14 - Haley
14
Haley
I gasped when I saw him. “Jordan?”
The golden light of the setting sun caught his blond hair, turning it almost copper as he leaned against the chain-link fence. He was wearing work clothes similar to what he’d had on at Lucas’s place the other night—slacks and a button-down shirt with the sleeves shoved up to his elbows—but his tie was gone, and his shoes were dusty from the infield dirt. A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth, the same one I remembered from the other night, lazy and knowing.
“All right,” he announced, eyes still glued to me. “Everyone run poles. Two laps. First one done gets extra batting practice.”
The kids groaned, but dropped their gloves and began jogging across the field.
“What are poles?” Bran asked.
Jordan tore his gaze from me and crouched down to speak at Bran’s level. “That’s where you run from one foul pole to the other. Across the entire outfield. You don’t have to do it, though.”
Bran looked up at me. “Coach Jordy was teaching me about baseball!”
“You let a strange boy join your practice?” I demanded.
Jordan stood up. “I don’t know where he came from. He just appeared and started asking questions. I figured a parent would show up eventually.” He cocked his head. “It’s good to see you again, Haley.”
“You know Coach Jordy?” Bran asked.
“Kind of,” I said.
“I ran into your mom the other night,” Jordan said with another knowing smile. In the blink of an eye, I was bombarded with images from that night.
Jordan taking off his shirt in the living room.
The way his fingers tightened in my hair while I went down on him.
The moans of bliss as he came down my throat.
“Were you on the play date?” Bran excitedly asked.
Jordan blinked. “Play date? Is that what we’re calling it?”
I felt myself blush. “I’m so sorry he interrupted your baseball practice.”
“Don’t be. He’s actually—”
“We need to go,” I told Bran, squeezing his shoulder and turning him around. “When I tell you to stay in the car, that means stay in the car . What if something happened to you?”
“Nothing happened! I was with Coach Jordy!”
“You know you’re not supposed to talk to strangers,” I added.
“You’re not listening ,” he whined. “He’s not a stranger. He’s Coach Jordy!”
I glanced over my shoulder. Jordan gave a little wave while watching us leave.
The two buyers were standing halfway between my car and the baseball field. “Maybe having a park so close isn’t a great idea,” the wife said with a laugh.
“This is a good problem to have,” I said with a chuckle. “I’d rather him want to play outside than sit in front of the TV all day!”
Fortunately, the scene at the park didn’t derail their enthusiasm about buying the house. By the time Bran and I got home, my office had sent them the paperwork and they had signed everything. If it went through—a big if—it would be the easiest commission of my life.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about my run-in with Jordan.
I didn’t really believe in fate. Random things sometimes happened in life, and it didn’t necessarily mean anything.
Yet this was too crazy of a coincidence to ignore. I hadn’t seen Jordan Mayfield in seven years, and then suddenly I ran into him twice in one week. It was so unlikely that I would have assumed he had orchestrated it as a way of seeing me, except that it was impossible. He couldn’t have predicted that I would get a last-minute showing at the house next to where he was coaching little league.
What were the odds?
“I’m looking at his Facebook profile,” Sara said one evening while we hung out on her front porch. “He’s been coaching little league for two years.”
“What does he do for a living?” I asked. “He was wearing dress clothes at the baseball field and at Lucas’s place. Like he’d just come from work.”
Sara scanned the page. “Doesn’t say. Actually, his page is mostly blank. He posts about little league practice and tryouts, but that’s about it.”
“Small world,” I muttered. “I have my first foursome, and then immediately run into one of the guys within a week.”
“Almost like it’s a sign…” Sara said.
“Don’t,” I warned, pointing a finger at her. “This is just a crazy coincidence.”
“I don’t believe in coincidences.”
“Easy to say when your whole life has gone according to plan,” I replied.
She blinked at me. “Woah. Asshole alert.”
“Sorry,” I said, glancing out at the yard where Bran was playing. “I’m not trying to take it out on you. The whole thing has me rattled.”
“Really? Why?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I had so much fun at Lucas’s place that night, and I convinced myself it was just a one-time thing. But then when I ran into Jordan today…”
“It’s because you saw him doing something fatherly,” Sara pointed out. “Last week, Harper replaced the doorknob on the bathroom door. And I pretty much jumped his bones.”
“Sara!” I hissed.
“What? You’re allowed to talk about your sex life but I’m not?” She waved a hand. “The point is, you saw Jordan coaching little league. Of course you can’t stop thinking about him now.”
I wanted to deny it, but I knew she was right. The simple act of doing something fatherly made me think about Jordan in a totally different way. He wasn’t just the goofball interrupting class every single day—he was an adult. He had matured.
Combined with the fun we had the other night…
“Have you thought about texting him?” Sara asked.
“I don’t have Jordan’s number,” I replied.
“Then get it from Lucas.”
“No!” I blurted out. “I don’t want to open up communications with Lucas. We blew off steam last week, and that’s the end of that.”
She gave me a judgmental look, but thankfully didn’t say anything else.
“What do you want?” Sara asked. “To stay single forever?”
“I don’t want to get involved with my ex-boyfriend’s best friend,” I said bluntly. “Well. Beyond how we already hooked up in a foursome.”
Sara narrowed her eyes at me. “Even if you’re missing out on something special?”
I couldn’t help but scoff. “That would make for an embarrassing story. How did you two meet? Oh, well we knew each other in high school, but we reconnected at a gangbang!”
Sara had to cover her mouth from laughing.
“It was already awkward between us at the baseball field,” I said. “I don’t need to relive that.”
“What if it’s the universe trying to push you two together?” Sara asked.
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. If I randomly bump into Jordan Mayfield again, I’ll consider the possibility that it’s a sign from the all-knowing universe.”
“Good,” Sara said, stifling a grin. “Because he just pulled up.”
I whipped my head toward the street, where a blue GMC Sierra truck was parked.
And sure enough, Jordan had gotten out of the driver’s side and was grinning up at us.