26. Wyla

Chapter 26

My pro and con list for moving to Seattle is starting to feel a bit uneven. The newest addition to the pro-list is Jett's ass in baseball pants. Scratch that, it's number one on the list. Good lord, I may be pregnant again.

Jett stands at home plate with Stevie teaching her how to stand and helping her hold the bat while Adam stands in between the pitcher's mound and home with a ball in hand.

"Alright, Stevie, you ready?"

"Yes!" she cheers.

Jett nods to Adam, and he tosses underhanded to her. When the ball gets to them, Jett practically swings the bat for her because she can't stop giggling.

This is definitely going on the pro-list. Stevie has been so happy having Jett back. It makes me think of how much I love my dad and I want Stevie to have that relationship too.

But leaving my family? My sisters? Coming here completely across the country essentially by myself is fucking scary.

I know I'll have Jett, and man, does he make it seem worth it, but I've made a lot of sacrifices in the last five years… is it so bad for me to want to be the one who is sacrificed for?

Jett takes the bat from Stevie and gives her a little nudge to first base. "Run, Stevie, run to first."

Stevie takes off as fast as she can, all while wearing a huge smile on her face. She jumps on to first base and pumps her little fists in the air while jumping up and down. "I did it!"

"That's my girl!" Jett runs up to her and lifts her in the air.

Definitely pregnant again, my word.

Adam makes his way over to the side by me. "Well, I think you've got a future player on your hands."

I chuckle. "I assure you her athletic ability didn't come from me."

"Hey, I forgot my glove in the locker room. Tell Jett I'll be right back."

"You got it." I toss back to him as he makes his way across the field .

I continue to marvel at Jett running the rest of the bases with Stevie. I don't know how much more my ovaries can take.

"Mommy! Mommy, I did a homerun!"

I turn to her and cheer, "Good job, baby!"

Stevie jumps on home plate while Jett beams down at her. Gah, my heart wants to explode.

"That was so awesome, Stevie."

"Daddy ran with me but I was faster." She snickers.

"You wanna know why?" I kneel in front of her and she nods her head eagerly. "It's because your dad is old."

"Okay! That's it!" Jett scoops me up then wraps his arms around me, pulling me to his chest.

I turn my head to look up at him and his deep blue eyes have this mischievous glint in them. "Stevie, want to see me race Mommy?"

"No!"

"Yes!" Stevie shouts louder.

Jett turns us to face first base. "Come on, Wy. You heard her, she wants to see her parents race."

"No way. I'm not—"

"Well, if this isn't a sight to see." Another new voice comes from behind us.

Jett turns us back around. I can't help but love that he doesn't mind showing affection while we're here .

"Hey," Jett greets an older man walking up to us. I'm not entirely sure if he is a player or coach, possibly. He doesn't have on the pants so my gut is saying coach.

Jett steps to the side of me and holds out a hand for Stevie to come over to him. "Stevie, this is one of my coaches, Blake Andrews."

Blake squats down in front of Stevie and smiles. "Hi, Stevie. I've heard so much about you from your dad. I know he's so happy you're here."

Stevie glances up at Jett with such adoration. "I'm happy I'm here too, but I miss Poppy."

"Oh, who's Poppy?" he asks her.

"Poppy is my doggy. I told her we were going to work with daddy like he did when I was a baby but we'd be back."

Ow. I think Jett and I both feel the pain from that one. Blake glances at the both of us and chuckles. "Well, I know one thing for sure, you've got a pretty cool dad. And I'm betting your mom is pretty cool too."

Stevie nods her head and bounces. "Mommy is super cool."

No one look at me. It's my allergies.

Blake stands back up and holds out his hand for me. "You hear that, want me to put it in writing?" he jokes.

"I'd frame it for sure." I laugh. "I'm Wyla. "

"Nice to meet ya, Wyla. I'm Blake, the pitching coach here." He looks at Jett. "And I'm here to officially tell Jett he's been cleared to start playing this week. Slowly, that is."

Pit meet stomach.

Jett wraps an arm around my waist, and I swear it's a silent , don't worry. "Sounds great. Wy, why don't you and Stevie hang out in one of the dugouts."

"Yeah, come on, Stevie." I hold out a hand for her. "Wanna watch your dad practice?"

"Yes!" Stevie takes my hand and we start to walk to the dugout but Stevie looks over her shoulder and hollers, "Run fast this time, Daddy."

"You got it, Little Bee."

After having very mixed emotions of watching Jett practice. I didn't realize I could feel so worried, impressed, and turned on all at the same time.

Gah, Jett's so fucking hot in those baseball pants. Then getting to watch him throw… I have never been more into sports than I am now.

Stevie is equally captivated but in the sense that she now thinks her dad is the best baseball player in the world. She talked nonstop about it on the drive over to his place.

When we pull into the parking lot of his apartment complex, Stevie's stunned.

"You live here?" She gazes up at the giant building in front of her. "It's big."

Jett laughs. "I live in one of the apartments. It's not all mine, Daddy has money, but not that kind of money."

Stevie tilts her head to the side. "How much money do you have?"

Now it's my turn to laugh. "Stevie, that's a rude question. Come on, Mommy's starving, and this pizza smells too good."

Jett stopped on the way and picked us up four boxes of pizza. Why we need four, I don't know, but that's what he ordered.

We make our way inside, and Stevie is overjoyed when she realizes there is an elevator. "Can I push the buttons?"

"Of course, Little Bee." Jett sets down some of the bags and lifts her so she can hit the up button then does the same when we get inside. "Push number six. Right there." He lifts her right in front of the button .

He sets her back down then steps closer to me with a sexy as sin smirk on his face. "Remember the last time we were in an elevator?"

"How could I forget?" I keep my voice low. Stevie is thoroughly distracted watching the elevator changing floors but still. "How does last time compare to this time?"

"Let's see. Last time I was taking the most beautiful woman back to my hotel room to f…"

I raise my eyebrows and gesture to the little ears.

That smirk on his face grows. Man, he's so handsome.

"Now, I'm taking the most beautiful woman back to my place for the same thing but we'll have to put our daughter to bed first. So, it sounds a million times better, Wy."

Jett pulls me in to kiss my forehead as the elevator dings.

"We're here!" Stevie shrieks and bolts out the door.

"Stevie, wait for us," I holler after her and Jett chuckles.

"Go to the right, Stevie," he says as he picks up the bags and we make our way out. Stevie stands at the edge of the split.

"Which way is right again?" she calls.

I hold Jett back a little so we can let her figure it out. "Hold out your hands, Stevie."

She takes her little hands and spreads them wide. "Like this? "

"Yup. Now when you color what hand do you write with?"

Her right hand shoots in the air. "This one!"

She shoots down to the right before I even have a chance to tell her good job. Goodness, this girl is going to be the death of me.

"Which way now?" she hollers.

Jett shakes his head and smiles. "Go all the way to the end, we're right behind you."

I let Jett lead and follow behind him. I'm a little unsure of what to expect out of Jett's apartment. He told me he was able to move into a bigger place but I didn't think he'd been back in Seattle for him to actually move anything yet.

Jett stops at the last door on the left, but I keep walking to Stevie as she takes in the view from the window.

"Mommy, how did they make those buildings so big?"

"Kid, I'd love to tell you a good answer, but the best your mom's got is someone smarter than me did it."

Stevie giggles. "I think you're smart, Mommy."

"Thank you, baby." I know the words seem small but someone could tell me the most well-worded, pure poetry compliment and any praise from Stevie would still mean a million times more to me.

"Hey, Stevie," Jett says behind us. "Can you do me a favor and knock on this door? "

Stevie nods and bolts back to him to pound on the door.

"Knock? Why would she knock—"

Before I can get back to Jett, I hear Stevie scream, "Nana!"

Nana? I give Jett a confused look, but he's looking at Stevie. I reach the doorway and sure enough, Jett's mom is holding the door open. "Stevie Rose! I'm so happy you made it! Hey, Pops is in the living room."

She steps to the side and Stevie books it in.

"Hi, Wyla," Mrs. Ellison greets me with a hug then one for Jett. "I'm happy you guys made it too, but I have a grandbaby to see."

She turns around and heads into the living room where I can hear Stevie giggling wildly.

"They're not staying, Wy. Well, not staying here at least." Jett laughs. "I'll explain inside."

Jett holds out his arm for me to go in first. The entryway is pretty simple, a small table with a round mirror hangs on the wall. Once you get past that, there's a short hallway to the left then an open concept kitchen and living room area and another hallway at the far end of the living room.

There's a charcoal sectional with a gray rug underneath. A small side table on each in and on the one closest to me sits a vase of orange roses and a picture frame .

My feet move at their own volition to pick up the frame. My heart wants to leap out of my chest when I turn it around to see a picture of me comforting Stevie at her tumbling class when she fell. She's got me wrapped up in a hug and my eyes are closed as I take in her embrace.

"It's one of my favorite pictures," Jett says as he comes up beside me.

"Can you send it to me?"

"Yeah, baby." Jett presses a quick kiss to my temple, then comes around to the middle of the living room. Stevie is sitting in Mr. Ellison's lap while they both listen to her with rapt attention as she tells them all about her daddy playing baseball.

"I almost hate to break up the talk of how great I am, but do you want to see your room, Little Bee?"

"Yes!" She leaps off Pop's lap and jumps into Jett's arms.

"Well, let's go."

He carries her back toward the front and down that short hallway. There's two doors, one straight in front and one to the right.

Jett reaches for the knob on the right, and I can feel the excitement coming off everyone here. They want her to love it. I want her to love it, but is it bad that it also scares me ?

Once the door is open, Jett sets her down and she squeals. "It's princesses!"

She races in and marvels at the space. Hell, I'm marveling too.

Her twin bed has princess themed comforter, pink pillows, and a canopy draping down around the bed. There's a small table and chairs in one corner with stacks of coloring books and construction paper, along with a tub of crayons. A stuffed animal mountain on the other side and a Barbie Dream House set up.

"Jett, this is perfect." Are there tears entering my eyes? I'm afraid so.

Jett pulls me closer to his chest and hugs me from behind so we both can watch Stevie as she happily explores the room.

"I can't take all the credit. I might have ordered everything but someone had to put it together."

Now his parents being here makes sense. They moved his stuff for him… they put all this together. For us.

Fuck, now I really am crying.

Rose comes up to us and takes my hand. "Don't cry, my girl. Jett hired movers for the big stuff but we were happy to help. "

"Happy until that damn doll house," Vance mumbles, which elicits a small slap to the gut from Rose. "Geez… I'd still do it again though."

"Mommy, can I get on the bed?" Stevie bounces up and down at the edge.

"Of course, baby."

I help her take her shoes off and she hops on. She jumps around for a little while then Vance shows her all the features of the dream house he put together.

"I'm going to get the plates out and stuff out for pizza," Jett says. "Y'all keep looking around."

As he walks out, I can't help but follow him to the kitchen.

"So, where's my room?" I lean back against the counter and put on my best flirty smile. I know where I'm sleeping tonight whether he likes it or not.

Jett tosses a thing of paper plates next to the pizza boxes then walks toward me. His hands go on either side of me, caging me in. "Our room is on that side of the apartment. With good reason in mind."

"Hmm, seems awfully bold of you to assume I'd—"

I'm cut off by Jett sealing his mouth over mine. His hands capture my cheeks, pulling me closer as he deepens the kiss .

I wrap my arms around his waist and claw at his back. Over the past five years, I really hadn't thought much about being with someone but with Jett? He lit this flame five years ago and damn it if it isn't raging now.

Maybe I'm being impulsive or rushing into this but have you felt in your gut that someone was just… right? Jett feels right.