CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Several days later, Maggie, Mitch, and Jenny sat on cold, hard bleachers cheering Toby on as he came up to bat.
Maggie stood, screaming, “Let’s go, Toby! You got this, buddy!” She turned to Mitch and Jenny. “Do you think he heard me?”
They each had a finger in the ear closest to her and were giving her matching knock-it-off looks.
“I think there’s a Toby in Trenton looking around for a crazy lady cheering for him,” said Mitch.
“If you don’t yell loud enough, he won’t hear you,” she said in self-defense.
Her cheering was annoying, but he wouldn’t complain about the view of her ass every time she stood.
He flashed back to their kiss at the store and thought of how her ass filled his hands so perfectly.
She was a distraction he didn’t need right now but damned if he could get her out of his head.
She screamed girl next door, but in a sexy as hell sort of way.
Wearing a baseball hat that matched the boys, her long, brown ponytail stuck out the back, and he kept having to stop himself from running his fingers through it.
She was munching on a bag of popcorn and acting like this was a big-league championship game.
“You can’t fault her enthusiasm,” Jenny said.
“True, but I can move to the opposing team’s bleachers, which I’m seriously considering.”
Jenny laughed, which caught Adam’s attention. He looked up from the dugout and waved. She waved back enthusiastically, and the look on her face told him everything he needed to know about how she felt about Adam.
They hadn’t talked seriously about anything since “the incident,” but it was obvious she liked him. How much, he didn’t know, but when they finally had a conversation alone, he would find out.
“Doing anything fun during your time off, Mitch?” Jenny asked.
Adam must have smoothed things over for him regarding the whole punching-Adam-in-the-face episode. The voicemail she’d left when he declined her call was full of cuss words and threats, but she hadn’t said another word about it.
“Not really. Spent some time at the hospital yesterday and have been catching up with some old friends.”
By old friends, he meant all the riffraff he’d been cultivating as leads for the last two years. He kept busy roaming the streets and trolling for information from anyone who would talk to him.
Diego, a low-level drug dealer for one of Manuel’s competitors, told him that Manuel was looking to add dealers to his payroll. Diego claimed he was too much of a hard-ass and would never work for him.
He told Mitch about a friend of his who worked for Manuel, who’d been badly beaten for not selling enough cocaine one month. They’d made him an example to show others what happened when you didn’t move enough product.
Mitch figured the beating probably coincided with Manuel’s return, which he’d pinned down to a couple of months ago.
Manuel had returned to his operation in shambles.
Most of his dealers were either hooked and using all the product or had gotten lazy and couldn’t be bothered to work.
Manuel had apparently laid down the law for all those who had slacked off in his absence.
From what Diego told him, it sounded like he’d cleaned house and was now recruiting to fill the empty slots.
The only other useful information came from a hooker Mitch had befriended. She let it slip that Manuel had been seen at the Lady Luck strip club several times since his return. He seemed to like a girl they called Candy.
Maggie was standing again and yelling like a lunatic. Toby had actually hit the ball and, head down and legs churning, was running toward first base. He got there just as the shortstop overthrew the ball to the first baseman. Adam was yelling at him to keep running, so Toby took off toward second.
Mitch and Jenny jumped to their feet, joining Maggie in the screaming and clapping.
The first baseman finally retrieved the ball, and even though his coach was telling him to hold it, he attempted a throw to second base.
His throw was wildly inaccurate and ended up midway between the shortstop and the left fielder.
Toby rounded second and was almost to third when the other team’s shortstop finally got to the ball.
Adam was at third base waving Toby on to home.
“Go, go, go—all the way, buddy!”
By now, everyone in the bleachers was on their feet. This was probably the most exciting thing that would happen all season.
The shortstop threw the ball with as much heat as he could muster. The catcher stood ready.
“Slide, Toby. Slide.” Adam ran alongside him.
Toby slid, dirt flying everywhere. His foot crossed home plate seconds before the ball fell into the catcher’s glove. The ump made a dramatic gesture calling Toby safe, and the crowd went wild.
Toby ran into Adam’s arms with an ear-to-ear grin. Adam hugged him hard and then let him go to get high fives from the team.
The rest of the game was anticlimactic. The boys’ team won, and Jenny invited everyone over to celebrate.
“Hey, buddy, you did awesome. That was a great home run!” Mitch and Toby were walking side by side, lagging behind the others, headed toward the parking lot. “I already made plans to have dinner with my mom and brothers, so I can’t come celebrate with you, but I wish I could.”
“That’s okay. I understand.” Toby was mature for a kid his age. “After my next home run, you can come over.”
“Of course.” Mitch slapped him on the back and turned to say goodbye to Jack, but Adam was already helping him into the back of the truck.
He watched as Adam buckled him up and then opened the door for Jenny.
He grabbed her around the waist, and she threw both arms around his neck to give him a quick kiss.
He gave her a pat on the butt as she climbed into the truck, and the smile she gave him was so genuine and full of happiness, Mitch felt like an intruder watching them.
He waved at Jack and turned toward his SUV. They all seemed to be in their own little happy world and didn’t need him anymore.
Maggie was getting into her car as he drove by.
“See you around,” he said with a wink through his open window.
It had been hard to sit through the game with her so close, yet so completely off-limits.
Jenny had no idea what was going on between them, and in an effort to play it cool, Mitch and Maggie had hardly spoken to one another.
That also meant no touching, which he found himself longing to do.
He couldn’t remember if he’d ever been so intrigued by a woman.
“Bye, Mitch,” she responded with a friendly wave.
As he drove to his mother’s downtown condo, it dawned on him that Toby was the same age now that Mitch had been when he’d lost his father to an unexpected brain tumor.
In the months following, he’d thought about his dad all the time, relishing fond memories of him teaching him to ride his bike, coming to his Little League games, and tucking him in at night.
He’d always felt cheated that he didn’t have his dad growing up.
To a nine-year-old boy, it didn’t seem fair.
Years later, his oldest brother, Sam, taught him how to drive and told him about girls and sex.
Not just the basics, but the good stuff his mother had left out.
Sam did his best to step up, but it wasn’t the same.
His mother was fantastic. Beautiful, smart, and funny, she could easily have remarried, but never did.
Mitch knew that was one thing she regretted not being able to give her boys—a good example of what a loving husband and father should be like. He’d found that in Jimmy.
Now Jimmy’s boys were in the same boat. He thought of the way Toby had run to Adam for a hug after his home run and wondered if Adam was looking to fill that role.
Maybe he would be good for all of them. The boys needed a dad, and he begrudgingly had to admit, Adam might make a halfway decent substitute in Jimmy’s absence.
But if he got cold feet and left and hurt this little family?
New friend or not, Mitch would kick his ass for real.
***
Maggie opted out of going to Jenny’s in order to make an appearance at Sunday dinner.
Her parents cooked a huge meal every Sunday, and there was a standing invitation for her and her siblings.
With such a large family, it was easy to skip a Sunday or two and have it go unnoticed, but she hadn’t been in a while and figured they’d want to hear about what happened at the store.
She needed to tell them what she knew and warn them to be careful, too.
She gave them an abbreviated version, telling them what she’d witnessed at the bank and who the bank robber was. To downplay the danger, she didn’t mention the potential breach in the police department or the message left on the wall at the store.
“Oh my, sweetie. That’s horrible,” her mother soothed as she pulled three loaves of garlic bread out of the oven. The buttery aroma sent Maggie’s stomach into a fit. She tried to grab a chunk but instead got a light slap on the hand.
“Do you think it was Manuel or his people that trashed the store?” her mother asked. “Why don’t you come stay with us for a while?”
“The police think there may be a connection, yes. They’re working extra hard to catch him soon, so thanks for the offer to stay, but I’ll be fine.” What Maggie didn’t say was that she had no idea how far Manuel planned to take his threats and had no intention of putting her family in any danger.
Dinner was as delicious as it was loud. It was nice to catch up on all the comings and goings of her siblings and their families. Her mom’s lasagna was her favorite, and she was bummed when there were no leftovers.
She left her car at her folks and took a cab back into the city, relishing the quiet. She loved her large family, but was glad to leave the crazy behind. Even though it was late, she had plans for a long, hot bath and a glass of wine.