Summer Swing (26 page)

He didn’t say anything at first, and then he said, “Oh. Who’s pitching?”

“Tyse.”

He was silent again. 

“We’re up 3-0 going into the eighth,” I
decided to casually add
. “So what’s the plan? Are you heading back to Medford?”

“Uh yeah, I’ll be leaving in a few minutes. Ju
st
gonna
eat and then fuel up, and then
I’ll be on my way. I should be getting home around…six at the latest.”

I looked at my watch. If I left Portland
right then
I’d get to Medford by seven
-thirty
.

“Okay, so is it still al
right for me to come for the night?” I asked.

“
Of course. That’s why I called, isn’t it? Unless it’s not convenient for you or something—”

“No, I’m desperate to see you, Gage. I’m on my way.”

“Good, because I can’t wait to see you, too. I’ll see you when you get here, okay? Call me if you get lost.”

“Okay. I might call you anyway, just to hear your voice sooner.”

“Okay,” he laughed. “I love you, Ellie. Drive safe.”

Chapter Fifteen

Monday afternoon found me at Dawn’s house boxing up her things. It was kind of funny to be around her because she seemed like a lovesick teenager. She and Wyatt had
known each other for
over
four years and
been together for over two, but she was so deliriously happy to be married that she acted like she had fallen head over heels for him all over again. I was happy for her though; she deserved to be happy.

It was also kind of funny to hear her recount the conversation she’d had with our parents, when she’d told them she got married in Vegas. She actually did it over the phone, which didn’t surprise me, and I laughed my butt off when she impersonated our mother about expecting a baby.

“I can’t believe
she assumed
I was pregnant,” Dawn said after recapping the story.

“Well I didn’t even consider it, so obviously it wasn’t on my mind.”

“That’s because you know I would have told you if that were the case.”

“True,” I shrugged.

“So now it’s your turn to tell me about your weekend with Gage.” Her smile was huge, and I was actually thankful for her excitement that time. I guess I could kind of see how giddy love makes a person.

“It was really good,” I told her with my own big smile. “I still can’t get used to his mom, though.”

“
Maybe the accident made her even grumpier.”

“Well I can’t blame her for being unhappy. I mean she lost her husband of twenty-
six
years. She has a right to be upset with life.”

“Yeah, but you said she didn’t seem to like you before.”

“I don’t think she
didn’t
like me. According to Gage she’s just really not good at being friendly. She wants to be, but she just doesn’t have that super friendly personality to her. Anyway, I tried to be really helpful—you know, cleaning and stuff, and I made dinner before I left—but it almost seemed like she didn’t even want me there. I had a really hard time with it.”

“Hm
m
, maybe she’s just used to doing all of that herself, and then to have someone come in that she’s not totally familiar with—even if you are her son’s girlfriend—probably made her uncomfortable.”

“I know, and I even told her that I just wanted to help out, and if there was something she didn’t want me to do—or
wanted
me to do—to just let me know. She just didn’t seem to care.
I mean she’s not even getting around on her own yet, so shouldn’t it have been expected that I would help?
”

“
Yeah, it should have been fine.
I’m sorry, Elle. In-laws and parents of boyfriends can be really tough. Thankfully Wyatt’s dad likes me, and because his parents are divorced and his mom lives in Arizona, I’ve only bee
n around her a few times. She wasn’t
super friendly
at first either
, but I think she likes me now. And Wyatt barely has to see my parents, so I guess we just kind of stick
to one another
. I like it that way. My life is with him now, and even though I love Mom and Dad, my husband is going to come first.”

She asked me more questions about my time with Gage, and I was really happy to share with her. My favorite part had been getting out of the house to go for a walk at the
park
. We spent about four hours just sitting in the grass, talking and laughing, and it just felt nice to be together.
Gage still wasn’t entirely his old self since his dad died, but it was understandable. I believed that he would bounce back with time, and the more we were together, the more
confident
I felt about that.

By the time Dawn’s car was full with her things, I was describing to her how hard it was to leave him again.

“I just wish he could be up here for the summer,” I pouted. “He’ll be going back to school and I’ll probably see him even l
ess. If that’s even possible
.
”

“Maybe you should just move east,” she shrugged. “What if you guys lived together while he went to college his last year?”

“If I took nine months off from work I would totally lose my standing. Everything I’ll have worked for would have been for nothing, and I might have to start at the bottom somewhere else.”

“But what about next year? When Gage graduates is he
gonna
move down to Medford again? And if he does, what will you do? And if he doesn’t, then what will
he
end up doing?”

I sighed. “I know, I’ve asked myself those questions a dozen times. I don’t have any answers because I don’t know what he’s going to decide about the business. Everything is so uncertain and it drives me crazy. There are too many ifs
,
ands
,
and but
s.”

“What are you willing to do for him, Ellie? If he asked you to move…would you? Or what if he asked you to marry him? Do you love him enough to give up your career for now?”

“Jeez, Dawn, why don’t you just kick me while I’m already down?”

She laughed sympathetically. “I’m sorry, but relationships are about sacrifice. If you can’t answer those three questions, Elle… Then I don’t know what to tell you. You guys are still at the beginning, then. You have a long ways to go, so I suggest you don’t make any decisions right now.”

“I can’t make any decisions until Gage does. I guess that’s the problem. I feel kind of helpless.”

“Then you know not to worry about it
right
now. For now you just
keep loving
Gage, and just do what you can. When an opportunity comes, you’ll know if it’s right.”

Sometimes I felt bad when I made fun of my sister’s love of love. Not always, but sometimes. But other times I really appreciated her advice, and I felt like that was advice I could be content with.

We rolled into Wyatt’s driveway—well, Dawn and Wyatt’s driveway now—around six. I was surprised that Wyatt had already planned ahead and ordered Chinese food. I was grateful for that because I hadn’t eaten since noon and I was starving.

Dawn didn’t sit down to eat though; she was more
excited
about
moving her things into the house. So while they did that, I sat at the counter and ate. I was there for about thirty seconds w
hen Tyse appeared from his room, and
I realized that he must not have a game that night
if he was home
.

“Do they want help unpacking?” he asked me.

“Uh, I’m not sure. But if you want to watch them make out in between each box that gets put down, go ahead and ask.”

He chuckled. “Not
particularly, but I’ll ask anyway.”

“Hey, Tyse,” I called, just as he was heading for the front door.

He stopped and said, “Yeah?”

“I’m sorry I had to leave your game—”

He cut me off with a motion of his hand and smiled. “Don’t even worry about it. I know you had other plans. I’m glad you were there for as long as you were.”

“Oh, and nice game, by the way. Uh, you guys won, right?”

“Uh, actually when you left, we started to lose.”

“
Nuh
-uh,” I argued.

“Yeah, I’m lying. We won 3-1.
But we did lose the second game,
”
he shrugged.

“
Oh. I’m sorry.
So are you still pitching on Wednesday?”

“Yeah, as far as I know.”

“And where is the game?”

“Ac
ross the river in Washington
. We’re playing a new team
in
Vancouver
.”

“
Hmm, that’s close.”

“
Yeah, like twenty minutes, maybe
.”

“
I think I’d like to go.”

He didn’t say anything at first. I actually thought he
was going to give me the ol’ “o
h, you don’t have to
go” line, but he said, “Okay, b
ut only if you want to. If it doesn’t work out, don’t worry about it. But I’d like you to be there,” he added with a smile.

“Okay, then. I’m comin’ to
Vancouver
on Wednesday.”

“Awesome, now I know we’ll win.”

“Oh, yeah? Why’s that?”

“Because you’re my good luck.”

“Oh, don’t even put that pressure on me, Tyse.”

“Okay, then
pretend I didn’t say that.
”

Dawn and Wyatt entered the house, each carrying a box, so Tyse went out the front
door to help with the rest.

I began thinking about work for some reason. Friday morning I’d be
sharing with listeners a good
sports bar
to go to
. I’d been researching it for a couple of weeks, and so far I’d been to three already. I still had two more I wanted to check out, but if I was going to Tyse’s baseball game on Wednesday, that only left me three days in the week. I could push the segment back another week
and go with another find I wanted to share
, but I knew I should probably stick to
my
schedule.

I knew there was a big boxing match on pay-per-view that night at eight, and I also knew the sports bar that I wanted to review would be airing it.
I was originally going to ask Dawn and Wyatt if they wanted to go with me—they always had fun doing the social scene with me when the radio station picked up
some of
the tab—but they mentioned just staying in and unpacking things. Tyse
was the only other person home,
so I decided to ask my new friend.

“Boxing?”
he repeated.

“Uh, yeah, that’s what they’re showing tonight at this particular bar. Do you not like boxing?”

“I do like boxing. Do you?”

I smiled and replied, “I probably know more about it than baseball.”

“Really?”

“Well maybe not, but yeah, I’m kind of familiar with it. So will you come with me? You don’t have to pay for anything,” I assured him. “That’s probably my favorite part of the job
—I get a bit of an allowance
.”

“You have to pay for your own drinks, bro,” Wyatt said from the other room.

“Oh, yeah,” I smiled. “It doesn’t include getting wasted for free.”

Tyse smiled and said, “That’s okay, I don’t drink.”

“
Then
Ellie, you’re
gonna
have to down a few, babe,” Wyatt quipped.

I sighed. That was probably the least favorite part of my job. I didn’t drink either, so I had to take people with me that
would
have an opinion about the alcohol.

I looked at my sister with a pouty face. “Please, you guys?”

Dawn was like the Energizer Bunny, so I knew she wouldn’t give me a lame excuse. She looked around
at
the things that had been moved in and replied, “Oh, okay, I’ll go
.
”
She looked at Wyatt with the same pathetic plea
I’d given her
and he agreed too. I actually felt a lot better that they were going, just so it didn’t feel like I was on a date with Tyse.

The bar was starting to fill up when we got there, but we did get a decent table.
For the really social scenes it was a lot better when I had friends with me because it made the experience real. I did go to a lot of things on my own, depending on what it was, but usually bars, music lounges, and clubs were more fun with an entourage.