Better Than Perfect (21 page)

“No. Leave him out of this.” She sounded a little too defensive. Did that mean she felt bad for using the information, or for using him? “He may have led me in the right direction, but it wasn’t on purpose. He likes you. Respects you a great deal.”

How well did she know Bryce? Not that it was any of his business.

“Still, I decided I needed to do a little research on Mrs. Harrison.” She resumed pacing. Maybe it was her way of making sure he didn’t grab her and escort her firmly out of the building. “She married your roommate only three months after you left for spring training.”

“Yeah. I know.” He had the announcement to prove it. Or used to. It was crumpled in the garbage can in the locker room. Had she dug through his trash?

“Three months after you left, but only six months before her son was born.” Her last words were completely without emotion. She could have been reciting his pitching line from an exhibition game.

“Six?” It didn’t add up.

“Is Zach Harrison your son?”

The question slammed down on him like the stack of weights on the machine he’d been working on. Johnny couldn’t breathe.

“He couldn’t be.” He said it with less conviction than he would have liked. If only he had the wedding announcement. And maybe Zach’s birth certificate. “No. She wouldn’t have…”

“You had no idea?” Rachel’s jaw dropped open. “I thought maybe you’d run out on her. I mean, you wouldn’t be the first guy to freak out over an unplanned pregnancy. But you didn’t know. Oh, I’m so sorry.”

She sat on the bench next to him, looking a little deflated. Maybe her big scoop wasn’t as satisfying as she’d thought it would be.

“I think you should leave.” Johnny was about three seconds from losing his cool. “I think you should leave. Now.”

Make that one and a half.

“Johnny, I’m truly sorry. I had no idea you didn’t know.” She stood up, and backed out of the weight room. “Oh, wow. I guess I should have talked to her first. I really thought you knew. Like maybe that’s why you were so careful. Why you stayed away from casual encounters. You didn’t want to get burned with another paternity case. That quip about the lawyers.”

She wouldn’t stop talking.

“Leave. Don’t come back.” Johnny couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t focus. And he sure as hell couldn’t let this go.

* * * *

Every other Sunday, Alice and Zach would have dinner with the Harrisons. On the weeks they didn’t go over there, they would order a pizza and watch movies. Tonight was a pizza night. It would have been easy to invite Johnny to join them, but Alice needed to spend some quality time with her son.

She also needed to spend some time away from Johnny. Being with him again—being intimate with him again—had short-circuited her system. She needed some time to think. To plan the best approach for bringing up the subject of Zach’s paternal uncertainty.

“Can we make popcorn?” Zach asked while she was putting the leftover pizza in the refrigerator. There wasn’t much left over; he’d eaten four slices. Now he wanted popcorn. But it would give her an excuse to sit next to him on the couch.

They made a big bowl of popcorn and settled in front of the TV to pick a movie. They had their favorites. Usually this time of year, with spring training right around the corner, they’d load up on baseball movies. But Alice didn’t think she’d be able to watch Kevin Costner “have a catch” with his dad. And, well, she wouldn’t allow Zach to watch
Bull Durham
until he was married, despite the volumes of baseball wisdom it contained.

When Zach suggested they watch
Star Wars
, she didn’t protest. They’d enjoyed the movie together many times. Part of her even hoped he’d jump up off the couch to grab his toy light saber, to act out the battle scenes, but the toy had long ago broken. Only a few Lego space ships remained from his childhood. She shuddered to think about having to pack those away to make room for an electric razor and body spray.

Zach ate popcorn by the handful. His appetite didn’t show any signs of slowing down. He was growing so fast, she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to keep up. Just in the last year, his features had changed. He was starting to look more like a man. Like Johnny.

“What?” Zach must have sensed her watching him instead of the movie. “Do I have popcorn on my face or something?”

“No. I was just watching you.” She smiled. A bittersweet smile as she realized she was losing her little boy.

“Geez, Mom. It’s not like you haven’t seen me much the last thirteen years.”

“I know. But you’re changing so much.”

“Please. Let’s not start in on that. I’m not your baby anymore. Get over it.” But he smiled, enough to let her know that he understood his growing up wasn’t easy on her.

“I try. But you’ll always be my baby.” She patted his shoulder, and then pulled him into a hug.

“Maybe we should have invited Johnny to join us.” He wriggled free and settled back into the opposite end of the couch. The look he shot her made her wonder if maybe he wasn’t quite on board with them dating.

“Tonight is family night.”

“Yeah, but maybe you two will get married.” He gave her a glance and then focused on the last kernels of popcorn. “Then we’d all be a family.”

“Oh, Zach.” Her heart constricted at the idea. “Johnny and I have only recently reconnected. After a very long time apart. It’s almost like we have to start over, to get to know each other again.”

“So, why didn’t you have him come over? So you can get to know each other more?” He had enough sarcasm in his tone to irritate her, but not enough to send him to his room.

“Because.” She really didn’t have a reason. “Because I didn’t want to overwhelm you. You were pretty upset this morning.”

“That’s because I thought you were just hooking up. But I’m okay with you guys being…together. If you’re going to be going out and stuff. But if it’s just a booty call, then that’s just…gross.”

“A b-b-booty call? Where did you hear a term like that?” She was stunned to hear this kind of frank discussion from her little boy. Even though she’d often encouraged him, and told him that he could tell her anything.

“Ty. That’s what he calls it when his mom’s boyfriend shows up after they think Ty’s asleep.” Zach was too young to be having this conversation. Then again, kids his age were engaging in…she shuddered to think about what kinds of things.

“Well, you know that’s not what’s happening between me and Johnny.” Was it? They’d been on one date. They’d made love. But that didn’t necessarily mean they were going to have a future together.

“No. I know. Johnny told me his intentions are honorable.” Right, they’d talked. Man-to-man.

“So are mine.”

“Good.” Zach said. “I think you guys should get married, then.”

“Zach, there’s a long way between honorable intentions and getting married.”

“Oh, I know. But you already know each other. And it’s not like when you were in college. You know, when Johnny was worried about his career and stuff.”

“No. His career isn’t an issue.”

“Good. I know he might not stay here in San Francisco.” Zach had obviously given this a lot of thought. “But if he gets traded or signs somewhere else, we can just go with him.”

“You’d be okay with moving?” She’d been afraid to bring it up, even when she was considering going back to school. Maybe that was one of the reasons she couldn’t quite make the commitment to sending off her application.

“Sure, if there was a good reason to.” Zach leaned back against the couch. “And keeping the family together would be a good reason to.”

The way he said the word family put her mother’s intuition on alert. Did he have suspicions about Johnny? Was it that obvious to everyone but her?

“Well, Johnny’s career is only one thing to consider. I have my commitment to the foundation, and your grandparents.” Who might not really be his grandparents.

“Yeah, but I’m sure they’d understand.” He didn’t sound as convinced as he had earlier. “I mean, they’d want you to be happy. Right?”

“I believe they would want us to be happy.” For a change, she was the one ready to end the conversation before it got any deeper. “Oh, I love this scene.”

She reached for the remote to turn up the volume just in time for Princess Leia to lead them all into the garbage chute.

Fortunately, they wouldn’t have time to watch the next movie. The one in which Luke found out who his father was. Would Zach be as devastated to learn the truth?

Would Johnny?

12

Johnny picked up the phone. He dialed and took a deep breath to calm himself before he could speak.

“Hey, Johnny, what’s up?” Bryce Baxter answered on the second ring.

“Remember when you offered to take me out for a beer?” He needed to have this conversation in person. “I think you owe me one.”

“Sure. Whenever.” Bryce sounded far too relaxed on his end. Not at all like a guy who’d just betrayed his best friend. Wait, they weren’t friends. Not really. Bryce didn’t owe him any loyalty. Not off the field. “Name the time and place.”

“Fifteen minutes. That sports bar around the corner from the ballpark.” He’d walked by it on his way to and from the stadium. It looked like a low-key place during the offseason. They probably made most of their profits before and after games.

“See you there.” Bryce hung up. If he knew Johnny was pissed at him, he didn’t show it. But then, Bryce wasn’t the only one he was pissed with. He was just the only person he could deal with at the moment.

And he was the only person he could talk to.

“Everything alright?” Bryce beat him to the bar. He also lived within walking distance. “You look like hell. And not because you were out late with a certain lovely lady.”

“I never should have told you about Alice.” Johnny pulled up the barstool next to Bryce. “Then you couldn’t have told that reporter about her.”

“Oh shit.” Bryce caught the attention of the bartender, and indicated Johnny needed a drink. “I didn’t mean to spill anything. But she was so damn persuasive.”

Bryce made a little sound that told Johnny everything he needed to know about how she’d persuaded him.

“She used you.” Johnny almost felt sorry for him. Almost. “For a story.”

“Every woman I’ve ever been with has used me for something.” Bryce sounded so matter-of-fact about that admission. “But I was only trying to defend you. She had it in her head there was something not right with you and the kid. I had to set her straight.”

“Yeah? Well, you set her straight into my personal life.”

“Sorry. All I said was, you were the last person who would hurt a kid.” Bryce paid the bartender for Johnny’s beer. “I told her you were hanging around him because you used to have a thing for his mother.”

“She took that information and ran with it.” Johnny took a long pull on the frosty mug in front of him. “She went so far as to check the dates on Alice’s marriage license. And Zach’s birth certificate.”

“What? Why would she do that?” Bryce looked genuinely surprised. And not quite sure he wanted to hear what she’d found.

“I think he might be my kid.” Johnny took another long drink. He stared at the bottles lining the wall behind the bar. Not wanting to look at the other man. Not wanting to see his reaction. “All this time I was completely in the dark about it. Then some reporter gets a wild idea to follow up on something you said before, during or after you slept with her.”

“It was after.” Bryce sounded a little bit remorseful. “Shit, Johnny, I had no idea she’d go after you. I thought she’d drop it once she figured out there was no scandal.”

“No, just a different one.” Johnny stared at his now empty mug.

“Damn. What are you going to do?” Bryce asked. He sounded truly sorry now. No more bullshit. No more fun and games.

“I don’t know.” Johnny flagged the bartender. He could use another round and some calamari to go with it. “At least now I know you didn’t sell me out entirely.”

“Look, maybe I can talk to her.” Bryce swallowed the last of his beer. “I’ll use some of my persuasive skills to get her to keep this story to herself.”

“She’s a reporter.” Johnny laughed at the absurdity of it all. “She’s not going to keep the news that ‘The Monk’ has a love child to herself.”