by Fredrick, MJ
“Sure, yeah, fine,” Leo agreed, thinking Lily had the right of it, Quinn was having the barbecue. Lily just had the idea. “What time do you want me?”
“Three? I’ll take the first shift, get the fire going, figure out what we need to do, then hand it over.”
Leo lifted his beer in agreement, though he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been up that early on purpose.
“It’s going to get down in the forties tonight, so dress warm,” Lily warned.
“Yes, Mom.” He grinned and saluted her with his bottle.
Quinn moved away to help another customer, and Leo nodded at the flyer he’d pinned beside the bar.
“You think you’ll get Quinn dressed up for Movie Night?”
She angled her head, studying him. “I kind of can see him in a Brando get-up, can’t you? On the Waterfront?”
“Harrison Ford in American Graffiti.”
She grinned. “That’s his usual style anyway. Thanks for helping out, by the way. With the Movie Night and the barbecue and making all those phone calls to Maddox.”
“I still think we’d have better luck if someone who knew him contacted him,” Leo said. “But I’ll give it another shot next week. Meanwhile I’ve been looking up those prices you asked for.” He shook his head. “Not sure the council will go for this expense, either, if it’s not guaranteed to bring people in.”
“What expense is that?” Quinn asked, returning.
Was the guy always listening to Leo’s conversations with Lily? “We need a decent sized stage, especially for Maddox, and a sound guy and a light guy. They can hire help locally, but the experts are pricey. Then there’s the electricity. That’s going to be an added cost. And are we paying the bands?”
“Just travel expenses,” Lily said. “I’m putting aside two cabins for the smaller bands. More for Maddox, once he confirms.”
She seemed certain he would. Leo was less convinced, after a week of getting the run-around.
“I’d better get going, if I’m going to get back here at three.” He drained his second beer, reached across the bar to shake Quinn’s hand, and headed out.
****
Leo had lived in Minnesota long enough to expect snow in April. While it wasn’t quite cold enough tonight, he thought Lily’s prediction of forty-degree temps was generous as he drove to Quinn’s. Definitely long underwear, hat, gloves and overcoat weather.
The man himself was sitting in a lawn chair beside a huge metal barbecue pit on wheels. Smoke poured out of the pipe chimney, and Quinn was under a blanket drinking a beer.
“Got your Snuggie?” Leo joked as he closed the truck door and crossed the gravel lot.
“See how much of a smartass you are after three hours out here,” Quinn retorted, motioning to the second lawn chair and reaching for a beer from the six-pack under his chair.
Right. In this weather no need for a cooler. Leo sat and took the beer.
“So. Lily’s idea.”
Quinn grunted. “She thinks it’ll bring people to the bar and the landing. I say offering free food in front of my place isn’t the best for business, but she gets these ideas in her head.”
“And you get your friend to bring his rolling smoker.”
Quinn grimaced. “No big.”
“Who bought all the meat?”
“She did. Got the ladies from the church to put out a phone tree asking for sides and desserts. She bought the plates and had the kids at the wood shop at the high school build some tables.”
“The woman must never stop.”
“She never lets grass grow under her feet, that’s for certain. And she keeps me on my toes.” Quinn’s gaze shifted to the lake as he took a long drag from his beer.
Leo wanted to pursue that, but wasn’t sure he wanted to delve that deeply into Quinn’s thoughts—if the man would even allow that. So instead, he said, “Long day for you, from opening the restaurant to now.”
“Don’t matter. I don’t really sleep anymore anyway.”
Okay, that was an opening if Leo’d ever heard one. “Where were you?” He didn’t have to ask any more than that for Quinn to know what he was talking about.
Quinn kept his gaze on the lake and his expression didn’t change. “Fallujah. Bad there, you know. That’s where my buddy bought it.”
The last bit was said so matter-of-factly, to allay sympathy. Leo knew, because he used the same tone when he spoke of Liv. He nodded and kept the same demeanor. “I followed a unit in Fallujah a few years back. My last bit was in Afghanistan.” What he did overseas was nothing compared to what Quinn had faced. He hadn’t lost a friend or fired a gun or faced death every day. But he wanted Quinn to know he had a frame of reference.
Quinn blew out a breath. “Would hate to be there now, man. Hell on earth, from what my friends who are still in tell me.”
“No barbecue on a lake, that’s for sure.”
Quinn inclined his head. “We used to come up here all the time to fish, you know, my buddy Gerry and me. Loved this place. The whole time we were over there we made plans to buy the bar. Put the money down on his last leave. Went back and died two weeks later. Hard to stay now.”
“Even with Lily?”
Quinn lifted a shoulder. “Nothing going on there. She deserves more.”
Leo inclined his head. “I think you’re wrong there.”
“You know something about her that I don’t?” Quinn asked with a grin.
“One thing about Lily, she knows what she wants.”
“That’s the truth.”
Leo shook his head at the other man’s obtuseness. Or stubbornness. Quinn climbed out of his chair with a groan.
“I better get going because she’s going to want me here at the crack of dawn to set up. Let me show you what to do.”
“So, you two aren’t sleeping together or anything? And you do all this because she asks you?”
“You ever seen that woman smile?” Quinn angled a look at Leo.
“She smiles all the time.”
“Yeah, but the smiles she has that are just for you? I live for those, man.” He clapped Leo on the back and headed toward his truck.
“You okay to drive?” Leo called.
Quinn waved in the affirmative, climbed in, and drove off. Leo plopped back in the chilled chair and grabbed the blanket Quinn had abandoned. Yeah, he knew all about those smiles, but it wasn’t Lily he wanted to get them from.
He just hoped she showed at the barbecue tomorrow.
****
“Hey.”
A soft hand on his cheek had Leo jolting awake. He blinked and looked up into Trinity’s laughing blue eyes.
“Aren’t you supposed to be watching the meat?”
He swore and swatted at the blanket he’d become tangled in, trying to get to his feet.
“Don’t worry. I checked on it. It’s fine. Move over.”
“What?” His sleep fogged brain didn’t register more than the early light surrounding her.
She lifted the blanket and wedged onto the chair with him, then pulled the blanket over both of them. He braced his feet so they didn’t fall over. He could have worried that the chair wasn’t big enough for both of them, but she was curled on his lap with her hand on his chest and her head beneath his chin.
“Colder today than I expected,” she said. “You’re warm.”
“Trinity.” Her thigh brushed his reaction to her, which only had more blood rushing to that area. “Shouldn’t. Someone—”
“You smell good.” She nuzzled his throat.
His arousal shot to new heights. He clapped his hand over hers on his chest. “Haven’t seen you running all week.”
“I had morning duty. Had to be at school early to watch the kids who arrive early.”
“No fun running if I can’t see you in those cute little pants.” Without his permission, his hand slid over her thigh.
Her eyes darkened and her lips parted.
And another hand tapped his cheek.
“Wake up, Sleeping Beauty. We got work to do.”
This time, he woke up to look into blue eyes that weren’t quite so pretty. Quinn tapped his cheek again, harder.
“Come on, we got tables to set up.”
Chapter Six
“Leo’s looking at me weird,” Trinity said to Lily as they stood in the shade of the canopies, with tables of sides spread in front of them.
“He’s always looking at you.” Lily piled some potato salad on Mrs. Northrup’s plate.
“It’s different today. It’s…predatory.” She shivered, not wanting to reveal just how those looks made her tingle, made her long to see what he would do if dozens of people, including his son, weren’t surrounding them.
As if her attention summoned him, he approached, grinning.
“Ladies,” he greeted, taking Trinity in a glance before directing his focus to Lily. “We’re thinking of getting an impromptu softball game together in a half hour or so. Would you be interested in playing?”
“Who are the teams?” Lily asked as Trinity opened her mouth to decline.
“Quinn’s and mine.”
“And who else is playing?”
“Not sure of everyone’s name. Enough to man the bases if you two will play. Come on. I need a catcher.” He flashed the grin that no doubt convinced more than one woman to do something against her better judgment.
But Trinity didn’t have a chance to voice her objection before Lily said, “Okay, as soon as we get someone to cover for us, we’ll be over.”
“I have no coordination,” Trinity protested when he walked away. “I can barely manage not to fall on my ass when I’m running. I’m going to embarrass myself out there.”
“In front of Leo, you mean.”
Trinity waved a hand as if to disburse the romantic notions flying through the air. “Ex-jock, hometown hero.”
“Who thinks you’re sexy. Don’t worry about it.” She waved Mrs. Erickson over to take over for them, then looped her arm through Trinity’s. “Let’s play ball.”
Quinn paced at the edge of the diamond, all tension, when the two women approached. He strode forward and caught Lily’s arm. “You’re my pitcher,” he said, thrusting the ball into her hand. Then he yanked a cap from his back pocket and tugged it over his head to shade his eyes. “We’re outfield first.”
“Why?” Lily asked.
“Lost the bet. Trinity, Leo wants you,” he said over his shoulder.
She turned to see Leo crossing the field wearing a Twins cap, loose-limbed, a bat dangling from his hand, his glove stuffed in his pocket. She’d never been drawn to jocks but the confidence in his stride, the tools of his sport melted everything female in her.
“We’re batting first. You want to go second?”
She drew back, wishing she’d spoken up earlier. Playing catch with Max and him was one thing, but playing an honest-to-goodness, win-or-lose game with her questionable skills was something else. “Leo, I haven’t batted since I was in high school. I probably should just go watch.”
“No, you don’t.” He curved his hand around her arm and drew her toward the rest of the team, who were jostling positions in line. “It’ll come back to you. You know the logistics of it. I heard you when you were coaching Max. Come on.”
“Where is Max?” she asked as she followed him behind the chain link backstop.
“Over there, watching with my dad.” Leo gestured to the decrepit bleachers where a crowd had started to gather.
Oh, dear. Bad enough the other players were going to see her make a fool of herself. But the whole town? Only her desire to spend time with Leo made her step up to the plate after the local doctor, Dale Simmons, got their first out by not beating the ball to first base, where Quinn scooped it up.
“You can do this, Trinity,” Leo shouted from behind the backstop.
The bat felt suddenly heavy in her hand as she lifted it, angled it over her shoulder as she’d told Max to do. She sent a pleading glance at Lily to go easy on her, but she should have known better. Lily sent a pitch that dipped just as Trinity swung, causing a strike. Trinity staggered for balance as Lily smirked.
“That’s okay,” Leo said behind her, clapping optimistically. “Dirty trick, Lil.”
“Where’d she learn to do that?” Trinity demanded, lifting the bat again as Chris Strand, Lily’s catcher, tossed the ball back out.
“I may have taught her that one,” Leo confessed.
Trinity glanced over her shoulder to see him leaning against the fence, fingers linked through it. So sexy. She turned away with a shiver of appreciation and a renewed desire to impress him. She faced Lily and nodded her acknowledgement that Lily’s competitive streak was stronger than their friendship.
Another strike, though if she’d let it go, it might have been a ball. Frustration tensed her shoulders, though Leo called out encouragement. She realized then that he didn’t really think she could hit the ball. That was why he’d put her second in the line-up, where her failure wouldn’t hurt the team too much. With a roll of her shoulders, she faced Lily again, and this time, the bat reverberated as it struck the ball, sending it flying straight down the baseline—and into Quinn’s glove.
He gave her an apologetic shrug as she turned away, handing the bat to Douglas Sawyer. Leo patted her shoulder absently and focused his attention on Doug, shouting the same supportive words he’d given her. Nice. She stalked behind the fence and waited to head outfield.
Doug got a base hit, though, and made it to first. Leo stepped forward and picked up the bat, swinging it in a loop, then tossing it into the air, letting it spin end over end before he caught it and brought it to his shoulder, fingers restless on the grip.
“Show off!” Lily called.
Leo straightened then, and pointed over the third baseman’s head, indicating the direction he’d hit.
“You’re going down,” Lily said.
Leo leaned into position—damn, he had a nice form, and a great butt in those faded Levis. Trinity made every effort not to drool at the image. A glance to Sonia on her left let her know she wasn’t the only one admiring him.
The crack of bat meeting ball drew her attention, and she snapped to attention in time to see the ball sailing in the very direction Leo had pointed. Leo bolted for first base, shouting for Doug to move it. Lily sighed as she watched his hat fly off, his long legs eat up the ground between bases. Cheering from the stands drowned out her own, and she heard Max’s voice above the others.
“Go, Dad, go!”
She was only vaguely aware of the ball being retrieved, of it flying through the air over his head as he charged for home. She began jumping up and down as if she could will him to beat it, as the catcher stretched to reach for it—too late.
“Safe!” Her brother, who acted as umpire, called as Leo stepped on the plate and was surrounded by the rest of the team, who clapped his back in congratulations.
He looked over their heads and found her, grinning like a little kid. She kept her fingers looped through the fence to resist the urge to run to him and give him a congratulatory kiss. A ridiculous urge, really. The kiss in the car had been—well, wonderful. But a mistake. She’d made enough of those in her life.
Their celebration didn’t last long. Laura Bonner hit a foul ball that the catcher caught, and they were outfield.
“You’re my catcher.” Leo pressed his glove into Trinity’s hand.
“Leo.” She resisted the urge to let it fall to the ground between them. “I could do it for you and Max, but not in a real game.”
“Babe, this isn’t a real game,” he said with a laugh. “I trust you. Keep your eye on me.” Without allowing further protest, he turned and jogged to the pitcher’s mound.
Like that would be hard. She stayed behind home plate and crouched, much easier in jeans than in a dress. Nerves tumbled over each other as she watched Leo toss the ball and catch it in his palm as he faced the first batter. Before she knew it, the ball was hurtling toward her
and in defense, she raised the glove. The ball smacked into it, surprising her with its force. She met Leo’s gaze, and he gave her a nod of approval. Shaky from the errant catch, she tossed the ball to him, her lack of power causing him to step forward to catch it, before he repeated his performance, striking out this batter and the next. The next three, though, got on base, and she could see Leo’s frustration as he paced the mound.
Quinn stepped up to bat, and held the thing like a weapon, every line of his already tense body even tighter. Trinity watched Leo working out which pitch to throw, decide, and Quinn hit it, sending it on almost exactly the same trajectory as Leo’s. Trinity straightened to follow its path with her gaze as all the runners on base jogged in.
Making the score four to two.
Leo got the next batter out with a pop fly that he snatched neatly out of the air, and then their team was up. Maybe it wasn’t a real game, but Leo was more intense now that they were behind. He probably wasn’t accustomed to losing.
His anxiety transmitted to Trinity when she faced Lily again. She shouldered the bat. This time when Leo shouted encouragement, his voice held a note of urgency. The first ball went wild and Leo clapped at her decision not to swing. She didn’t let herself look back before the next pitch. This time, she swung and hit. Leo cheered when she raced to first base, louder when she crossed the plate ahead of the ball. She cast him a triumphant grin and wave, but moments later she was stranded on base.
“How many innings are we playing?” she asked Leo as they passed each other to their outfield positions.
“Three.”
She nudged his shoulder. “Take it easy. Not a real game, remember?”
But Quinn’s team scored two more runs.
Last inning, six to two. Leo, Laura and Dale were on base as Lily’s arm grew tired, her balls slowed, her aim wavered. Doug took his place over home plate and crouched as if he would attack the ball. The stance worked. He hit the first pitch, a home run, and jogged easily around the diamond behind the other three runners, to the cheers of the crowd.
