Watching my dad interact with Murphy’s mom is surreal. They are both in their fifties but they’re acting like a couple of love-sick teenagers. Nobody seems to care, however, and I think Lexi is encouraging it, because every time Irene asks to help with the cooking, Lexi claims she’s got it all under control.
Murphy takes a break from helping Lexi and sits on the armrest of my chair. She leans over and whispers in my ear. “Do you know that yesterday, she asked me to ask you if your dad said anything about her?”
I laugh and smile, looking over at them. “It makes sense, you know? They both lost someone.”
“Yeah, but why now?” Murphy asks. “My dad has been gone for eleven years, Caden.”
“I don’t know, babe. God works in mysterious ways.”
Her face breaks into a slow grin at my use of the endearment. I pull her down onto my lap and kiss her forehead.
“You two are adorable, you know that, don’t you?” Mallory says.
“We all knew you’d end up together,” Charlie adds.
“I called it first!” Lexi shouts from the kitchen.
I look around at all of them, shaking my head. I turn to Sawyer. “See what happens when you hang out with a bunch of chicks?”
Lexi told me to invite anyone on the team who didn’t have a place to go. Most of the guys got invites of their own. All but Brady and Sawyer. And Brady doesn’t do ‘family shit.’
“Yeah, well, I hope it’s not contagious,” Sawyer says. “I’m perfectly fine the way I am.”
Murphy studies him for a minute. “Doesn’t it get old, Sawyer, having a new girl on your arm every night? And I mean that in the nicest possible way.”
He laughs. “Sure you do. But, that’s the point. It never gets old. No one gets bored. Nobody ever has expectations.” He looks out the window. “Nobody ever gets hurt.”
Damn. That is the most introspective thing I’ve ever heard come out of his mouth. I’ve had my suspicions over the years. The man’s been hurt. It makes perfect sense now, why he won’t ever take a girl out more than once. I knew his reasons weren’t the same as mine. Unlike me, he never gives a rat’s ass if girls are using him for what he is. Maybe he likes it that way. It protects him.
Man, if I ever can’t play ball. I should be a fucking psychiatrist. I’m good at this. I look at Murphy. Maybe she’s the reason I’m so good at reading people. Ever since I met her, I’ve felt more in tune with my emotions.
I practically dump her off my lap in search of my balls. “Who wants to do a shot of Wild Turkey?”
“I’m down,” Sawyer says.
“Pour me one!” Kyle calls from down the hallway where he’s changing Beth.
My dad takes a break from courting Irene and comes over to join us.
“Want one?” I ask, holding a shot out to him.
He holds up his hand, refusing it. “Never touch the stuff. Not for more than twenty years.”
I cock my head and stare, remembering something he told me the day we met in the bar. “You mean to tell me you hadn’t been in a bar in that long?”
He nods. “That’s what I’m saying. I’m a recovering addict, son. I’m not about to take any chances.”
I down the shot myself, realizing he called me son and I didn’t tell him not to. I look at him and see that he noticed the same.
He pats me on the back and I think we share a moment.
Scott comes up beside me. “I’ll try it,” he jokes.
We all laugh. “Come back in about nine years, kid,” I say, ruffling his hair.
“If we move here, are we going to live with you, Caden?” Scott asks.
“Well … uh …”
“No, son, we aren’t going to live with your brother. He’s a grown man with his own apartment. We’ll find a nice place of our own, one with good schools around.”
“Mallory can help you with that,” I say, loudly enough for her to hear. “She used to be a teacher here in the city. Now she travels a lot with Chad when he films on location, tutoring kids of the cast and crew.”
“I’ll get you a list of the best schools,” she says.
“I’d appreciate that,” my dad tells her. “Nothing’s set in stone yet, but I’m optimistic.”
Scott turns to Murphy. “Are you going to travel with Caden like Mallory travels with Chad?”
My little brother is not exactly indirect. If I’ve learned anything about him in the last few weeks it’s that he speaks his mind. And he’s a very curious twelve-year-old.
“Um, no, Scott. I have a job.” She looks over at me with sad eyes. I’m wondering if this is the first time she’s thought about it. We haven’t talked about what happens next. About what happens when I leave for spring training in February. About what happens when my life isn’t my own for well over half of every year.
“A darn good one, too,” her mom says. “Must pay well, because even before she got her promotion, she was able to pay off every single one of her medical bills.” She turns to Murphy with prideful eyes. “I’m proud of you.”
“What?” Murphy questions her mom with raised brows. “But I never even got a bill.”
“They came to me,” her mom says. “But they were marked as paid.”
Murphy’s unamused eyes snap to mine.
Shit. This is not exactly the right time to get into this.
She walks up to me and puts an angry finger on my chest. “You paid them, didn’t you?” When I don’t say anything, she shakes her head in irritation. “Caden, I told you not to do that. You did enough.”
“It was my fault, Murphy. It’s only right that I should pay for it.”
“It doesn’t matter. I asked you not to.”
I put my hands on her shoulders in an attempt to calm her down. “By the time you told me that, I had already paid. I guess I didn’t know what to say or how to tell you.”
She shrugs my hands off. “And you thought, what, that I’d be okay with it once you were sleeping with me?”
I glance over at Scott, who is trying not to laugh. “No. Of course not. I wasn’t even thinking about you that way back then.”
“Great. That makes things so much better,” she says, turning to walk away.
I follow her.
“Please don’t,” she begs. “I just need a minute.”
She walks into the kitchen, leaving me a confused, guilty, stupid son-of-a-bitch.