Chapter 23 #2
“She is?” he asks, his eyes meeting mine again.
“Of course,” I tell him.
He reaches across the table and takes my hand, flipping it over to reveal the bracelet around my wrist.
“You wore this every day,” he says softly. “Even when you didn’t want to see me.”
“Daisy is special to me,” I tell him. “That’s never going to change.”
He nods, his eyes still on my wrist.
“Can I ask you something… personal?” I venture.
“Of course,” he says. “Anything.”
“Can you tell me about Daisy’s mother?” I ask. “You never talk about her, and I just thought…”
“This story doesn’t paint me in the best light,” he warns me. “But yes, of course I’ll tell you.”
He takes another sip of his drink and takes a deep breath before continuing.
“When I first started playing for Philly,” he begins, “I went a little wild. You have to remember that I’d been under my dad’s thumb all through high school, and then in college I was doing everything I possibly could to make it to a pro team.”
“You wanted to let loose a little,” I offer. “After years of sacrifice.”
“I guess,” he says, a scowl on his face. “But I didn’t have to let loose the way I did. There were just so many parties and so many girls.”
I did a little research, I’m not proud to admit, so I know there isn’t an ex-Mrs. Stone. But I wasn’t expecting him to say he’d met Daisy’s mother at a party.
“Kim was young,” he says, his eyes on my wrist. “And we were both stupid. When she found out she was pregnant, she came to find me and I told her I’d do the right thing, that we’d get married and raise the child together.”
“Wow,” I say, impressed.
“Kim wasn’t so sure,” he says, a wry smile on his lips. “In retrospect, I think that’s pretty impressive. I was a professional athlete and making a great income. She could have locked in a pretty good lifestyle for herself. But she was a grad student with her own dreams.”
“I get that,” I tell him.
“Anyway,” he says, “we kept in touch. I took her to her childbirth classes, and when she went into labor I was in town, so I took her to the hospital.”
I nod. It sounds like he really did try to do the right thing by her.
“It wasn’t until Daisy was born that we found out about her challenges,” he says quietly.
“And Kim completely panicked. She was studying anthropology, and she wanted to travel and teach. She felt like she just couldn’t handle a child with developmental delays.
I told her she would have all my resources at her disposal, whatever she needed. But she was a mess.”
“Oh, wow,” I say. I felt for the young woman who was trying so hard to do the right thing, and yet feeling so overwhelmed at what was in front of her.
“When they were ready to release Daisy from the hospital, Kim was still completely overwhelmed,” he says. “So, I brought Daisy home with me instead, and she’s never been with anyone else since. After the first year, we signed papers officially to make Daisy all mine.”
“Wow,” I say.
“It wasn’t a sacrifice,” he says softly. “If you were thinking that. From the moment I saw my daughter’s face, I was a goner. I loved her with everything I had from the very second I was allowed to hold her in my arms. And I love her more now every day.”
I press my lips together, determined to hold back the tears that are threatening now.
“The first year was really hard,” he says, and he gets a distant look, like he’s right back there.
“Daisy needed a feeding tube and there was so much that needed to be done to help her right from the beginning. But I was lucky I could afford help. Mrs. Stern was a retired nurse. I gave her a suite in my condo and we figured it all out together. If I’d really been on my own, I don’t know how I would have done it.
But plenty of people do, somehow. Having a child forces you to stretch your capabilities in ways you can’t imagine. ”
“It’s wonderful that you had good help,” I tell him, glad that he had the advantages he did. “But I know you would have done what you needed to do regardless.”
“After we got settled in a little, I started sending Kim photos once in a while,” Caleb continues.
“We don’t have a romantic relationship, and Kim doesn’t ask for the pictures.
But I think she’s happy to know that Daisy is okay.
She actually reached out to me when all this stuff with you and me was blowing up on social media.
She wanted to make sure I was all right. ”
“That’s really nice,” I say, meaning it.
“Turns out she’s engaged now,” he says. “To another academic. The two of them are getting ready to go do a dig in Africa. I’m happy for her. Hopefully, she’ll be able to do all the teaching and traveling she dreamed of. And I’ll always be grateful to her for bringing Daisy into my life.”
My heart squeezes with love for this man who jumped into a difficult single fatherhood with both feet.
Our food comes and we leave the heavy topics behind us as we dig in, sampling everything while talking and laughing about all the fun things we have to look forward to.
I know he’s not saying it, but I can tell that Caleb is super excited about the Stallions and their chances of making the playoffs this year.
As far as I’m concerned, gelling with his team and earning back the hearts of the fans was a big enough win for Caleb, but I’d love to see the team take home that trophy someday too.
The time seems to fly by, and I’m surprised at how long we just sit there, enjoying each other’s company. After we’re all done and the bill is paid, he walks me out to the car.
“Any chance you’d want to make one more stop before we head home?” he asks me as we pull out of the lot.
It’s getting late for me, but I’m buzzing with happy energy.
“Sure,” I tell him. “I’m up for anything.”
“Well, it won’t be quite as romantic,” he says. “But I think the guys would get a kick out of it if we stopped by The Barn for a minute.”
“That sounds like fun,” I tell him. “And we might bump into Hailey and Tessa there.”
“Oh boy,” he says, rolling his eyes in a way that lets me know he’s kidding.
“They do actually like you,” I assure him.
“It’s okay for them to give me a hard time,” he tells me. “I dished it out long enough. I can take it for a change.”
“Speaking of that,” I say. “I saw a couple of the people from high school were at the game. How did you pull that off?”
“It was a lot easier than it should have been,” he says, his voice deepening slightly. “I did some research online, tracked down as many kids as I could remember, and then I started writing apologies.”
“Wow,” I say softly.
“I was amazed at how many people were gracious enough to acknowledge my emails and calls,” he says.
His eyes are on the road, but his tone tells me that he was humbled by this experience.
“Some accepted my apology and my offer of free tickets,” he says. “I met up with a couple of people before the game too, and got to apologize in person.”
“That was a really good thing you did,” I tell him honestly. I know how good it felt to have people in town apologize to me, unasked.
“No,” he says immediately. “It was a really good thing they did for me. I never realized how much guilt I still carried or how much awful stuff I had been trying not to remember. Talking about it doesn’t absolve me, but it felt good to face it head-on and at least be able to say I was sorry.”
“Maybe Angel would feel better if she did the same thing,” I realize out loud.
“Wow,” Caleb says after a moment. “I can’t believe after everything, you still don’t have a mean word to say about her.”
“I can think of plenty of mean words,” I say with a smile. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t want her to turn things around. Everyone deserves a second chance.”
“I guess it would be pretty hypocritical of me to disagree,” he says, a half-smile ticking up one side of his mouth.
“It would,” I tell him.
After a few more minutes of driving, he pulls into the parking lot at The Barn. It’s hopping in there—lights are glowing and the spaces near the doors are all full.
I’ve never really been one for going to bars, but when we step inside it feels different than I expected.
The guys from the team are all at tables that have been pushed together, and they’re laughing and passing around baskets of French fries and onion rings, smiling like kids at a birthday party.
I spot Tessa down at one end of the table, holding court with a couple of players who listen to her, rapt.
Interestingly, Hailey isn’t at her usual place beside her brother Van. Instead, she’s chatting with Jake Rivers.
“Hey, guys,” Caleb calls out.
“Fifty-eight,” Van yells. “You’re here to foot the bill again, right?”
Everyone laughs and Caleb grins, looking a little embarrassed, but mostly happy to be greeted so warmly.
“Hey, Cupcakes,” Sokolov says, as Caleb pulls out a chair for me. “You absolutely sure you’re keeping this one around?”
“Watch it,” Caleb says, but he’s smiling.
“I think I’ll keep him,” I say thoughtfully. “For now, at least.”
That earns me some chuckles and cheers from the guys.
“Forever,” Caleb growls in my ear, pulling my chair in close to his.
A funny little tingle goes down my spine and my heart tells me he’s right.