Chapter 32
The Leaders were batting first. Jay sat between Dan and Finch. Not the most comfortable place he’d ever been.
“You hurt her again, I’m destroying you.”
“That makes two of us,” Lynx added from next to his brother.
“Is that what we were like with you?” Dan asked Zoe who was warming up her shoulders.
“You were worse,” the youngest Duke said.
“So let’s shelve all the shit now and kick these assholes where it hurts,” Sawyer said in his best growly voice.
“Not sure you shelved it when it was your sister getting cozy with JD,” Lynx muttered.
“And look how well that turned out,” JD said, blowing his wife a kiss.
“Yeah, well, we grew up,” Dan said.
“You hit that ball, Jed!” Sawyer roared.
“Always a first time!” Jed fired back.
It broke the tension in the dugout, and everyone laughed. Jay knew harmony wasn’t going to come that easy, but for now, they had a game to win, and he’d seen his girl.
“Let’s do this,” Dan said.
Caleb Stanway hit a home run when the Leaders were fielding after being all out for 0.
The roar from his partner, Jonathan, was loud enough to reach all corners of Lyntacky.
“Wake up, Haddon!” Finch yelled at him.
“It wasn’t me who missed the catch, McAllister!” Jay called back from second base.
“This fucker is not making home plate,” Sawyer said from the outfield, loud enough for everyone to hear.
Beau Keller just smiled.
“Strike!” Bart roared when Dan’s pitch whistled past Beau.
“That wasn’t a strike!”
“No arguing with the umpire, loser,” Brody roared.
He connected with the ball, and it sailed toward the outfield. Sawyer ran, which was like a large grizzly bear lumbering across a prairie, and caught it first bounce. He then fired it to Zoe on first, who then fired it to Jay on second. Two runners out.
“Yahoo!”
Looking to the bleachers, he saw Blue standing, cheering them on. Jay waved back.
“You’re so whipped now.” Ryder smirked.
“Leaders! Levelers!
Dust in the air!
Swing that bat,
We don’t play fair!
Leaders! Levelers!
Hear the crowd roar,
Lyntacky pride—
Score! Score! Score!”
Jay looked to where Betsy, SJ, and Linda from the Do Si Do diner stood chanting those words.
“I’m not ageist, sexist, or whatever-ist,” Ryder muttered. “But I don’t think body paint looks good on some people is all.”
“You can’t look away once you see it either,” Jay hissed. “The chanting’s new, right? I don’t remember hearing it at the last game.”
“They’ve been practicing them for all of us,” Ryder said as the next Leveler got up to bat. “They were doing it in the library, and Mom moved them on, so they came to the cafe.”
“Bet that was fun,” Jay said, looking at Blue again. His woman. She was laughing at something someone was saying.
“Jay! Jay! Lead the way!
Knock it out of here today!”
“Hey Jay, hear the call—
Send that baseball over the wall!”
“I warned you,” Ryder said laughing.
“Caleb! Caleb! Swing it clean!
Strongest hitter we have seen!
Caleb’s here, loud and proud—
Knock it past the cheering crowd!”
These words were roared from Jonathan.
“He’s on the chanting committee, I believe,” Zoe said.
“They have a committee now?” Jay whistled. “Impressive.”
They got the Levelers out, and then it was the Leaders turn to bat. They needed to get two runs to tie the score or three to win, otherwise this game was going to the Levelers.
Sawyer walked up to bat. The man could hit the ball, no getting around that fact, but he hated running between bases.
“Sawyer swings, crowd sings!
Watch him do his Sawyer thing!
Sawyer! Sawyer! Give it heat—
No one here can match your beat!”
Sawyer glared at the three women in shorts, bras, and body paint.
“He’s loving that!” Zoe called. “Keep it up, ladies!”
From his seat in the dugout, Jay heard Sawyer’s growl.
He swung hard and connected with the ball, which put him on second base. Zoe made it to first. Then Lynx loaded the bases.
“If you want to be with my sister and part of my family, asshole, now is your chance to make that happen,” Finch said as Jay went up to bat.
“So all it will take is me bringing everyone home?” Jay selected his bat of choice and swung it a few times.
“That, and making my sister happy.”
Jay grinned. “Done.”
He missed the first two strikes, and two balls were called.
“Hit the damned ball, Haddon!” Sawyer roared.
Noah Keller, Beau’s youngest brother, was pitching.
“He won’t even see the ball,” the man boasted.
Jay watched it come toward him at speed, swung, and connected. He then took off running. Sawyer and Zoe made it home, which tied the game. Lynx and Jay were now on second and third, and it was Finch’s turn to bat.
“Who leads?”
“LEADERS!”
“Who levels?”
“LEVELERS!”
The spectators were roaring at each other, their choice of words depending on the team they supported.
“Let’s go, Finch!”
Finch ignored Nina’s shriek and focused on Noah Keller. He hit the second ball, and Lynx sprinted for home. Jay followed, sliding in to home plate.
The Leaders supporters roared, and the Levelers fans booed as the Leaderes were declared winners.
There were hugs and shouts and celebrations on the field, and when it had died down, Jay looked for Blue.
“She’s gone to the Circle Left for the aftermath because she needs to use the bathroom,” Nina said, coming to where Jay stood. “Hi, Finch.”
The man grunted something, and then walked by Nina.
“Okay, so he’s a lot ruder than I thought,” she said, watching the broad shoulders disappear into the crowds now milling on the field. “I don’t find that hot at all,” Nina said. “I may have to revise my opinion of that man.”
“Good call. So Blue’s at the Circle Left.”
“Yeah. Go on and get your girl, Jay Jay.” She waved him away.
He caught a ride with the Matildas, as they were pulling out when he reached the parking lot.
“Well now, isn’t this nice. You Leaders won, and Jay’s home again to look after Blue,” June said from the passenger seat.
“That girl is a good one, son. Don’t you let her get away,” Bart added.
“I won’t.”
“Babies need some stability, Jay. Single-parent family or double, it matters that the child is loved. It’ll get that here, of course,” June said. “We’ll build a community around Blue.”
“I’m staying, and I’m asking her to move in with me permanently.” The words sounded a bit desperate, but he’d felt a need to say them. “But I’d be grateful if you kept that to yourselves until I’ve talked to Blue.”
They said they would and then proceeded to lecture him the remainder of the—thankfully short—drive to the Circle Left about thinking as a unit now. If Blue decided she wanted to live with him, he couldn’t continue with his selfish ways. He hadn’t known he was selfish until that moment.
“Thanks for the ride and the lecture,” Jay said, getting out of the car so fast, he stumbled a few steps, once Bart had finally finished parking after several adjustments. “See you inside.”
The Circle Left always hosted the after function. It was one of the oldest buildings in Lyntacky and had once been a saloon. The interior paid homage to that.
He stepped inside and made his way through the milling people to the bar. The place was filling up fast, the noise level rising.
“Your girl’s outside on the deck,” Robyn Duke said, kissing his cheek. “Go get her.”
He wound his way through people and then through the doors onto the decking that ran along one side of the building. Blue was talking to someone. She lifted her eyes as he approached, but there was no answering smile. In fact, she looked shocked.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, reaching her side. Jay slid an arm around her waist and looked at the woman she was speaking to.
“Jay,” Blue said, her voice faint. “This is your sister, Hazel.”
Shock had his mouth opening, but no sound came out.
“I didn’t—it wasn’t me that told her to come here,” Blue said quickly.
“I know.” He squeezed her gently. “It’s okay, Blue. I told her where to find me.”
“You did?” He felt her eyes on his face, but his were on his sister. “When?”
“A few days ago, but I hadn’t thought she’d arrive so fast. Hello, Hazel.” Releasing Blue, he held out his hand to the woman who shared his blood but until now had been a stranger.
She was tall, with long dark hair and his smile. She even had his eyes. His little sister.
“Hello, brother,” she said with tears in her eyes. “I’m so pleased to finally meet you.”
She hugged him then—put her arms around him, pulling him close, and in that moment, Jay thought, this is the first time someone from my family has held me like this.
The emotion he’d kept locked away flooded his veins.
Relief, love, happiness, and shock, it was all there.
Jay embraced it, and let the tears fall.
Hazel introduced him to her husband Geoff, but she’d left her young son at home with his grandparents.
The day took on a dreamlike quality for Jay after that. Blue was close, and his sister was here, as were all the other people in his life he cared about.
He drank shots in a race and talked to Hazel about her life and the mother neither of them knew and didn’t want to.
“You look different,” Dan said to him when he got Jay alone briefly. “Less uptight, like you’re unraveling.”
He couldn’t lie. “I feel it.”
“I’m happy for you, bud.”
“Me too,” Jay said, and for the first time in his life, he really was happy all the way through. His heart was full.
Hazel was a hit with everyone she met, especially the Dukes, and when the evening finally wound down, they arranged to meet here for breakfast tomorrow.
Jay took Blue’s hand in his as Hazel and Geoff left, and they said their goodbyes.
Finch and Lynx didn’t glare at Jay as he shook their hands, but he knew that he’d have to prove himself to them before they trusted him fully.
“My things are at the cottage,” Blue said after Dan and Leah had dropped them at Jay’s house.
“I’ll lend you a shirt, and I have a spare toothbrush. Do you need anything else until the morning?”
“No.”
He shot her a look. “Should I not presume and ask if you want to stay with me, Blue Jay?” He felt nervous again.
She was silent for a while, and then she turned and met his gaze. “I want to be here with you.”
It was enough for now, so he led her inside. When the door was closed, Jay pulled her into his arms and kissed her thoroughly.
“I’m sorry for being a cold-hearted bastard and walking away when I should have stayed and talked—well, at least settled things between us before I left.” He held up a hand when her mouth opened. “Not finished. You hear me out, then it’s your turn, okay?”
She nodded.
“I’ve only ever lived alone, and I’ve never cared for anyone, so when you stormed into my life, I was blindsided. I’m not now, and I know what I want.”
“What do you want, Jay?”
“You, sweet Blue. I want all of you and our baby. I love you. Please say you’ll stay here with me and help me build our life together.”
She started to cry, and he ran his thumb under her lashes as the tears fell.
“I need you, Blue. I didn’t realize how much until I couldn’t reach you.”
“I-is it my turn yet?”
He nodded.
“I love you, Jay. Let’s forgive each other and move on now.”
“Yes, I want that,” he whispered, cupping her cheeks.
“And I’m starting a boutique in Lyntacky, just so you know.” Her smile was wobbly through the tears. “And I’m really excited about it.”
“Nice. I want to be a financial backer,” he said, pressing a kiss to her soft lips.
“We’ll have to negotiate that, but not now. Now I want you to take me upstairs and put me to bed.”
He smiled. “I can do that.”