Softball Dad Ch. 01

Jennifer looked up at Jim, nodded and said "Thank you" before she walked to Maddy's bedside.

Jim copied whatever information he could get from the card onto the forms, leaving blank the sections that he didn't know, waiting for Jennifer to finish. After perhaps 20 minutes, Jennifer returned to Jim's side, looking more worried than ever.

"They believe it is a dislocated shoulder, and they will put it back into the socket as soon as they can." Perhaps the graphic nature of the details and the severity of the injury set in. Jennifer burst into uncontrollable sobs, shaking, clutching her arms in front of her.

Jim turned around and pulled a few tissues out of a box near the nurses' station. He instinctively reached out to grab her, and tried to hug her to comfort her. But the awkwardness of the past few weeks came to his mind, so he only half pulled her in by wrapping his right arm around her back.

Jennifer was grateful for the touch and support, and she simply buried her face in Jim's chest, tears dripping down her cheeks. She wiped them away with the tissues. She was almost curled up in a standing fetal position.

A Filipino nurse walked by and nodded approvingly, as if saying "Good job comforting her."

After a minute, she felt calmer, but still in the awkward half-embrace of his. She took a few deep breaths. On the other hand, Jim was wondering where to put his left hand. Should he reach out and wrap both arms around her? Should he rest it on her waist?

While he was still pondering the question, the doctor came out with a reassuring expression.

"Mr. and Mrs. Wilson? Your daughter will be fine. It is a dislocated shoulder but there is no damage to any ligament. She needs to stay here for a couple of hours for observation and I will give you a prescription. In a few days you can bring her to your pediatrician and let him refer you to an orthopedic specialist. She probably will need some physical therapy but with her young age, I think things will be fine in a month. OK?"

Jennifer felt as if a ton of dumbbells were lifted off her shoulders. She looked up at Jim, watery eyes, and vulnerable, "Thank you, Mr. Wilson." Jim let go of her. And they both exhaled and smiled.

After the doctor left, they walked to Maddy's bedside. Jennifer held out one finger for her daughter to squeeze in her left hand, the injured side. The little girl still had some strength and held onto her mother's finger, not letting go.

"The doctor said you will be fine in a month," Jennifer smiled at her daughter.

"Can I still play?" Maddy asked earnestly.

"Not next week, not yet. But soon you will be fine," her mother replied.

"And thank you also, Uncle Jim." That was the sweetest thing Jim could ever hear from his little friend.

He gave him a thumbs-up. "I will make sure Emily carry your backpack in school."

They all laughed.

***

Jennifer decided to let Maddy take a nap. After all, the rush of adrenalin was really exhausting. Not just for the patient, but for the two grown-ups also. They sat by her bedside, while the Filipino nurse came in, carrying two plastic cups of water.

"Don't worry. She will be fine," the nurse said.

"It is so nice of her," Jennifer commented. "Oh, I should call Mike to give him an update. He must be driving back now."

"Sure. Maybe you should call in the waiting room. They probably don't like people using cell phones here inside," Jim said.

***

About two hours later, Maddy was about to be discharged. Her mom and dad by her side. Jim was sitting outside in the waiting room. The Filipino nurse walked by again, looking puzzled. She stuck out a finger, almost in a comical way, doing a mock-counting motion. One, two, three. "So you are not Mr. Wilson?"

Jim said, "No, I am not. Nurse Teresa," reading from her name tag.

Teresa shrugged her shoulders, giggled -- as if saying "What do I know?" - and walked away.

Jim enjoyed this moment of levity.

The real Mr. Wilson came out, shook Jim's hands and went to the parking lot to bring the car to the front door. Jennifer was running her fingers through Maddy's hair while Jim stood by, waiting to help the little girl get into her father's car.

Jim and Jennifer locked eyes for almost a minute, without saying a word, as if they enjoyed the friendship, but also felt guilty, that they had shared so much. Jim felt somewhat overwhelmed by the feelings, because they were not erotic. Fondness? Love?

***

In the next few days, they started sending text messages to one another. Actually she started first. And she kept them coming.

"Hey, can you ask Emily to get homework instructions for Maddy? I think I will have her stay home for two days before going back to school."

"I am going to bring Maddy to see her pediatrician. Will let you know."

"She will see a specialist, just to be on the safe side."

"X-rays and everything are OK. What a relief."

Jim was happy to have the updates. But after a few weeks, he worried that if his wife would consider it improper for him to communicate so frequently with Jennifer. He started deleting these innocuous messages, how harmless they looked.

The week immediately after the accident, Maddy and Jennifer took a break and did not attend the games. Another week went by before Maddy showed up at the field, in her Hawks uniform. All the other girls cheered, mobbed her and clapped. Mostly she sat on the bleachers with her mom, watching others play. Jim went around taking pictures again. He would raise his camera, look at Jennifer, nodding in a question mode, as if asking if it was ok for him to take their pictures. Jennifer would cock her head, smile and point a finger at herself and Maddy, meaning "It is ok if you are photographing the two of us." And he did.

Then the text messages drifted from talk of Maddy's injury to other things in Jennifer's life.

"I really want to go back to work, to have a career of my own. Now that the kids are older, they only need part time child care."

"Magazine publishing is going electronic now. They no longer need lots of staff in an office. What am I good for?"

"Maybe I will take a real estate broker exam. Do you think it is a good choice?"

"A woman should learn to be independent, at some point in her life."

"Mike is not fond of the idea of my working in real estate."

Not that Jim could be a career counselor. But he listened, or read the messages, and served as a sounding board. He also knew that when a married woman started complaining about her husband in front of another man, there was trouble brewing.

***

Then in late June, after the school year was over, the Hawks joined a travel team tournament, and they would go and play a few games in Pennsylvania over one weekend. There were four teams, two games everyday over three days. This was a round robin tournament, calculating wins and losses and runs scored and allowed.

After the team parents met and discussed all the arrangements, Coach Shirley, the task master, made the recommendations that they would drive two cars, she (coach/chauffeur) in one, carrying 7 kids, and Jim (chauffer/photographer) in the other one, with 5 kids, plus Jennifer as another chaperone, mostly because Maddy was recovering, and even though she was almost 100%, Jennifer felt better if she went together.

They would book three rooms at a Quality Inn, the 12 girls sharing 3 rooms, Shirley and Jennifer in another, and Jim by himself.

Jim was more than happy to go.

***

On the first day of the trip, a Friday, they left early in the morning, reached the town of Smithville, and played their first game at noon. The Hawks beat the Bombers, 4-2.

Jim had lots of good photos of the game to organize after dinner, when everyone retired to their hotel rooms. Shirley and Jennifer did their rounds to make sure the girls were all bathed and settled in.

Jim had the TV on, laptop in front of him, memory card plugged in, ready to do some sorting and adjustment of the files, when the hotel phone rang.

"Hi, it's me." It was Jennifer from three rooms down the hall.

"Shirley went out to hang out with her old friends." The whole reason that the Hawks made the trip to PA from Long Island was that Coach Shirley graduated high school around here and she still had connections with former teammates.

"She packed an overnight bag and said, after the drinks, she should not be driving. So she will only come back in the morning," Jennifer told Jim.

"... Can I come over? ..." Jennifer said haltingly.

"Sure," Jim said, swallowing hard, his blood pressure rising 30 ticks.

"Is it really happening?" he wondered aloud. How far should they go? Just kissing and hugging? But honestly, if it started, there would be no turning back. The temptation had always been there. And the friendship over the last few months made the relationship more complex. It was more than lust.

And he had another dilemma. He had not carried with him any condoms. If things really got so hot, should he go all the way?

Then Jennifer knocked on his door.

He popped to his feet, walked over to open the door and welcomed in his friend, a woman he had yearned for in so many ways.

She walked in, almost in a tip toe fashion, as if she were treading on thin ice and the ice would break if she stepped too hard on it. She was carrying only her cell phone and door card.

Her hair was wet, fresh from a shampoo and shower. She was wearing a white sweater one size too big and pink baggy silk drawstring PJ pants. The loose fitting clothes almost made her look like a little girl. Except Jim could tell that this little girl was not wearing any bra. Her nipples were hard, brushing against the fabric.

There was only one king size bed in the middle of the room, facing the TV. Jennifer sat by the end of the bed, where Jim's camera and laptop were all spread out.

He said, "Let me go to the vending machine and get some soda. Too bad they don't have a wet bar in the fridge." He tried to make small talk to lighten the mood.

She nodded for approval and nonchalantly looked at the photos on Jim's computer.

When Jim returned, he handed a soda to Jennifer. He moved to sit by her right side, along the edge of the bed. He took a sip of the Coke from the vending machine.

"So why did you take photos of me?" she asked.

From the warmth in her eyes, and the shape of her lips, he could tell that she was not mad.

"I take pictures of beautiful things." As soon as those words were uttered, he cursed at himself. Why couldn't he come up with something less trite?

The look of amusement was evident in her face. She looked away from him. He wasn't sure if she was waiting for a second part of the explanation or what.

Damn it! He was 45 years old and Jennifer was probably 37, 38. If they wanted to do something, why were they sitting around here, beating around the bushes?

At the most opportune moment, the TV provided the best solution for them. It was a re-run of a Seinfeld episode. Jerry and Elaine were talking about the danger of their resuming sexual activity being harmful to their friendship.

Jerry: You know, this is very good (pointing at the living room).

Elaine: And that is good too (pointing at the bedroom).

Jerry: If we can add this, to that, then it would be perfect.

Elaine: Yes, why are people so silly? We can of course add this to that.

So Jim borrowed their line, "Jennifer, do you think we have that in our future?"

She looked down at her soda, turning the can clockwise, and counter clockwise. She licked her lips, as if trying to dampen the explosiveness of her answer.

"Maybe the future is here," Jennifer said.

Jim stood up, reached out for her soda, which she readily handed over, and he put the two half consumed cans next to the TV. He pressed the OFF button on the remote, almost uttering a silent "thank you" to Jerry and Elaine. He quickly moved his camera and computer to the floor, turned to dim most of the lights except the one in the corner by the window. Meanwhile Jennifer followed his movement quietly, hands on her knees.

It was very quiet. There was only the dull humming of the air conditioner.

He decided to make the first move. He pulled the T-shirt over his head, revealing his bare chest. By no means did he have a body-builder's physique. And he was probably 10 pounds heavier than his prime youthful days. But he still considered himself a good looking man.

Jennifer stood up, walked closer to Jim, and hooked her arms around his neck, and they kissed.