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“I hated that girl,” Tessa said, shaking her head. “She was the worst kind of stuck-up bitch ever. Her parents were wealthy, though. Still are, I guess.”
“What is he doing here?” Kat asked.
“I heard his career ended,” Tessa piped up. “He had a really bad injury that ballplayers have sometimes. But then he had a surgery and they screwed it up and now he can’t play anymore.”
I winced. I knew that had to be hard on him. Not that I would know the way his mind worked anymore. I hadn’t spoken to him at all in almost five years.
“That’s awful,” Simone said. “Isn’t he young?”
“I mean, he’s our age,” Kat said, flicking her hair back over her shoulder and getting a laugh from Simone. “Wasn’t he, like, super famous and rich?”
“He has money,” Tessa said, her eyes sliding over to me. She knew I was the expert on all things Graham Miller, but I wasn’t going to say a damned thing. I’d let them talk it through. “But he was supposed to sign a big contract when he got hurt. Once he got hurt, that went out the window. From what I heard online, he was thinking about going into coaching, but they were talking about minor league ball clubs. Not Murdock High.”
“Well, maybe he’s not that great at coaching yet,” Simone said. “Might need to start small.”
“Murdock High is small, but intense,” Tessa said. “They take high school baseball very seriously around here.”
“He is gorgeous,” Kat said, looking at her phone. “Did he ever get married or anything?”
“No,” Simone said. “At least not according to what I heard. He moved in with Ryan Beasley and his wife for now.”
“Oh, that makes sense,” Tessa said.
“They were really close in high school,” Kat said. “There was a whole group of them. Ryan and Graham, Camden, Marcus, Victor. That whole group. They were always together doing something.”
“Camden Smith?” Simone asked. “The rancher who owns the big ranch outside town?”
“That’s the one,” I said.
“Well, at any rate, he’s back in town for a bit,” Simone said. “I wonder if we’ll see him around.”
“I’m sure we will,” I muttered. “He’s kind of hard to miss.”
“You okay?” Tessa whispered as Simone and Kat moved on to another subject.
“Yeah,” I said. “I just have a lot on my mind. Other than… that.”
“I’m sure,” Tessa said.
“Actually,” I said, addressing the whole group, “I need to get going. Lots to do today. But this has been great.”
“As usual,” Kat said. “Same time next week. ‘Til then, I will see you Tuesday,” she said, pointing at Tessa, “and you tomorrow?”
I nodded.
“I’ll be by around five,” I said.
With that, we broke off, me heading directly out to the parking lot. I hopped in the car and turned onto Broad, heading east to the edge of town. It was where my mother’s house was, and where my whole life was waiting for me. Everything my life had become, anyway.
All the thoughts and emotions that were trying to bubble their way to the surface I had to swallow down with the last of my coffee. I didn’t have time to think about Graham Miller right now. I had bigger things to worry about. Namely, the face that was going to greet me when I got to Mom’s house. The face that made all this worth it.
As I parked the car, the door opened immediately, and I jumped out to be ready. Tiny feet came out, wearing cute little tennis shoes. My baby boy Owen was barreling down the stairs with the confidence only a four-year-old who is running to his mother can muster. He knew the whole world was his oyster, and that his mommy loved him more than anything else in it. When I got home, he was the center of all the attention, and he couldn’t wait to tell me about whatever adventure he and Grandma had gotten into while I was gone.
He’d gotten so big, and as he crashed into me as I knelt down with my arms open, I could barely believe it had happened so fast. He was just a baby not five minutes ago, it seemed. A tiny little bundle in a soft blanket, wide eyes taking in the world for the first time. Now his shaggy light brown hair, curling at the neck, was silky and full. His overalls had streaks of mud and crayon on them, hopefully from two different adventures, and his hands were perennially sticky.
He was the light of my life and worth everything I’d sacrificed for him. Which was why I never was jealous of Tamara. I was never jealous of Dale and Steven. I was never even jealous of the life I’d led in New York before I found out I was growing a human being inside me.
But I would be lying if I said I didn’t sometimes wonder. Wonder and wish certain aspects of this journey had been a little bit different.
