The Changeup (Men of the Show) (7 page)

“Yes,” she answered without pause.

Chase’s eyes brightened at her lack of hesitation, giving him all the courage he needed to press on. “Thirty?”

Maddie thought for a second, but then decided four years wasn’t too bad. “Sure.”

“Twenty-eight?”

“Uh...”

“So, is the issue that I’m twenty-two or just that I’m in my twenties?”

She sighed as her shoulders sagged under the invisible stress. “Chase, you’re
twelve
years younger than me! That’s a lot different than three or four years.”

“Isn’t that we like each other and enjoy spending time with each other—which, unless I’m way off, we do—more important than how old we are?”

“Chase...”

“Okay, answer me this,” he pressed on. “Besides our age difference, give me one reason why you won’t go out with me.”

“Well...” she started, pausing to shift her weight from foot to foot. Avoiding his eyes, she said, “You don’t want to date someone like me. I’m old. I have a child and I’ve been divorced. I have baggage. You’re young. You don’t want a ready-made family. You should be able to do what you want, go where you want, not be tied down already.”

Chase smirked at her weak attempts to make herself undesirable. “Didn’t I ask for a reason why
you
wouldn’t go out with me? Not why you think I shouldn’t go out with you?”

“Okay, what would I even say to Lenore or Sandy? What would they think? Talk about a sticky situation.”

He scoffed. “Who cares what they, or others for that matter, think? Besides, it’s not like I dated Sandy or anything. It’s not our issue they skewed reality.”

Out of arguments, Maddie shook her head. “I don’t know what more to say. I’m too old for you, Chase.”

He took her hands in his and squeezed gently, his expression intent, communicating his determination. “Come on. Just one date and I promise, if it’s horrible and the whole time you’re thinking how immature I am or how much it sucks, that’s it. I won’t bug you again.”

“Chase...” She started to interrupt, but he wasn’t done yet. He’d inched the door open and was forging ahead full force.

“Don’t give up without giving it a chance. I like you and I think you like me. I would hate to think I’m missing a chance of a lifetime just because of my age. The age difference is a nonissue if you ask me.”

* * *

Maddie sighed and looked at her hands in his. Was she really concerned with the age difference or was she more concerned about what others would say or think? If she had no hesitation about dating him if he was a few years older, why couldn’t she just do it now? He would essentially be the same person, wouldn’t he? She had to acknowledge the depth of her attraction to him. She’d thought of nothing else since meeting him and she wouldn’t be able to ignore it by refusing to go out with him.

He was good with Bree and he was good with her. Wasn’t that what she said she’d always wanted and looked for? Why should she turn her back on him just because he didn’t fit the exact picture she had in her mind? He was everything she was looking for, only a few years younger—well, twelve years younger, but there was no reason why she couldn’t go out with him besides her own insecurities and she was going to have to get over them. Karen would have her head otherwise.

She smiled up at his worried expression as he watched her mull things over. “Okay. We’ll go out once, but I reserve the right to cancel at anytime during the date should you pull out your Game Boy or something.”

Relief passed over his face before he laughed. “I promise I’ll leave all my toys at home.”

“Okay.” She extracted her hands from his. “So, when is this experimental date? I do have to try to get a sitter.”

“Oh, right, okay, let’s see.” He pulled out his phone and held it up to her with an innocent look. “It’s just my phone to check my schedule, not a Game Boy.”

“Huh, okay. I’ll let it go this time,” she teased.

“Well, I’ve got a lot of games coming up, but I have a day game on Thursday so we could go out that night.” Chase looked up at her. “Does that work for you?”

“Oh, I don’t know. My social calendar is just overflowing.” She giggled nervously, still unable to believe she was actually going through with it. “Yes, I’m sure that works for me.”

“Great. Have fun at the game on Wednesday if I don’t see you guys.”

“I’m sure we will. Thanks again for the tickets.”

“Thanks again for dinner. It was really nice,” he said.

Maddie felt herself blush fiercely at the lingering look he gave her, but she remained where she stood and watched as he walked through the living room and out the front door, keeping a smile plastered on her face even though it felt as if everything was freaking out internally. When the door closed behind him, she closed her eyes as she let out the breath she’d been holding and slouched against the counter. This was a bad idea. Nothing good could come from it; in fact, the only possible outcome was one of them getting hurt. But even knowing that, she couldn’t stop herself. She couldn’t ignore the fact that he got her juices flowing without much effort.

Despite all that, it wasn’t enough. She was much older than he was. They were in two different stages of their lives; there was nothing to build on. While she was looking to lead a quiet, comfortable and peaceful life, he should be looking for excitement, thrills and new experiences—casualness versus commitment, living-it-up versus settling down.

And then there was the inevitable scrutiny of their age difference. Even if they got past it, others would comment on it. Their families would definitely have opinions on the matter and families were never ones to keep their opinions to themselves, especially ones that had people like Lenore in them, regardless of the existing awkward situation with Chase and her niece. How would they ever get past that? It wouldn’t be easy, but was it worth it?

She couldn’t even fathom the publicity he would bring into the mix, being an up-and-coming professional athlete. It would be hard to deal with that even if everything was perfect with their relationship, but throw in the age difference and it would be like a gold mine for the press. She wasn’t sure she could handle it or if she wanted to try. She definitely didn’t want to expose Bree to any of it.

She walked over to the kitchen table and sank down into a chair. Even as all the reasons not to date Chase plowed through her head with exclamation points, she couldn’t ignore the nagging protests her heart tried to interject. She liked him. She enjoyed spending time with him. She was attracted to him. She
did
want to go out with him. Sadly, she thought, she’d finally met someone she wanted to spend time with and seemed to have some connection to, and it was going to be over before it had a chance to begin.

Chapter Seven

Maddie couldn’t believe how nervous she was for her date with Chase. The butterflies in her stomach wouldn’t still long enough for her to calm her jitters and she was fretting over every minute detail of her appearance. It had taken her forever to decide on an outfit; her boobs looked too big in her green silk tank, and too small in the white V-neck. Her jeans made her butt look too wide, while her khakis hung too loose. It was ridiculous, but she couldn’t seem to make herself stop.

She took a long shower, buffed and shaved everything, carefully applied her makeup and took her time styling her hair, desperately fighting the itch to yank any gray strand that dared to reveal itself. She told herself this meticulous process wasn’t an effort to appear twelve years younger. Rather that it felt good to go through the motions of preparing for a date that she was actually looking forward to, for once.

Glancing at the clock on the nightstand, she pulled on the white linen pants she’d settled on and wondered where Karen was. Of all dates for her to take her time showing up for, it had to be this one.

She’d hoped that they would get a chance to talk to Chase at the game the night before so she could get a gauge on
his
level of nervousness, but they hadn’t and so Maddie was flying blind, assuming he was nothing but the picture of composure while her nerves were about to cause a short circuit. She reminded herself that she was the older, more experienced half of this odd couple, so she shouldn’t be the one who was a wreck, but when the front door finally opened and closed, she could have cried out in relief. She needed Karen to calm her down and talk some sense into her. She needed to know she was doing the right thing.

Karen greeted Bree before waltzing through the bedroom door.

“How’s it going in here?”

“Where have you been? I’ve been going out of my mind.”

“Nervous, are we?” Karen grinned as she casually leaned against the door frame with her arms crossed, ignoring the daggers coming at her from Maddie’s scowl.

“You have no idea.” She studied herself in the mirror above her dresser. “Well? Give it to me.”

Maddie watched as Karen’s gaze slowly drifted from her hair, which she wore down and smoothed straight, over her face, down to her feet and slowly back up again. She held up her finger and twirled it around, instructing Maddie to do the same. When she turned back to her, Karen put her hands on her hips and grimaced.

“That bad, huh?” Maddie asked, her anxiety ratcheting up a notch. She was running out of time to change everything again.

“Well, the hair and makeup are awesome. Good job on that.” Karen crossed through the room to the closet and disappeared inside. “I’m not sold on the shirt though.”

Maddie looked down at the soft pink T-shirt she’d selected. “What’s wrong with it?”

“A T-shirt, Maddie? Come on!” She reappeared with a light gray summer sweater. “This one.”

Maddie snatched it from her, quickly peeling off the T-shirt. She went back to the mirror and liked how the color made the green in her eyes pop and how the finely knit fabric softly followed her curves without putting too much emphasis on her cleavage.

“You’re right. This is better. Thanks.” She took in a deep breath and blew it out. “Why am I so nervous? I’m never this nervous.”

“Because you like him. The others you didn’t care about. This one’s different,” Karen said as she sat on the bed.

“This is ridiculous. I can’t believe I’m actually doing this. He’s twelve years younger than I am. I mean, come on? What are we going to talk about? Music? He probably has no idea who...I don’t know, who Ricky Martin is.” She frowned at her reflection. “I must be out of my mind for agreeing to this.”

“Do you have problems with that now? Do you just sit and stare at each other?”

“Well, no, but Bree is usually around to serve as a distraction or conversation piece.”

“Maddie, you’ll be fine. You’ll know right away if it’s going to work or not. Just enjoy yourself, that’s the important part. And for the love of God, don’t bring up Ricky Martin. He’ll wonder what the hell is wrong with you.”

“You’re right, you’re right.” She rolled her shoulders and took a deep breath. “I need to relax and stop worrying about everything.” She gave her sweater a slight tug and set her shoulders as a knock at the door announced Chase’s arrival. “Well, here goes nothing.”

“I’ll get it!” Bree yelled out from the front room.

They stepped out of Maddie’s room and found him standing in front of the TV holding Bree in his arms as she explained to him what was happening on the show she was watching. He was listening intently, engrossed in every word she was saying and giving appropriate murmurs of interest.

“They are too cute together,” Karen whispered.

Maddie took another deep breath before crossing the point of no return. “What are you guys doing?”

At the sound of her voice, two heads whipped around.

“I’m explaining to Chase what’s happening on
The Last Airbender
.”

“Ah, that sounds interesting.” She gave Chase a knowing look with a small twist of her lips as she tried not to make light of Bree’s seriousness.

“Oh, it is. Very interesting,” he agreed.

She gestured to Karen standing behind her. “Chase, this is my friend Karen. Karen, this is Chase.”

He placed Bree on the ground and walked over with his hand extended. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Likewise. I’ve heard a lot of about you—from
both
Maddie and Bree.” Karen’s mischievous look quickly turned appreciative as her eyes trailed over his blue-and-white pin-striped oxford shirt, which he’d left casually untucked and hanging over relaxed faded jeans.

“I hope all good,” he said as his deep brown eyes twinkled.

“Uh, yeah, we ignore Karen around here for the most part.” Maddie glared at her friend, but Karen only smiled sweetly at Chase. Picking up her purse, she threw it over her shoulder. “Shall we?”

“Oh, yeah.” He turned back to Karen. “It was nice to meet you, Karen. I’ll see you later, Bree.”

“Bye, you guys. Have fun.” Karen followed them out. As Maddie turned to shut the door, she whispered quickly in her ear. “He’s a doll. If you don’t eat him up, I will.”

* * *

As Maddie walked beside him, Chase took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders as discreetly as possible. He couldn’t believe how anxious he felt. It seemed when it came to Maddie he was feeling nerves he hadn’t felt in a long time. The more he thought about it, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever felt nerves like this. He’d always been able to remain calm in stressful situations but he’d also worked hard at mastering the art of appearing calm and collected even when his insides were erratic and jumbled. You never let a hitter see you sweat and he was determined not to let Maddie see it either.

“You look amazing,” he complimented, striving to break the tension between them.

“You sound surprised,” she said, sounding insulted.

“No!” He stopped dead in his tracks. “That’s not what I meant. I’m not surprised...not at all. I just...didn’t expect...I wasn’t prepared...shit.”

She laughed at his jumbled words, instantly feeling more at ease. “I’m just teasing.”

His lips twitched as he reached out, gently taking her hand in his. He studied her fine fingers for a second before raising his gaze to hers. “You’ve got me tongue-tied.” His expression was suddenly serious. She always marveled at how different it made him look; in a split second, he could go from looking like an eager and animated kid to a serious, mature young man. “You look incredible. I’m just wondering how I got to be so lucky.”

Maddie fought against the urge to tug her hand out of his. She didn’t want to acknowledge the fluttering she felt in her heart at his words. She feared he was pulling her into an abyss she wouldn’t be able or want to escape. It had been so long since someone had spoken to her that way that it was music to her ears, but daggers to her heart at the same time. It all felt good now, but would end up hurting her in the end.

She broke out into a slow, cautious smile. “Thank you. You look very nice yourself.”

Chase gave her her favorite crooked smile and she cursed the twinge of her heart at the sight of his slightly uneven front teeth. He was perfection everywhere else, it seemed, his body a well-crafted, finely tuned machine used in nightly battles on the ball field, except that one slight imperfection. It helped to remind Maddie that he wasn’t perfect and had flaws just like her. He was human just like everyone else and it eased her stress a bit at trying to appear flawless.

She gave his fingers a small squeeze before pulling her hand out from his. “We should get going or else Bree is going to join us.” She knew without looking that her daughter and Karen had their noses pressed to the window, watching them.

He chuckled and with his long legs, ate up the distance to his SUV before she did and opened the door for her. He climbed in the driver’s side and quickly turned down the radio, which roared to life when he started the engine.

“Sorry about that,” he said with an embarrassed look.

“I could give you the motherly response that it’s your prerogative if you want to go deaf by the time you reach middle age, but I’m going to ignore the fact that I’m a mother tonight and say nothing.”

He smirked. “Okay, I appreciate that.”

Maddie watched him as he put the car into gear and pulled away from the curb. She found herself absorbed in his every movement, enjoying how everything seemed to flow in one continuous motion. He seemed to be sitting so far away from the steering wheel that she was impressed he could still reach it, even with his long arms. His slender fingers moved gracefully and she began to imagine what they would feel like trailing slowly across her skin, heating it in their wake. She flushed when she felt his eyes on her, as if he could read her thoughts, and cleared her throat to cover her embarrassment.

“I like your car...or truck...or whatever you call it,” she stammered as she pretended to study the interior.

“Thanks. It was the first thing I bought when I signed my contract.”

“Really?” She turned back to him with an inquisitive look. She wouldn’t have expected that from him for some reason. He didn’t seem concerned with material goods.

“Yeah. I had this beater of a car back home. A red Geo Metro. It was like clown-sized, so I literally had to fold myself to even fit in it.” He grinned as he thought back on it. “I must have looked ridiculous getting in and out of it. So, once I got some money, I made sure I got a car with some legroom.”

She snickered, envisioning his big body in such a tiny car. “That must have been a sight to see.”

“My friends certainly got a kick out of it.”

Maddie looked out the window as they drove past the people walking leisurely along the sidewalks in front of the stores, bars and restaurants that lined the streets of downtown Royal Oak. “Where are we going?”

“There’s this place I went to when I first moved to the area. It was pretty good, so I thought we’d go there. It isn’t the usual Royal Oak crowd—it’s quieter.” Chase gave her a sideways glance with a crooked smile. “You know, older.”

“And would this quieter,
older
place have a name?”

“I’m sure it does, I just don’t remember it.”

“Ah, okay. That’s helpful,” she teased.

“But if when we get there you don’t like it or want to go somewhere else, that’s totally fine.”

She nodded, but when he pulled up to the curb next to the restaurant a few seconds later, her jaw dropped. “Chase, we can’t go here.”

“Why? You don’t like it?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just so...expensive.”

“Why don’t you let me worry about that?” he said, not bother trying to hide the slight edge that had crept into his voice.

That wasn’t how she had meant it, but before she could offer an apology, her door opened and she looked into the bright smile of a young valet. She accepted his hand and he helped her down from the car before handing Chase the claim ticket.

“Are you sure?” she asked him, deciding to ignore his earlier tone.

He took her hand in his and pulled her to the door. “Stop it. You’re hurting my pride,” he teased.

Maddie swallowed hard at his touch. She still couldn’t get used to the ease with which he touched her. He seemed so comfortable, while each simple touch seemed to send sizzling prickles rippling up and down her skin.

As he checked in at the host stand, Maddie looked around. She’d never been inside Chantál Steakhouse, her budget wouldn’t allow it, but she’d heard a lot about it. Pricey and trendy, with black-and-white art deco decor and a low glow of candlelight from each table, the mood was a quiet mix of romance and chic. It spoke quietly of money and casualness at the same time, luxury in a laid-back atmosphere. The contrast reminded her of Chase—seasoned but young.

“Right this way,” the perky hostess said to Chase with a flirty smile. It didn’t escape Maddie the way the girl looked appreciatively at him and then speculatively at her, probably wondering if he was her son or younger brother.

The first sharp pangs of doubt that she could make it through the night struck. Maybe her gray was more noticeable than she’d thought. She wouldn’t doubt it, the way her eyesight was going. It was going to be a long night if people were constantly going to be curious about the age difference between them.

The hostess led them to a quiet table in the back corner of the restaurant, away from most of the activity, allowing them some privacy. Chase dropped the white-and-black checked napkin in his lap as he looked around. “Is this okay?”

“Yeah, perfect,” she said, forcing a lift into her voice. She was going to have to work on not letting speculative glances from others ruin the night since he seemed to be oblivious to it. “It’s perfect.”

He sat back in the black leather chair. “They have an awesome filet here. I highly recommend it.”

“Filet, huh?” She picked up the menu and started looking it over, trying to ignore the prices. She knew if she studied them, she would make her decision based on the lowest priced item and she couldn’t figure out a way to justify ordering a small side salad or a bowl of soup at a steakhouse, no matter how she tried to defend it. When she finally gave into her curiosity and peeked, she was shocked to find they hadn’t even listed the prices.