast. She had surgery, radiation, and chemo. They were real hush-hush about it all, but since I was right next door, I knew. I helped when I could. I cooked for them and?—”
She sees my stunned expression and covers her mouth. “You didn’t know?”
I shake my head. “No, I didn’t know.”
She pats my hand. “Well, it took about two years, but she beat it.”
Izzy never knew her dad. It was always her and her mom.
There’s no way she would have left her mom if she was sick like that.
Why didn’t she tell me? And instantly, I know.
She didn’t tell me because I would have stayed here with her.
She wouldn’t have wanted me to give up baseball, and I would have done it without a second thought.
“Oh my God,” I mumble out loud.
Gladys looks at me worriedly. “What is it, son?”
We have made our way to the front. “Thank you, Gladys. You’ve helped me so much today.”
She waves me off. “Oh, I should be thanking you. It was nice to have someone to talk to.”
I take her to the counter, pay for her wine even though she tries to refuse it, and then help her get it out to the car.
I put my phone number into her phone, and before she gets in, she grabs a covered plate from the back.
“Here. I was going to take the chocolate chess pie to my kids, but they don’t need it. This is for you.”
I hold it up like it’s my most prized possession. “Thank you, Gladys. Izzy and I will eat this after dinner tonight.”
She smiles approvingly. “Oh, good. I didn’t want to be nosy.
So you and Izzy are back together?” Before I can answer, she nods her head.
“It makes sense. True love always finds a way. You know her son, Brock, comes over and shovels the snow off my sidewalks. He won’t ever take a dime. He’s a good kid.”
I nod my head with pride. “Yeah, he is.”
I hug Gladys with one arm since I’m holding the chocolate pie, and then I help her into her car. As soon as she drives off, I walk back into the liquor store, buy the wine Izzy likes, and then drive off across town to pick up my dad. He barely gets into the car, and I’m asking him, “Did you know?”
He’s smiling, wearing the Christmas sweater I got him just for tonight. “Thanks, son. Merry Christmas. It looks good, right?”
I roll my eyes. “Hi, Dad. Merry Christmas. The sweater looks good. Did you know that Izzy’s mom had breast cancer when I was drafted?”
He freezes next to me, and he doesn’t have to say a word. I can see the guilt on his face. “Dad, how could you not have told me?”
He turns in the seat next to me. “I didn’t know until after you were gone.
Izzy came over to check on me, and she was so sad, Ryker.
I knew there was something, and it took months for me to get it out of her.
She was wore out, working full time, taking care of her mom, checking in on me.
When she told me, she begged me not to tell you.
She didn’t want you to give up your dreams.”
“Dad…” I start.
But I don’t have to say a word. “I know, I know. You wanted Izzy. I didn’t know what the right thing to do was, but then as time passed and you were seeing other women and a few years later, she was marrying Allen… I never liked him, but who was I? I couldn’t say anything…”
I let out a deep breath. This makes so much sense.
All of it does. Her breaking up with me then and then today, her telling me I should go.
She gives and gives and gives and never takes.
Well, I’m not going to let her keep doing it.
It’s about time she gets everything she wants, and I’m going to be the one that makes sure it happens.
“Don’t be mad at her, son. She thought she was doing the right thing.”
I nod. “I know.”
I drive back toward Izzy’s house with a whole new outlook. No matter what, I’m not leaving her again.