Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Foster
“You’ve been quiet. Something going on?” Hayes asks after we order our coffees.
We were hanging out today, and somehow, we were instructed to go get coffees for Leighton and Callie and drop them off at some bridal place where Leighton is trying on wedding gowns.
“Nah. Anyway, I thought it was bad luck for you to see the dress?” I’m trying to stop us from having to go to the bridal shop for two reasons.
One, I don’t ever want to be in a bridal store, and two, Callie is there.
And although we’ve figured out our shit, the one thing we haven’t figured out is how and when to tell Hayes.
I have no idea if she’s told Leighton I’m the baby’s father, and if she did, Leighton clearly didn’t tell Hayes since he’s been more than fine with me all day.
Which only makes me feel like an even bigger asshole.
“I’m not going in. You are,” Hayes says.
“No, I’m not.” I lean against the wall and lower my hat, although my neck tats give me away.
The two of us together is like a flashing neon sign. So far no one has approached us though. I will say, I’m not sure if Chicago fans don’t give a shit about their professional athletes, but I haven’t had many people approach me in public since I came here.
“Yes, you are, because you don’t want your best friend to start off his marriage with bad juju.”
I scowl at him. “Juju? Who the fuck are you, man?”
He chuckles as the woman brings our drinks to the counter. Two to-go trays with eight cups.
“Who are all these for?”
Hayes chuckles again. I will say he’s a happy fucker since Leighton and the kids came into his life. Makes me wonder if when this kid comes, I will be too.
“It’s Kyleigh Landry’s store,” he says.
“Who?”
He picks up one tray, and I pick up the other, the two of us weaving through the mid-morning rush inside the coffee shop.
“Rowan Landry’s wife. The center for the Falcons.”
My head falls back in recognition.
As we approach the door, a gentleman holds the door open for us. “We’re rooting for you boys.”
“Thank you, sir,” Hayes says. “We’re trying our best.”
I nod, and his gaze flashes to my neck, presumably to my tattoos, but he doesn’t comment. “Good luck tomorrow. Toronto is gonna be tough.”
Hayes is polite as always. I nod again since my stomach is in knots because my pitching hasn’t exactly been stellar.
I’m not getting the velocity I had last year, and it’s hard not to wonder if I’m in some downward spiral toward retirement.
There’s no way I’m gonna be one of those guys who draws each drop of blood before calling it quits.
I will go out on top as much as I possibly can.
The baby changes things a little. I’ll have a little life to support and make sure he or she wants for nothing.
We walk down the sidewalk, and Hayes says nothing about me not conversing with the fan. He knows that’s not me.
“Now that you have a family, is this where you see yourself wanting to stay?” I ask him.
I’m on a two-year contract with Chicago, and if I don’t get my velocity up, I’m going to be traded before the end of that contract.
I can’t really talk to Callie about it at this point, but I refuse to live in a separate city from my kid.
I know better than anyone the divide it causes.
Makes for not knowing them, just like with my mom.
Long-distance parenting ends up being a voice on the other end of the phone that eventually you don’t want to hear.
He glances over with an expression as if to say, what’s going on in that head of yours.
“It would be hard to relocate the kids. I mean, Lake might murder me in my sleep. Then there’s Leighton’s job.
I guess I’d have to talk to Leighton about it, but if it happens, we’ll have to make a tough decision.
Maybe it’ll be time for me to hang up my glove. ”
I stop on the sidewalk. “You’d just quit baseball? For her?”
He laughs and shakes his head. “Sure, she trumps it all. I’ve had a long career, not always fulfilling, and it would suck retiring never having received a Gold Glove, but that’s not up to me.”
My mind wanders again to wondering what I want my life to look like.
Now that Callie is pregnant with my baby, it changes things.
I’m sure she feels as though I did a one-eighty when I told her I want to be part of the kid’s life.
It doesn’t fit with my reputation, but I always promised myself if I ever had a kid, they would come before me.
I guess that’s what happens when you learn at an early age that parents don’t necessarily have to stick around.
“Shit, I had no idea you were that invested,” I say.
His forehead wrinkles. “Reap, I asked her to marry me.”
I nod and walk. “Yeah, I know, but you only have so many years to play, and you fought so hard last year to get back on top.” I shrug, knowing I’m not helping myself in the department of winning him over when he inevitably finds out I knocked up his sister.
“I can’t wait until you’re in my position so I can call you out on all the crazy shit that goes through that head of yours.” He slides around me so he’s close to the brick building. “Here. This is it.”
It’s definitely a bridal store. Mannequins dressed in white gowns are in the display window, and flower petals lay scattered along the bottom.
“I really have to go in?” I sound like a sullen child.
Hayes laughs, holding out his tray of drinks. “Afraid so.”
I take the other tray and sigh, walking through the door that has Bridal by Kyleigh etched on the glass. A bell rings to alert everyone I’ve arrived. Awesome.
The heads of all the women seated on the couches in front of a huge mirror turn in my direction, and that’s when I see Callie standing in the center of them, dressed in a fucking wedding dress.
My arms lose strength for a second, and the trays tip out of my grip, but I recover before they fall to the floor.
“Oh jeez, look at him. He’s gonna break out in hives.” A brunette standing off to the side rushes over, laughing.
My eyes are locked on Callie, and hers are on mine through the mirror.
Why the hell is she in a wedding dress? I don’t like the image that comes to mind of another man around my kid.
Or around her. And that second part is the problem—because a fast, brutal flash of mine to protect sears straight through me.
“We were just trying to convince Leighton how pretty a ball gown style with pockets is,” the brunette I don’t know says.
As if hearing the woman, Callie pulls her hands out of the pockets. She looks like a princess, though I’m definitely not her white knight. Regardless, I want to stomp over there and throw her over my shoulder.
Shit, where did that just come from? I shake my head.
“I’m Kyleigh, by the way. Rowan Landry’s wife.”
I’ve met Rowan and a few of the other guys from the Falcons a few times, but I’ve never met their wives. All I really know is they all have families and live on the same street. That’s some close shit for teammates.
“Foster Davis.”
She laughs and takes one of the trays from me. “I know.”
I follow her to the table at the side of the group. She calls off orders and women raise their hands, all eyes on me.
“This is an absolute no.” Leighton comes out of the hallway in a dress with a huge bow on her right hip. She sees all the women staring at me and ducks around a corner.
“He’s outside,” I tell her.
“Oh good.” She comes back out, walking toward me. “You can come closer. Marriage isn’t contagious.” Kyleigh sets the last drink on the table near Leighton. “Thank you for this. I know Hayes probably sprang it on you.”
I tuck my hands in the pockets of my jeans. “No problem.” My gaze keeps straying to Callie, who is oddly quiet.
Leighton smiles at me and turns to the center stage area. “Oh, Callie, it is beautiful, but I think it suits you more than me. It’s gorgeous.” Leighton glances at me over her shoulder. “Don’t you think so, Foster?”
Her smile says she knows, and if she knows, then I have to think Hayes is next.
Callie said we’d tell him together, but what if he finds out before we have a chance?
The two of us decided we’d wait until we go to the doctor because why cause all that turmoil before the doctor confirms everything is okay?
Still, something about Hayes not knowing feels like a knife is lodged in my throat.
“Yeah,” I croak.
The entire room giggles.
“Oh, let the poor guy go. He looks like he could throw up,” Kyleigh says.
Just then Hayes and Callie’s mom comes out of the backroom, and her eyes light up when she sees me. My smile widens because I love Mrs. Carlisle.
“Foster!” She rushes over with her arms open, and I try to loosen my muscles and not seem so stiff as she throws her arms around me and buries her head in my chest. “Oh, you’re a lifesaver. Hopefully the caffeine helps take the edge off.”
“We’re fine, Mom,” Callie says with a note of exasperation.
Jennifer Carlisle is like a mom from television. She’s patient, loving, and treats you as if you’re the best person who was ever born. Even me.
Mrs. Carlisle rolls her eyes. “You know my Callie, she likes to get her way.”
Callie inhales deeply, and she steps down from the pedestal. I finally feel as though I can breathe again. I hope she goes in the back and takes off that beautiful fucking dress. But she doesn’t turn toward the back. She walks right over to me.
The dress swooshes as she walks, and the closer she gets, the more my throat closes up. “I was just showing Leighton the dress she’s missing out on.”
“I think you’re missing out on the dress. Buy it for the future.” Leighton sips her coffee, staring at Callie and me. “You never know when you might want to run off to Vegas and marry someone.” She shrugs, looking at me from the corner of her eye.
“She’ll probably sneak off and come back with a wedding ring on her finger and a baby in her belly.” Mrs. Carlisle puts her arm around her daughter’s waist and tugs her to her side. “She’s impulsive, and we love her for it.” She smacks a kiss on Callie’s cheek.
Callie’s eyes drill into mine again. Now my heart feels as though it’s fighting a rip current—kicking for air, desperate to make it back to shore.
“I should go.” I back step toward the door.
“Is Hayes out there?” Mrs. Carlisle asks.
I nod. “Yeah, he’s adamant about not seeing Leighton.”
She laughs. “Tell him I’ll see him at Peeper’s in a little bit? And you come too.”
“Ah… I have some things to do.” I am not going to be in the same room as Callie and everyone else until Hayes knows what’s going on.
“Not anymore. Nothing is more important than spending time with me, your second mother.”
Sadly, she is the closest thing I’ve had to a mother since I was eleven.
“Mom, let him be. He’s a busy guy.” Callie doesn’t say it vindictively, and she’s not throwing laser eyes my way, but still some part of me wants her to be just as uncomfortable as I am.
“I’ll stop by for a little bit,” I say.
“Oh good.” Mrs. Carlisle brings her hands together in front of her.
“Thanks, Foster!” Kyleigh raises her cup. “And tell Hayes thank you too.”
“Yeah… um, good to meet you.”
We all stand there awkwardly, and my eyes soak in Callie one more time before I clear my throat and circle around, getting the hell out of the store.
“You survived!” Hayes pockets his phone and pushes off the brick wall. “I thought they swallowed you up in there.”
Almost.
“Fuck no.”
Now I just need to erase the image of Callie in a wedding dress from my head.
She’s gonna be the mother of my child, so of course some twisted part of me thinks there could be more here.
But a relationship would only complicate our co-parenting dynamic, so I need to put her in a box that doesn’t involve sex.
Easier said than done.