Page 102 of Despite It All
After about half an hour, Poppy’s exhausted, but Stevie’s still a live wire. I leash Pops back up and we walk over to the kids’ playground.
“Mommy, look! Kate’s here,” Stevie squeals.
I want to say Kate is in her tumbling class, possibly. I glance around the park and notice Stacy, one of the moms. Okay, tumbling was right.
As we reach their bench the girls scream and bounce up and down, begging to go play together.
“Mind if I join you?” I ask as the girls race to the playground.
“Please.” Stacy gestures for me to sit.
Another thing I didn’t realize when I got pregnant was all the parent politics that go along with doing any event or class. You thought making friends was hard in high school,try making friends with moms—I’ve never second guessed myself more.
“I think Meredith is coming with Amelia soon, but I’m sure we’ll hear the girly screams when she does.” She laughs. “Is Stevie coming back to tumbling tomorrow?”
“She is, but it will be our last week actually.” This will be fun. Let’s see what kind of reaction this one gets me. “Stevie and I are going to be moving to Seattle with Jett at the end of this week.”
“Oh, wow…” Stacy doesn’t continue because those girlish screams start as Amelia joins them on the playground.
“Well, look who's here, Wyla and…” Meredith looks down at Poppy like she’s confused for some unknown reason. “Her dog.”
Fake smile, Wyla, always remember to fake smile.
“Hi, Meredith, nice to see you.”
I scoot to the side, letting her join us on the bench, but she holds out her hand. “Oh, that’s okay. Daniel came with me and we both won’t fit there. Is Jett not coming?”
“He’s actually—” I really want to throw the fact that Jett’s pitching in a major league game right now, but Meredith's husband comes up and interrupts me.
“Okay, all the girls got a popsicle, but if anyone else wants one…” He sets the box down next to me and I can’t help but notice a certain flavor.
I pick it up slowly, reading the listed flavors five times. “Did Stevie get one?”
“Yeah.” He furrows his eyebrows.
“Which flavor did she get? Did you give her a peach one?”
He shrugs. “I don't know, I just handed her one.”
As I hear his words, my heart starts to beat out of my chest. Maybe she got literally any other flavor.
Poppy starts to bark, pulling at her leash so hard I let go and she races off… to Stevie… who's laying on the ground.
Chapter 35
With this post game high, the locker room is practically a madhouse. I can’t say why Will intentionally hit the third baseman while pitching in last night’s game, but with how fucking great I pitched today, I’m not mad about it.
I finally feel like I’m back to where I was before this fucking injury. I dig for my phone in my bag wanting to text Wyla right away. I usually hide my phone in my bag in the dugout but it totally slipped my mind this game.
Adam walks up and claps my back. “Dude, you threw great today.”
“Thanks, it felt great.” I reply as I finally find my phone at the bottom of my bag.
I click it on and my heart drops. Six missed calls from Wyla, four from Anna, three from my mom, and one from Wyla’s dad. Fuck.
I have two voicemails from Wyla, I click on her first one but it’s too damn loud in here. “Hey! Everybody shut the fuck up for a second.”
Tension instantly switches, and I can feel everyone watching me. I hold my phone up to my ear to listen. “Jett, I know you're at a game, but I need you to call me back.” I can hear the fear in her voice and I know she’s crying. “Stevie had an allergic reaction and I had to meet the ambulance on the highway.” She breaks down even more. “We’re at the hospital now. I need you, please call me back. Please.”
