Chapter 2

When the blizzard finally abated, Brock packaged Chastity up in his four-wheel drive vehicle to make the trek to her mother's home. Marilyn was not impressed by his chivalry.

Her demeanor was frostier than an iced-over Lake Erie when Chastity told her mother that she was only there to pack some things before she headed back to Brock's house.

"I'll be damned if you're going to live with this guy," her mother screamed.

"Well, I'll guess you'll just be damned then," Chastity said as she headed down the hallway. Brock stood in the kitchen doorway while Marilyn Durant glared at him.

"I know all about you," she said icily. "I don't know what crap you've been feeding my daughter but I know all about your type of guy."

Brock took a deep breath.

"Really, mother," Chastity said as she re-entered the kitchen. "Tell me exactly what you know about Brock's type of guy. I'm interested in how you might know because you've been so interested in running my life for the last 15 years that you haven't had time for one of your own. I'm leaving, mother. If had any other options, I never would have come back here. Now I have other options, so I'm gone. Whether I return is entirely up to you.

"I suggest you let me live my life and you take a bit of time to develop one of your own."

She handed Brock her suitcase.

"You're the pack mule," she said. "I'll carry things to here. You carry them out to the car."

Brock grimaced.

"You're supposed to say, 'Yes, dear'," Chastity said. She pinched his butt when he turned around to do as she bid.

By the time Brock returned up the slippery sidewalk to the Durant household, Marilyn had moved on to another tack.

She was no longer fuming, instead she was crying noisily with her head on the table. She looked up when Brock entered.

"You never would have treated your mother this way," she said sadly.

"True," Brock said. The first word he had uttered since he entered. "But, then again, my mother never would have treated me this way either."

"She doesn't appreciate all I did for her," Marilyn wailed as though Brock hadn't spoken. "All I gave up for her to have what she wanted."

Brock thought he should stay out of the mess but he spoke anyway.

"What she wanted?" he asked. "Or what you wanted? Perhaps it's a difference of perspective. Perhaps you gave her what you thought she wanted. We've been snowbound for three days now. I've spent a lot of time listening to Chas. I don't think she has even figured out what she wants. I wonder how you can know."

"A mother knows," Marilyn said fiercely. "A mother knows what's best for her child."

"But she's an adult," Brock said reasonably. "A mother also knows when it's time to let her children make their own decisions. That's all she is asking for. Honestly, I'm probably no crazier about her living at my apartment than you are. I'm a pretty private person and I don't know her that well.

"But, she has decided that she is not living here any longer. So I don't know what other option I had than to offer her a place to stay. You should know that a place to stay is all it is. We're not dating. We're not sleeping together. We're not getting married.

"Please consider something for me. Chastity's soccer career could be over tomorrow. She could slip on the ice and blow out a knee or she could bump into the wall on the way to the bathroom and break her foot. How prepared is she for life after soccer? How prepared are you for her life after soccer? Do you expect her to live in her teenaged bedroom until she's 50? Why in God's name would you want her to?"

Marilyn was looking at Brock carefully.

"How prepared are you to live life after baseball?" she asked quickly.

"Very," he replied confidently. "I have a degree in information technology from one of the finest universities in the U.S. I also have a considerable sum of money invested and banked. Chastity plays a non-lucrative sport. I'll make as much in my first season as she will in her entire career. It's not fair, but it's still fact."

Marilyn's baleful glare had lessened.

"You're not what I expected," she said.

"Unfortunately, you're exactly what I was told you would be," Brock rejoined.

The remainder of the move was completed wordlessly with Marilyn sulking in her room.

"I'll call you Sunday, Mom," Chastity said. Marilyn didn't respond.

"What the hell did you say to her?" Chastity asked. "I mean, she was bawling like a baby telling me how I didn't love her. The next thing I knew, she was standing in my doorway looking at me like I was a stranger. Then she disappeared into her room. It was freaky. Mom is not a shrinking violet."

"I asked her if her sacrifices were for your benefit or hers," Brock said. He was ashamed at some of the things he had said to a woman he didn't know.

"You did not," Chastity exclaimed. "Oh, my God!"

Brock couldn't tell if she was angry because he dared not take his eyes off the road long enough to see her face.

"That must have been so awesome," she said. "Do you know how many times I've wanted to ask her that? But I get around her and she just fucking steamrolls me. That's why you had to come in with me. I couldn't lose face in front of you by giving in."

"I honestly think she means well," Brock said. "I just don't think she took the time to figure out that you're not the 12-year-old girl you used to be. Obviously, I didn't know that girl but I've watched a similar transformation in some of my friends. When I think back to the way they were when they were 15 or 16 and I see how they act now that they're 22 or 23, it's astounding. My friend, Jen, the blonde with the freckles in the photos, is a prime example. If you met her now, you'd see a self-assured, thoughtful young woman. If you met her five or six years ago, you would probably hate her guts."

"I tried on numerous occasions to extricate myself from her and her family," Brock continued. "She would never allow it. Her mom was a pain in my ass from the get-go and Jen followed suit not long after. Now she's probably my best friend. There is a story behind all the people I'm close to but they all share one common thing: I never wanted to be close to any of them."

Chastity was watching Brock closely as he spoke.

"I got some of that from what I read," she said. "I hope you'll read that story I downloaded about you. I would be interested in hearing how much of it is true."

"I glanced at the first couple of chapters," Brock replied. "It's factual but incomplete. I mean, almost everything in there could be gleaned from public records – or they could have been done that way when I first got to Corbly."

"Have you heard from Meredith again?"

Brock glanced over.

"No," he replied.

"In the pictures, which one is she?"

"She's not in the pictures," he said. "I have some of her but they are for me alone. It's funny. Leslie, Jen's mom, was dead set against her dating me. She told me that a girl's first boyfriend plays a significant part in the way she views herself. She was wrong about that, I think. But a guy's first love plays a serious role in how he views women."

"So Meredith was your first love?"

"I think so," Brock answered. "Maybe not. It was all so quick. It began without warning and it ended just as suddenly. I've never really had a girlfriend. Well, not in the last eight or nine years."

"Explain that."

"Nothing to explain," Brock said. "The Fearsome Foursome all went to colleges near me for a while. I dated each of them periodically but never seriously."

"Fuck buddies," Chastity said with a smirk.

"Not really," Brock answered, ignoring the look on her face. "Don't get me wrong, I love each of them in her own way."

"Even Susan?"

"Especially Susan," Brock said. "She's probably the one I'm closest to being in romantic love with. The only thing that holds us back is that whole 'me going to prison' thing."

Chastity laughed along with Brock.

"I can see where that would create some trust issues," she said.

"We tried for a while," he continued, "but I just couldn't get past that. And she couldn't get past the fact I couldn't get past it. The truth is that I've known her since we were kids. She's almost like a little sister and it was just too weird. She transferred back out West after two years."

"About the time Melanie met her husband?"

"Ex-husband," Brock said. "Yeah, things were a little crazy that summer. Mel met Doug and decided to settle down. She had one more year of law school so they went ahead and got married. They divorced before the year was out. Suzy got fed up with the emotional distance between us and decided physical distance worked better so she transferred. Tara started dating one of her former professors. Her mom about had a shit fit. And Jen was still waiting patiently for me to fall in love with her."

"Did she really wait on your porch the evening of your first date with Meredith and leave you her panties for a keepsake?"

Brock's head shot up.

"How in the hell did you know that?" he asked.

"It's in the book," Chastity said, stunned by the vehemence in his voice. "There are a lot of details like that in there."

"Who wrote the thing?" Brock asked quickly. To his knowledge only three people knew of the whole tale: him, Jen and Merie.

"I don't know," she said. "It's a pen name, I'm sure. It sounded fake. We'll look when we get back."

Brock was sure Jen would never write something like that without mentioning it. But he wasn't sure what Merie would do. He had never been completely sure what Meredith might do from one moment to the next.

Brock and Chastity settled into a happy co-existence. They got along well and it wasn't a week later before they started going out on dates. The newspaper had a field day with it. Chastity's beauty and athletic ability and Brock's willingness to donate time and money to worthwhile causes had made them favorites of the city's elite.

The duo never got around to purchasing a bed for the spare room. After five or six days of Brock sleeping on the couch, Chastity invited him to share the bed with her. As Spring Training approached, Brock started dreading a return to his career. Chastity felt the same way.

But they both knew that a commitment was not possible. Even though each would spend six weeks training in Florida, their schedules were wholly different. The only time they would be in the same city during the regular season was in late August – assuming Brock made the major league roster. Each would be in Chicago but their games were scheduled at the same time.

The night before he was scheduled to fly to Florida Brock almost said the words he'd rarely said to a woman. He was certain that he was in love with Chastity Durant.

They were lying in bed that Saturday evening. Chastity was taking a short nap and Brock was watching her sleep. Her face was so relaxed and even in slumber she had a slightly mischievous smile on her face. She was so beautiful she took his breath away.

After a few minutes, Chastity opened her eyes and smiled at him – and he almost told her he loved her. But the words caught in his throat.

"I'm going to miss you," he said instead.

Similar thoughts were racing through Chastity's mind. She wanted to stay a couple despite their hectic schedules. She had never felt the emotions that raced through her mind whenever Brock Miller smiled at her.

Rather than tell him that she wanted to stay together – that she wanted to build a relationship on the foundation she was sure they had established – she touch his cheek softly.

"Make sure you get a decent place to live in Cleveland," she said. "I'll need a place to go if I get dropped from the national team."

As Chastity waited for him to board his flight to Florida Brock decided she needed to know.

"I love you," he said as he kissed her cheek.

"I love you," she replied with a smile. "I'll call you every chance I get..."

Their conversation died when Brock's cell phone rang.

He had been traded to a new team – a team that practically guaranteed him the starting shortstop job. Rather than spend the next six weeks in Florida, he would be in Arizona. If he made the Major Leagues, it wouldn't be in Cleveland but 3,000 miles away.

Brock Miller was heading to Los Angeles. He would be suiting up for the Dodgers in a stadium less than 100 miles from where he grew up – and less than 100 miles from the place he had never wanted to be near again.

The next two days were a blur for Brock. He flew to L.A. and went through a battery of tests on almost every portion of his body. The Dodgers were giving up a top-line pitcher for him and another prospect so they were unwilling to get short-changed if one or other weren't in top physical condition.

Brock was far from being fit but he was healthy. He and Chas had worked out almost daily during the past two months but each had focused on cardio instead of muscle mass.

True to her word, though, Chastity had spent an hour or two each day tossing the ball around with Brock to keep him loose or hitting beside him in a batting cage. She had even hit sharp ground balls to him off the gym floor a time or two.

Brock, for his part, had played soccer with Chas. Well, that is probably too generous. Soccer is a pretty skill-specific sport and Brock clearly lacked those skills. But his presence was what Chastity wanted more than anything else.

She had asked Brock to play a rough style – reminiscent of some of the less-skilled teams – during their workouts. He was free to use his size to offset her skill advantage. That was something he could do. He was careful not to be too rough but he pushed her and jostled her and used his strength to try to move her off the ball as she advanced.

She said she found the effort worthwhile but Brock wasn't sure how she could. Still, the pair laughed and joked with the other throughout the workouts.

Marilyn Durant had taken the separation from her daughter with less drama than Brock expected. The fact that Chastity was still working on her soccer skills and still called her mother or visited a couple times a week seemed to help.

Marilyn was not a fan of the burgeoning relationship but that had less to do with Brock's presence than with the presence of anyone else in Chastity's life. But as late January approached, Marilyn seemed to understand that Brock wasn't going away until Chastity asked him to – and that he would go away if Chastity did ask him to.

Having Chastity in Florida with the national team while he adjusted to a new team was difficult for Brock. In just a couple of months, he had come to rely on her as a sounding board on a litany of subjects.

Jen was displeased about her lessened role in his life but she understood Brock's need to have someone there. She had worried for years about the amount of time he spent by himself. Tara, Mel and Susan had already assumed a smaller part in Brock's world.

Chapter 3 »