“I heard that Coach Parker had a girlfriend, and I figured it was you,” a young woman directly behind me stated. I smiled but didn’t say anything, because it technically wasn’t true, but I didn’t want to explain that to these women.
“I’m not gonna lie - I kind of hate you,” the one who despised me last time piped in. I think someone called her Sheila before, but I couldn’t remember.
“Well, sometimes I kind of hate myself too, so it’s no big deal,” I told her with a smile. A couple of the other women giggled.
“So he has a girlfriend,” one of the ladies added, “that doesn’t mean I can’t keep looking at him. There’s no harm in that.”
“No, and I wouldn’t blame you,” I told her with a huge smile. “He is exquisite. If you ladies will excuse me…”
I giggled at myself as I walked away from them and headed toward the dugout. I arrived at about the same time as Cole, who set his bag down and winked at me before turning back to talk to the boys. Tyler waved and pointed at me while he talked to one of his buddies, so I made sure they both noticed me waving back. After they chatted for a few minutes, they headed out to the field while Cole hit some balls to them. I sat there gazing at him, acutely aware that I was no better than the moms in the bleachers who were staring at him, but since he actually brought me with him, I felt entitled. Eventually, though, I started feeling weird for gawking at him, so I began watching the boys in the field. About five minutes later, Cole yelled at me and asked if I would get a couple more baseballs out of his bag. I dug around until I found them and then jogged out to home plate.
“So, any observations?” he joked in a whisper, leaning close to me. “Are they going to attack you?”
“Oh, I don’t know, I haven’t really been watching them,” I said. “Left field, though, really needs to work on getting his glove up.”
“Left field?” he asked sarcastically, taking the balls from me and leaning on his bat. “Anything else, coach?”
“Shortstop doesn’t have a very good approach,” I continued. “Every time the ball comes to him, he’s dead on his feet and nearly trips himself up. First base, he’s too far off the bag. If a batter was running toward him, he would easily be safe.”
“Yeah, okay,” he said, giving me a huge smile and then sending a ball deep into center. “Do you have any idea how adorable you are right now?”
“I think I might be distracting you,” I laughed. “Maybe I should go back and sit down.”
“Uh-huh, just go sit there and stare at me,” he chuckled. “I’m accustomed to that.”
I headed back to the dugout and sat quietly the rest of the practice, casually glancing into the stands every once in a while to see whether the moms were staring at Cole. When the boys came in to practice batting, Tyler stopped and chatted with me for a minute. Pretty soon, the practice was over and the boys headed to their vehicles, leaving Cole to pack up his things. He smiled at me as he zipped up his duffel bag.
“You never cease to surprise me, Camdyn,” he said. “Is there anything you can’t do?”
“Um, yeah,” I retorted. “Walk straight, cook, find a good phone signal…”
“I shouldn’t have asked,” he said with a laugh. He slung the duffel bag over his shoulder, stepped out of the dugout, and reached for my hand, sliding his fingers through mine. He didn’t say anything else, just quietly walked to the truck, so I simply walked beside him content to be touching him. When we reached the passenger side, he opened the door for me again and helped me inside.
On the way back to his house, he talked about the boys at practice and told me what he thought they needed to work on, asking if I agreed. By the time we got to the house, though, he was fairly quiet. When we stopped and he opened my door, I was mentally preparing myself to leave him and return to Rosalie’s for the evening. He took my hand to help me down, but when I reached the ground he didn’t let go. Instead, he rubbed his thumb across my knuckles and smiled.
“Will you stay for dinner?” he asked.
“I would love that,” I said, heart nearly beating out of my chest. He grabbed his bag and we headed up the log steps to the front door, him turning to smile at me one more time before he opened the door wide and motioned me inside. As soon as I walked through the door, all I could do was stand there mesmerized. The living room was on the left, with the kitchen in the middle and a dining table to the right, all wide open with beautiful woodwork and exposed beams to the two-story high ceiling. A broad stone fireplace stood against the wall in the living room, and large windows lined the entire front of the house. I took a couple of steps across the wood floor and gazed across at the dark cabinets and the rock countertop on the island that was directly across from me, carefully sweeping my eyes across every corner of the room. I heard Cole drop his bag behind me on the floor, and then he moved to the sink so he could wash his hands.
“Make yourself at home,” he told me as I started to wander across the room, staring up at the ceiling. I stopped at a doorway just beside the refrigerator and looked back at Cole, but he told me to go ahead. Taking his invitation, I moved into the hall and toward a staircase, running my fingers against the wall as I moved up the steps. Reaching the top, I stuck my head in the first room, a bedroom I decided, which was completely empty. I took a peek in the next room I passed, a bathroom, also empty. The next door was an empty bedroom as well. I was starting to think maybe the upstairs wasn’t lived in at all when I came to the last door down the hall, and I pushed it open to the master bedroom. I found myself tiptoeing across the wood floors, because I felt a little guilty for invading his private space. I knew I had permission, but it still felt a little wrong.
The first thing that hit me as I glanced around the room was that everything was so clean. The bed was made, there were no dirty clothes on the floor…everything was immaculate. Nothing like Charlie – his bedroom always looked like a bomb exploded nearby. I stepped across the room to the windows, looking out to the backyard, which had a nice deck with a stone walkway and a fire pit. From this vantage point, you could see for miles. I imagined Cole waking up in the morning, walking to the window, and gazing out in the distance. “Imagination Cole” didn’t sleep with a shirt on, so he would be standing there in front of the window with those ab muscles I saw the other day… I was completely lost in thought when I heard real Cole yell something to Pop, and I jumped and moved back toward the middle of the room.
I glanced back at the door before I peeked my head in the bathroom, because I was beginning to feel really nosy. Still, I couldn’t help but look around, noting that the towel he was using earlier was hanging up on a hook, and that nothing was out of place. I could smell the soap he used, the same thing I had noticed earlier when he first opened the door. Moving away, I stepped into his closet, told myself that I was acting like a stalker, and quickly stepped back out. Walking past his dresser, I couldn’t help but notice the picture he had taken from me the night before sitting on the top. I hurried back out into the hall, a little afraid that he might come up the stairs and find me, and made my way back down the steps. When I was back in the downstairs hall, I moved to the left and pushed the door open to find the laundry room. Next to that I found a guest bathroom, which had some kind of potpourri that smelled like wildflowers. As I crossed to the right of the hallway, I pushed open the door to the last room in the house, and inadvertently let out a gasp as I entered what I could only describe as a pretty accurate version of my heaven on earth.
I wasn’t even conscious of what I was doing as I walked to the middle of the room, taking in the same large windows that lined the front of the house. To the left were a couple of black leather wingback chairs and three beautiful guitars hanging on the wall, which featured huge built-in speakers. A hutch in the corner held a rather large music collection, which I noticed was indeed alphabetized as Liz had mentioned. In the middle of the room a treadmill faced the windows, along with a couple other machines and a bench next to a large line of free weigh
ts. To the right, another stone fireplace that matched the one in the living room, but in front of this one sat a chaise lounge. On either side of the fireplace were bookcases that reached to the ceiling. Stepping over to the chaise lounge where I noticed my book, I picked it up and held it against my chest as I stared out the windows.
“There you are,” I heard Cole say behind me, but I couldn’t pull myself away from the windows.
“You have a rock and roll workout library,” I stated, “and it has an awesome view.”
“Usually I just call it the den,” he said with a laugh. “I take it you approve?” I spun around and looked toward the bookcases again.
“I can’t believe this is your house,” I sighed. “If I thought you would sell it, I would make you an offer right now.”
“I don’t think I could ever sell it,” he told me, walking closer and pulling the book out of my hands. “It’s like one of your books – it’s kind of my baby. I finished reading it, by the way. It almost made me feel like I know you a little better.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I suppose I should give it back to my mom. She’ll probably want you to autograph it or something.”
“I’ve never signed anyone’s book,” I giggled, shaking my head.
“Are you serious?”
“No, nobody’s ever asked me. I would sign your mom’s, though. She’s so nice that I don’t think I could tell her no anyway.”
“You only think that because she’s never grounded you or put you in the corner,” he teased, dropping the book back onto the chair. “I’m going outside to fire up the grill. You want to keep me company?”
“Sure,” I said, following him down the hall and out the back door onto the deck. I asked him if I could do anything to help, but he insisted that I just relax. I sat on one of his patio chairs and leaned back, staring out into the trees and realizing how peaceful it was. There was no sound at all, except the noise of a few random insects and the chirping of birds. Things definitely seemed slower here.
“You know,” I suddenly realized, “I was standing in the exact spot where Willa stood earlier, in front of those grave markers. There is no doubt that, at some point in time, and probably many times, she was exactly where we were. Do you think that there could be such a strong emotion tied to a place that it could carry down to other generations?”
“I don’t know,” he said, moving things around on the grill. “That’s a little out there.” I watched him for a minute, the sun shining in his messy dark hair, strong jaw line slightly darkened by a hint of a five o’clock shadow, and I thought that I would never get tired of looking at this man. Suddenly the thought of forever with Cole made me think of the graceful and beautifully polished Stephanie.
“Yeah, you’re right,” I told him, tilting my head to stare down at my hands. “You know, thinking about Willa and Robert, him being her second husband and everything, do you think you can truly love twice? I mean, if you find someone you feel you are meant to be with, and then something happens, do you think there could be another person? Or do you think there is only ‘the one,’ and anyone after that is just a runner-up?”
“Wow…I’m probably not the right person to answer that question,” he said, gazing at me over the top of the grill.
Um, yeah, you are, because you asked Stephanie to marry you. Just tell me whether you’re still in love with her.
“I guess,” he continued, “if you honestly find someone who feels like the other half of you, you couldn’t repeat that. It seems like it has to be a one-time thing.”
And you have just crushed me, totally and completely.
I stared back out at the trees then, thinking a million things but not wanting to voice any of them. He told me a few random things about the house, and the land, and I was trying really hard to listen to him, but my preoccupation with what he had said was taking over. I was glad when he told me dinner was ready so I could attempt to think about something else for a few minutes.
We sat on the back deck as we ate grilled chicken, corn on the cob, and grilled pineapple. I told myself to stop thinking so hard and just enjoy being here, across from Cole, who kept smiling in that way that turned my stomach upside down. After we were finished with dinner, he asked if I wanted to roast marshmallows, and was surprised when I said I had never done that before. He built a fire in the fire pit, and we sat there for a few minutes just talking and laughing until it was finally ready. He reluctantly gave me a pointy stick, and told me not to stab him, and I pushed the marshmallow onto the end. The way he was giving me instructions, it seemed like I was operating costly machinery instead of roasting a marshmallow. He sat across from me, and every once in a while, he would tell me to move it here or move it there. I was starting to think he didn’t know what he was talking about when suddenly the entire end of my stick was engulfed in flames. I pulled it out of the fire, and before I even realized what I was doing, I started waving it around to put out the blaze. The marshmallow slid off the end of the stick like a fiery sugar bomb and flew into Cole’s yard, where it smoldered for a minute until Pop came over and carried it off.
“I’m sorry,” I said apologetically, and he just started laughing and shook his head.
“It’s okay,” he assured me, reaching out for his marshmallow and gently sliding it off the end of the stick. “You want to point that stick the other way?” I put the stick lengthwise across my lap and put my hand up to my face, completely embarrassed. He held the marshmallow out to me, and I took it reluctantly and tried it.
“Yeah, that’s pretty good,” I told him after a minute. He roasted a few more for himself and one for me, and then let the fire die down as he decided to go inside.
“You’re the only person I know who could kill someone with a marshmallow and a stick,” he joked as he opened the back door.
“I know, I’m quite lethal,” I admitted with a laugh, sadly realizing that dinner was over and it was probably time to head back. “I bet Rosalie is wondering where I am.”
“I called her before dinner,” he said. “She knows where you are.”
“Oh,” I said, a little embarrassed. “Thanks. I guess I should probably go, though. I know you have to work tomorrow.”
“Can’t you stay a little longer?” he asked as he put the dishes in the sink. “Maybe we could watch a movie or something?”
“If you’re sure,” I answered, rather relieved. I didn’t want to leave yet. I wasn’t sure that I ever wanted to leave, honestly. The man had a rock and roll workout library, for crying out loud.
“I have the perfect thing,” he said, walking over near the television and turning around with a DVD in his hand. “Star Wars. You are in dire need of education in all things Jedi.”
“Seriously?” I complained. “The mind control stuff again?” He looked so cute the way he was standing there holding the case that I couldn’t argue with him, so I relented. I stood there while he got the movie up and running, and then went and sat towards the middle of the couch. He lowered himself down a couple of feet from me.
“You’re not going to be able to see from there,” he said. I looked from him to the TV.
“I can see fine,” I replied, giving him a funny look.
“Trust me, it’s better over here,” he told me, motioning me to move closer. I slid myself over a few inches at a time, with him insisting that I come closer, until finally I was right next to him.
“Now, can’t you see better?” he asked, looking very mischievous.
“I don’t know about seeing better, but you do smell good, and you’re warm, so I will leave it at that.”
“You’re cold?” he wanted to know. I nodded, and he leaned back and stretched his arm around me, his fingers brushing lightly against my arm. I immediately got goose bumps, more because he was touching me than from being cold, but he pulled me closer to him and moved his hand up and down my arm.
“Is this okay?” he asked, gently resting his head against mine.
&nb
sp; Is this okay? I am in heaven. I think I hear angels singing.
I think I muttered a yes, or an uh-huh, but I’m not sure.
I tried to concentrate on his movie, because he seemed to think it was important that I know the Star Wars lingo, but I was having an incredibly hard time. Cole was really warm, and I could hear him breathing and feel his hand against my arm, and my mind was going into overdrive analyzing what all this meant. Eventually, I started to get really comfortable, and my eyes started getting heavy. I struggled to keep them open for a few minutes, but ultimately relaxed into him and dozed off.
The next thing I knew, I was being gently shaken, and I opened up my eyes to see Cole smiling down at me. I sat up straight and rubbed my eyes, glancing over at the TV where the credits were rolling.
“Oh no, did I sleep through the whole movie?” I asked.
“Pretty much,” he said with a laugh.
“Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“I was afraid you might move,” he told me with a big smile. “Plus, I liked listening to you breathe. It was kind of like holding a baby.”
Ugh, how embarrassing!
“Please tell me I wasn’t snoring,” I queried, gazing up at him hopefully. He laughed and shook his head.
“No, no snoring.”
Thank goodness! I cannot believe I did that!
“I missed your educational lesson on Jedis,” I stated apologetically, stretching my arms and standing up from the couch.
“There will be plenty of time for that later,” he told me, standing up. “I don’t blame you for being tired – it’s almost midnight.”
“Is it really?” I asked, following him over to the door. “Do you realize that we have been together for hours and you haven’t been angry with me once, even though I fell asleep on your couch and almost set your back yard on fire?”
A Reason to Run (The Camdyn Series Book 1) Page 22
