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“I know you’re recovering and probably not feeling your best, but I need you to come with me. I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t important.” She looks so sad. What is happening?
“I’ll go anywhere for you. Do anything for you.”
“Even forgive me?” Her eyes are glistening. I won’t be able to take her crying.
She’s being extraordinarily hard on herself. “There’s nothing to forgive. You had no way of knowing Alexandra was lying.”
“This is about what happened later. About someone really important. The most important person in the world.”
She’sthe most important person in the world. “Baby, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“I know you don’t.” Ashlyn turns so she’s straddling me, her forehead pressed to mine. “I made a huge mistake by walking out on you. Enormous. But I really fucked up after that. And I’m terrified you’re going to hate me for what I’ve done.”
I’m confused. “I could never hate you.” Not when I love the fuck out of you.
“I’m scared.” The physical proof of her fear rolls down her cheeks and I catch it with my thumb.
“Please don’t cry.” Real tears. Those fuckers scare the shit out of me. It means this isn’t something small or insignificant.
I’ve never been one for procrastination so I don’t want to put this off any longer. “You can tell me anything.”
“And I will, but I need to show you, too.”
She’s being so evasive. “OK. We’ll do this any way you want.”
* * *
Ashlyn parksher SUV at the sports complex in the city park so it’s facing one of the four ball fields. A T-ball team wearing red is playing opponents in blue. A very familiar sight. “This is where I got my start in baseball. My dad coached every team I ever played on, even high school, until I played college ball. I graduated from UT and walked right into his position at the high school. He retired early so I could have his job but he still helps me coach the team. The man can’t sit still.”
Ashlyn is silent.
“I assume there’s a reason we’re here other than to hear me reminisce?”
She stares straight ahead. “Yes. The most important person in the world is on that field playing T-ball right now.”
Her nephew is the most important person in the world to her? “Jacob?”
“Yes.”
“You love him, huh?”
“With all my heart.” She continues staring straight ahead as she wipes away another tear rolling down her cheek. “Come with me. I want you to see him.”
We stop to stand behind the fence by the dugout. “The tallest one—that’s him. Number twenty-one. Four years old and that boy towers over every five-and-six-year-old on the team.”
I know the feeling. I was the same way. “His mom and dad must be tall.”
“His dad is. His mom is…tiny.”
“Then I guess we know who he takes after. Probably a good thing. No boy wants to betiny.” That earns a laugh from her so I’m slightly encouraged that maybe this thing she needs to tell me or show me isn’t so bad after all.
“It’s as though he was born with the ability to play baseball. It’s as natural to him as breathing. I didn’t even think an innate ability like that was possible.” She’s staring at Jacob like he’s her whole world. I can’t imagine how much she’d love her own child if she feels this way about her sibling’s kid.
“Natural ability is a real thing.”
“Was it like that for you?”
“Yeah but even if it hadn’t been, my dad would have made sure I practiced until it became second nature.”
