Gia shook her head. “It’ll hurt your star power, Rob. Is that girlfriend of yours worth that?”
I didn’t even hesitate. “Definitely.” I just had to convince Heidi that I was worthy of her.
I planned to leave right then and head straight to Heidi’s apartment, but Mr. DeLuce stopped me. He pulled me aside and told me that a media splash was all well and good, especially since it was likely to put Brittany in a good mood, but I’d been hired to hit home runs. So while Gia made sure that all those handsome men were photographed with Bobcats paraphernalia, I received another stern lecture on discipline. About how nothing was more important to me than baseball, and I better not forget it.
By the time I escaped the ballpark, I was tired and wrung out. Damn it, this was just like in high school when I’d had too many things competing with baseball. It had fried my brain for a time. The only difference now was that baseball wasn’t coming out on top like it had when I was sixteen. Right now, Heidi was all I could think about. But I couldn’t get her on the phone and she wasn’t at her apartment, either. Which left me to grumble my way home while I tried to regroup.
Except what greeted my eyes as I stepped into the lobby of my apartment was someone I hadn’t expected. Someone who’d been out of my life since high school.
“Tommy? What are you doing here?”
My former best friend stood up from a seat in the lobby. He had a brand-new Bobcats cap in his hand and a hangdog expression. “Hey. I, um… Got a minute?”
I nodded and led the way past security. And as he headed to the elevator, I got a chance to check out the man he’d become, and I wasn’t impressed. His eyes were bloodshot and his skin seemed to hang beneath his eyes and jowls. He’d put on a ton of weight and, where he’d once been all muscle, he was now soft with a definite paunch.
“I, um, was driving through Indiana and took a chance you’d be home,” he said.
“Driving?”
“Yeah. I’m a long-haul trucker. It was shit trying to park in Indianapolis.”
“I’ll bet.”
We made it up to my apartment and I watched his eyes take in the space. Growing up he’d had the nicer home, but we’d hung out in my garage as easily as we’d played Nintendo in his living room. But now his gaze roved hungrily over my entertainment center and leather couch, and suddenly I was feeling defensive. I’d worked hard to afford this place. Sure there was a lot of luck involved and it could all disappear in a second, but I wasn’t going to apologize for making something of myself.
Turns out, I didn’t have to.
“Look, I can’t stay long,” he said as he shuffled his feet. “I, um, I just came to say Jill called me.”
I stiffened. Oh hell. I opened my mouth to say something, what I didn’t know. Maybe the same old song about how Jill and I were just friends and I’d never hurt her. But he held up his hand.
“She told me that you didn’t get her pregnant. She told me it was Bennie. You remember that kid who got trashed at homecoming and broke into a sporting goods store?”
“I remember.”
His gaze slid away from mine as he fiddled with this Bobcats cap. “Yeah. Mom and Dad would have gone ballistic. Bad enough she got pregnant, but he ended up in juvie.” He lifted his shoulders almost to his ears. “Dad would have beaten her for sure. For starters.”
“I know.” That’s one of the reasons I’d poured my savings into helping Jill. I knew her father had a violent temper.
“Anyway, she told me everything. She said you helped her. And that you promised to let everybody think it was your kid. That you’d been the one who’d…you know. You were going off to college and she didn’t think anybody would care.”
No one had. No one except him. “I’m sorry, Tommy. If I’d told you the truth, you’d have gone looking for the real father.”
“And I’d have found Bennie. Then it would have gone from bad to worse.” He grimaced. “Anyway, she’s doing fine now. Real grateful to you.”
I knew. She and I had talked nearly every Christmas at church. I knew she had a good job and a husband she loved. They were thinking of starting a family.
Meanwhile, Tommy had started gripping the ballcap so tight his knuckles had turned white. And while he shifted his feet awkwardly, he did eventually look me in the eyes. “Look, it wasn’t just about Jill. I got a shit life and you don’t. That pissed me off.”
“I worked hard for my life.”
“Yeah, I know. And I’m sorry.”
That was it. No more. But maybe between old friends that was all we needed. I wasn’t angry at him. How could I be when I was one torn ligament away from being flat on my ass with no job and no future?
Suddenly I was smiling and gesturing him into my living room. “You want to sit down? We could order pizza and beer. There’s got to be some sort of game on cable.”
“Nah, I gotta go. Can’t leave the truck where it is.”
