by Nora Roberts
hit.” She gripped the next ball, took her position, pitched another easy one.
Coop felt the little lift inside as the ball sailed into the field. He smacked a third, then wiggled his hips and waited for the pitch.
She winged it, and blew it by him. “Nice cut,” was all he said as he narrowed his eyes at her.
He choked up on the bat a bit, scuffed his heels. She fooled him with one that curved low and inside. He caught a piece of the next pitch, fouling it off so it rang as it hit the cage.
“You can toss those three back if you want,” she told him. “I’ll pitch you some more.”
“That’s okay. You take a turn.” And he’d show her.
They switched places. Rather than soften her up, he burned one in. She caught enough of it to have it shooting foul. She caught the next, popped it up. But she got the fat of the bat on the third pitch. If there’d been a park, Coop was forced to admit, she’d have hit it out.
“You’re pretty good.”
“I like them high and inside.” After cocking the bat against the cage, Lil started toward the field. “We’ve got a game next Saturday. You could come.”
Some dumbass boondockie ball game. Would be, he thought, a lot better than nothing. “Maybe.”
“Do you get to go to real games? Like at Yankee Stadium?”
“Sure. My father’s got season tickets, box seats, right behind the third base line.”
“No way!”
It felt good—a little—to impress her. And it didn’t suck to have somebody, even a farm girl, to talk ball with. Plus she could handle the ball and the bat, and that was a serious plus.
Still, Coop only shrugged then watched Lil slip through the lines of barbed wire without mishap. He didn’t complain when she turned and held the lines wider for him.
“We watch on TV, or listen on the radio. And once we went all the way down to Omaha to watch a game. But I’ve never been to a major league ballpark.”
And that reminded him just where he was. “You’re a million miles from one. From anything.”
“Dad says one day we’ll take a vacation and go back East. Maybe to Fenway Park because he’s a Red Sox fan.” She found a ball, stuck it in her back pocket. “He likes to root for the underdog.”
“My father says it’s smarter to root for a winner.”
“Everybody else does, mostly, so somebody has to root for the underdog.” She beamed a smile at him, fluttered long lashes over dark brown eyes. “That’s going to be New York this year.”
He grinned before he realized it. “So you say.”
He picked up a ball, tossed it hand to hand as they worked their way toward the trees. “What do you do with all these cows anyway.”
“Beef cattle. We raise them, then sell them. People eat them. I bet even people in New York like steak.”
He thought that was gross, just the idea that the cow staring at him now would be on somebody’s plate—maybe even his—one day.
“Do you have any pets?” she asked him.
“No.”
She couldn’t imagine not having animals around, everywhere, all the time. And the idea of not brought a lump of genuine sympathy to her throat.
“I guess it’s harder in the city. Our dogs . . .” She paused to look around, then spotted them. “They’ve been out running, see, and now they’re back at the table, hoping for scraps. They’re good dogs. You can come over and play with them sometime if you want, and use the batting cage.”
“Maybe.” He snuck another glance at her. “Thanks.”
“Not many of the girls I know like baseball all that much. Or hiking and fishing. I do. Dad’s teaching me to track. My grandfather, my mom’s father, taught him. He’s really good.”
“Track?”
“Animals and people. For fun. There’s lots of trails, and lots to do.”
“If you say so.”
She cocked her head at the dismissive tone. “Have you ever been camping?”
“Why would I want to?”
She only smiled. “It’s going to be dark pretty soon. We’d better get the last ball and head back. If you come over again, maybe Dad will play or we can go riding. You like to ride?”
“You mean horses? I don’t know how. It looks stupid.”
She fired up at that, the way she’d fired up to hit the ball high and long. “It’s not stupid, and it’s stupid to say it is just because you don’t know how. Besides, it’s fun. When we—”
She stopped, dead in her tracks. As she sucked in her breath, she grabbed Coop’s arm. “Don’t move.”
“What?” Because the hand on his arm shook, his heart slammed into his throat. “Is it a snake?”
Panicked, he scanned the grass.
“Cougar.” She barely breathed the word. She stood like a statue with that one trembling hand on his arm, and stared into the tangled brush.
“What? Where?” Suspicious, sure she was just screwing around and trying to scare him, he tried to pry her hand away. At first he saw nothing but that brush, the trees, the rise of rock and hill.
Then he saw the shadow. “Holy shit. Holy freaking shit!”
“Don’t run.” She stared as if mesmerized. “If you run, he’ll chase you, and he’s faster. No!” She yanked on his arm as Coop edged up, getting a firmer grip on the ball. “Don’t throw anything, not yet. Mom says . . .” She couldn’t remember everything her mother had told her. She’d never seen a cat before, not in real life, not near the farm. “You have to make noise, and, and make yourself look big.”
Quivering, Lil rose to her toes, lifted her arms over her head, and began to shout. “Get away! Get away from here. Yell!” she shouted to Cooper. “Look big and mean!”
Her eyes, keen and dark, measured the cougar from tip to tail. Even as her heart pounded with fear, something else moved through her.
Awe.
She could see his eyes glint in the oncoming dusk, glint as they seemed to look right into hers. Though her throat went dry, she thought: He’s beautiful. He’s so beautiful.
He paced, powerful grace, watching them as if deciding whether to attack or retreat.
Beside her Coop shouted, his voice raw with fear. She watched the big cat slink toward deeper shadow. And then it leaped away, a blur of dull gold that dazzled her eyes.
“It ran away. It ran away.”
“It didn’t,” Lil murmured. “It flew.”
Through the roaring in her ears, she heard her father shouting for her, and turned. He charged across the field, scattering surprised cattle. Yards behind him Coop’s grandfather ran, carrying a rifle she realized he’d gotten from the house. The dogs raced with them, as did her mother, with a shotgun, and Coop’s grandmother.
“Cougar.” She managed to get the word out just before Joe swept her off her feet and into his arms. “There. Over there. It’s gone now.”
“Get in the house, Coop.” With his free arm, Joe pulled Coop against him. “Both of you, get inside. Now.”
“It’s gone, Dad. We scared it away.”
“Go! Cougar,” he said as Jenna sprinted past Sam and reached them.
“Oh God. You’re all right.” She took Lil, giving Joe the shotgun. “You’re all right.” She kissed Lil’s face, her hair, then bent down to do the same to Coop.
“Get them in the house, Jenna. Take the kids and Lucy, and get inside.”
“Come on. Come on.” Jenna draped her arms around both children, looked up at Sam’s grim face as he reached them. “Be careful.”
“Don’t kill it, Dad!” Lil called out as her mother pulled her away. “It was so beautiful.” She searched the brush, the trees, hoping for just one more glimpse. “Don’t kill it.”
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