Ready To Love Again

by Annalyse Knight

  He’s married. He’s married. He’s married.

  Katie pulled herself together and went to the bleachers as the coaches and a couple of the dads took the boys out on the field. Despite her internal acknowledgment of his marital status, her eyes always strayed back to Chase. She reasoned with herself that there was nothing wrong with admiring the physique of an attractive man, as long as she didn’t turn into that horrid woman from tryouts.

  The longer she watched him, the more she realized he was excellent with the boys. He gave them encouragement and was patient while he showed them the proper way to catch the ball. Shawn took in everything Chase taught him with hero worship in his eyes.

  “Hey, Ms. Rodriguez?”

  Katie pulled her attention from Chase and looked at the blond-haired man who had been throwing ground balls to the boys. His fingers were threaded through the fence of the backstop, and he had a cocky smile on his face. He was attractive, but his leering smile and perusal of her body made her wary.

  “It’s Katie,” she responded, and his smile grew larger.

  “Not married?” he asked.

  As a rule, the men who had flirted with Katie in the past weren’t quite as obvious about their intentions. “Um, divorced.” She looked away. If she ignored him, maybe he would turn his attention back to the boys where it belonged.

  “Katie.” A singsong voice came from behind her, and she turned, grateful for the interruption. Gina waved Liz off to go hang out with her friends before she climbed up on the bleachers beside Katie. She glared at the ogling pest who was trying to get her attention, dismissing him with a flip of her hair before turning her full attention back to Katie. “How have you been?”

  “I’m doing great. Everything’s unpacked, so I have a few days to relax before I start work.”

  A small huff come from the man who’d tried to get their attention, and Katie watched out of the corner of her eye when he turned and walked back to the boys. As soon as he was out of earshot, she let out a long, relieved sigh.

  “Who was that?” she asked Gina.

  “That is the infamous Mitch Arnold of Arnold Construction.” Gina wrinkled up her nose and continued. “He tends to be somewhat of a bully, and you’ve already met his lovely wife.”

  “Tammy?”

  Gina nodded with a roll of her eyes.

  Great! The Wicked Witch of the West will be a thorn in my side for the rest of the season.

  “She already showed you her finer qualities.” Gina shook her head in disgust. “I feel sorry for Chase. He’s going to be dodging her advances for the next three months. Talk about taking one for the team.”

  Katie eyes sought out Chase on the field and caught him looking in their direction. Heat rose in her cheeks, and she wondered how a glance could make her feel burned from the inside out. His wife was one lucky woman.

  He’s married. He’s married. He’s married.

  “Did you meet Chase?” Gina asked when she followed Katie’s gaze onto the field.

  “Informally. We met on the beach the first night I moved here.”

  Gina stared at her with her mouth open, so Katie tried to explain, not wanting her to get the wrong idea. “I took my dog out on the beach, and he wouldn’t leave Chase alone.” She shrugged her shoulders to show it wasn’t a big deal, but by the look of shock in Gina’s eyes, she didn’t feel the same way.

  “When was this?”

  “A week ago last Saturday.”

  Gina sucked in a large breath and stared at Katie, wide-eyed. “The seventh?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  Gina shook her head. “It’s a huge coincidence.”

  “What’s a coincidence?”

  “Nothing . . . everything.” Gina gave her a wry smile. “When you think about it, there must be some divine intervention working to bring us all together. You and I will be working together, Shawn and Tony have become best friends, and you met Chase on that particular day.”

  “What do you mean by ‘that particular day’?”

  “Nothing, it was just a hard day. How’s Shawn doing with his first practice?”

  Katie wondered about the sudden change of subject, but once she realized what Gina had asked, she felt guilty. If she hadn’t been ogling Gina’s married brother, then she would have been able to answer her question truthfully.

  “Um . . . he seems to be doing fine.”

  Katie looked across the field and found Shawn in a low squat, the bat gripped tight in both his hands. He pulled the bat back and rested it on his shoulder, but Daniel lifted the bat off and showed him how to hold it the correct way. In the short amount of time Katie had known Daniel, she could tell he loved the game and wanted to share his enthusiasm with the boys.

  “Daniel’s excellent with the kids,” Katie said.

  Gina smiled and nodded. “Yeah, Tony is spoiled between Chase and Daniel and their passion for the game. They’ve turned him into a walking statistics machine.”

  Katie laughed at her assessment. “Apparently, it has rubbed off on my son. Shawn, who to my knowledge has never watched baseball, spouted off Buster Posey’s batting averages this week.”

  “Yeah, just don’t get them started on Giants trivia or Daniel won’t shut up for days.”

  They watched the different children on the field while they talked about everything from Gina’s wedding to the best place to take Buddy for a trim. Gina introduced Katie to a few of the parents on the team and told her about Daniel’s career in pro baseball, which explained his dedication to the kids. It had been a long time since Katie had a girlfriend to chat with, and she found she’d missed it.

  Gina pointed at the two bullies who had been at the tryouts when one of them rammed his shoulder into Tony. Tony brushed it off and ignored him, running over to Shawn.

  “Those two boys have been cruel to Tony since he was in kindergarten. I think with Shawn around, things might get better,” Gina said with a small nod of her head.

  “About Shawn . . . I need to apologize in advance for anything he may do in the future. He doesn’t always think before he acts.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Tony needs a little adventure in his life. He’s too reserved.”

  Gina stood and made her way down the bleachers, brushing off her backside as she went. She looked around for a moment before she spotted Liz, then let out an ear-piercing whistle between her teeth.

  “Do you have plans for tonight?” Gina asked Katie over her shoulder.

  “No, I’m headed home to make dinner.”

  “How about we go out to dinner, just us adults? There’s a great restaurant on Fisherman’s Wharf that we go to all the time.”

  “I don’t know. I—”

  Gina cut her off mid-sentence. “Shawn can come over and stay at our house, and I’ll get a babysitter.”

  Gina made it hard to put up an argument. “All right, but I can’t stay out late. Shawn still has school in the morning.”

  Katie thought Gina’s smile would split her face in half. “Fantastic! Chase loves the Grotto, so he’ll—”

  “Who’s going to be there?” Katie asked when she realized Chase was invited. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to meet the lucky Mrs. O’Donnell.

  “Chase, Daniel, and me.”

  Katie nodded. “What about Chase’s wife?”

  A pained expression crossed Gina’s face, and Katie considered apologizing for prying before Gina answered.

  “Chase’s wife died three years ago.”

  Katie’s heart dropped to her toes at the pain she heard in Gina’s voice. She mumbled an apology, and her thoughts drifted to Tony and Liz and the grief they must have gone through after the loss of their mother at such young ages. At that moment, Katie was grateful Shawn still had Victor, even if he lived in another state.

  ~*~

  Chase spent the majority of his time on the field lost in his own thoughts. What were the odds that the woman he’d met on the beach would be the mother of his son’s best friend? Gina had bee
n correct when she said Katie was pretty. Attraction to a woman was something Chase hadn’t thought about in a long time, and it made him uneasy. He ended the practice and asked Shawn and Tony to put away the equipment.

  When he approached, Gina’s smile increased. He couldn’t help but be afraid at what ideas she might have concocted. She had tried to set him up with her friends in the past, but he always called a halt before she could make any concrete plans. The look on her face told him she wouldn’t stop this time. Gina met his eyes as he came up behind Katie, and he gave his head a quick shake, warning her to behave.

  “Katie, this is my brother, Chase.”

  Katie’s smile was warm. There didn’t appear to be any of the not-so-subtle flirting he’d experienced from the nurses at work. She took his hand in a firm shake. “It’s nice to put a name with the face,” she said.

  Her voice was deeper than his sister’s—sultrier—but not in the way some women tried to mimic when they wanted to let you know they were interested in getting you into bed. It was sexy. Chase shook off the thoughts and smiled.

  “Likewise. I simply thought of you as Buddy’s owner.”

  Gina rubbed a fingernail under her nose, trying to hide the too-happy-to-be-innocent smile. It would be nearly impossible to keep her from playing matchmaker.

  “I invited Katie to dinner with us. I hope you don’t mind,” Gina said with wide, innocent eyes.

  Chase didn’t buy the innocent act. He forced a smile and nodded, wondering how he would deter his sister from the course she was set on.

  “Great! I’ll meet you at our house after I pick up the babysitter,” Gina said. Before he had time to argue, she was halfway across the field.

  “She’s a little pushy, isn’t she?”

  He laughed at Katie’s evaluation. “If only you knew.”

  Katie smiled up at him. “So Gina helps out with your kids?” she asked while they made their way to the parking lot.

  “Uh . . . yeah.” Chase wondered how much Gina had told Katie about their family situation. His hand went to his ring, and he twirled it between his fingers. “I work wonky hours, so she’s been a life saver.”

  Shawn and Tony ran around Chase’s car in a ball of energy while Liz leaned up against the door. His reserved son laughed and screamed at the top of his lungs. It was rare for Chase to see Tony’s playful side, and he wondered if this was who his son was under his quiet exterior.

  Tony decided he wanted to ride with Shawn, so Katie and the boys pulled out behind Chase, staying close while he weaved through the narrow streets of Carmel.

  “Why are Shawn and his mom coming over to our house?” Liz demanded in a tone that made Chase cautious.

  He could hear the hint of jealousy, and he wasn’t sure how to handle it so she wouldn’t explode like she had in the past. “Well, Aunt Gina invited her. I’m also going to teach Shawn to pitch, so I’m sure she wants to know who her son is spending time with.”

  “Do you like her?”

  “She seems nice enough,” he answered, hoping his vague response would deter her from her interrogation.

  “No, Dad, that’s not what I meant. Do you like her like her?”

  “Elizabeth, I just met the woman, for Pete’s sake. Calm down. We’ll spend time together because of baseball. Can’t your dad have a female friend?”

  Liz folded her arms over her chest and looked out the window. After a long silence, she relented. “Yes. You need more friends, Daddy. You don’t ever do anything anymore, unless it’s with us.”

  Chase reached over and patted her knee. “Thank you, sweetheart, but I like to spend time with you and your brother, so I’m not sacrificing anything.”

  They pulled into the driveway, and Liz unbuckled her seatbelt, leaned over the console, and kissed her father’s cheek. “I love you, Daddy.”

  For a moment, he saw his little girl again, the one who loved to cuddle and make daisy chains, the little girl she had been before she’d grown up too fast because of the tragedy in their lives. He kissed the top of her head and climbed out of the car. When Liz came around, he took her arm and hoisted her onto his back while he waited for Katie and the boys to come up the driveway.

  “Wow, you have a beautiful home,” Katie said when she met him at the stairs.

  “Thanks.” Chase nodded and motioned for her to go ahead of him. Liz’s grip tightened around his neck, reminding him that she was still there. Once he reached the landing, he let her slide off his back, and she disappeared up the stairs after the boys.

  “Gina should be back with the babysitter in a minute, and then we can go. Would you like something to drink?”

  “Yeah, that would be nice.”

  He asked her to follow him into the kitchen, and he chuckled at the look on her face when she entered. The room was spacious and modern, with large windows that overlooked the Pacific and crisp white cabinets set against bright, yellow walls.

  “This kitchen is amazing,” she told him when he handed her a glass of Chardonnay. Her hand ran across the granite countertops while she took in every detail.

  “Terri—” He paused as the pain of speaking her name aloud settled in his chest. “My wife liked to cook.”

  Katie nodded, then took a sip from her glass. A silence fell between them, and he cursed himself for making things uncomfortable. He didn’t know how to have a normal conversation with a woman, and it became more obvious with every moment that passed. Chase tried to relax and ask the first thing that popped into his mind.

  “Do you like to cook?”

  “I do. I considered becoming a chef before I found my love of the ocean. I’d die to have a kitchen like this in my home.”

  “It hasn’t been used much over the last few years.” He waved toward the appliances, the purpose of which he had no idea. “When Gina gets a new recipe from Daniel, she uses the kitchen to try it out, but I’m not much of a cook.”

  “My ex-husband wasn’t much of a cook, either.”

  Chase smiled, and some of his anxiety melted away when she didn’t shy away from uncomfortable topics.

  Liz came into the kitchen and stared at the two of them before she asked for a cookie. Chase pulled himself away from Katie and brought out a box from the cabinet. When he turned around, Liz was standing in front of Katie with her arms crossed over her chest.

  He held out the box to her, but she ignored it. Instead, she focused all her attention on Katie. “Are you married?”

  Chase wasn’t sure where Liz was headed with her question, and he didn’t think he wanted to find out. Setting the cookies on the counter, he wrapped an arm around his daughter as a silent warning not to be rude.

  “Divorced,” Katie said. Chase didn’t like to see the guarded shift in her posture.

  “Why?” Liz asked.

  “I’m sorry. Please don’t feel obligated to answer that question. It was rude.” Chase gave his daughter a gentle squeeze to let her know she should end her inquiry. “Why don’t you go share these with the boys?” He handed Liz the box of cookies. “I’ll have the babysitter order some pizza when she gets here.”

  Looking for any reason to flee the embarrassment of being reprimanded in front of a stranger, Liz grabbed the cookies and bolted for the stairs. Chase didn’t know what to make of her interrogation. He wasn’t sure if she was curious or if there was something more ominous going on.

  ~*~

  “Again, I apologize for her rude line of questioning.”

  Katie waved her hand and dismissed his apology. “Please. If I had a quarter for every time Shawn said something he shouldn’t, I’d be a very rich woman.”

  They laughed together at the awkwardness of the situation but then settled into easy conversation. Katie’s eyes flitted from her drink to his hands, and she noticed he was twirling his wedding ring again. Chase caught her gaze and quickly stuffed his hand in his pocket. Grabbing his glass of wine, he took a long drink before setting it back on the counter.

  The front door opened, a
nd Gina popped into the kitchen, with a small blond girl following close behind her.

  “Katie, this is Tiffany. She’s our usual babysitter when she’s home from Berkeley, and she’s great with the kids.”

  Once Katie nodded her greeting, Tiffany’s full attention turned to Chase. Gina ran out to get ready, leaving the three of them standing in the kitchen.

  “Hello, Dr. O’Donnell,” Tiffany whispered in a shy but inviting voice.

  Katie brought her glass up to her lips to hide her smile while she watched the girl turn up the charm.

  Chase shifted his weight in obvious discomfort. “Good evening, Tiffany. The boys may get rambunctious tonight, but please keep them in line. I’ll give you some extra money to order pizza for everyone.”

  Tiffany lowered her lashes, looking up at him with pure admiration. Katie turned her back to them to hide her amusement and walked to the sink, setting her empty glass on the counter.

  “I love your children, Dr. O’Donnell.” Tiffany’s voice sounded like it came from the mouth of an experienced woman rather than a college student.

  Trying to hold back a giggle, Katie turned from the sink in time to see Chase’s eyebrows rise. He was very aware of Tiffany’s flirting.

  “Uh, well, Liz is waiting for you in her room,” he said, trying to steer Tiffany in a different direction. Her bottom lip jutted out in a pretty pout, but she turned and went up the stairs.

  Chase’s eyes met Katie’s, and he gave her an embarrassed shrug. There was a slight pink tint to his cheeks when he moved to the sink to wash out the glasses—she found it endearing. It was obvious to her that he wanted to ignore what had happened. Being the instigator she was, Katie couldn’t let the incident go without saying something.

  “So, Dr. O’Donnell,” she said in a seductive voice, walking closer to him. He turned from the sink, and the surprise in his eyes was ten times greater than it had been a moment ago. “What was that?”

  He looked at her with a bemused expression. “You’re honestly going to tease me about Tiffany?” A sly grin appeared on his handsome face.