Page 84 of Despite It All
“I wanna go to the zoo!” Stevie shuffles in her chair to get on her knees and turns to Wyla. “Please, please, please. I wanna go to the zoo.”
Wyla combs some of her blonde curls back. “First of all, sit on your bottom. Second, of course you can go, but you have to eat your breakfast first.”
“Okay,” Stevie half mumbles, and sits back down. “Are you coming with us?”
I hadn’t talked to Wyla about this yet but us going to the zoo wasn’t exactly what I had in mind for us. “No, Nana asked for only you today.”
“But what are you and Mommy going to do?”
I should have known she’d have more questions.
Wyla reaches for a strawberry and pops it in her mouth. “Yeah, Daddy, what are we doing today?”
I should have known she’d make a daddy joke.
I rest my arms on the counter across from them. “I’m going to take Mommy on a date.”
Wyla bites at her bottom lip to contain one of her smiles. That’s not gonna work for me.
“What’s a date?” Stevie asks.
“A date is where a person who likes another person takes them out for something they can do together and spend quality time with them.”
Stevie’s head tilts like it always does when she’s processing her words. “Does that mean you like Mommy?”
“Stevie, I like your mom so much more than she even knows.” I turn to Wyla. “Will you go on a date with me, Wy?”
She lets her bottom lip go and her beautiful smile graces her face. “I’d love to.”
My mom comes and picks Stevie up around eleven which leaves me and Wyla a good two hours to get some lunch at this cool restaurant in town. Even though our game starts at six, I’ll have to be at the clubhouse by one at the latest, which really doesn’t give us a ton of time.
Dinner dates are pretty much not possible with my game schedule, which I hate, but damn, I want to take my girl somewhere.
“Okay, you ready?” Wyla asks as she walks out of the bathroom in a pale orange dress. Her short hair is loosely curled and she’s putting in some gold earrings.
“Jett?” Wyla laughs because I haven’t answered her original question because I’m too busy trying to find the breath she knocked out of me.
I stand up off our bed, making it to her in two strides. My arms go around her waist, pulling her to me. “You’re so fucking beautiful.”
That smile starts to show, and I lean in. Our kiss barely starts before my fucking phone starts to ring.
I want to ignore it, I really do, but then Wyla says what I’m thinking. “You have to make sure it’s not your mom with something for Stevie.”
I pull out my phone from my pocket and Coach Andrews name flashes on the screen. As much as I want to ignore his call, I know it can’t.
I click the button to answer. “Hello?”
“Hey, Jett. I know you got your family here but we’re going to have you pitch a couple innings this game. So, Nick wants to see you at twelve then we’ll do warm ups after.”
My face tenses, and I know Wyla must be able to hear him too because she mouths “it’s okay.” But it’s not, I want to spend time with her and show her that she’s important too.
Well, fuck. Can I really push my luck and say no? Probably not… I’m going to try anyway. “Wyla and I were actually going to grab some lunch—”
“Listen, pick up some food that is actually on your meal plan and bring her.”
That works too.
“Alright, be there in half an hour.” I hang up the phone before he changes his mind.
