Last First Kiss (37 page)

“
I’d love to have something of his. As a matter of fact,” he said, picking up the one item he’d been hoping to find, “This is what I’d like to have, right here!” He put on Toby’s favorite old faded purple and gold LSU cap. “He always beat me in hoops when he wore this...Said it was his lucky cap.” He took the cap off and held it reverently. “I miss him Giselle,” he said huskily. “Do you think he’d mind about you and me?”

“
I think it’s like you said months ago. He’d want to see me and his girls happy. So far, you seem to make us all happy.” She placed the cap on his head then turned the bill to the back so she could kiss Jackson fully. “It figures you’d pick that one. You know why he has so many LSU caps, don’t you?”

“
No, why?” he asked looking at the considerable collection.

“
The girls and I were always trying to get him to throw away this old ratty thing. We kept buying him new ones, but he always said this was his favorite.”

“
His coach gave him this after his last game at Tiger Stadium, right after he blew out his knee,” Jackson said, fingering the faded brim reverently.

She smiled. “It figures he would have told you that, and kept it from me all these years. Keep the cap then, but do me a favor and take a couple of these others.”

“
Okay, I won’t make you look at it all the time. How’s this?” he asked as he tried on another one.

“
Very handsome,” she said as she kissed him on the mouth.

“
But, can I wear the lucky cap for the tournament tomorrow? As out of practice as I am, I may need all the luck I can get.”

“
Somehow I don’t think you’ll need luck, but you can wear it anyway, the girls will get a kick out of it.”

CHAPTER 22

The next morning arrived with just enough cloud coverage to make the charity softball tournament bearable during the morning hours. Giselle and her girls arrived at the ballpark in Lake Coburn at eight-thirty. After her arrival, Giselle spotted Jackson and Red speaking to other players. She tried to make her way to them but employees who hadn’t seen her since the accident kept stopping her to talk. After several minutes, Mac and Lexie finally ran over to Jackson.

He scooped them up into his arms. “There’s my munchkins! Where’s your beautiful mother?”

“
Over there,” Lexie sighed. “People keep talking to her about the
asscident
. I hope they don’t make her sad again.”

Jackson hugged her. “They just care, sweetie. It’s okay.”

Red cleared his throat next to them. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to these lovely young ladies?”

Jackson placed his hands on Mac and Lexie’s shoulders and turned them toward Red. “Girls, I want you to meet one of my oldest friends, Mr. Scott McAllister, but you can call him ‘Red’. Red, this is Mackenzie and Lexie Granger.”

“
Wonderful to make your acquaintance ladies,” he said.

“
Nice to meet you, too, Red,” Mackenzie said.

Lexie looked up at Red, squinting one eye. “Oh my gosh! Your mama threw big cows, too!”

The two men burst into astonished laughter.

Lexie pulled on Jackson’s shirt until he picked her up in his arms. “Did I say something wrong, again?”

“
Where did you hear that, Lex?” he asked, with a grin.

“
That’s what Sam says when somebody is really tall—that their mama throws big cows.”

“
Oh. I think what he says is ‘throws big calves’. That means...uh...I’ll let your mom explain that to you, okay?” Jackson caught Red’s amused expression.

Suddenly Lexie put her hand out to Red. “I don’t care what kind of animal your mama threw down. Any friend of Jackson’s is my friend, too!”

Still chuckling, Red took her hand. “Thank you, ma’am.”

She gave Jackson a serious look. “Maybe we better keep this to ourselves. I don’t want mom to be mortified again.”

Red burst into laughter, and Jackson shook his head as he set her down. “Surely she’s used to it by now.”

“
She is,” Mac agreed. “Last night, when I told mom what Lex told Mrs. Cormier next door, mom said
nothing
she says surprises her anymore.”

“
Lex...what did you tell her?” Jackson asked, almost dreading her answer.

“
I said her new puppy looked like her...old and wrinkly.”

“
Oh Lex,” Jackson groaned, trying to stifle a laugh, as Red covered his mouth and turned away.

Mackenzie shook her head in disgust. “I told mom to just be thankful she didn’t tell her she has a big butt, because she says that all the time, too!”

This time Jackson had to turn away.

“
There’s Sam and Carrie!” Lexie cried, as she and Mac ran to meet them.

Red turned to face Jackson and burst into laughter.

“
What did we tell you?” Jackson said. “They’re something, aren’t they?”

“
They are, and as beautiful as their mom,” Red agreed.

Carrie and Sam walked up to the two men. “Red, I didn’t know you would be here.”

Red hugged her tightly. “I asked them not to tell. I wanted to surprise you.”

“
How are Vivi and Pete?” she asked.

“
My folks are fine. I spoke to them yesterday and told them I’d be seeing you. They send their love.”

“
Carrie, you know Red already?” Lexie asked her.

“
I’ve known him all his life, sweetie. I babysat for him when he was about your age, except I called him Scottie. Red, whistle at Giselle and wave her over here. She’ll never get away from that one.”

“
Yes ma’am.” Red emitted a shrill two-finger whistle, and when Giselle looked up at him, they all waved her over.

Giselle made her excuses and finally walked over to the group. “Hey, Red.” She gave him a hug. “Hey Sam, Carrie... Jackson,” she said, as she walked behind him, letting her hand slowly caress his lower back.

“
Giselle.” His eyes lingered hungrily on her.

“
Where’s the rest of the gang, Carrie?” Giselle asked.

“
Gretchen, Lauren, and Amanda are driving in together. They should be here any minute. Their guys are all taking the kids to the river today. Are you ready to play ball, Jackson?”

“
Sure am. How many teams did we end up with, Carrie?”

“
Only four, thank God. It’s too hot for this,” she said, using her hat to fan herself. “God I hate summertime, this humidity kills me and I hate to sweat!”

Sam got the team captains to draw numbers. Jackson drew the number one position, so they got to play the number two team. The two teams got their players on the field and it turned out that B & L’s team was short a person. Nobody from the Jennings team wanted to sit out, so they asked the team captain to pick a volunteer from the stands. When Red volunteered, Jackson waved him down to introduce him to their team.

Sherri Dubois, the catcher for his team, was also an LSU alumni. Recognizing Red’s name as a member of one of the most winning teams ever produced by Tiger baseball, she walked over to them. “Did you happen to play first base at LSU?”

“
I sure did,” Red said.

Sherri turned to her co-worker. “So, Jackson...who’d you bribe to stay home today?”

Jackson gave her a deep chuckle. “Nobody, it must be my lucky cap.” He grinned at Giselle, sitting up in the stands, and waved Toby’s old purple and gold cap at her.

The first game went quickly. Jackson pitched, Red covered first, Tyson was on second, and Clayton played third base. Sherri was the only woman on the team, and they were fortunate to have her catching, a position she’d played in high school and college. They got three immediate outs with no runs scored.

Their team lined up to bat. After five batters, they had three points on the board and two on bases. Red hit a home run to stretch their lead to six points.

Jackson came up to bat and Mac and Lexie yelled at him to ‘call it’. He turned, grinning at the three people who meant the world to him. The little girls screamed with laughter as he used his bat to point at left field. Just as he had done at Sam and Carrie’s, he smacked one right where he’d pointed, for an easy run.

With no outs, they let the other team take their bat again. This time Jackson walked a couple of people so they could get on base. The next batter hit a grounder straight to him; he fumbled it a couple of times and threw it sloppily to Red who dropped it so that the runner could make it to first. The bases were loaded and it looked like the other team would finally score some points. When the next batter hit a pop fly to third base, Clayton caught the ball to put the batter out, along with the runner, who stepped off third.

Jackson shook his head in disapproval as the spectators laughed, obviously aware of his attempt to help the other team.

Clayton looked down sheepishly. “I’m sorry I caught the ball!” he yelled.

Jackson pointed at him. “Do that again and you’re off the team!” The spectators burst into laughter.

Mackenzie looked at her mother in confusion. “Momma, why did Jackson fuss at that man for catching the ball? He’s supposed to put them out, isn’t he?”

“
He wants to give the other team a chance to score because our team is a lot better than theirs,” Giselle whispered.

“
Well!” Lexie huffed. “
Somebody
should have told that other team to pick better players.”

Despite Jackson’s efforts, they still beat the other team by a score of 14-2. After they finished, their team joined the cheering section in the stands to the sound of applause. As soon as Jackson sat down on the bleacher in front of Giselle, Lisa Benoit, the company’s accountant, sidled in next to him. Lisa was a petite blonde, with a high pitched voice that got higher when a good looking man was around, and a laugh that had always annoyed the hell out of both Carrie and Giselle. She was single and always on the lookout for a man, married or not.

“
Jackson, I didn’t know you could play ball like that,” she gushed, hanging on his arm. “Oooh, have you been working out?”

Jackson unwound Lisa’s arm from his, and attempted to watch the next game. It was closer than the first, but Lisa’s chattering was a constant distraction. The woman’s pitch was getting higher by the octave, louder by the decibel, and he’d had about enough.

“
For God’s sake, Lisa, give it a rest,” Carrie groaned. Lisa looked back to see who had spoken, and Carrie glared down at her. “Yeah, it’s me. You think you could turn it down a notch or two? The rest of us can’t hear ourselves think.”

“
Well excuse me for trying to carry on an intelligent conversation with Jackson. Come on honey, let’s go sit somewhere else.” Lisa pulled on Jackson’s arm.

Giselle straightened, her hackles rising at the woman’s nerve. Red, who sat beside her, placed a restraining hand on her arm. When she looked at him, he shook his head and winked.

Lisa stood up, took three steps down, and turned around to see if Jackson followed her. Seeing he hadn’t, she started to go sit by him again, but Mac and Lexie scooted in smoothly next to him. He grinned at the girls and picked up Lex to set her on his knee as he made more room for Mac next to him.

“
I’m sitting there, you two can move aside,” Lisa screeched, her voice containing all the pleasantness of fingernails on a chalkboard.

“
I don’t think so, honey. You move it, you lose it,” Gretchen said, leaning over to address Mac and Lexie. “You girls stay right where you are.”

“
Jaaackson!” Lisa stomped her foot on the bleacher.

“
What?” he asked.

“
Are you coming?” she whined.

“
No,” he said, looking in the opposite direction.

Lisa finally got the message and stomped off, while several people in the bleachers snickered. Jackson covered his face in embarrassment.

“
Who
is
she?” Lauren asked.

“
Lisa Benoit-she obviously wants Jaaackson,” Giselle whined in a perfect imitation of Lisa, to several more chuckles. When Jackson turned in his seat to face her she refused to make eye contact with him.