Chapter 30 #2
“It’s time to go home, hermosa. Come on, get up. Come with me. We need to talk,” he said.
“I don’t want to talk,” she said. “I’ll just stay here.”
“No,” Javi said, shaking his head. “If you stay here, so will I, and your brother will not like that because I left him babysitting Lola.”
That got her eyes to cut to him. “He’s never watched a kid in his life,” she replied.
“Well, he has now,” said Javi. He took a deep breath. “Cami, do you remember when I asked you to be serious with me? To really give our relationship a shot? I did not want to just be friends with benefits. Do you remember what I told you?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know,” she replied with a sad smile.
I said, “I know what I want.” The same is as true now as it was then. I probably want you more now than I did then. I love you, Cami. I’m not going to let you break up with me. Ever. This is it for us.
She scooched up until she was sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. “But how can we possibly make this work if we aren’t in the same place together?”
He moved to sit on the couch at her feet. “I traveled a lot this past season, but we made it work. We will always find a way to make it work. You and our life together is my priority. I know how important your family and your career are to you. I would never ask you to leave them behind.”
Her eyes beseeched his. “I feel the same way. I could never ask you to give up baseball. You’d be miserable without it. Very few people get the chance to play professionally, and I could never live with being the reason you stopped.”
“Honestly, I’ve been thinking about my life post-playing for quite a while.
It’s one of the reasons I’ve pushed so far with school.
It’s why I have been seriously researching to form my own barnstorming team.
My goal was always to make it to the MLB.
I’m here, but I can’t catch forever. I’m going to age and my risk of injury increases every year.
I’m good, but I’m not Mike Piazza or Iván Rodriguez.
I’m not going to make it fifteen plus seasons, and I don’t want to.
I can see myself doing two or three more at most, and that’s because I want other things out of my life, too. ”
He reached over and threaded his hands with hers.
She didn’t pull away, just stared down to where their hands were entwined.
His big and rough, hers dainty and soft with short, manicured nails.
This woman tried to be hard, and her outer shell was pretty tough, but she was all soft inside.
She was passionate, which made her good at her job, but it also meant that she felt things deep.
He didn’t like seeing her depressed and upset.
She was fierce and bold. Just like her father had said, this muted person before him was not his Cami.
“Do you know what those things are?” he asked her.
She shook her head.
“I want to marry you. I want to build a home here in Oasis with you. I want you to be the mother of my children. I want to coach our kids in Little League. I want us to help Lola have a good start in life. Sure, I want a career I enjoy, hopefully one that includes a bit of baseball. But what I want most is you.”
He squeezed her hand and drew her gaze up to his with his finger under her chin. “Please don’t try to push me away. Have faith in me. Have faith that I will always choose you, because, Cami, I love you.”
Tears started to stream down her face. “I love you, too, but I don’t know how to make this work.”
He reached under her arms and pulled her up and over into his lap so that he could cradle her.
“Don’t cry, Cami. I’ve known since San Diego that you were what I wanted.
I was angry and heartbroken when I woke up alone that next morning because I didn’t know how to find you.
I will never take for granted God crossing our paths again.
We’re meant for each other. I will never make you choose me over your family or your career because I know how important they are to you.
But I need you to understand and believe me when I tell you that I will always choose you, whether you’re three hours away or thirty.
You don’t have to find a way to make this work because I promise I will always find a way to make us work. ”
He tightened his arms around her and she rested her head on his shoulder, her face tucked up close to the side of his neck, her arms holding him, too.
They sat like that for several minutes, not speaking, because everything that mattered had been said. There was a transfer of comfort from one to another and the rightness of just being together.
They probably would have stayed that way for some time, but Javi’s phone rang. He had to shift Cami to pull it out, and his intention had been to mute it and throw it on the coffee table, but he saw Cal was calling so he answered. “What is it?”
“I think I’ve lost her,” said Cal, sounding a little panicked.
“What?” roared Javi.
Cami, being close enough to hear what was being said, immediately shifted to her feet and demanded, “Put him on speaker.”
“We were watching Angels in the Outfield and I went to the bathroom. When I came out she was gone,” he explained.
“Did you check her room?” asked Cami.
“I did. I checked the whole house,” Cal replied with frustration and a tone that indicated he wasn’t dumb.
Cami narrowed her eyes and Javi thought she might light into Cal. But she didn’t. She just continued to question him. “Is Amigo there?”
“Um, no. I don’t see him either,” answered Cal.
“She’s probably taken him out. Go look outside. We’re on our way,” said Cami as she headed for the door.
They’d taken Javi’s truck, and minutes later, when they rounded the corner to Javi’s house, his headlight picked up Cal with Lola on the side of the road.
Cami was opening her door before he’d even thrown it in park.
“She’s hurt her ankle,” called Cal.
When Javi reached her he kneeled down, and she looked up at him with a tearstained face. “Chiquita, what happened?”
“Amigo estaba inquieto,” she wailed before more tears started.
“We need to get her in the truck,” advised Cami.
“Find Amigo,” said Lola through sniffling tears.
“Lola, hold my shoulders, I’m going to pick you up,” said Javi.
He hefted her off the ground and Cal ran ahead to open the door. Once he sat Lola down, Cami nudged him over.
“Lola, I’m gonna check your ankle and foot. Let me know what hurts,” Cami instructed.
Javier stepped back further and Cal tossed him a slide.
“She lost that,” his friend said.
Javi wanted to throw it back at Cal’s head. “Help me find her dog,” he gritted out.
“I don’t think her ankle is broken, probably just sprained. I’ll drive us up to the house while y’all look for Amigo,” said Cami.
Cal and Javi split up, combing each side of the road through the neighborhood. They called for Amigo, but there was no sign of the pup. When they reached the end where the road rounded to form the cul-de-sac, Cami called out to them, “I’ve got him!”
Javi jogged the distance between them. “Where was he?”
“I saw him when I pulled in. He was scratching at the front door to be let in,” she responded while handing the little dog off to Lola, who was still sitting in the back seat of Javi’s truck with her leg resting across the bench seat.
Javi watched Lola cuddle the pup to her chest while scolding him in Spanish for leaving her. He understood; he kind of wanted to scold her and Cal, too.
“Come on, chiquita. Let’s get you in the house.” He reached and took the pup before passing him back to Cami. “Scooch this way a little,” he directed Lola so that he could get an arm under her knees and another around her back.
He lifted her light frame with ease and Cal held the door for them to go in. Once inside, he sat Lola on the couch and looked at her right ankle. It appeared red and swollen, but Lola was still able to flex it as directed.
Cami got Lola some ibuprofen and Cal grabbed a bag of frozen vegetables to ice the ankle while Javi elevated it.
“So what happened?” asked Javi.
“I’m sorry I went outside without you, Cal,” said Lola. “But you were in there a long time and I didn’t want Amigo to go inside.”
Javi and Cami looked at Cal and he put his hands up. “I wasn’t in there that long.”
Javi doubted that. The guy had probably been completely zoned out and scrolling through his old messages or pictures. He was hung up bad for a woman who’d broken up with him.
Cami rolled her eyes and announced, “Whatever. It doesn’t matter now. I think that’s enough excitement for all of us for tonight.”
Later, when it was just Javi and Camdyn in the bedroom they shared in this rented house, he pulled her into his arms. Her arms wrapped around his waist, returning the hug, and he didn’t want to let her go. He needed to hold her for his own comfort.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled into his shoulder.
“I am, too,” he replied. “I should have called you as soon as I heard from management, but since nothing is finalized, I just didn’t think it was that important.”
“You being traded away scares me,” admitted Cami.
He rubbed his hand soothingly on her back.
“I understand, and it would make for a long season, but it would not change how I feel about you or me wanting to make my home here with you. If I squeeze in a couple more years in the majors, I’ll take it, because the money would help set up our future family and other business ventures.
However, if the plan is for me to go back to the minors indefinitely, it’ll simply be time to hang up my hat and focus on the other things I want to do. ”
She pulled back to look him in the eyes. “You mentioned earlier that you commissioned an artist for the barnstorming team you’ve been talking about.”
His Cami was so pretty, even after an emotional whirlwind of a day. He was glad to see the melancholy that had shrouded her earlier was gone. Her eyes were now bright and interested, whereas before they seemed dull and resigned.
He started to answer as he walked them back to the bed. “I did. I truly think I can do it. I’m going to need help and some investors, but I’m going to push forward with it. I spent most of today finalizing a business plan. I had planned to show it to you this evening, but things went sideways.”
She grimaced. “I’m sorry.”
He shushed her. “I didn’t say that to make you feel bad. Misunderstandings and disagreements are going to happen. There is no avoiding it, because I’m stubborn and you’re feisty,” he said with a smile. “What’s important is that we always make it back to this spot. Together.”
He laid her down onto their bed and braced himself over her.
“I love you, Cami,” he said before lightly kissing her lips. “And I’m never letting you go.”