6. Catherine
6
CATHERINE
“You okay?” I ask my son for the third time.
We’re just leaving the baseball field, and the game didn’t go well. Cole missed a ball at first base, and he struck out two of the three times at bat. And even though the whole team didn’t play their best, I know my son, and he’s going to be so hard on himself about the error and his performance.
He’s leaning with his head on his hand against the door of the car. “Yeah, Mom, I’m fine. I just sucked tonight… I need to do better.”
“Cole, language, and you didn’t do badly. Everyone is allowed to make mistakes.” I want to chime in that his coach is too hard on him. You shouldn’t get benched just because you make one error, but that’s the way his coach does it .
He won’t even look at me, and it’s killing me the way he’s looking out the window. “I know, Mom, but his son made three errors on first base, and he didn’t take him out for it. It’s just not fair.”
As his mom, there are so many things I want to say, but I know talking smack about his coach is not going to help in the long run. As much as I hate it, I know what I need to do. “I know it doesn’t seem fair, but he’s the coach, and you have to play by his rules. Everyone makes mistakes, and that’s okay. All you can do is work your hardest and do your best.”
He gets mad, but at least he finally looks at me. “I do work hard.”
I put my turn signal on. We’re only five minutes from home, but this car ride is feeling like an eternity. “Cole, playing games online all weekend long is not working hard.” I hold a hand up because I know what he’s about to say. “I know you deserve down time, but you spent the majority of your time in your room playing that game. Did you run? Do arm care? Stretch? Do anything to help improve your game?”
When I’m met with silence, I look over at him as I pull up to the stop sign. “I’m not trying to get on you, Cole, but you want to be better, and I’m just trying to help. ”
“You’re right, Mom.”
My mouth drops open, but I slam it shut. “Okay.”
“I’ll work harder,” he says, and my hands tighten on the steering wheel. Did I just get through to him?
We get a few more blocks, and I bring up the one thing I know I need to talk to him about. Everything is in place. I’ve moved all my patients around, got the okay from the hospital to work out of the office the next two months. Everything is in place, but I still need to talk to Cole about it. “So, there’s something I need to talk to you about.”
“What is it?”
“You know Holden Gray?”
It’s like I can see him rolling his eyes as he says, “Yes, Mom, I know who Holden Gray is.”
I clear my throat. “Right, well, he’s injured—”
Cole cuts me off. “Yeah, he has a rotator cuff strain, and the news is saying that he’s going to be out for a while.”
I should have known that Cole would already know all about Holden's injuries. “Yeah, well, I’ve been asked to be in charge of his treatment.”
Cole shifts in his seat so fast I almost get whiplash. “You’re going to be helping Holden Gray?”
“Yeah, well, we’re still working out the details, but it’s going to be intense therapy. He’s wanting to make it back for the playoffs, so it’s a lot.”
I pull into our driveway and park the car. Cole doesn’t make a move for the door; he’s staring at me, waiting for me to continue. “So I have two months to get his arm better, and it’s going to require me to be a live-in therapist.” I hold my hand up. “Now if you’re uncomfortable with this at all, you can tell me, and I can get someone else—”
“Wait. Mom, are you saying you’re going to be staying at Holden Gray’s house?”
He looks so excited it’s like he can barely contain himself. “Actually, we would be staying at Holden Gray’s house.”
He sits back, stunned. “Mom, you have to take it.”
He’s out the door and running up the front steps of our house by the time I get my door open. “Cole, where are you going?”
“I need to pack, I need to call my friends, I need to—”
I have the key to the house so he’s rocking back and forth on his feet as he rambles on. Slowly, I follow behind him. “There are a few things we need to go over, Cole. You can’t tell your friends anything about Holden’s therapy. I could lose my job if that happens. Second, I still need to talk to Jeremy about this—he’s coming over for dinner.”
For the first time since I mentioned it to him, he looks skeptical. “Mom, please, even if Jeremy says no, we both know you’re still going to do it.”
I put my hand on his shoulder. My son knows me well. “Well, it’s for me to decide. So let’s keep this between us for now, you got me?”
“I got you.”
As soon as we’re inside, he races off, and I holler behind him. “Where are you going?”
“To pack,” he screams from the other side of the house.
Well, at least one of us is excited. I’m feeling a lot of things. Challenged, nervous, overwhelmed, and a little up in my feels about this.
I drop my purse and head straight for the kitchen. After preheating the oven, I pop in the lasagna I premade this morning to heat up.
When the doorbell rings, I make my way to the door and open it. I’m not sure what I expect. A hello kiss? A compliment? Maybe him saying he missed me? But Jeremy just nods at me. “Catherine.”
I move to the side to let him in as I say his name. “Jeremy.”
I close the door and walk into the kitchen. “I have lasagna in the oven. I’m going to throw together a salad. Do you want to keep me company while I get dinner ready?”
He nods and takes a seat at the table. He sits stiffly, his back ramrod straight while he pushes his glasses up the bridge of this nose.
I grab all the contents to make a salad and set them on the counter. “So how was work today?”
He goes on about spreadsheets and the state of the financial market, and I try to pay attention as he talks. Normally, I’m intrigued by what he says because who doesn’t love a good spreadsheet? But today, I’m a little preoccupied.
I wait for him to ask me about work, and when he does, I figure it’s as good of an opening as I’m going to get. “I actually had an opportunity presented to me, but I thought I should talk to you before I took it.”
He doesn’t ask any questions, just waits patiently for me to continue. I go over to the table and sit next to him. “A professional baseball player was injured and needs therapy. It’s an in-house position, and I would be working with him for the next two months.”
I’m holding my breath, waiting for him to respond. I’m not sure what I expect. Is he going to be mad? Is he going to tell me I shouldn’t do it? Or maybe ask me not to?
He blinks at me. “And will you be compensated for your overtime?”
I sit back, a little deflated. “Yeah, I’ll be paid for overtime, and there is a bonus that I’ll be receiving also.”
He nods once, with no emotion on his face. “You should do it.”
“Oh,” I say as I get up and go back to cutting up vegetables. “Yeah, well, I plan to, but just thought I should mention it to you. I wasn’t sure what you’d think about Cole and me staying at his house. I just didn’t want you to hear it from someone else.”
He nods his head and starts talking about his appointments for the rest of the week. While he talks, I can’t help but feel a little defeated. I’m not sure what I was hoping for. Of course, I wouldn’t want him to tell me not to do it, but it would be nice if he at least had some emotion about it. I want him to feel some passion toward me. There aren’t a lot of men I know that would be okay with the woman they're dating staying with another man. I don’t want someone bossy that tries to tell me what to do, but maybe a little possessive and protective. He didn’t even ask Holden’s name. All he was worried about was the money.
The timer goes off on the oven, and I holler for Cole. “It’s time to eat.”
Jeremy doesn’t miss a beat, though, and continues telling us stories about the happenings at his accounting office. Cole is practically vibrating in his seat, and I know it’s from excitement. I didn’t even mention how Holden said he’d work with him on baseball while we were there. I didn’t want to get his hopes up in case Holden changes his mind. Holden… why can’t I get him out of my head? He is definitely not the type of man that would be okay with his girlfriend staying at another man’s house.
Instantly, I feel guilty. Jeremy is a good man, and I need to remember that. As we sit here and eat, I try to pay better attention to him. “So what about the fundraising dinner next week? Is it black tie?
He talks about the event, and I know I need to forget about the wild card that is Holden Gray. He may be attractive, but so is Jeremy. And Jeremy is safe, dependable… predictable.
And that’s what I need.
Holden Gray will be on my caseload for two months, and then we’ll go our separate ways. I’m determined to make the next two months professional. I will do my job, and then I’ll get back to my real life. No brown-eyed, handsome baseball player is going to change that either.