Hotbox (28 page)

I entered my house—a place that was no longer shared with two other guys
—to find Jayden making dinner. It wasn’t the most
phenomenal concept
, but a
fter just finishing work for
the day, I felt like I had returned
home to my wife. I almost pictured a couple of kids running out yelling, “Daddy! Daddy!”

Was all of that actually possible
someday
?
Was I ever going to shake my past and begin the rest of my life with her?

“What are you doing?”
Jayden
asked
, watching me curiously
.

I realized I was just standing by the front door in a stupor.
I met her halfway and she kissed me. I tried to keep my distance since I probably didn’t smell so hot.

She
even
wrinkled her nose with a smile.

“I know, i
t lingers, even when I change. Let me go shower quick.”

“Okay. I’ll just finish this and it should be done the same time you are.”

I could definitely get used to this.
I had a
girl that constantly cooked for me? I wondered what she would think if she knew the kind of food I grew up with. When I lived with my Aunt Sue I think I ate
okay
, but when I moved back with my dad
full time
at
the age of
fourteen, all my meals came from a box or a can. It’s amazing that I ended up being pretty healthy. But I did try to take care of myself physically when it came to sports. I always worked out and kept myself in good shape. I suppose it’s the nature of an athlete, but I had also been
blessed
with a decent physique. I didn’t exactly have to do much to maintain it.

When I was showered and dressed I found my way to the kitchen. I was hungry
for
dinner
,
but I was more interested in
the girl that
made
it
. Dinner was
sort of…delayed.

Chapter Seventeen

I
don’t
celebrate Mother’s Day because I
don’t
have one, a
nd I
don’t
celebrate Father’s Day either
,
because of the same reason.
Birthday parties were also a foreign concept to me.

Jayden was hosting a barbecue at her house
for both Father’s Day and her dad’s birthday
. As much as I wanted to be with her, I really didn’t want to go. I knew
a few other guys that her dad worked with
would be there
, but
the entire
Davis
family
would be there
as well
.
I was not looking forward to that. I
loved Jayden
,
and she was simply the most considerate person I knew, but this time
I met
her
optimism
with a lot of doubt
. She assured me that everything would be fine, but I was not convinced.

However, she wanted me there and I would do anything for her. So, with much trepidation, I showed up at the Adams’ house around
noon
,
hopefully
prepared
enough
to endure whatever I had to.

“Hey!” she smiled when I came around to the backyard.

She was sitting in a chair on the back patio, but she got up to greet me. There were already other people there, but it only took a second to notice the
Davis
’s were among them. Chris had been sitting next to her,
but
I could tell he knew his time alone with her was now over.
I
also
wondered if they were on better speaking terms.

“I’ve been waiting all morning to see you,” she moaned as she gave me a hug.
“I told you
to come any time.” She
kiss
ed me
and said, “Come sit down. The meat will be done in a few minutes.”
             
I looked around at the
array of
food on the table, but in an attempt to avoid Chris’s hateful stare I asked, “What’s on the grill?”

“Steak,” she replied. “And chicken, for some of the
ladies
,” she smile
d, referring to Cali and another woman
.

Her father glanced my way an
d told me hello. I wished him happy birthday
to be polite, but I wasn’t sure it mattered to him. I was probably ruining his day by being there.

“
Doesn’t your
family
ever do anything together
?” Chris asked me.

Jayden bristled and was about to say something, but I casually answered, “No, not really.”

“Let me introduce you to a few people,” Jayden said, glaring at Chris as she led me away. We arrived in front of a man and woman and she introduced us. “
Mark
, this is my boyfriend, Ty. Ty this
Mark
Johnson
and his wife Sheila.” We shook hands and greeted each other. “Those are their kids in the yar
d;
the two girls right there,
Savannah
and Liz, and Levi, the little boy over there.”

I learned that
Mark
wor
ked with Jayden’s father, and
Savannah
and Liz were two of Jayden’s
music
students.

I was then introduced to
Tim
and Patti
Davis
.
Tim
was really nice and we talked for a few minutes about baseball. It was hard to believe Chr
is was his son because of how
friendly
he was
. Maybe he and Cali shared more of the same genes
instead
.
I met
Chris and Cali’s oldest sibling
,
Cont
essa
(Tessa)
.
She
introduced me to
her husband
Nate,
and
their
two young
boys, Nathan and Zach
.

Lunch went fairly well. It was a typical barbecue with lots of food and
several
conversations going on
, but it was so family-oriented
it was a little different than what I was used to. However, I did find myself in the middle of a whiffle ball game with all
of
the kids out in the yard.
Once Savannah
and Liz
manufactured the bases,
we were set to play.
I pitched while Nate helped his two
little boys bat. We needed a few more people though, so Liz dragged Jayden over, and Jayden encourage all the dads to come and play.

During
the game Jayden joined me at the pitcher’s plate. She
slid
her arms around me from behind and whispered, “
Savannah
thinks you’re pretty hot.
Will I have to fight her for you?
”

I chuckled and glanced at the girl that was trying to push her brother of
f
the base.

“What is she,
fifteen
? I think she’s a little young for me.”

Jayden laughed at the same time Levi
screeched
, “Jayden! Get on your base! Ty could tag you out!”

She dramatically returned to her base and the game resumed.

After another fifteen minutes, Jay
den and I eased out of the game with
Tim
taking over
as the pitcher
.
Most everyone was playing except Sheila, Cali, Patti, and Chris.
When we sat down,
Jayden tried encouraging Chris to take her spot, but he wasn’t interested.

“Whatever! You play with them all the time,
” she told him. “Nathan and Zach
love
your physical comedy and your funny voices
.”

“I’ll play
if Cali plays,” he replied smugly
.

Cali
snorted
. “Yeah, right.”

“She might break a nail,” Jayden teased her.

“Exactly,” she agreed, holding up her nicely manicured nails.

“Oh, come on, Cals,” Jayden pleaded. “Why don’t you shock us all and show us what you
can do?”

Cali laughed. “I’ll play,
but only if you let me do what we talked about,”
she said to Jayden.
“With your hair.”

“Oh, no way! That’s not even a fair trade.”

“Why not? You want me to do something
I
would never do, so why can’t you do something that
you
would never do?”

I had no idea what they were talking about
,
but Jayden looked worried as she considered Cali
’s words
. Finally she answered, “Fine.
Even though doing something new to my hair is gonna last a lot longer than you playing whiffle ball!
But you have to
at least play an entire inning,
”
she added.

Cali looked horrified, but
then
asked, “Really? You’ll really let me highlight it?”

Jayden sighed and replied, “Sure.”

“You’re crazy,” Chris told her. “You’d better be clear on what she’s allowed to do.”

“True,” Jayden said, “but if I look like a freak, our friendship is
over
.”

Cali laughed and replied, “
Yeah, right
.”

Cali and Chris did end up playing whiffle ball
, and even more than just an inning
. Patti was pretty surprised
,
but joked that Cali better
not
break a nail because if she did, they would never hear the end of it. While Patti
was
immersed in conversation with Sheila, Jayden scooted closer to me and ran her
fingers
along the nape of my neck
.

“Cali wants to know who highlights
your
hair,” she smiled.

“Who does what? I don’t even know what a highlight is. You mean if it’s lightened?”

“
I’m not even sure I know what it means.
She
thinks your hair is really interesting.”

“Interesting? I
s that a good thing?”
I took my hat off and ran my hand through my hair.

“Definitely. I love you
r hair. It’s
kind of…golden
on the top, but darker underneath
.”

“Golden?
Your
hair is golden. Do we have the same hair color?
Great, am I a
blonde
?
”

She laughed at the tease and lightly punched my arm.
“
Nah, I’d call you…golden
brown
.
Besides, I’m a
dark
blonde,
”
she smiled.
She held up a portion of her hair to mine. “
T
he majority of yours is
brown,
I guess, but
I think I match your ‘highlights,
’
” she kidded. “
Tell me who your stylist is.”

With a smile I replied, “The sun.”

She got even closer to me and wrapped her arms around my neck.
“Well the sun works well for you. So do those
sexy
chocolate
brown eyes
,” she added, studying them c
arefully before she kissed me.

The rest of the afternoon went
fairly
well, but then t
he guests began to gradually leave until it was just Jayden and her dad,
Tim
, Patti, Chris, and Cali. I was somewhat on the outside of a conversation when Chris looked at me with a
smirk
.

“How’s
Lou’s Garage
?” he asked
. His
tone was condescending
.

Jayden was busy talking to Cali about a concert they had been to a few months ago and I was
hoping
she missed the remark.