I rinsed my mouth with water again, spitting it out next to my car. Then I leaned against my car, exhausted. I wasn't even there for an hour but I felt like I had ran a marathon. I looked up at Wayne. "What do I do now?"
Wayne reached out and put his hand on my shoulder. "You do what you need to do. What you want to do."
"I don't know." I closed my eyes tight, trying to get that woman out of my head.
"How about you come home with us then?" He offered. "We can make it home in time for lunch with Mary and the rest of the boys."
I shook my head. "I don't think I can look at Jake right now."
"You can't let what she said, get to you." Wayne kept me steady with his hand. "Why would you give her words any value?"
"Was she wrong?!" I jumped up, feeling anxious. "My whole life...my time with my uncle's family, I thought I was one of them. Instead they just used me as a cash cow. All of my rookie contract is gone. I have nothing but the cash in my account. I've treated Jake like air and abandoned him to live this lie."
"Jeremy. Jeremy. Calm down." Wayne pulled me into a side hug, stopping me from jumping around and pacing. "Just because you've made some bad decisions doesn't mean you're a bad person. There's still time to fix things. Look how you and Jake were in the beginning. Now you're just like any two brothers. Things can get better if you just try."
"But, Jake-"
"Jake's waiting for you to come over for lunch." Zeke cut me off, having come out from their car. "I heard Dad say we can make it in time for lunch so I let him know. He's expecting you. If you don't want to let him down, just show up."
My eyes stung and my nose felt funny. "Okay. Yea, I can do lunch."
"Zeke, you just follow us." Wayne instructed. He guided me to the front passenger seat and got me to settle down.
After getting on the main highway, Wayne cleared his throat. "I know you're under a lot of pressure right now, but I think it's time to start planning your next step."
"My next step..." I echoed.
He glanced at me before putting his eyes back on the road. "Calling your agent? Calling your lawyer? I know you don't want to think so far ahead right now. It's stressful, I get it. But you have to know...the repercussions this has on your public image. Plus, I don't know how much access he has to your money. You have to protect yourself, Jeremy. Get that financial planner and start putting your money away for retirement. You never know how long a career in baseball will last."
Wayne went on, talking about dividing up my money into savings accounts, stocks, bonds, and retirement accounts. But my mind was on what he said before that. 'You have to protect yourself.' He was right. I had to. I've made so many bad decisions, putting my trust in the wrong places...why am I so muddle-headed?
I pulled out my phone. "You're right." I cut him off. "Let me call my agent to get on top of this."
Wayne became silent as the phone started to ring.
"Jeremy!" My agent answered. "Thank goodness! I was getting worried that you were going to pull another disappearing act."
I cleared my throat. "No. I'm here. Heading to see my brother now."
"Good, I'm glad. Does that mean you'll be at the game tonight?"
I hesitated.
"Jeremy?" He asked.
Wayne reached over and snapped his fingers in front of me. Very rude but it got my attention. I looked at him. He nodded aggressively.
"Hold on..." I told my agent, putting him on hold so he couldn't hear. "Wayne...I don't think I'm in the mood to play tonight..."
"Think about your commitment to the team, Jeremy." Wayne warned me. "You're a MVP candidate. Do you really want to throw that away? All your hard work? When I said you have to work on the next step, I meant baseball too. You're going to play in that game tonight. Play well. Face your team and apologize for skipping out last night. Then face the reporters in the postgame interview. It's time to grow up."
I bit my bottom lip, unable to refute. "Yea...okay." I took a deep breath and but my agent back on.
"Well?" My agent asked, sounding nervous.
"I'll play." I told him. "I might be running behind to warmups because I'm stopping for lunch, but I'll be there. Ready to play and to win." I swallowed. "Also, I want you to find me a new lawyer. One that my uncle has no connections with. We have a lot of work in front of us to get his hands out of everything that belongs to me."
"No problem! Leave it to me!" I could hear him typing. "We'll get started this afternoon. We'll put together a list of your assets and liabilities. Everything that belongs to you. Then a list of things that you pay for that's in their name."
"Cut off any payments that aren't going to anything in my name." I scratched my cheek. "For those in my name...we'll have to go over it in person. I...don't want to take their home." I couldn't make them homeless. I may have been used, but there's worse ways to treat people.
"I'll get to work." He paused. "Do you want me to prepare a statement for you?"
"No." I glanced out the window to watch the scenery pass by. "I'll address it after the game. The team will have the PR covered."
"Okay. Sounds like a plan!" He exclaimed, sounding less worried. "Call me when you're on the way to the stadium."
"Sure." I hung up. I looked to Wayne. "Thank you."
He was surprised. "You don't have to thank me, Jeremy. You-"
"No." I cut him off. "I do." I showed a small sad smile. "I...I'm so thankful to you and your family. For taking Jake in. What if I never got the chance to see him again? What if he went to one of those stereotypical foster homes where the abuse continued? I'm happy he has you guys." A wave a guilt passed over me. "And...I'm sorry. Again. For not believing you about Uncle Jack. It's just..."
"You had rose-colored glasses on." Wayne finished for me. "That's understandable. He's your uncle. He raised you. For better or for worse, you had to give him some benefit of the doubt. I just didn't want to see you hurt. I'm just sorry it happened so soon and unexpectedly."
Was it so unexpected? Looking back...I feel like there were some very obvious signs. I let out a short laugh, making Wayne jump.
"I'm so dumb." I shook my head. "I never questioned him, but I questioned Jake and you guys before even knowing you all. It's amazing I've even gotten this far in life."
"You're not dumb." Wayne was quick to correct me. "Don't get down on yourself like this. Like I said, everyone makes mistakes. When asking for forgiveness, make sure to forgive yourself. Stop burying yourself in guilt. You'll never get anywhere like that."