by Merry Farmer
Until now.
He caught up with the ball and bent, scooping to pick it up and throw it across the practice field to Ben, then jogged back to the spot where he’d been standing. The entire Piedmont Panthers team was there for practice, so there wasn’t much space to spare on the field as everyone practiced catches and dives, batting and pitching. They had an important game against the Southside Salamanders that weekend. Which was why he needed to focus.
“Hey Ted, you wanna break in our new pitcher?” Carlos Bertran, the Panthers’ captain and catcher, called to him from home plate.
Scott stood on the mound, grinning at Ted like a kid who was thrilled to have been picked first for their side. Ted glanced to Ben who nodded and turned to throw his ball toward one of the other players.
“Yeah, sure,” Ted called to Carlos.
He jogged toward home plate, meeting Scott’s grin with one of his own. Back when they’d first started dating, Casey had suggested to Scott that Paradise Space Flight start their own team. They had yet to do that, so for the time being, since Scott was building on a patch of land that had been part of the Flint ranch—which had, in turn, originally been a part of Virginia Piedmont’s share of Paradise Ranch—he was eligible to play for the Panthers. Ted was happy to have him, not only for the team, but as a soon-to-be brother-in-law.
He selected a bat from the row lined up against the fence behind home plate, then took his spot. “Let’s see what you’ve got,” he challenged Scott with a wink.
“You’re on.”
Scott wound up and threw a surprisingly good pitch. It wasn’t anything that Ted couldn’t hit, and with a crack, the ball went sailing into center field. One of the guys caught it and tossed it back to Scott.
“Good, good,” Carlos coached from behind Ted. “See if you can get yourself centered more. You have a tendency to pop right just before you release the ball.”
Scott nodded, focused, and threw another pitch. Ted hit that one too, but as fast as he’d settled, his mind began to drift.
There was no denying how balanced and grounded Scott was these days. Casey had everything to do with that. Ted had been on the outskirts as his sister and Scott got together, but he’d seen the change the relationship brought to both of them. Seen it and admired it.
He’d never felt like he was missing something from his life, but watching Casey and Scott get together made him wonder if there were things he didn’t know he was missing. The two of them seemed so happy together. It went way beyond the fun and satisfaction of just dating someone. Theirs was a solid, committed, and, if he knew his sister, life-long relationship.
He wanted that.
Scott sent the ball sailing toward him, and Ted swung and missed.
“Good,” Carlos called and threw the ball back to Scott. “Like that and more.”
Ted tapped his bat on home plate and settled into his stance. He wanted what Scott and Casey had. Something more than just dating and having fun. Go figure. True, he wasn’t getting any younger. He’d hit thirty and passed it. Thirty-five was in the mail. It was about time he thought of taking the next natural step in life, like Casey was taking. His dad needed grandchildren, and someone needed to inherit the ranch, now that the mortgage was paid off.
Scott threw the ball, and this time Ted hit it. It was a messy hit that tore across the grass. Scott hopped down from the mound to stop it, proving that he would make a good short-stop as well as a pitcher. Ted hardly saw the play, though. Marriage. Family. He’d never stopped to think about those things. Never. When had he gotten so mature?
The moment he’d heard Laura Kincade talking about her adventures. The moment he saw her enthusiastic smile, the way her eyes lit up, as she talked about the things she loved. For the first time in his life, Ted had seen a brightness, gotten a feeling, about a woman before noticing she was pretty. And yeah, Laura was pretty, but not in a movie star sort of way. She was pretty in a…in a….
Scott threw another pitch before Ted could come up with an adjective. He swung with all his might and missed.
“Ooh, that was close.”
His heart dropped to the pit of his gut as Laura herself called out an encouragement. Ted blinked, eyes opening wide, and twisted to find Laura standing with her hands in the pockets of her shorts, just behind the fence. Her long, brown hair was in a ponytail, and she wore a t-shirt with a cartoon T-Rex on it. His heart bounced up from his stomach and ricocheted around his chest.
“What are you doing here?” With a smile, he walked away from home plate as Carlos threw the ball back to Scott.
Laura shrugged. “It’s a nice night, so I thought I’d go for a walk. Then I saw you guys practicing and figured I’d come have a look.”
“It’s just practice. We play games on the weekends.” The image of Laura cheering him on from the stands gave him a sudden burst of confidence. “Wanna come to our game against the Salamanders this weekend?” he asked.
“The Salamanders?” Laura laughed. It seemed to light her up from the inside out.
That brought a huge smile to Ted’s face. After the way she turned down his offer of a date and ran from him at the party, he would have expected her to be skittish around him now. The fact that she wasn’t, that she was standing there having a conversation with him, filled him with hope. Maybe really had reacted the way she had the other day out of surprise, like she’d said, and not because there was something wrong with him. Maybe if he eased into it, she wouldn’t turn him down a second time.
She did, however, blush. “Lucky for you, Melody, Calliope, and I had already decided to watch the game. So yeah, we’ll be there.”
“Yes.” He put extra excitement into the word, half as a joke, and half because he was genuinely thrilled she would be there. “Maybe we could grab some dinner after the game?” he added, wiggling his eyebrows.
Her blush deepened and her laugh turned nervous as she answered, “No, I don’t think so.”
“Why not?” Ted leaned against the fence, as suave as he could be.
“I’ve already got plans with Melody and Calliope. Sandy and Rita Templesmith too.”
Ted wasn’t sure whether to be relieved that she wasn’t seeing someone else and that her answer didn’t count as a rejection or disappointed. “I’m going to wear you down eventually, you know,” he said with a teasing wink.
“I’m flattered, and it’s cute that you think so, but I’m a notoriously tough nut to crack.” Her laugh was even more nervous, her cheeks pinker.
“Hey, Romeo,” Carlos called from home plate. “Are you gonna practice or what?”
Ted turned, ready to apologize for walking away without warning, but the shit-eating grin on Carlos’s face prompted him to flip his friend off instead. He realized a second too late that he’d made the gesture with a lady standing right there. “Uh, sorry.” He sent Laura an embarrassed smile.
“No problem,” she giggled. She then raised her voice and told Carlos, “Yeah, I’ll practice.”
Ted’s brow rose. “He wasn’t talking to you.”
“No?” Laura walked to the edge of the fence and came around with a bounce in her step. “You sure?”
“Carlos, you weren’t talking to Laura, right?” Ted asked.
“I’ll pitch to her,” Scott called from the mound. The grin on his face made Ted want to flip him the bird too. “Let’s see what you’ve got, Kincade.”
“You don’t really have to do this if you don’t want to.” Ted followed Laura to home plate and handed her his bat. “Scott’s been pitching pretty hard this evening.”
“Good.” Laura took the bat from him, her smile reaching her eyes to brilliant effect. “It’s always more fun when you’re playing with someone who’s good at what they’re doing.”
A jolt of lust hit Ted hard. There was no way she was aware of how her words could be taken, but the images of “playing” that they brought to Ted’s mind made him want to show her that he knew what he was doing where it really counted.
Those thoughts doubled when she settled into batting stance, displaying the surprisingly tempting curve of her backside as she did. “Okay,” she called to Scott, “Show me what you’ve got.”
Chapter Three
Laura tapped the metal bat against home plate, then raised it to her shoulder. Stepping into Ted’s baseball practice was probably a terrible idea. The potential for him to get the wrong idea was huge. But she did like baseball, and just because she wasn’t in Ted’s dating league didn’t mean she wasn’t in his sporting league. And it certainly didn’t mean they couldn’t be friends.
The last thought zipped through her head as Scott lobbed a soft pitch her way. Oh, you have got to be kidding. She swung at it, made contact with a satisfying smack, and sent the ball sailing far, far over the heads of the guys practicing in the outfield. She heard a whistle or two as a few of them stopped to watch the ball’s progress.
“Come on, Scott.” She smirked at her boss as she’d smirked at every guy who’d underestimated her batting skills. “Save that garbage for little league. Pitch something good.”
Out on the mound, Scott laughed as he turned to catch the returning ball, thrown by an outfielder. “I should have known.”
“Yeah, you probably should have.” Laura laughed along with him, hoping he didn’t think she was gloating. But if she had a dime for every time a guy underestimated her, she could buy a Big Mac.
She settled into batting stance again as Scott screwed up his face in mock seriousness. As soon as she was ready, he threw another pitch, this one harder than the last, but still easy to hit. Once again, the ball went sailing out into center field.
“Really?” she said, dropping her shoulders and the bat. Her hip jutted out to the side, and she shook her head.
Scott broke into laughter once again. “Where did you learn to play ball?”
“Little league,” she answered with a smile. “My team made it to the regional semi-finals when I was thirteen.”
Behind her, Ted let out a long, low whistle. Instantly, Laura tensed in self-consciousness. She risked a sideways look only to find Ted leaning against the side of the fence behind her, arms crossed, lips pulled up in an impressed grin. Her arms decided that was a good time to go weak, and her innards started doing the cha-cha.
“Give her everything you’ve got,” the catcher—she was pretty sure his name was Carlos—called to Scott. “I want to see if she can hit it.”
You could have if you hadn’t remembered Mr. Perfect Cowboy was watching, she thought, resuming her batting stance and trying her best to regain focus. Good grief, he’s probably staring at your ass.
The ball went whizzing past her with enough speed to shave the hair off a fly. She stood stock still as it passed, thunking into Carlos’s glove.
“Sorry, sorry.” She popped out of batting stance, shaking her head. “My mind was somewhere else. Could you throw that one again?”
Carlos tossed the ball back to Scott, who was grinning as if he guessed exactly where Laura’s thoughts had scattered to.
“Sure thing,” Scott said. “But if you miss this one, I reserve the right to tease you about it for a week.”
Behind her, Ted laughed. Laura’s skin broke out in goose flesh. He wouldn’t be laughing if he knew what Scott was talking about. That in itself was enough to force her to concentrate. She barely heard Ted’s shout of “Go get ’em, slugger!” before Scott wound up and threw another genuine fastball.
By some blessed miracle from above, all the distractions poking at Laura narrowed down to the ball zooming at her. She swung and made contact. The metallic crack of the bat was matched by the jolt and sting of hitting something thrown with so much force. Lucky for her, the ball went flying through the air, far over the heads of the guys who had stopped their practice in the outfield to watch her attempt. Two of them wheeled back and ran for the low wall at the back of the baseball field. Their efforts were in vain, though, as the ball fell into the bushes behind the wall.
“That’s it,” Carlos said, standing and throwing out his arms. “You’re on the team. I’ve never seen anything like that.”
Laura blushed down to the roots of her hair and turned to him with a bashful smile. “Thanks, but I think I’d rather enjoy Haskell baseball from the stands.”
“That was amazing.” Ted rushed forward, eyes wide, mouth open in shock. “Carlos is right, you really need to join the team.”
“Or play for the PSF team, once we get one organized,” Scott added, walking in from the mound to join the conversation. “Next year.”
“Oh, really, I couldn’t.” Laura waved them off, bristling with discomfort over the attention she was getting. “I’m really not as good at all that. My fielding sucks. I can’t run worth squat due to an old war wound.” Only Ted would know she wasn’t joking about that one. “Plus, I’m super out of practice.”
“Then stay and practice with us,” Ted rushed to tell her. His expression lit up with enthusiasm, and he leaned toward her. “I’ll keep an eye on that old war wound. No pressure or anything.”
Ha! Right. No pressure playing ball with a guy you like.
Laura blinked rapidly at the stray thought. She liked Ted?
She sighed inwardly. Yeah, she liked Ted. No point pretending otherwise.
“As your boss, I could order you to stay and practice,” Scott said, trying to look serious but failing miserably.
“Ha! I don’t think so.” She cuffed his arm. “It’s after hours.”
“Please stay,” Ted said. A new kind of eagerness warmed his expression. “It’ll be fun.”
Laura swallowed, her insides dancing a nervous jig. If she was honest with herself, she did want to stay. But with Ted there…the way he was smiling at her…the breathless, wriggly feeling that gave her…could she really do it? Without making a fool of herself?
“Okay,” she said at last, breathing out in mock defeat that held genuine resignation behind it. “I’ll practice with you. But just for fun. Don’t get your hopes up about anything else.” She sent Ted a particularly sharp look.
“Great.” Scott clapped her on the back like one of the guys.
“Go grab a glove and practice catches with Ted,” Carlos directed her. “I’ll keep an eye on you and give you pointers.”
Somehow, through the excitement skittering through her, Laura managed not only to find a glove small enough to fit her, but she also walked out onto the field by Ted’s side without tripping over herself or saying something stupid. And as she caught and threw the ball, her muscle memory kicked in, saving her the embarrassment of dropping the ball or falling over. And really, it wasn’t so bad. Ted gave her a few pointers without drawing her into conversation. Bit by bit, she relaxed and came around to enjoying the moment instead of worrying about what happened at the engagement party and what could happen next.
At last, the early-summer evening light began to fade to the point where Carlos called an end to practice. Laura helped the rest of the team gather up equipment and haul it to Carlos’s minivan. Some of the other guys complimented her on her skills, which made it easier to accept Ted’s compliments as they walked away from the field and toward the heart of town together.
“All that from little league?” he asked as they turned onto Main Street.
“Well, we used to play a bit in the Army too. When I was recovering from that shrapnel, the guys would have me hit to them so they could practice catches.”
His brow scrunched. “Wouldn’t that still hurt your leg?”
“Yeah, a little, but I just ignored it.”
Ted laughed and shook his head. “You ‘just ignored’ the pain of what I’m assuming were stitches from shrapnel wounds to hit balls for other recovering soldiers?”
“Not, like, the day after my surgery,” she explained as they passed the Silver Dollar saloon, Haskell’s oldest bar. “More like a few weeks later, when I was in Germany.”
“Germany. I see.” Ted’s grin was teasing, but for the life of her,
Laura couldn’t figure out what he was teasing her about. Before she could ask, he nodded to a shop across the street, farther down toward the old train station. “I’m gonna stop for ice cream. You want some?”
She answered, “Sure,” before she could stop to second guess herself. Because who would say no to ice cream on a warm summer night after baseball practice?
Of course, as soon as they crossed the street and joined the line at the ice cream shop’s window, Laura winced. “Shoot. I don’t have my wallet with me.”
“I got it.” Ted grinned, taking a step forward as the kids at the window moved away with their cones. “What do you want?” he asked, then immediately followed with, “Let me guess. Banana split.”
Laura laughed. “How about a small chocolate cone.”
“You’re on.” Ted winked, setting Laura completely off-balance. He turned to the teenager working the window and said, “A small chocolate cone and a pralines & cream cone,” before she could choke or spontaneously combust.
It gave her just enough time to gather her senses. “Pralines & cream?” She made an impressed expression. “Fancy.”
“What can I say?” He grinned, handing a few bills to the teen. “I may not have traveled the world, but I have fancy tastes.”
He was joking. Teasing even. It didn’t mean anything. Friends did that with friends, Laura reminded herself. And maybe he was a little intimidated by how much of the world she’d seen. Good. That would rule out asking her on a date in his mind, and she could stop worrying.
Really. Any time now.
The teen handed Ted two cones, and Ted handed the chocolate one to her as they stepped away from the window. There were several picnic tables on and around the old train platform, but Laura and Ted wandered across the bridge spanning the old, rusted tracks, ambling into the south side of Haskell. Laura licked around the bottom of her ice cream in a methodical fashion, preventing any drips from forming.
