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of idiots and fools
JESSA
In an effort to distract myself from him, I glanced at the front window. “Does it rain like this often?”
Remy smiled like he knew what I was doing, if the banal subject of the weather hadn’t given me away. “It does, though not always this many days in a row. The ball field is gonna be trashed for days.”
“You practice a lot?”
“Three times a week plus games.”
I took a sip of wine, surprised at the crisp finish. “Will there be another game before the wedding?”
“There will. Why, you coming?”
“It was thrilling. I do believe I’d enjoy another. You’re I think what they call a natural.” I paused, watching him for a beat. “I find it admirable that you sacrificed baseball for your mother.”
He shrugged it off. “Couldn’t let her go through all that alone. When I think of how hard it was for her, I can’t imagine having been anywhere else.”
“There wasn’t anyone else who could have helped her?”
“Not the way I could. Cass’s dad had died not long before—her mama couldn’t move in with mine and care for her. Her grief took everything she had. Aunt Julie can’t be trusted to remember doctor’s appointments and medicine schedules, as you can imagine from her bang-up job organizing everyone’s room and board for the wedding.”
I breathed a small laugh.
“I thought...I don’t know. I think part of me thought there’d be an open invitation back to the team, even though I knew better. I had a whole life right there, right in the palm of my hand. A pro career in the majors. A degree under my belt. Even had a girl on my arm set to marry me.”
My heart buckled at the mention. But he just kept talking like he was telling me about average rainfall per annum or the price of eggs and milk.
“But when I came home, it all came unglued. Chelsea wouldn’t come with me, balked at me giving up my spot on Atlanta’s team, and a couple months of long distance later, she was gone.”
“I’m sorry,” was all I could say, and I said it softly.
“If she couldn’t back me up where my own mama was concerned, she wouldn’t back me up on anything that didn’t serve her. Best I found out before I married her.” He took a swig of his beer.
“How long were you together?”
Something behind his eyes softened, but the rest of him was as nonchalant as one could be. “Through college. We met freshman year.”
I swallowed, shaking my head.
“Hey, don’t do that. It’s all right. Good riddance, you know?”
“No, you don’t do that. Don’t play it like it didn’t devastate you. She left you when you needed her most, left you alone to watch your mother waste away and nearly die, for God’s sake. And why? Because she was more upset about losing the promised life than you were?” I shook my head again. “No. Frankly, I say fuck her.”
A deep, lovely laugh filled the space between us. “You know? I have said it many a time, but it sounds better out of your mouth.”
A timer went off, and he set down his beer and slid his hand into an oven mitt to remove the skillet from the oven. Once it was on a trivet, he came back for the bowls to fill them up with rice and beans.
“I’m still reeling over the fact that you cook. And not just eggs or pancakes. Your mother suggested I’d starve if left here alone with you.”
“Everybody likes to rib me for being a mess. At least if they’re teasing me, I don’t have to deal with their pity. I think they might feel the same, honestly. So I lean in. Having a dirty bathroom isn’t usually hurting anybody but me.”
He placed a steaming bowl in front of me, followed by a plate with a buttered slice of cornbread. I salivated as I opened my napkin and laid it in my lap, though I didn’t lose the thread of what he’d said.
“And how do you feel about your life now?”
Remy walked up to the empty stool and set his meal on the island before sitting. “I love this town and the people in it. I’m close to Mama, and I get to play ball all week, nearly every week. I’ve got plenty of time to work on cars, fix things. I like fixing things.”
