15
Wes
I made sure to set the alarm for myself so I would get up early in the morning. I wanted to start getting myself into more of a routine, even if it was a Saturday morning, in case this was going to be my life for a few weeks more, or even longer. The home service had come and brought food to stock the fridge for me, and I made sure to get up at around 6:30 so I could get in an early morning workout. I needed to make sure I stayed in the best shape possible in case I got the call from another team. I didn’t relish the idea of having to go to the minors for a few weeks to get myself in playing condition, but that could happen if the delays went on much longer.
After my workout and shower, I put on a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt and threw one of my plaid button down shirts on over it. I put on my favorite boots, a pair I had picked up years ago when we were in Texas, grabbed my leather jacket, and then took a leisurely walk down the road to my parent's house.
I knew at the very least that my father would be awake since he got up early to tend to the horses. Mom might still be asleep, depending on the kind of night she had, and I figured there was no way Izzy was awake this early on the weekend. If she didn’t have to get up to go to school, she was probably up late talking to her friends and thus would end up sleeping late.
Sure enough, when I opened the front door, I could smell the familiar aroma of a fresh pot of coffee brewing in the kitchen. I walked over into the kitchen and saw Dad there, already dressed for the day and looking like he had already been out to the stables to do some work.
“Good morning,” he said as he spied me out of the corner of his eye. “Want some coffee?”
“That would be great, thanks, Dad,” I answered as I sat down at the table. Dad brought a mug over to me and then sat down in his chair at the table.
“Mom and Izzy still asleep?” I asked. I could smell the dark roast of the coffee as I brought the mug up to my lips.
“Yes,” Dad replied, sipping his own coffee. “Your mother was up and down a bit last night, so I think she’s sleeping in this morning. Izzy… well, I’m not sure how late she was up last night, but it was long after I went to bed.”
I took another slow sip of the coffee. “Honestly, Dad… how’s Mom doing?” I had been worried about her since before I got home and needed to know what was going on for my own peace of mind.
“Honestly?” Dad took another sip and put his mug down. “She’s doing a lot better than I thought she would. After the doctor told us about cancer coming back, I was pretty worried. I was preparing myself for the worst, and I thought your Mother would too. Thank God she’s stronger than I am with stuff like this. She’s approached this fight as tough as the last time, and the new treatment she is on seems to really be helping her. It takes a lot out of her, but she’s bouncing back pretty well, and the doctors are hopeful.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” I said, feeling some relief. “You know if Mom needs anything, you should tell me. I know some people, and with some of the charity work I did in Pittsburgh, we can get her the best help…”
“Wes,” Dad interrupted, “I know you can do all those things. Trust me, if we needed the help, I would have asked you already. I think the doctors here are doing fine with her.”
“I’m just checking is all, Dad.”
“I know, and I appreciate your concern, Wes. Your mother is a lot tougher than you think.” Dad put his coffee mug down on the table. “Now on to more important issues. How was your date last night?”
“It went really well,” I told him, feeling proud of myself. “We had a nice time and got to know each other a bit. Kristin’s fantastic.”
“I guess she made quite an impression on you,” Dad said to me.
“She sure did. I think I am going to call her today and see if she wants to do something, maybe something with Izzy and me.”
“What about you and Izzy?” I heard a groggy voice state. There was Izzy, standing in her pajamas, wiping her eyes.
“What are you doing awake this early?” I asked with surprise.
“I get up before this time every day of the week, Dad,” she said to me. “I heard you out here and wanted to come and see you.” She came over and gave me a peck on the cheek and then walked to the refrigerator and grabbed the container of orange juice. After pouring herself a glass, she came back over and sat next to me. “So the date with Ms. Arthur went well?” she asked me.
“Yes, it did, honey. We had a very nice time,” I answered as I watched Izzy drain her glass of orange juice in one fell swoop.
“So what is it you were talking about for today?” Izzy asked me as she put her glass down.
“I thought maybe you and I and Kristin could do something together. Maybe we can catch a movie or take a ride down to the mall.”
“I would love to Dad, I really would,” she replied, looking down and taking her phone out of pajama pocket, “but Amy invited me over to her place this morning. A bunch of us are getting together to hang out all day, play music, walk around town, you know, teenager stuff. Is that okay?”
I thought about it for a second before I answered. I wanted to get some time with Izzy, time that we almost never get together, but I also promised her that I wasn’t going to disrupt her routine while I was here.
“It’s fine, Izzy,” I said with a smile. I think she could see I was a little disappointed.
“Let’s do something tomorrow, just you and me,” Izzy said as she came over and put her arms around my neck.
“Okay, that sounds good. Think about what you might want to do, and we’ll do it, your choice,” I told Izzy.
“Great! Thanks, Dad! I am going to go take a shower and get dressed. Do you think you could give me a ride down to town? We’re all going to meet at the diner for breakfast first.”
“Sure,” I replied. “Just let me know when you are ready.”
Izzy ran off down the hall, and I turned to face Dad.
“That’s pretty much how weekends go around here, Wes,” Dad said to me. “She’s quite the social butterfly this year; it’s nice to see that she has a good group of friends. They’re all pretty good kids. I just wish one of them would get their license, so I didn’t have to drive them all over the place.”
Dad got up to pour himself some more coffee and asked if I wanted another cup. I declined.
“So what are you going to do with Ms. Arthur today then?” Dad asked as he poured the coffee.
I thought for a moment, and then an idea came over me.
“I think I just came up with a great idea for today since the weather is supposed to be nice. How’s the area around the pond looking right now?”
“It looked pretty good when I was out that way yesterday,” Dad said as he sat back down. “The ground is dry, maybe a little firm. That pond water will be ice cold though,” he said to me.
“I wasn’t thinking about going swimming there, Dad,” I said seriously, though when I looked over at him, I could see he was smiling, and I had missed the joke. There was a nice area on the farm where there was a natural pond. Once I had started making some money, we fixed the area up, cleared around it, cleaned it, and worked on the pond to make it a nice area ideal for outdoor parties or just as a secluded place to get away. I thought it would be a great spot to bring Kristin.
I looked at my watch and saw it was still perhaps too early to reach out to Kristin on the weekend, but perhaps by the time I dropped Izzy off, I could have everything in place for a nice afternoon. It wasn’t long before Izzy was out of the shower and dressed, her backpack in tow, ready to head out to meet her girlfriends.
“All set?” I said to her as she walked through the door. I could see that she had pulled her long brown hair back and put some makeup on. She was dressed in a simple purple t-shirt with a pair of jeans and had her favorite black sweatshirt tied around her waist. As I looked at her, she suddenly looked very grown up to me, even more than when I had left here just six weeks ago to go to spring training.
“Dad? Are you paying attention?” Izzy said to me. I must have zoned out a bit and shook my head to bring me back to reality.
“I’m fine,” I told her as I stood up from the table. “Let’s go.”
“See you later Grandpa,” Izzy said as she headed out the door.
“Have fun Izzy,” Dad said, picking up his newspaper. “I’ll see you later, Wes.”
I waved to Dad as I followed Izzy out the door.
“Where’s your car?” Izzy said to me, looking around.
“It’s up at the house,” I said, pointing up the hill.
“Why didn’t you drive down?” she said to me, looking surprised and disappointed.
“Because we live 100 yards away and I wanted the exercise,” I told her.
“But now we have to walk up the hill,” she whined.
“Or we can run up the hill,” I said to her and quickly ran over to her and grabbed her hand, trying to make her run up the hill with me. She got about twenty yards and let go of my hand.
“I’m not running,” she said to me.
“Okay,” I told her, “but if you beat me up the hill, I’ll let you drive the SUV down to the end of the road.”
“Really?” she said, suddenly taking an interest. Izzy had been driving Dad’s truck around the farm for a year or so for practice, so I knew she could handle it, but I had never let her drive one of my cars before.
“Yep,” I said to her. “But I’m pretty confident I won’t lose, so don’t get your hopes up.”
Izzy walked over to me and smiled. She then dropped her backpack on the side of the road and started sprinting up the hill. She was ten yards ahead of me before I could even get started.
Even though I think of myself in really good shape, I was no match for her. Izzy had long, strong legs and a runner’s frame, much like my Dad’s. Running up the hill was a lot more of a challenge than I thought it would be. I came close to her, but she beat me.
We were both a little out of breath when we reached the car.
“When did you get so fast?” I said to her, still a bit surprised about her ability.
“I forgot to tell you I’ve been working out too,” she said to me. “I’m running spring track this year at school.”
“Well if I knew you were cheating…” I said as I caught my breath.
“I didn’t cheat!” she shouted. “You’re just too old to keep up,” she said with a smile. I grinned back at her and tossed her the keys.
“Take it slow,” I warned as I got in the passenger’s seat.
Izzy excitedly got behind the wheel and dutifully clicked her seatbelt on first. She then adjusted the mirrors so she could see better and pressed the ignition button to start the car. She inched slowly at first to get the car going, and then more confidently began to work down the road. She stopped a bit abruptly so I could reach out and grab her backpack, and then started up once again to complete her drive. We reached the end of the road leading out onto Route 5 when she put the car in park.
“Can I take it down Route 5?” she asked sweetly.
“No way,” I said to her.
“Come on, Dad. There’s no traffic on the road,” she said as she looked around.
“Izzy, it’s not happening. You’re not sixteen, and you don’t even have a permit.”
Izzy begrudgingly got out and walked around to the passenger’s side of the SUV while I slid over to the driver’s seat. She climbed in and closed the door, grinning an accomplished smile. I drove off and could see she was still smiling.
In minutes I pulled up and parked in front of the diner. I could see Izzy’s friend Amy standing outside waiting for her along with two other girls that I did not know. There were also two boys in the group waiting for them.
“Whoa,” I said to her. “You didn’t say anything about boys being here.”
“Oh stop Dad,” Izzy said to me. “It’s Scott and Bradley. They are both in a bunch of my classes. It’s no big deal.”
“it’s a big deal to me,” I said, looking out at the boys as they looked back into the SUV, wondering why it was taking Izzy so long to come out.
“Dad, don’t embarrass me in front of my friends,” Izzy pleaded.
“Fine, go ahead,” I said to her. “Do you need any money?”
“Are you offering?” she asked me. I reached into my wallet and took out two twenty dollar bills and handed them to her.
“I thought Grandpa paid you each week to do chores on the farm?” I asked her.
“He does,” she said as she gave me a kiss on the cheek and got out of the car. “See you later, Dad!”
After realizing I had been bamboozled twice this morning by a fifteen-year-old, all I could do was smile as I watched Izzy go into the diner with her friends. She was at the back of the group and waited to go in until one of the boys motioned for her to go in just before him. She did and gave him a shy smile as she went in.
One more thing to worry about, I told myself as I sighed.
I took the opportunity while I was parked to pick up my phone and give Kristin a call. I waited nervously as the phone rang a couple of times before she answered.
“Hello?” I heard her soft, Southern voice answer.
“Hi, Kristin. It’s Wes. I hope I didn’t wake you.” I said to her.
“Who is this?” she asked, sounding confused.
“Wes… Wes Martin,” I said to her. “We… we had dinner last night.”
I heard her start laughing. “I knew it was you, Wes,” she said with her laugh. “I was just messing with you.”
Great, it must be pick-on-the-old-guy Day today, I thought.
“It’s nice to hear from you this morning,” Kristin said to me sweetly.
“I… I was just wondering if you wanted to get together today,” I said to her.
“Sure,” she said to me. “What did you have in mind?”
“Well, it’s kind of a surprise,” I said to her. “Can you be ready in about an hour?”
“Ooh, a mystery date,” she said with some intrigue in her voice. “I like the way that sounds. Yes, I can be ready in an hour,” she told me. “Should I meet you somewhere?”
“Nope,” I answered. “I’ll pick you up; Just make sure you wear something comfortable.”
“Comfortable, got it,” she said to me. “See you in an hour.” I heard her hang up the phone.
I climbed out of the SUV and walked over to Wally’s to pick up a few things. I slowly began to map out just what I wanted to get today and how I hoped it would go.
Let’s see if you still know how to romance a girl, Wes, I told myself as I set out to do some shopping.