Starting From Scratch (22 page)

Maddie’s furrowed brow told me she wasn’t quite

following. I sipped my coffee and gave her time to catch

up. When she did, it was glaringly apparent, her eyes

widening in shocked realization, which quickly turned to

smug delight. I sighed.

“You met her on Lesbian Link dot com, didn’t you?

Didn’t you?”

Georgia Beers

“Yes. I did. Are you happy now?” I heard J.T.’s snort

from behind me.

“When are you seeing her again?”

“I don’t know yet.”

She looked at me as if I had just sprouted a third

eyeball in the middle of my forehead. “What do you mean,

you don’t know yet? Call her.”

“I have. We’ve been playing phone tag.”

It was the truth. e week had been near-chaotic for

us both as far as work went. Josh and I were working like

crazy to keep up with the promises Anita made to her

biggest client, a large grocery store chain. Elena had been

wooing not one, not two, but three potentially huge clients

for her bank and by the time each of us got home, our

brains were fried and we wanted nothing more than to fall

into bed.

To sleep, unfortunately.

“She has to woo clients?” Maddie asked, sounding as

surprised as I had been when I’d gotten Elena’s message on

Tuesday.

“Apparently.”

“Huh. Who knew?”

I shrugged and sipped my coffee.

“Don’t try being all nonchalant with me, young lady,”

she then said, slapping lightly at my arm. “You can’t pull off

nonchalant and you don’t fool me.”

“I’m not trying to fool you, Maddie. I’m just…a little

confused.”

“About what?” She turned serious, gave me her I-

want-to-help face, which filled me with warm affection for

her.

184

Starting From Scratch

Putting my feelings for the situation with Elena into

words was harder than I thought. e weird push/pull I

felt from her was so new to me; besides that, it had only

been a week or so. And then there was Max. I had no idea

how I’d become so attached to him. I wished Josh were

there with his magical ability to find just the right words

for any occasion.

“You’re right. I like her. I really like her. And I adore

her son. I’m just not quite sure yet what she wants.” I

detailed my previous Saturday evening for Maddie, right

down to me abruptly ending up outside the front door.

“She apologized to me on Sunday, but frankly, my head

was still spinning a bit from the sudden change in the

weather, if you know what I mean.”

Maddie appeared to choose her words carefully, which

told me something wise was about to leave her lips,

something I probably should have seen already. “Sweetie,

she has a child.”

“Yeah, and he’s a great kid.”

She tried unsuccessfully to hide her smirk. “You don’t

like kids.”

“Well, I like
him
.”

“And you know he’s always going to come first for her,

right? at’s part of being a mother. And if Elena is smart,

she probably doesn’t introduce the people she dates to him

right away.”

“He already knows me.”

“As his coach, not as his mother’s girlfriend. From

what you’ve told me, he’s still dealing with the separation

of his parents, and that’s never easy on a kid. I’m sure

Elena doesn’t want to complicate it for him by bringing

you into the picture.”

185

Georgia Beers

She said it gently, I think so as not to make me feel

stupid. She wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already

know, but actually hearing her say it out loud was kind

of…weird. I’d never dated somebody with children before,

so this was new to me, even if it was common sense.

“Yeah,” I said again, but this time let it all sink in.

With a resigned sigh, I said, “You’re right.”

“I think you just need to relax, sweetie. Don’t sweat it,

you know? Take your time with her. Date for a while and

don’t worry so much. Enjoy just being casual. I know I’m

probably being a moron for trying to tell a lesbian to slow

down in her pursuit of another woman, but you know what

I mean. Just relax and take it one day at a time. It’ll be

easier on everybody involved.”

Maddie’s words twisted and rolled around in my head.

e only solid fact I could come up with was that Elena

and I had done much more groping at one another than

we’d done talking. Not that we hadn’t talked, because I

really enjoyed our date at the bistro the previous Friday.

But since then, my common sense had been blinded by my

libido, and more than anything, I wanted to rip her suit off

and have my way with her.

I needed to put that desire on a shelf for a bit, I

decided. at’d be a good start. I was going to slow things

down and get to know her, let her get to know me.

1

Tee-ball for little kids has the shortest season in the

history of mankind, so our last game was the next

morning. It was great, a lot of fun, and I was pretty sure the

kids were going to miss it. I knew I was happy it was

186

Starting From Scratch

almost over, but I did think I’d miss it just a little bit. I

decided not to tell Maddie.

School had ended the previous weekend and we were

missing a couple of kids whose parents had planned

vacations in advance, but for the most part we had a full

team. And we won. Not that I was keeping score or

anything.

I did scan the crowd once or twice, no sign of Elena.

One of her messages during the week said she was going

to try her best to catch the end of the game, but she had so

much paperwork to catch up on the chances of her actually

making it were slim. So while I was disappointed, I wasn’t

surprised. Cindy had dropped Max off earlier—just

dropped him off; she didn’t even get out of her car—and I

assumed she was coming back to get him.

No sign of her, either.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Max also

scanning the crowd, his face etched with disappointment. I

had played softball in high school, and though I was sure

Grandma came to every game she could manage, it wasn’t

many. She had a job and our games started right after

school and most of the time it was just too hard for her to

make it to the field in time. I knew this, but I scanned the

bleachers at each and every game anyway. When I failed to

pick her face out of the crowd, my disappointment was

palpable and I imagined my expression was pretty close to

the one on Max’s face at that moment.

“Come on, buddy,” I said to him, putting my arm

around his small shoulders. “It’s time for ice cream and

pizza.”

Maddie called it her tee-ball tradition. On the day of

the last game, she sent J.T. off during the second-to-last

187

Georgia Beers

inning to pick up the sheet pizza she’d preordered from

Ziti’s Pizza Emporium, along with the cooler of ice cream

bars that Mr. Ziti himself always threw in on the house.

en she fed her team until they were stuffed to the gills,

the whole time telling them how awesome they were and

how much she would miss them. She really did have a way

with them; they listened to her praise attentively even as

they shoved pepperoni-dotted squares into their mouths. I

faded in and out on her speech a little as I watched each

kid, but then I tuned back in.

“…and I’d like to really, really thank Coach King for

helping us out this year.”

Shouts of agreement pierced the air as the kids

cheered for me, clapping and laughing. I was horrified to

feel my eyes well slightly. I nodded and smiled widely, not

trusting myself to speak and thankful that the kids were

too young to expect such a thing. I scanned from child to

child, feeling an inexplicable fondness for them. Brittany

Number One, Brittany Number Two, and Isabella were

eating delicately and chattering like ladies who lunch.

Gabriel, Max, and Mikey were reliving the last two

innings, insanely proud of themselves. Katie and Jordan

had a pile of dandelions on the bench next to their paper

plates. Less than two months earlier, most of them hadn’t

even seen each other before and the majority of them

hadn’t the first clue how to play ball. I helped make them

into a team and I had to admit there was something crazily

satisfying about that fact.

One by one, parents packed up their kids and took

them home. Soon all the pizza was gone, the equipment

packed into J.T.’s truck, and only David, Mikey, and Max

were left.

188

Starting From Scratch

“You go on,” I said to Maddie and J.T., knowing they

had plans for the afternoon. “I can hang here until they’re

all gone.”

“You’re sure?” Maddie asked.

“Absolutely. Go. Have fun.”

With a wave and thanks, they pulled out, leaving the

four of us alone at the field. en Mikey’s mom came and

left me, David, and Max. en it was just me and Max.

“She said she’d be here,” he said with a little-boy huff.

“Who?” I wanted to clarify so I knew with whom to

be irritated. A glance at my watch told me it was after one.

We’d made certain the parents knew the game would be

finished by noon and we wanted an extra half hour to feed

and congratulate the kids. By 12:30, every parent should

have been there, every kid ready to go home.

“Cece.” He sighed when he said her name, like he

wasn’t really surprised. “She dropped me off and said she’d

be back before the game ended.”

“How about we give her a call? See where she is?”

“Okay.”

“Do you know her number?” I asked, pulling out my

cell. Maddie had taken all the paperwork for the team, so I

had no numbers available to me.

“Um…” He squinched up his face, his expression

saying he was thinking really hard.

Nothing.

I knew I could easily drive him home with me, but I

realized that might be construed as inappropriate. What if

Cindy showed up after all and I’ve taken off with her kid?

She probably wouldn’t even notice,
the devil on my shoulder

sneered.

I did have Elena’s number.

189

Georgia Beers

After an annoying internal debate, I punched the

buttons and listened as the phone rang.

“Hey, you.” She sounded happy to hear from me and I

tried hard not to smile, lest Max wonder why I was

grinning like a big dork while talking to his mommy.

“Hi there. Listen, I’m really sorry to bother you at

work. Max is still here with me.”

Elena’s voice dropped to a low, nearly emotionless

tone. “Has Cindy not picked him up yet?”

“at’s right.”

“Son of a bitch.”

“It’s okay. We’re fine. I just thought you should know.”

“I’ll be right there. anks, Avery.”

e line went dead before I could reply; I was sure she

was fuming in her office, angry beyond belief at her ex and

I didn’t blame her one bit. I snapped my phone shut and

looked at Max. “Mom’s on her way.”

For the next ten minutes, we sat in the bleachers. Max

wasn’t in a conversational mood and I sat quietly with him.

Elena pulled into the parking lot and practically

exploded from her car. She stomped over to the bleachers,

her face tinted a light pink.

Max stood and gathered his things, but wasn’t looking

at either of us.

Elena took a deep breath. I walked with them to her

car. “ank you, Avery.”  e sincerity in her voice was

profound and I nodded.

“No problem. He’s good company.” I ruffled Max’s

hair. “Nice game today, buddy.”

I’m not sure how long I stood there, watching the dust

from their departure dissipate into the air. Longer than I

190

Starting From Scratch

should have. If I’d left sooner, I would have been gone

before Cindy’s Lexus pulled into the parking lot.

She eased up next to me and powered down her

window. Dark sunglasses shaded her eyes, so I couldn’t tell

where she was looking, but I could feel it.

“You’re an hour late,” I snapped, not looking at her.

“I am?” She sounded honestly bewildered and I felt

something inside me snap. I stopped and turned to face

her.

“Doesn’t it bother you at all that all the kids are gone?

at your son is not here? Do you have even a clue where

he is?”

One shoulder lifted. “I assume you called Elena and

she came to get him. No big deal.”

“Not to you, apparently,” I scoffed and resumed my

path toward my car.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she called after me.

“Really? You don’t know what that’s supposed to

mean?” I whirled on her. “It means that maybe you should

try paying as much attention to your little boy as you do to

your Blackberry. I happen to think he deserves it, but you

evidently disagree.”

Her face hardened; I could tell that even without the

benefit of seeing her eyes. She raised a hand and pointed a

finger at me. “Don’t you judge me,” she said through

clenched teeth. “You are in no position to judge me.”