Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
JOSH
I raked dirt into the crater on the lead off side of first base where the kids liked to dig a hole with their cleats. I worried a kid would break an ankle in the pit.
Drew’s lifted black Ford truck with mud splashed sides pulled into a parking spot next to the field right in the foul ball territory. Anyone who parked there was in danger of getting a cracked windshield from a flying baseball.
Maybe one of his cows bloated or something.
I yanked my phone out of my back pocket.
No messages about an emergency. Milly had sent me three messages that I hadn’t read yet and still didn’t.
They’d either be about going out, coming over, or showing up to her bible study class tonight.
The thought of any and all three drained me.
I held a hand to my forehead to shade the setting sun’s light. Drew didn’t exit his truck. He didn’t even wave my way. Instead, he seemed fixated on his phone.
Players arrived and lined their bags up in the dugout. Parents set up their chairs. A crisp wind fluttered around us, but it carried with it the tease of springtime. A few birds chirped in the background.
“Go ahead and do warm up tosses,” I called out.
Erika’s Pathfinder towing a trailer pulled in behind Drew. I froze mid sweep of the rake.
She’s back?
The trailer could mean she was picking up stuff at the house to move away. Or she was back to stay.
I remained rooted to the ground as she got out. Please, let her be staying.
Sure, I’d had some wicked dreams about her since Saturday, but more realistically, I needed her help at the clinic. Her staying made the unrelenting appointments and after-hours calls seem a lot less overwhelming.
She probably wasn’t here to stay.
Drew grabbed a baseball bag out of his truck bed, which he handed to Vinny. Erika had invited Drew to go inside her house and get Vinny’s stuff? Why not ask me, his coach, to do it?
Okay, I had told her off before she left. Reasonable that she wouldn’t reach out to me.
Erika gave Drew a genuine, happy-to-see-you kind of smile.
I forced my fists to relax. That didn’t mean anything. That was a friends happy to see each other smile or a thank you smile for getting Vinny’s stuff.
Vinny at practice today had to mean she was staying. Right?
She gestured to the field and pointed at me.
Drew shook his head. He wasn’t in jeans or his coveralls. He rarely wore anything more formal than jeans unless attending church or a funeral. Today, he wore black sweatpants, a sweatshirt, and sneakers.
Vinny took Drew’s hand and led him onto the field. He waved Drew my way.
Once Drew got within a few feet of me, he glanced back toward Erika. She had her hands on her hips and cast him a frightening scowl.
Drew took off his worn, green John Deere baseball cap and squeezed it in his hands.
His fluffy brown curls had been smashed into a hat-head helmet.
“Listen… Uh, Josh, so I heard you needed an assistant coach to help with the kids and all. I don’t know how much use this redneck farm boy might be, but back in my day I used to be pretty good at hitting. ”
These were a lot of boys for me to handle alone. I had a tough time holding their interest long enough to get through all the drills. None of the other dads would step up, and the moms proved useless. “Why would Erika put you up to this?”
“It turns out I owe her a foosball debt.”
“This is how she wants you to repay it?”
“Yeah.”
“So, she’s staying?”
Drew glanced back toward where Erika stood. “Pretty sure. Unless you screw it up again.”
“Are you still going to chase after her?”
“Yeah. That’s off the field. On the field, it’s about the kids.”
Not the answer I wanted. “How long do I get your help? Just today?”
He glanced back her way. “Full season.”
I yelled to the dugout, “Infield, go with Coach Drew. He’s going to work with you in the batting cage. The rest of you, we’re fielding. Line up at third base.” To Drew, I pointed at the dugout. “There’s an extra glove and bat in the bag. You can take the bucket of balls.”
Drew led the kids to the batting cage.
As Vinny walked by me toward third base, I asked low, “Was roping Drew into helping your idea?”
“Sort of.” He fiddled with his glove. “She asked me if I needed anything for baseball while we were driving back. It was a really really, really long drive. It took all day. I said we sure could use some help at practice. I can’t say Drew wanted to do it, but she…
” He lowered his voice, “She got real tough on the phone. She used a scary voice.”
“Your sister can be tough,” I whispered back. “Are you two staying?”
“She quit her job. She’s a ball-busting badass.” He giggled and ran off.
“Language, Vinny,” I called out with a grin. Hell, yeah! She’s staying.
That little kid had never cussed before. Hope would’ve washed his mouth out with soap. It’d do the kid some good if Erika rubbed off on him a bit, but perhaps not the foul language.
At the end of practice, Erika’s SUV returned without the trailer. I hadn’t even noticed she’d driven off. She fist-bumped Drew as he walked to his truck. I heard him say, “It was fun.”
I walked toward her.
She scraped her hair into a messy bun and crossed her arms, weighing my presence in her space. The shadows under her eyes were new, perhaps proof of exhaustion. Too much driving. Too much grief. Maybe too much single parenting. I opened my mouth, ready to ask what I could do.
She held up a hand to stop me. “I scheduled an appointment for us to talk tomorrow at nine in the morning at the clinic. We can discuss the business then.”
“You’re actually back for sure?”
She gave me a strained smile. “In an effort to avoid us throwing f-bombs in front of the kids, we can discuss things tomorrow.” She spun to follow Vinny to the car but paused. Then fast-walked back to me to whisper, “What happened on the day of the funeral is something we’re going to forget about.”
“I won’t be forgetting anytime soon.” Her looking at me with those pleading brown eyes wouldn’t work. I was never going to forget her kissing me. I didn’t want to forget.
“It was a mistake,” she whispered. “A moment of insanity. Let’s chalk it up to the funeral and emotions running high.
That jerk cheated on me, and I was feeling low.
Then you got all protective, which was fucking hot.
” She huffed and threw up her hands. “Now you made me throw an f-bomb. Forget I said all of that. I’m tired.
I can’t think straight after driving so much.
Let’s focus on the part where we fought.
” She did a chopping motion with her hand.
“No. Forget all of it. Milly doesn’t ever need to know, especially if you guys are headed in the marriage direction like she wants. I already barely remember it.”
It grated me raw to be labeled a mistake. “Marriage isn’t for me anytime soon.”
“We will forget it.” She gritted out between her teeth, “Forget. It.”
“You’re the one who brought it up, which means you remember every second of it. I can’t forget you almost coming on the desk I have to sit at every day. Or the fact you said you can fuck yourself better than me. How the hell do you leave after throwing down a challenge like that?”
“I did not… I’m sure I’m not the first girl you had on that desk.”
I gave her a double eyebrow raise and pressed my tongue against my teeth.
“Really?” She nibbled her lower lip and fought a smile.
I leaned in close. “The only reason I didn’t make you come on my desk was the people on the other side of the wall who would’ve been scandalized.”
“You’ll never know what you missed.”
Just as I was formulating a decent comeback, she marched off.