Change Up Read online

  “Well someone needs to get you moving in the right direction. You can’t seem to do it yourself.”

  “Thanks for your confidence in me, Dad.” I picked up some other vegetables to go with dinner and saw Dad looking around.

  “Okay, I think we’re done,” Dad said to me, taking control of the cart and pushing it towards the registers.

  “Dad, I didn’t get anything for the house,” I said as he moved away from me.

  “You can order stuff from the service tomorrow; let’s go,” he said as we pulled into a register that was just opening.

  I helped him put the few things we got on the conveyor belt as a young man scanned our items. The cashier looked to be in high school, and I could see that he recognized me, but I just went about my business. I could see Kristin was on the register line next to ours, but she was occupied looking at the magazines at the register.

  All our items were scanned and packed before Kristin even got up to her cashier. Before I even had a chance to pay, Dad had already taken care of the bill and was grabbing the bags to take them out to the truck. I followed him quickly, saying a fast thanks to the cashier, who beamed a big smile back at me.

  Dad was placing the bags next to the truck when I got out there.

  “What was that all about?” I asked him.

  “Strategy, boy,” Dad said to me. “Now, listen to me closely. You load the bags into the truck. I am going to the diner to talk to the guys for a few minutes. Kristin walks by here on her way home so she will have to pass you. You will have your chance then to talk to her, so take advantage of it.” Dad then walked away, going to the diner and greeting his friends.

  I opened the tailgate of the truck and placed the few bags we had in the truck bed. Sure enough, moments later, Kristin was walking out of Wally’s with her bags. She looked up and saw me as I was closing the tailgate.

  “Got everything you need?” I asked her.

  “I think so,” she told me, “How about you?”

  “It was more than enough to get started, but I’m sure I’ll be back to restock things,” even though I knew we barely bought anything because Dad rushed me out of the store. We both stood there not saying anything as I tried to come up with conversation.

  “Do you… do you need a ride home?” I asked, even though from what Dad told me, she lived nearby. I was just trying to buy myself some time to think of what else to say.

  “Oh, no, thanks; I only live right over there,” she told me, pointing to the apartment building right along Main Street.

  I was disappointed she said no since it would have given me more time with her. I had never felt this inadequate speaking with a woman before. I saw that she turned as if to start walking away, so I had to make a move if I was going to do something today. I looked up to see Dad and his cohorts staring out the diner window at us and Dad frantically waved his arm at me, indicating I should move closer to her.

  “Kristin,” I called out to her. I moved over onto the sidewalk, standing in front of her. She looked up at me, waiting to see what I would say.

  “If you’re not busy, I thought, maybe… maybe you would like to get together tomorrow night, maybe for dinner, or a drink?” I could feel myself shifting on my feet. It brought me back to that first time I had asked Rachel out when we were teenagers and how nervous I was about that.

  I could see Kristin looking up at me, squinting a bit because of the sun from behind me. I waited for an answer that seemed like it took hours to give.

  “I would love to,” she said to me with a smile.

  I huge feeling of relief washed over me.

  “Great,” I said to her. “We can go to Angelo’s if you like. Say around seven?” I had looked beyond her and saw the sign for Angelo’s down the street, and it was the only place I could think of spur of the moment.

  “Sure, that’s perfect,” she said to me. “Angelo’s is only a block or so away from my place. I can meet you there if you like.”

  “Okay,” I said to her as I looked at her. I took a quick glance and saw Dad coming out of the diner behind Kristin. The old guys in the window were all giving me thumbs up signs. Kristin turned around and saw the group of men staring out the diner window at the two of us, and they all had put their thumbs down before she turned and gave congenial smiles to us.

  “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow night,” Kristin said as she turned to walk away. I saw my Dad tip his hat to her as she walked past him.

  Dad reached my position on the sidewalk.

  “Always the suave gentleman cowboy, Dad,” I said to him quietly. He walked around to the driver’s side of the truck. I stood by the passenger’s side, watching Kristin walk away. She took a brief glimpse over her shoulder back at me before I climbed into the truck.

  “Suaver than you’ll ever be, son,” Dad said to me with a sideways glance as I closed the truck door. “That was like watching someone get a tooth pulled.”

  “Well, you and your cronies didn’t have to watch the whole thing.”

  Dad drove the truck towards Route 5 to get to the house.

  “You must have dates when you’re playing during the season, Wes. How do you ask them out?” Dad asked me as he drove.

  “I don’t know, it just seems easier then,” I said to him. “I feel more confident at that time. The surroundings are different. And I know most of those women I would only see once or twice, and that’s it. Kristin… I don’t know… she throws me off track.”

  Dad just smiled as he drove and laughed a little.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Nothing,” he said, still laughing. “I just thought if those guys at ESPN or some sports channel could see you. The big, burly, baseball star getting all tongue-tied and twisted up over a woman half his size.”

  “You’re a riot, Dad. I can see I am going to love being at home.”

  As we pulled onto Martin Way, I knew Dad was right. Kristin Arthur was twisting me all up, and we had just met hours ago. It made me nervous to think about what might happen tomorrow.

  10

  Kristin

  I felt like I floated home the two blocks back to my apartment. By the time I got inside, I didn’t even feel like making my soup for dinner or doing anything else. I wanted to burst inside and had to talk to someone. I thought about texting Karen at the library to let her know, but I knew if I did that she would be completely distracted for the rest of the night while at work. I decided I would let her know the good news in the morning.

  I quickly realized I didn’t have any other girlfriends in Chandler that I could talk with and confide in about stuff like this. I made a resolution that this was something I was going to work on, but for now, I had to get a hold of someone to let them know what was going on.

  I grabbed my laptop and made a video call to my sister Lucy. Lucy was still living in Georgia and loving life there. She had received her nursing degree and was working at a hospital not far from my parents. She normally worked the night shift so I thought I might just catch her before she left to go to work.

  I opened the program and clicked on her name to make the call to her. The call rang for what seemed like an interminable number of times, and I was getting ready to disconnect and close my laptop when the screen finally opened, and there was Lucy. I could see she was dressed in her pink scrubs top, with her blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail similar to mine. No one could ever doubt we were sisters.

  “Hey, Kris, what’s up? I was getting ready to leave for work. Everything okay?” she said to me.

  “Everything’s fine, I just wanted to call you and see what was going on.”

  “No, you didn’t,” Lucy said to me, getting that serious look on her face. “I can see the way your eyes are bouncing around. You have something you want to share, so spill it.”

  I was glad she noticed because I wasn’t sure how long I could contain myself.

  “I met someone,” I said excitedly, “and we have a date tomorrow night.”

  �
�Great,” Lucy said as she slipped the lanyard with her hospital badge on it over her head, seeming not nearly as excited as I hoped she would be.

  “Well you could be more excited for me,” I said, disappointed in her reaction.

  “No offense, Kris, but it’s just a date,” she looked back at the screen at me. “Unless it’s more than a regular date? I can see it on your face. Give me details.”

  I explained to Lucy that it was with Wes Martin. Lucy, who was always much more into sports, knew who he was right away. Lucy was always an avid Braves fan and followed baseball closely, and now she was excited.

  “I didn’t realize he lived there,” Lucy said to me.

  “I didn’t either,” I told her, trying to act like I knew who he was. “We just met today.”

  “You know why he’s home, don’t you Kris?”

  “I have no idea why, but I’m glad he is.”

  “Kris, he got released by the Pirates yesterday. It means he’s off the team. You may want to be careful with how you approach this.”

  I sat back on my bed as I talked to her. “Why do I need to be careful?”

  “First, he just lost his job, and may not take that too well. Second, he could sign with another team at any moment and end up a thousand miles away from you by the weekend and be gone for eight months. Third…” Lucy hesitated for a moment before going on.

  “What else?” I said, wondering what other problems there could possibly be.

  “Kris, he’s thirty-five and a professional athlete. He’s a lot older than you, has seen and done a lot more, and probably has a laundry list of women around the country that he sees, dates and beds. Maybe you don’t want to be just another notch on his belt.”

  I considered all that Lucy just said to me. I knew she was trying to help me and protect me, but it was hurtful to pop my balloon just like that.

  “I don’t think he’s like that Lucy,” I said, defending Wes. “He seems very… genuine. And I know he’s older than me, but that doesn’t matter. You’ve dated doctors older than you.”

  “Fair enough,” Lucy said to me. “I just don’t want you to get your hopes up and then get hurt. I’m just trying to look out for you Kris. You’re up there by yourself, maybe you’re lonely, a little vulnerable, and this famous guy comes along and asks you out… it just sounds like…”

  “Sounds like what?” I said angrily.

  “To be blunt, it sounds like he wants to lay a cute twenty-two-year-old and brag to his buddies about it. I’m sorry, but it does.”

  “Thanks for your support, Lucy,” I said as I went to slam my laptop shut.

  “Kris, wait!” Lucy yelled. I stopped short before I closed the laptop and pulled it open again. “I’m sorry. I hope I’m wrong about him. Just go into the date with the right frame of mind, okay?”

  “I will, I promise,” I replied.

  “Okay,” Lucy said, feeling better. “I have to go to work. Let me know how the date goes. I miss you, sis. Love you.”

  “I miss you too,” I told her, feeling misty-eyed now. “Love you too.”

  The screen went black as Lucy hung up. I closed the laptop and got up to put it on my desk. I walked into the kitchen and started chopping vegetables for my soup, thinking the whole time about what Lucy had just said. There were a lot of factors to consider here about Wes Martin. I really didn’t know him at all, and not nearly enough to feel as caught up in him as I was feeling already.

  Maybe Lucy was right, and I needed to be more cautious. He could leave in a few days, and I would never see him again. Or maybe he was just looking to add another woman to his list of those he slept with. I was lonely sometimes here, and it was nice to get some attention from a man, especially one that found me attractive and wanted to spend time with me. Maybe that did make me more vulnerable than usual and cloud my judgment.

  Even with all those questions, part of me still felt Lucy was wrong. Wes didn’t seem like the guy she was describing. He seemed much more unsure of himself when he was with me, not like some of the confident, cocky athletes that you read about on the Internet that are dating different models all the time.

  As I finished making my soup and poured some into a big cup so I could sit on my couch and watch a movie, I decided I was going to have to form my own opinion of Wes. No matter what Lucy said, Karen said, what the Internet said or how much older he was than me, I had to see for myself what he was like on this date tomorrow to see where things would go.

  I was the only one that could decide what Wes Martin was like and what he might or might not mean to my life.

  11

  Wes

  Dinner with my parents and Izzy was just what I needed to help me put the stress of the last few days behind me. We smiled, laughed, told stories, and I got caught up on everything going on around them for the last two months that I had missed. Just this one dinner made me realized how much I missed having them all as part of my life each day when I was out on the road.

  Naturally, Dad couldn’t pass up the opportunity to mention my interaction with Kristin, and how he managed to save the day so that I could have a date tomorrow night. Izzy seemed quiet through the whole conversation about the date, and I took some good-natured ribbing from Mom and Dad throughout dessert and cleaning up the table.

  After we finished cleaning up, Izzy went to her room quietly. I decided to go and talk to her to make sure everything was okay. I gently knocked on her bedroom door, and she invited me in.

  Izzy was sitting at her desk, her laptop was open with some music playing quietly. Her room was decorated much like the room she had in our house, though this room was smaller than what she had in the main house. Still, she had managed to make it her own space, decorating it the way she wanted. My parents had consulted her along the way when building the room for her to be sure it was just what she needed.

  I sat down on the edge of her bed while she sat in her desk chair.

  “You okay?” I asked her. “You were awfully quiet at dinner and during clean up.”

  “I’m fine,” Izzy said nonchalantly, typing away on her laptop before closing the lid and turning to face me. “It’s all just a lot to take in one day I guess.”

  “I know, it’s a big upheaval having me here,” I said to her taking her hands in mine.

  “It’s not only that, Dad,” she said as she looked at me. “It’s the whole date thing too. Don’t get me wrong; I’m glad to see you going out on a date, I really am. You spend way too much time alone or with just me or Grandma and Grandpa. You deserve to go out and have some fun and find someone you like. But…”

  “But what?” I prodded, curious to see what she was going to say next.

  “But Ms. Arthur… don’t you think she’s kind of young? I mean, she’s only a few years older than me.”

  “You’re only fifteen, Izzy. She’s more than a few years older than you.”

  “I’ll be sixteen in May, Dad,” she defended. “She’s not that much older than me. It just feels a little weird is all. Besides, you just met her.”

  “That’s how dating works, Izzy. You meet someone you’re interested in, you go out, learn more about each other, and see what happens. I’m not marrying her; it’s just a dinner date. I get that you’re not used to seeing this side of me. I never dated anyone when I was home with you. I wanted that time for just you and me. But I have dated other women since your mother left, when I’m out on the road or down in Pittsburgh.”

  Izzy nodded her head. “I know. I guess none of that ever seemed real because I never saw or met any of them. Ms. Arthur is right here… I don’t know, it’s silly, I suppose.”

  I put my arm around her and gave her a little hug. “It’s not silly, honey. Believe me, I take your feelings into consideration with anything like this. And I appreciate your concern. I know she’s younger than me, but there’s nothing wrong with that.”

  “So you would be okay if it was me dating some guy who was almost thirty?”

  “Hell, no,”
I said quietly. “I would break his legs with one of my bats. But when you’re twenty-two, that decision is on you. Right now, stick to the boys in your high school. I’m even a little uncomfortable with them. Maybe just forget about boys for now and concentrate on school.”

  “You’re funny, Dad,” Izzy said to me. She stood up from the bed and placed herself in front of me.

  “Are you going up to the house?” she asked me.

  “Yeah, I really should get my stuff unpacked and try to get settled there and see what we need.” I rose and gave her another hug and kissed her on the top of her head.

  “Good night, Dad. Love you,” she said, hugging me. “I am glad that you’re here, you know.”