9. Jett

Chapter 9

I pull into the parking lot of the rundown gym in town for the second time today to watch Stevie in her tumbling class. I was shocked when Wyla told me her class was here but she said there's a multipurpose room in the back the owner rents out for extra income.

My first time here was this morning to double my workout and try to get Wyla out of my system. That was a big fat fail there. Our unfinished conversation from yesterday has replayed in my mind nonstop.

I've thought of countless other ways I should have responded to her, but it's perfectly clear to me now that I've got a fight on my hands. Wyla may not think she's worth it, but I've wanted her for years, and she's not slipping away from me again that easily .

Heading straight back, I open the door and the most beautiful woman stands on the other side talking to some other women. "Hey, Wy," I say, coming up beside her.

"Hey," she replies, turning to me briefly. She rocks on her feet and shoves her hand in the pockets on her work scrubs. "Uh, everyone this is Jett. Jett, this is Stacy, Lyla, and Meredith. Their daughters are in this class as well."

The moms all take a moment to look me up and down. Subtle.

"So, Jett, how do you know Wyla?" the one that I think was named Stacy asks.

I glance down at Wyla, unsure if she wants to take this one or me. She shuffles on her feet again. "Jett is Stevie's dad."

There's a beat of silence in the group then they recover. "Stevie's dad?" the red head, named Meredith asks. "I thought you didn't know who he was?" Her tone is accusatory, and I don't like it at all.

"She didn't. It's a long story, but I'm here now." I place my hand on the back of Wyla's shoulder and squeeze, I know she's fighting the urge to shrink into the floor.

"Hmm, how convenient for her," Meredith mumbles under her breath to Stacy next to her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that?"

"Jett," Wyla warns, quietly .

Meredith smiles, condescending. "Just saying, we're happy she found you."

Mm-hmm .

"Yeah, me too." I wink at Wyla, then wrap my hand around her arm to tug her away, finished with this conversation. "If you guys will excuse us."

"You're going make me the talk of their PTA meetings," Wyla says as she walks away with me.

I laugh. "Could I join? I think I could talk about you for a couple hours."

Wyla bites back a smile. "Don't flirt with me, Jett."

"Mmm, no can do." I take a step closer. "See, I've thought a lot about what you said yesterday. Yeah, we need to be Stevie's parents first, but you are mistaken if you think I'm letting you slip away from me again."

"Jett," Wyla whispers another warning, but I keep going.

"I've thought about you for five years. You weren't just a one-night stand to me, Wy, and I'm going to prove that to you."

Wyla looks up at me with so much fear in her eyes. I'll do whatever it takes to take her fear away, but for now it's on pause because a certain blonde little girl bounces in the door .

"Mommy! Daddy!" Stevie squeals and races toward us. She's got on a pink leotard with neon green leggings under them and her hair pulled up in uneven pigtails.

Wyla captures her in a hug. "Hey, little girl. I see Papaw got you ready for class today." Wyla tugs at one of the ties and redoes one side to match the other.

"Hey, I thought I did a good job," an older man says, walking up to us. I'd say he's probably in his late fifties, with salt and pepper hair. I'm assuming this is Wyla's dad, and suddenly my hands are sweating. I bet this man fucking hates me.

Wyla stands back up after fixing Stevie's hair. "Dad, this is Jett. Jett, this is my dad, Griffin."

"Mr. Bennett," he corrects. Yup, off to a great start.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Bennett." I hold out my hand for a shake but he doesn't return it. Cool, so it gets worse.

Awkward tension fills the air as Wyla's dad stares me down. Fuck, I think I'm sweating everywhere now.

Wyla shuffles in between us. "Okay, Stevie, class is starting. Go on out to Ms. Hailey. We'll watch you from the bleachers, okay?"

"All of you?" Stevie asks, while bouncing up and down.

"Yes, baby. All of us." Wyla glances at her dad with a look that says cut it out now.

"Yay!" She gives each of us a quick hug then runs to the middle of the mat with the other girls.

"Dad, be nice." Wyla chastises as she turns to walk to the bleachers on the opposite end of the room. He only huffs in a response. Great. This is going great.

I walk in Anna's house, tossing the keys on her kitchen table. Looks like my plans to win Wyla over will now be extending to her dad too. He didn't speak a word to me the entire time we were at the gym. If I tried saying anything even if I said it to Wyla, he'd grunt or huff in irritation.

Part of me gets it. He's watched his daughter do everything herself. I know I've been a father for two whole days, but I couldn't imagine Anna being put in the position to be a mom and shoulder that responsibility all by herself.

Not to mention, I'm leaving at the end of these two weeks. Of course, I'll be back every second I get, but baseball is my career. It's how I'll be able to give Wy and Stevie everything they could possibly dream of.

I'm sure to Wyla's dad it seems like I'm skipping out on them. They could come back to Seattle with me, that would make seeing them a hell a lot easier. But convincing Wyla of that seems downright impossible at this point. I run my hands over my face.

"Hey, bro, how was Stevie's tumbling class?" Anna walks in with her laptop and sits down at the table.

"Besides getting the third degree from Wyla's dad? Good. I took a shit ton of pictures of her doing absolutely nothing. Is that normal?"

Anna laughs. "Yeah, she's adorable. Your whole camera roll is about to be that blondie."

Yeah, her and her mom if she would just give me a chance.

"So, I know you said you already got one dose of a cold shoulder today, but… Mom and Dad are wanting to FaceTime us," Anna says sheepishly.

Fucking hell. "Would you cover for your loving brother and say I'm at the gym?"

Anna gives me a pointed look. "J, you have to tell them. They'll be shocked, but it's going to be fine."

"I'm going to get a speech. You know I will."

My dad lives for fucking speeches. Oh no, is it a dad thing? Am I going to start giving speeches to Stevie? Fuck, I probably will.

"You're thirty-four Jett, put your big boy pants on. You're a dad now, time to tell your parents they're old. "

I sigh. "You better have my back during this call. I mean it, I'm cashing in one of my back-up calls." When Anna was seventeen, she loved to take Dad's Jeep out for little joy rides. One time she took it mudding and scratched the fuck out of on some bushes. She begged me to take the blame, as Dad already threatened to not let her go to prom if she didn't stop. I told her I would but she owed me fifteen favors. I've only cashed in eight over the past ten years, I use them sparingly but today is one of those days.

Anna rolls her eyes. "Obviously. I was going to back you up anyway but I'll gladly take this off my tab."

I take the seat next to her. "Alright, let's get this over with."

Anna clicks on Mom's contact to FaceTime her. It rings a few times, but then both of our parents show up on the screen.

"Oh, hey guys. Sorry, I get all tripped up when your father makes us do it on the computer," Mom says.

"I want them to see us both." Dad adjusts the camera angle so they are centered.

"We can see you both fine, Dad," Anna says, knowing he'll fidget with it for another five minutes if she doesn't.

Mom squeals. "Oh, look at you two! I'm so happy you guys are getting to spend some time together. Tell me what you guys have been up to. Jett, do you like Aster Creek? How's your shoulder? You aren't overdoing it are you? I was worried that—"

"Mom," I cut her off before she can get the next five questions off. "My shoulder is good, I'm not overdoing it, I promise."

"Good, and Aster Creek? What do you think? I just love that town." Mom beams. She went to the college the next city over and completely fell in love with Aster Creek. She talked about this place so much growing up, when it came time for Anna to decide where she wanted to go to college, she decided on Mom's alma mater and didn't want to leave.

"Yeah, it's great. Great town, um, yeah." Shit here we go. "Um, well…" Rip the Band-Aid, like Wyla did, just say it. "I have some news."

"Oh," Mom says with excitement. "Good news?"

"I think this qualifies more as life-changing news." I don't think finding Wyla with my daughter could ever be seen as bad news in my eyes, but this is about to be quite the shock. "I have a daughter… she just turned four last week."

My parents stare at me blankly, then Mom starts to her nervous laughter that she does when she doesn't know what to do. "Ha, huh, um, this has to be a joke right? You don't have a daughter. I would think you would tell your loving parents of their grandchild."

Dad doesn't laugh. "Jett, come on. Seriously, that's not funny."

"He's not joking, Dad," Anna says quietly.

"Explain now," Dad demands.

I hit the highlights, met Wyla in Nashville… things progressed—clearly. We didn't exchange information, so neither of us knew of a way to contact each other. Then fast forward five years and I show up randomly at her fourth birthday party.

"Okay…" Mom starts slowly. "A daughter, you're sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure, her name is Stevie. I know this is a lot to—"

"Pah!" Mom exasperates.

"Listen, no one was more shocked than me. I can assure you."

My dad sighs heavily, while Mom's jaw is still practically on the floor. "I'm calling our family lawyer," Dad finally says.

"That's not necessary, Wyla and I can handle this like adults."

Dad scoffs. "Adults? Seriously, I figured after twenty-two you were smart enough to use condoms, but no. Damn it, Jett, how do you even know this girl is a good mother to your child?"

I open my mouth ready for several curse words to come flying out, but Anna takes over. "Dad, Wyla is a wonderful mother. I know her and her family very well."

"You knew she was Jett's and didn't say anything?" Mom burst out.

"No, I didn't know. Wyla didn't know, no one knew any connection at all. I assure you, Wyla is an excellent mother and had she known that Jett's my brother, she would have most certainly said something. I know this is unfair, but I've been able to watch Stevie grow up. She's wanted for nothing and Wyla gives that child a hundred and ten percent every day. Now, none of us can change what happened, so we are all going to suck it up and be happy to have both her and Wyla in our lives because Stevie already has some pretty great family, and I don't want to be the aunt she only sees on holidays."

Anna's speech seems to snap them out of their shock. Or well, it snaps Mom out at least, Dad is still a little standoffish about the situation. We stay on the call for a bit. I tell her about the past two days at the track and tumbling class, and I send some of the pictures of Stevie to them both.

"Oh, Jett, she looks just like you," Mom cries .

"Really? I think she looks more like Anna." I look at the picture of Stevie cheesing in the flower field from yesterday.

"Well, yeah, but that's only because your sister looked exactly like you as a baby. The only real kicker is the freckles. She's got Anna's freckles and I'm guessing her mom's dimples." I smile at that thought—those dimples came from her mom, for sure. "But the rest is all you. I'll have to dig out some of your baby pictures to show you when you come in. Oh, Jett, please bring Wyla and Stevie with you, please."

At first I want to say no but really, I want my parents to meet Stevie… and Wyla. I want to bring them with me. The thought of three days I would have to be without them makes my chest hurt. "I'll talk to Wyla, see what we can work out."

"Thank you," Mom says, and Dad nods as he's looking at the pictures on his phone.

After talking to our parents a few minutes longer, we say our goodbyes and Anna shuts her computer. "See, that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"No." I rock into her, pushing her over. "Thanks for having my back."

"You're welcome. I'm still wrapping my mind around it. I'm her aunt. I've felt like one of her aunts for years really but knowing I am legitimately her aunt feels good."

Anna pauses then gives me a half smile. "I'm sorry I got to see her grow up and you didn't. Kind of feels a bit like my fault for not actually calling you by your name at least once."

While I can't say that I wish she had used my name, I know the time lost is not her fault.

"Don't beat yourself up, Banana." I hook my arm around her shoulder. "Everything works out the way it's supposed to."