Page 38 of Walk Off

“I’m excited to meet her too.” Where was Celia? Why wasn’t she there to meet him?

“Hey, Jazz!” Ruby shouted. “He’s here.” She turned back to face him. “I’m not sure what you want her to call you or what she feels comfortable calling you. Celia said I should leave it up to you two to decide on your own.”

Before he could ask where Celia was, an energetic girl bounced into the room. “You’re my dad.”

She said it so matter-of-factly that he couldn’t help but smile. “I am.” He knelt down to be face-to-face with her. She was smiling, and in her eyes, he saw the same inquisitiveness that he’d seen a million times in Celia’s. Staring at her, he saw that the pictures didn’t lie and she did indeed have the same nose as he had. The same one that had been passed down from his deadbeat dad to him. “You can call me Kyle, if you want.”

“Kyle,” she tried it out. “I like it.” Her small delicate voice calmed his racing heart. “And you can call me Jasmine. Although sometimes Mom or Aunt Ruby call me Jazz. You can call me that too.”

He couldn’t contain his smile. “Let’s start with Jasmine.”

“If you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen getting some work done,” Ruby said, and then she backed out of the small living area over to the kitchen.

“What should we do, Jasmine?” He had no clue what to do with a kid, but he could figure it out.

“I have a whole bunch of Legos in my room. Do you want to help me build something?”

Legos, he could definitely help with that. “I would love to do that.” He stood. “Lead the way.” He followed her to her room as she bounced the same way she’d come in. In her room, he saw the floor covered with Legos. They were everywhere, and from the looks of it, she had a whole town.

He was impressed. “Did you do all this?”

“Mom helped some.”

He was starting to think that maybe he was out of his league when it came to playing with Legos. He thought she’d meant to build a few things but he’d never imagined this. “I’m not sure how much help I’m going to be. You might have to teach me.”

She laughed. “That’s okay. I had to teach Mom too. Only Shane is good at it.”

Shane, as in Shane Bradley, helped his daughter build Legos. The man was a billionaire. He had a hard time picturing him sitting on the floor in his three-piece suit building Legos. “Does he come over a lot?” He sat down as she started working on a house next to him.

“Only if him and Allana babysit me. He’s much better than Dallas. Dallas just likes to destroy things.”

They worked in silence for a few minutes until she asked. “Mom says she’s the reason you weren’t around my whole life. She seems sad about it. Are you sad about it?” She continued to work, never taking her eyes off the blocks.

What a question. “I am sad. I wish I had been around when you were a baby so I could have seen you grow up.”

“Are you mad at Mommy?” This time she did look at him, a little sadness in her eyes. She was concerned about her mom, that much was evident.

Oh, how he wished he had the answer to that. “I don’t know. If I had known about you, nothing would have stopped me from being in your life. I want you to know that.”

She nodded, but went back to work. “Mom told me that. She said you are the best person and that I wasn’t allowed to be mad at you for not being here.”

His heart was breaking at her words. No matter what he thought of Celia, it was obvious she’d done her best to raise Jasmine as smart and kind. That was more than his parents had ever done. They worked on Legos together for another hour while they talked about all kinds of things. She told him about school, and her best friends Kayla and Cammy. He told her about baseball and some of the funny things the guys on the team did.

The best part of the day was when she hugged him and said she couldn’t wait to see him again. He walked out of her room in a daze. One hug from a pint-sized beauty and he was mush. He was never going to be the same again.

“She's good at that,” Ruby said, bringing him out of his daze.

“At what?”

“Wrapping everyone around her little finger. Dallas can’t say no to her at all.”

“She seems so grown up, so advanced. Granted, I have no reference for what a seven-year-old is supposed to be like.”

“She’s had to grow up quickly. It was just the three of us for so long. Celia, Jasmine, and me. We lived in a two-bedroom apartment in South Carolina and we took turns watching her. I worked my job during the day and Celia took online classes. At night, she worked and took any classes she couldn't do online. When we moved here, things got a lot better. Although, other than babysitting, Celia refuses to let Dallas and me help.”

The image Ruby painted had him sick to his stomach. Had they wanted for things? Was there enough money? Did they go hungry? If only he’d been there. He could have helped. He would give every last penny to make sure they never wanted or needed for anything ever again.

“Where is Celia?” he asked. “Why wasn’t she here?”

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