Impulsive (12 page)

Jess's brow rose. "You're kidding! I thought, being the
former Mrs. T.D., she'd really be into the game."

Ty shook his head. "Nope. That was all for show, until she
had me hooked. Oh, she liked all the extra attention, and the big bucks and all
they'd buy her, but football itself? No way. She's more into tennis lessons, so
she can wear those cute little outfits. And a smidgeon of golf, because she and
Dave—that's her new hubby, the one she ditched me for—belong to the
country
club. But I'll bet she hasn't played more than a few dozen holes in the past
three years. She's probably too busy with other games, like musical beds."

"Oh, so that's why the two of you divorced," Jess
guessed. "She was playing around on you? With Dave?"

"And any number of others. Her main criterion was a fat
wallet, and mine was getting too flat to suit her."

"What does her present husband do for a living?"

"He's a corporate attorney, but he was so smitten with Barb
that he offered to handle her divorce from me, free of charge. For her, of
course. Me, they took to the cleaners."

Jess's lips pursed. "Ouch! Tough break. But, if Barb wasn't
into sports, how did you meet her?"

"At a bar," he admitted ruefully. "In Detroit. I
played for the Lions back then, and was pretty tough stuff, or so I thought.
Evidently, so did she, at the time. Or maybe we were both so damned drunk that
first night that anyone would have looked good to us. To make a long story
short, we dated hot and heavy for several weeks, and the next thing I knew, she
was pitching a fit, demanding that we get married. She'd goofed up on her
pills, and we were going to have a baby. Josh was born eight months
later."

"I take it she went with you when you signed on with the
Colts, and that's how she and Dave became acquainted?"

Ty nodded. "That was also the year I broke my leg, and sat
out the entire season. The following year, I injured it again, and my future
with the Colts, or any other pro team for that matter, was looking pretty dim.
Needless to say, being married to a broken-down, washed-up jock was not Barb's
cup of tea. She didn't hang around to see if things would improve."

"Are you sorry?" Jess asked hesitantly.

"For a long while, I was. Not because of Barb so much— the
glow wore off the romance long before the divorce, almost before the wedding.
But being away from Josh was difficult for me, and for him. I really love that
little guy, and it hurt not to be able to be a full-time dad. It still does,
but Josh is bigger now, and starting to understand. He knows I love him and
miss him. I just wish we could spend more time together."

Ty wheeled the Trans Am onto a long, curving driveway that led to
an impressive brick house. "This is it," he told her. "The
twelve-acre estate of Barb and Dave Savoy, Esquire. Complete with sixteen
rooms, swimming pool, tennis court, maid's quarters, and one Joshua
James."

"Don't they have any other children?"

"Not yet. It seems old Dave, esquire or not, is shooting a
lot of blanks. Scads of cash, but short on... what's the word I'm looking for?
Oh, yeah." He snapped his fingers. "Paisleys! Anyway, unless they get
awfully lucky, there won't be any Davie Jr. to carry on the family name or
tradition in law. Also, as it stands now, Josh isn't the least bit interested
in following in his stepfather's footsteps."

"I suppose he wants to be a quarterback like his dad?"

Josh was waiting and raring to go. Ty had scarcely shut the engine
off when the front door flew open and three and a half feet of gangly
kindergartner came dashing down the sidewalk, dragging an overstuffed duffel
bag with him.

"Hi, Dad!" he yelled excitedly. "Guess what? I lost
my front toof yesterday!" The wide gap in his smile was evidence of that.

Ty leapt from the car and swept his son into his arms just as the
boy started to trip on his untied shoelace.

"Hey, sport! If you want to keep your remaining teeth for a
while, you'd better tie those shoes," Ty informed him, enveloping Josh in
a huge bear hug.

"If I've told him that once, I've said it twenty times in the
last half hour. He's absolutely impossible on the days he knows you're
coming!"

Still in her seat, Jess turned to see Barb Savoy sauntering down
the walk toward Ty. Her initial thought was that the name suited the woman.
Ty's ex resembled nothing less than a walking, talking Barbie doll, complete
with wavy blond hair
and a face so flawless it looked as if it had just been peeled
from a toy mold. Moreover, dressed in an immaculate white tennis outfit, she
was slim, trim, and tanned. Jess would have bet her last dollar that
"Barbie" was a perfect 36-24-36. The sum of which made Jess feel all
the more like a dowdy freak.

"We'll take care of it, won't we, son?" Ty said in
response to Barb's opening comment.

"Uh huh," Josh agreed, bobbing his blond head. Then he
spied Jess. "Who's that?"

"That's Jess. She's going with us today."

Without waiting for Ty to introduce them, Barb walked up to the
car and put out one expertly manicured hand. "I'm Barb, Josh's
mother."

Jess shook her hand, only now wishing she'd thought to file and
shape her own nails. They were clean, as usual, but heaven knew when they had
last seen a coat of nail enamel. "Jess Myers. Pleased to meet you."

"Are you... uh... are you..." Barb appeared to be at a
loss for words, something Jess would bet didn't happen often.

"Yes, Barb," Ty put in, guessing what his ex was trying
to say. "Jess and I are dating. Do you have a problem with that? Not that
it matters, you understand."

Barb's smile was trite. "Why, not at all, Tyler. I was simply
wondering. However, since you brought it up, I would hate to hear from Josh
that there is any monkey business going on between the two of you while he is
present."

"Holy—" Ty bit off the last half of his angry expletive,
for his son's sake. "I can safely assure you that there will be no 'monkey
business,' as you put it, in front of Josh. Jess and I aren't into such antics.
Unlike you and Dave, apparently, we have better things to do than swing from
trees, suck bananas, and pick lice off of each other."

"You..." Barb sputtered. "You are an uncouth
barbarian. God alone knows what I ever saw in you."

Ty lowered Josh into the backseat of the car and began fastening
the child's seat belt. "The same thing that attracted you to Dave. My
income bracket."

Barb stalked off without saying goodbye to any of them. Her
parting
words were, "Have Josh back here tomorrow night by nine o'clock sharp, and
not a minute later, or there will be hell to pay."

"Mommy said a bad word," Josh declared with wide indigo
eyes, a perfect match for Ty's.

"Yeah," Ty replied with a forced smile. "Mommy must
have been watching
The Wizard of Oz
again, huh? That wicked witch is her
all-time favorite character."

They had gone several blocks, with Josh and Ty exchanging
information about their respective lives since they had last gotten together,
when Ty suddenly turned to Jess. "You're awfully quiet over there. What's
up?"

Jess said the first thing on her mind, actually the thought that
had been consuming her for the last ten minutes. "Your... Barb is very
beautiful. I can see why you were attracted to her."

"Oh, yeah. She's a real piece of art," Ty mused drolly.
"But, in all honesty, I've got to say she's improved over the past three
years. Primarily thanks to Dave's bank account. Otherwise, she could never have
afforded the nose job, the breast reduction, the tummy tuck, and those special
beauty treatments at an exclusive spa. And she's stopped letting her roots grow
out before getting them touched up at the salon."

Jess was dumbfounded.

From the rear seat, Josh, who had been hanging on his dad's every
word, piped up with another revelation. "Mom gots some new stuff from the
doctor now, Dad."

"What kind of new stuff?" Ty prompted.

"Eye colors, and lipstick that don't come off like before.
But she sure did look funny for a while, after she had it put on. Her lips was
real big, and she had two big black eyes. Then they turned purkle, an' green,
an' yellow, like rainbows."

By now, Jess was holding her hand over her mouth to hide an
ear-to-ear grin. Ty didn't bother trying to hold back. "Ah, the miracles
of modern science! Isn't it grand? Reminds me of that old song Granddad James
used to sing."

"What song, Dad?"

"Well, it went like this." Ty began to sing. "After
the ball
was over, she took out her glass eye. Put her false teeth in salt
water, and hung up her wig to dry."

Josh clapped enthusiastically. "Do it again, Dad!"

"Only if you two sing along with me."

With the convertible top down, they cruised down the highway—the
three of them happily serenading anyone within earshot.

Given his choice, Josh opted for lunch at McDonald's and an
afternoon at the zoo.

"But we went to the zoo last time," Ty reminded him.
"Wouldn't you rather go to the Children's Museum? It's
air-conditioned."

"But, Dad, I wanna ride the elepunt an' the camel
again."

"Me, too," Jess whined, sticking her lower lip out like
a pouty child.

"Oh, no! Not only am I outvoted, but now I have two snivelers
to put up with!" Ty complained mockingly. "Okay. You win. The zoo it
is. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll draft both of you for the chimp
exhibit."

It was a delightful afternoon, despite the heat. Bright, breezy,
and not unbearably humid. Jess had the time of her life, trailing along with Ty
and Josh. It helped that Josh was so pleasant, and surprisingly accepting of
Jess. As for her, she couldn't help but compare the five-year-old to his
father. With their dark, denim blue eyes, blond hair, twin stubborn chins, and
winning smiles, they looked like carbon copies of each other at different ages.
Josh even had similar mannerisms: his slightly strutting walk, certain
inflections in his speech, and a habit of tugging
at
his left
earlobe, as Ty was prone to do. In no time flat, Josh had Jess's heart wrapped
around his little finger.

Berating herself for not thinking to pack her camera, Jess
splurged on one of the disposable kind, exorbitantly priced at the zoo's gift
shop. "I just have to get some pictures of you two together," she
told them.

"We'll probably break your camera," Ty warned her.
"Especially since it's so cheap, regardless of the ridiculous sum you paid
for it."

Despite his disclaimer, the camera held up fine, and Ty and Josh
were thrilled to pose for her. Actually, they were a pair of hams, intent on
seeing who could make the funniest faces, noises, and imitations of the
animals. They passed the camera around, Ty taking a few shots of her and Josh,
Josh snapping a couple of Jess and Ty. They even got a bystander to take one of
the three of them together.

They stuffed themselves with popcorn, peanuts, and soda pop,
though most of their munchies went to feed the animals. They rode the
sight-seeing train, the antique carousel, the camels and the elephants. By the
time they trooped wearily through the exit gate, the adults were as tired as
Josh, or more so. But Jess didn't care. She would have turned right around and
done it all again, because despite her aching feet, she couldn't remember when
she'd had so much fun.

"What do you say we take a breather, go check in at the hotel
and give Josh a chance to catch a quick nap, get cleaned up, and go out to
supper afterward?" Ty suggested.

"Sounds great to me," Jess agreed.

"No nap, Daddy," Josh protested testily. "I'm not a
baby."

Discounting his claim, Josh was sound asleep in the backseat of the
car before they got out of the zoo parking lot. He didn't even wake when Ty
plucked him from the car and carried him into the hotel. "Just get your
own bag if you need it now," Ty told Jess. "I'll have one of the bell
boys collect mine and Josh's after we check in."

The team manager had reserved rooms for the players and coaches.
As usual, Ty was paired with Gabe.

"Does Gabe mind Josh sharing the room?" Jess questioned.

"Nah, he and Josh are good buddies. Sometimes Josh even
sleeps with him, instead of me. Then there are times when Corey comes to the
games and she and Gabe get a room of their own."

"She's on a photo shoot this weekend, isn't she?"

Ty nodded. "For another week yet. In the meantime, Gabe is back
to baching it."

"When we get back to Columbus, why don't you and Gabe come by
my house one night for dinner?" Jess offered. "I know you didn't win
our bet, but I suppose I could break down and make you a home-cooked meal,
anyway."